Re: NAC really didn't have much of a chance in Boston

[Mike Thomas <nostatic@earthlink.net>]

What a load of manure.  WSJZ did do a lot of promotion and marketing.
The station did billboard, some TV, and they tied themselves in with
every major jazz-oriented event in the city.  They hired Shirley
Maldanado as the PD, one of the most highly regarded programmers in the
format.  They did build a small but loyal following, but keep in mind,
the key word here is "small."  Basically, any full signal FM in this
town that can't manage at least a three share 12+ for any length of time
will have it's format changed eventually.  The one thing that Greater
Media didn't do was to give the format more time to develop.

I love the way the smooth jazz freaks keep bringing up the same five or
six successful SJ stations and contend that since it works in those few
markets, it WILL work here.  That's like saying that since a country
station in Nashville is the top biller in that market, that the country
format can do as well in Boston.  It's completely ridiculous. Anyone
that has been involved with this business for any length of time knows
that certain formats do well in certain markets, and others don't.  Jazz
simply didn't work here--the second time around--and I doubt that
another two or three years would have made much difference.

Mike Thomas
WXLO & Mediabase 24/7

Tim Davisson wrote:

> ----------
> > From: Dave Markson <dmarkson@att.net>
> > To: 'Movie Man' <movieman@shore.net>; 'Bump Martin'
> <LJNF40C@prodigy.com>; boston-radio-
>
> Dave & group:
> Was glad to see your comments about the format, NAC/SJ.
>
> I am a smooth jazz fan too, although there are other types of
> music I also enjoy.
>
> Anyway, it's obvious when these NAC stations drop the format
> that in most cases, the station owner has given up on what can
> be a very steady, lucrative format.  It takes a long time to grow
> the station's core audience, but when mature, NAC's listeners
> are very loyal.
>
> Several NACs around the US do VERY, VERY well in 25-54
> adults....many in their markets top 10: KTWV/LA, KOAI/Dallas,
> WVMV/Detroit, the strong Philadelphia and San Fransisco
> NAC's (calls escape me at this moment), and in my home
> market: WNWV serving Cleveland.
>
> In fact, KTWV was in the top 10 for 1998 in ad revenue. Now,
> that's not a nitche format's billing.
>
> >From tapes I'd gotten over the past couple years, seems to
> me that Greater Media didn't have a handle on this format,
> and obviously didn't spend enough time or on-and-off-the-air
> promotional dollars to get WSJZ/WOAZ's audience going.
> Seems like they lost patience.  On most of the tapes
> I heard, the music was "safe", very conservative (extremely
> slow to add new tunes), and air people were robot-like,
> quite "announcer-ish", and in general passionless. So,
> GM didn't really give itself or NAC/SJ fans much of a
> chance to succeed. Sad!

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