Re: 1060, 96.9...

["Mark Laurence" <mlaurence@mindspring.com>]

On 19 May 00, at 13:50, Martin Waters wrote:

>  The trouble with all these formats these days is you wonder if
> anybody's ever in it for the long haul. You don't suddenly build a
> reputation for something like news or talk in two books. WBZ has been
> working on it for 80 years, WRKO for 20. IMO, music is different, The
> audience moves around much faster. 

The most successful music stations have had similar formats for 
decades too.  Kiss, Magic, WAAF, WBCN, Oldies, WCRB, and 
WZLX have all stuck to the same formats for over a decade, and in 
some cases far longer.  Look who's dominating the ratings in their 
formats.  There are similar stories of longevity in Providence, 
Worcester, Springfield, Hartford, and many other markets.  

I think there will be even less turmoil in these successful formats in 
the future, because group ownership has cut down on the head-to-
head format battles.  The frequent changes occur, as you might 
expect, with the fringier formats.  That's not necessarily because 
music audiences are more fickle, but because the stations are 
looking to find more ears.

> But the way the business is done now, you always feel that nobody
> will make an investment in a format that might take five years to
> pay off big. 

When in the history of radio has anyone done that?  Sure, there 
might be a few stations whose owners stuck it out that long in the 
hopes that their dreams would come true, and maybe in a few 
cases they did.  But I can't think of anyone who ever threw a huge 
investment into their radio station, and didn't expect things to pay 
off for five years.

Mark Laurence
mlaurence@mindspring.com