Re: this week in review

[Larry Stanton <pluto@4motion.org>]

> That mindset is so typical of radio execs, but to me it
> seems patently absurd. Just because a format has failed
> in a market, you cannot assume that a similar format
> will also fail in that market--especially if it's on a
> different signal.

Why not assume? The American television industry has had to cope with this
same dilemma for years. Television shows fail. People get sick of even the
biggest hits, and eventially, they go off the air. TV responded by pumping
out similiar but "different" formula shows. Finally within the last two
years the great American sitcom has collapsed almost entirely -- because
people were sick of them. TV has responded by doing a 180 and producing
drastically different programming; witness the explosion of "reality" TV
dramas and gameshows. I mean seriously, at what point does re-packaging
the same 100 songs stop being a viable business plan? The American radio
industry has not yet realized that it has to "change with the times", the
way TV is starting to understand. Players like XM and Sirius (we won't
argue about THIS again, but just hear my point) are moving in to
capitalize on this. The same way FOX and cable networks moved in on the
big TV three. If a format is failing in a market the radio guys are going
to need to do more than just tweak the rotations and change the colors of
the bumper stickers. Paranoia of change, and incremental change, as a
business strategy, has ruined so many once great American industries.
Now American radio is at that crossroads. The formats are failing because
people are tired of the same thing; you can only re-arrange the baloney
and the cheese so many times before people realize they're still eating
the same sandwich. Maybe some smart exec realizes this.. who knows.

--Larry