WBZ should not hang it's head in shame

[Mark Casey]

The years make very little, if any, difference. With minor changes, 
new-weather & traffic are and are going to be similar 20 years ago or 20 
years from now. The changes are, and only maybe, in how it's delivered. Not 
that a newer delivery method would be better. It might not. It might be like 
"New Coke", Quadraphonic,  AM stereo, Or HD radio!

WBZ does a fine job and is superior to any other all-(or mostly)-news 
operation that CBS has. WCBS and WINS have a much shorter "playlist". KYW's 
not any better. It's been a while since I listened to KNX, but they weren't 
any better than WBZ either. The short "playlist" is a disadvantage. All the 
headlines in 22 minutes if fine for the very short term listener, and is 
probably on viable in the largest 2 or 3 markets like New York and Los 
Angeles. There's a significant amount of the audience that listens longer 
and likes to hear the special features like those by Keller, Caruthers, 
Chayet and others. WCBS used to have more variety, but it seems to have cut 
back in the last few years and it is more like WINS than ever, so it gets 
hard to listen there for more than the 22 minutes. I think WCBS has hurt 
themselves by the narrowness.

Atlanta's WYAY has only been on for a few days and is OK, but it is a pretty 
thin second string operation compared to WBZ. YAY's "playlist" is really 
short. I would not want to listen to it for more than 20 minutes. Even 
though I'd like to hear more special features, and more stories on WBZ, I 
can listen to it for a lot longer.

Folks that are interested in news & information are going to listen to WBZ, 
no matter what their ages, or whether it's on AM or FM-they will find it. 
There's little that any programmer can do to bring in non-news listeners to 
an all new station. The format has little to do with grampy. It has to do 
with folks that want News & Information related programs. Given the current 
trend with all ages and formats, adding an FM similcast would be likely to 
increase audience. FM just sounds better even if the program is just voice. 
But, dropping the AM all-news would be a big mistake. There are many places 
that the FM signal would not work, and the AM would, just like the many 
places the AM is unlistenable because of noise and the FM is fine. And, 
nearly every person that I know that travels throughout New England as part 
of their job--sales, or service, or whatever--listens to WBZ at some point 
every week, or every day, or multiple times per day. If WBZ goes to FM only, 
then, that audience, and it is significant, goes away.

Switching the oldies from 103.3 to 1030 would be a big mistake. Nearly all 
of us that grew up in the 60's-70's-80's would be the target audience and I 
know of no one in that group that would go back to listening to music on AM. 
After all, today's oldies generation is the generation that made FM a 
success.  WODS 1030 would have few listeners.

The best thing WBZ can do is stay with the current format, add FM (not just 
HD2--HD radio sounds OK, but coverage is poor and it is a flop, just like AM 
HD) if they can find a decent signal, and to get people to listen longer, 
increase the number of stories and special features, and add newer features.

Mark Casey

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Hall" <chris2526@comcast.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 3:40 PM
Subject: WBZ should hang it's head in shame


Most of us have very fond feelings for WBZ but it is 2012 not 1985. KISS-108 
sounded great in 1985 and it would be great nostalgia but it would not be 
viable CHR in 2012. While almost all the other CBS Radio owned and 
programmed news outlets have moved along with the times WBZ is stagnant in 
the past to its detriment and that is sad. They get away with it because 
there is no competition, Do you think CBS would sit back and allow WBZ-TV to 
look and sound like they did in 1987.......never. Someone in the 
organization would be wise to bring in the programmers from WINS and WCBS 
before it is too late.
I recently wrote on Radio Info of being at a family Christening loaded with 
both men and women in the 20 to 35 year age group. Since at the time it was 
a hot topic I asked around if anyone listened to WBZ all news radio.  The 
answerers ranged from I didn’t know there was an all news station......you 
mean  channel 4? (WBZ-TV).......  is it closer on the dial to WEEI or the 
Sports Hub. They do not have the fast paced product that this age group 
would listen to.
I asked my niece (32) and nephews (28) and (30) , the three of them agreed 
that WBZ was one of the stations that Nana and Grampy always had on in the 
car whenever they took them out for a ride or to McDonalds over 20 years 
ago. Nana died in 1999, Grampy left us in 2007. If WBZ continues to keep 
their head in the sand it will be at their own peril, even if they were to 
move the current product to FM it may be too late for the long run.