"It's the programming, stupid!"

[Dan.Strassberg]

It's really a shame that AM has acquired the image of the "low-rent
medium," the "'nice people' don't go there" image of parts of
Dorchester and Mattapan. Not too many years ago, there was a similar
rap on the South End, but developers invaded, rebuilt a few
properties, and started to turn things around. After a few more years,
the South End became one of Boston's most desirable residential
neighborhoods. Property values have gone through the roof and, I've
heard, remain high despite the pitifully depressed real-estate market
in most of the US.

I suppose that the way a similar scenario might apply to AM would be
if it could attract some unique boutique programming that would give
the band a trendy image. Alas, that doesn't appear likely.
Broadcasters have another product to sell and its name is FM. That's
where the advertisers are spending their $$$. Who wants to have to
twist advertisers' arms, and ultimately give time away (or nearly give
it away) to make a sale on AM when the agencies will have your phone
ringing off the hook if you have FM time to sell?

Working hand-in-hand with the industry's bizarre economics, the utter
lack of imagination that has characterized the broadcasting industry
for generations has probably doomed AM. Even so, the AM band is not
likely to disappear overnight.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: "It's the programming, stupid!"


> On 5/18/2012 11:19 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>> It wasn't signal that hurt WEEI a year ago.....the station faced a
>> backlash
>> from angry Bruins fans that the station ignored for years.
>>
>> The night signal to the NW improved a decade ago when CKVL went
>> dark as
>> that Montreal outlet always stayed on day pattern.
>>
>> The reality is the sports fans now button push between the 2
>> depending on
>> what is being talked about.
>
> You could hire the very best chef in New England and the best
> interior decorators and serve the very freshest food, and if you
> build your restaurant on a side street somewhere off Blue Hill
> Avenue, you're never going to get the same following you'd get if
> you put that same restaurant on Newbury Street.
>
> WEEI and WBZ (and to some extent WRKO) have managed to keep the AM
> "neighborhood" a little more desirable in Boston than in other
> markets around the country, but at some point you have to be where
> your audience wants you to be, if you're going to have any hope of
> continued success.
>
>