The Straight Skinny

 

Letters, We Get Letters

Reader feedback by the carload

 

By Carol Archer

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The following is a sample of readers' comments received in the wake of postings on Entercom's KSSJ/Sacramento's format flip and current events at KTWV(The Wave)/Los Angeles.

 

More Weezer Than Geezers

KSSJ/Sacramento APD Lee Hansen responds to Billboard's Gordon Murray, who mused here last week on the value of upper-demo listeners: "Has he tried to sell radio time recently? Good luck hitting the streets with an old audience. Yes the 64+ audience has lots of disposable income, even in these tough times. But, newsflash, the ad biz is a youth culture. They even have trouble justifying 54 year olds, let alone 64+. Hell, anything over 45 has to be positioned carefully and rates adjusted accordingly.

       "We’re operating in the real world, dumb as it may be, not Gordon's fantasy world, intelligent as it may be. It’s more about Weezer than geezers."

 

A New Drawing Board

EI Music U.S. VP Jazz/Adult (and former Verve President) Chuck Mitchell says that he has more or less given up on terrestrial commercial music radio. "The older audience has gone elsewhere (NPR, various forms of talk, satellite) and the younger audience is scattered to the digital winds, with Pandora a huge impact player.

       "Most of the remaining, advertiser-supported, over-the-air music stations I hear across the Internet are supporting their shareholders, advertisers, and corporate debt load -- anything but the listener. The idea of a passively-consumed, skillfully programmed music mix, integrated into an entertainment package that defines a cultural and demographic lifestyle [and is] marketable to advertisers -- well, it's time to get a new drawing board…maybe an iPad?"

      He adds that the current state of affairs in radio raises unanswered questions: "Are old media programming executives trying to solve problems created by a new media revolution, with old media language and 'tweaks' that don't address the larger issues? Like, maybe the audience is programming itself and old media radio can't keep up?

      "Does PPM answer any questions about the viability of SJ, smooth AC, urban AC, smooth Urban AC with a half-twist with anything other than: 'Change the format'?

      "Does Facebook feedback provide anything more than a digitally-delivered, contemporary version of what we used to call "Mother-In-Law research? I mean for old media radio programmers.

      "In today's old media radio, are programmers doing enough for the audience? And what are they doing for the audience they wish they had? This is not just a question about money."

The idea of a passively-consumed, skillfully programmed music mix, integrated into an entertainment package that defines a cultural and demographic lifestyle [and is] marketable to advertisers -- well, it's time to get a new drawing board…maybe an iPad? -- Chuck Mitchell