THE BEST OF
Welcome to The Best of Radio Espionage!
Every Monday, I will be posting an article on radio programming that I've written in the past. I will post a mix of articles that still apply today and also give you an idea of how radio was programmed in the past All based on my personal programming experience intertwined with what I've taken from working with some of the best programming minds in the business. I sincerely hope you'll find each article informative and useful. - ME
ARE YOU A RULE BREAKER?
I've spent the better part of the past 18 months going over and over the hour by hours of just about every Active Rock and Classic Rock format in the Top 75 markets. During this time I've continued to watch the ratings for many Rock formats decline. The Classic Rock stations still succeeding have heritage status as an advantage but in the markets where Classic Rock and Classic Hits compete, Classic Hits wins 68% of the time. Five years ago, this scenario was reversed. Stations classified as Active Rock have struggled during the same time. However, the trend has been improving recently with stations like WMMR/Philadelphia, KISW/Seattle, KUPD/Phoenix, and WRIF/Detroit.
What I find interesting is the Classic Rock stations that do well, pretty much stick to the Classic Rock playbook with very little deviation from what has worked for decades. The ones that struggle are clearly trying to find a new angle to compete with Classic Hits but from what I can see, they really don't know the rock format well enough to navigate a move away from the traditional Classic Rock approach. The stations classified as Active Rock in the markets I mentioned all seem to be programming for their local markets and it's refreshing to see in the sea of sameness world of radio today.
The struggling Classic Rock stations have a lot in common. Many have dropped the Classic Rock designation and appear to be turning what has always been an artist driven format into a song driven format. I've seen stations go down this rabbit hole many times over the years and I've yet to see it work successfully. Typically what happens is programmers try to he too hip for the room and end up alienating its core listeners while failing to attract new ones.
The sobering fact for Classic Rock is knowing the audience is aging out of the format so I don't disagree with moving away from the Classic Rock designation because of the audience expectations associated with the brand. When you consider the majority of Rockers from the 70;s based bands that built Classic Rock are now well into their 70's and 80's, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how old the audience for their music is. A more sobering fact is realizing Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam will turn 60 this year and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters isn't too far behind.
The solution for struggling Rock stations who dropped the Classic Rock designation isn't becoming more song driven. It's understanding the format's strength is still being artist driven but they need to be less dependent on 70's Rock and more 80's and 90's focused while playing select cuts from the past twenty years. To give you a point of reference, the stations currently doing this somewhat successfully include WKLH in Milwaukee, and KSHE in St. Louis.
To give you another point of reference, if you go to markelliottmedia.com and click on the Axe Radio tab, you will find two options to further define where the future of Rock is heading. There will be a time in the near future where there will be room for only one Rock format per market on terrestrial radio. There is no time like the present to position yourself to take advantage of the future. I can help you steer the ship in the right direction without hitting a bridge.
What I find interesting is the Classic Rock stations that do well, pretty much stick to the Classic Rock playbook with very little deviation from what has worked for decades. The ones that struggle are clearly trying to find a new angle to compete with Classic Hits but from what I can see, they really don't know the rock format well enough to navigate a move away from the traditional Classic Rock approach. The stations classified as Active Rock in the markets I mentioned all seem to be programming for their local markets and it's refreshing to see in the sea of sameness world of radio today.
The struggling Classic Rock stations have a lot in common. Many have dropped the Classic Rock designation and appear to be turning what has always been an artist driven format into a song driven format. I've seen stations go down this rabbit hole many times over the years and I've yet to see it work successfully. Typically what happens is programmers try to he too hip for the room and end up alienating its core listeners while failing to attract new ones.
The sobering fact for Classic Rock is knowing the audience is aging out of the format so I don't disagree with moving away from the Classic Rock designation because of the audience expectations associated with the brand. When you consider the majority of Rockers from the 70;s based bands that built Classic Rock are now well into their 70's and 80's, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how old the audience for their music is. A more sobering fact is realizing Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam will turn 60 this year and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters isn't too far behind.
The solution for struggling Rock stations who dropped the Classic Rock designation isn't becoming more song driven. It's understanding the format's strength is still being artist driven but they need to be less dependent on 70's Rock and more 80's and 90's focused while playing select cuts from the past twenty years. To give you a point of reference, the stations currently doing this somewhat successfully include WKLH in Milwaukee, and KSHE in St. Louis.
To give you another point of reference, if you go to markelliottmedia.com and click on the Axe Radio tab, you will find two options to further define where the future of Rock is heading. There will be a time in the near future where there will be room for only one Rock format per market on terrestrial radio. There is no time like the present to position yourself to take advantage of the future. I can help you steer the ship in the right direction without hitting a bridge.
Comments and Questions Welcome at mem@markelliottmedia.com
E: mem@markelliottmedia.com
P: (818) 259-0091
Copyright 2024
P: (818) 259-0091
Copyright 2024
