Posted by Steve Green on July 28, 2007 at 02:45:33:
In Reply to: Re: Detailed Article About Playing 80's on Oldies Stations posted by Paulus on July 27, 2007 at 21:55:13:
If this article had straddled any more fences I'd've gotten sore reading it.
Maybe I'm a bit slower than usual this overnight, but with the theme 'works in NY but not other places' as a reference, I can't see why Ross then names two other major market examples of success and then quotes Mike McVay's client stations doing it. There is reference to 'a number of stations' that 'have tried it', but no specifics. 'New York is contextually different from any other market' can be applied to 290 other markets as well, including the Philly and Cleveland markets mentioned.
The rest of the article seems like a bunch of tap-dancing to cover as many eventualities as can fit into an article. If you cover enough bases you can go on file, officially, as knowing the cause of any subsequent result. For example :
>> ... 'But a lot of stations aren't going to put the same work into covering all the eras of rock 'n' roll, rather than just sounding too new. And not everybody should have to. WOGL Philadelphia -- the station whose success has helped spur at least a few Oldies relaunches -- has done very well with just that handful of early '80s titles. In situations where the market will let you play the '80s and still be unique, the '80s are perhaps an option. But they shouldn't yet be taken as an imperative...' <<
Yet he won't name a market. Or even a state. Or even an EFFORT at a time frame. Or even a time zone. Sounds like someone playing chess against himself.
WCBS-FM is breaking molds. One mold being pulverized is overanalysis such as this chickensnortch 'finding', whatever his conclusion was, if any, which has been an obstacle to progress all along.
WCBS is about staff and listeners having fun. If they're ruining Sean Ross' fun, too bad.