Posted by Allan Sniffen on April 08, 2008 at 09:10:15:
In Reply to: Re: Re: The Numbers That Really Matter posted by Barry on April 08, 2008 at 08:44:33:
>>>Allan, you used to often write that 102.7 should compete with WLTW, back when it had the Mix format. They have been trying to do this since last year with Fresh. <<<
And have done a mediocre job of it. Competing with Lite is the right thing... but not the way they're doing it. The station sounds like a robotic feminine hygiene product. What I was advocating was a direct Lite competitor rather than a PLJ competitor. Lite is only getting a little competition from Fresh. PLJ's getting more.
>>>Are you now saying they should throw in the towel, and go after Z 100 instead? <<<
I think 92.3 would be a better choice but it's probably not going to happen until the PPM's come in. I think CBS-Radio believes K-Rock will do better if only for that reason. We'll see.
Regardless, Clear Channel has two huge FM billers in New York right now. Z 100 and WLTW (with WAXQ also doing well). CBS Radio's three FM's are all clogged together on the lower half of the list. Now I ask you... if you were CBS-Radio, who would you be targeting?
The strategy of "Divide and Conquer" against Lite is reasonable and it seems CBS-FM is holding up its side of the battle. But Fresh isn't. It's too rigid and as such has no hook for advertisers. Fresh, as a brand, can't touch Lite. To be fair, that takes time. But when the station is so lacking in improvisation, it's hard to rise above the noise level. As long as that's true, Lite wins by default.