Posted by Bob Smith on September 25, 2008 at 10:04:58:
In Reply to: Re: Re: CBS Radio President Worried About Disappearance of AM Radios posted by Ari Indik on September 24, 2008 at 17:02:37:
"Do you think that if WABC were a CHR today, it would have the same ratings in the same demos that Z-100 has?"
Maybe not now, 26 years after it abandoned the field...a Musicradio 77 restart against established competition would be crazy.
But the example of WLS in Chicago, which turned off its turntables a good seven years later, and also remained a higher-energy personality station through the transition, shows that it held onto most of its audience deep into the 80s and made a much more successful transition to talk by doing it later, and doing it in a way (and with an energy) that kept more of its core audience through the change.
I also think of WKBW in Buffalo, which stayed in the top 3 in the market 12+ and 25-54 right to the very end of its days as a music station in 1988--then fell right off the ratings map when it changed to talk. Had it made a smoother transition and retained its most well liked personalities through the change from music to talk, the way full service AC competitor WBEN did, it might have held its audience like WBEN did.
I also believe that while people have gotten used to, and now expect, talk of some sort to dominate the AM dial, they're going to continue to go there for it as long as it's there, and as long as it's being done well and satisfies the listener's needs and wants.
Dan Mason's own stations are actually a good case study in how that can work. I'm surprised he's calling into question one of the foundations of the CBS radio division's continued success. WCBS, WINS, WFAN, WBZ, KCBS, KDKA, KMOX, WCCO, KNX and KFWB ain't exactly chopped liver...they look more like licenses to print money to me.