Worries About Rock Radio
I fear for rock radio. With more people opting to get their music in customized and personalized forms from a variety of Internet sources–and with tighter integration of smart phones and automobile infotainment systems–there’s a listener crisis looming.
In fact, rock stations have been slowly disappearing from the FM dial. Consider:
- Q101/Chicago, once an important alt-rock powerhouse, is gone, replaced by an all-talk station.
- WRXP, one of the few rock stations serving the NYC area, has been swapped out for an all-news station.
- Today, WHQT/Orlando moved aside to allow talk station WDBO to take its slot at 96.5 Mhz.
- WYSP/Philadelphia will vanish on September 6th, replaced wiht a simulcast of their parent company’s AM talker.
- Meanwhile, a number of campus radio stations have either signed off or been sold off because the thinking is that none of the students listen to radio, anyway.
There are many reasons for these business moves, but I won’t get into them here. But I do want to point out a reality: as much as I love it and have built my life around it, traditional analogue terrestrial music radio is an old technology, destined to eventually be pushed aside by whatever is coming next.
Rock radio seems to be shaping up to be some kind of canary in a coal mine. With many of them targeting the important 18-34 demo, they’re finding that this pool of listeners is shrinking as young people migrate to the Internet for much of their music and music information. Worse still is that there’s an entire generation of people which, thanks to P2P file-sharing, YouTube and iPods, have no experience with or affinity with radio whatsoever.
This doesn’t mean rock radio will disappear tomorrow or next week. But stations owned by publically-traded corporations will face increasing scrutiny when it comes to ROI. Expect to see more stations disappear from the dial, especiallyin the US were competition is more fierce and the economy is much worse.
So what’s rock radio to do? Get with the IP-delivery program. If you’re interested in this topic, drop me a line and I’ll have my agent set up a speaking engagement for you.
There's lots of rock stations on Sirius/XM radio. There's too many commercials on the regular radio. I also have no interest in hearing pop and hip hop. I get to hear the kind of music I want on the internet and satelite radio.
No one ever buys a pizza Because Of the delivery person! Too many DJ's sound like the family brat that insists on being in every photo regardless, only to then put on a fake dementedly plastic grin instead of just a normal smile or glance. What do people do? From then on, they order their pizza from elsewhere.
Hi Alan: At the risk of being self-serving….. as I predicted a few years ago…..more talk and less music on FM
http://fyimusic.ca/industry-news/broadcasting/the-fyimusic-interview-with-warren-cosford
From my experience at WDRE New York and 89X Windsor/Detroit, part of The Problem is that Radio is no longer taking a Lead Role in Anticipating and Reflecting Pop Culture. Radio Follows.
In 1994, CHUM's 89X had been on the air for a couple of years as an "Alternative" station that had great Street Creds but never as much as a 2 Share. It was typical of "hipper than the room" "New Music" Stations of the Era before they became known as Modern Rock.
While CHUM was trying to Research The Problem Away………within 8 months, Liz Janik and I grew the share 1.7-3.3 led by her wonderful "ears" and instincts and my experience from 'DRE creating Radio's first series of regular "Meet and Greets" which recycled the audience and made the most of what we had. No marketing, no changes on staff. Just a smart promotion and "the right music"…….. often in spite of what The Trades and The Industry told us what was The Right Music.
Liz called it "female friendly" Modern Rock.
We knew it was going to 'kick in' when women advertising in The Companion Section of Detroit's Metro Times began describing themselves as "listens to 89X". Suddenly we didn't just have a "format". We had a "club".
So….what did CHUM do? What Companies Too Big to Think often do when confronted by a Phenomenon they don't understand and hadn't anticipated. They Retrenched. What else could they do? They'd just spent almost $40 Thousand on a Research Project to "fix" 89X…….a Research Project which related in only minor ways to how the station now sounded.
Fifteen years earlier I had built my Programming Reputation by growing CHUM-FM from Toronto's #1 FM to Canada's #1 FM despite new competition from Q-107 and CFNY. Now, with a similar success in Windsor/Detroit, a far more competitive market, I was taken off the case and assigned to program the two AM Stations and overall Operations of Canada's first Duopoly. More amazing…….Liz's contract was not renewed.
A year later, 89X was once again, struggling to achieve a 2 share.
You can't "Research" Pop Culture. By the time you figure out what "it" is, it's already passed you by. When I told that to the guy from the Research Group……his eyes glazed over and said he thought I was "Cosmic".
Indeed.
WC