the dentist

The dentist would like to host oldies on WABC on weekends.
Maybe if he pays enough for air time.

WABC will not break format and play any type of music. Oldies would attract listeners outside of the desired 25-54 demographic. Allan Sniffen plays oldies on Rewound Radio. WABC Rewound will be featured on Memorial Day weekend on his internet station.

BruceNYC said:

WABC will not break format and play any type of music. Oldies would attract listeners outside of the desired 25-54 demographic. Allan Sniffen plays oldies on Rewound Radio. WABC Rewound will be featured on Memorial Day weekend on his internet station.

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How many 25-54s is the current angry conservative talk format drawing? Oldies won't help, but at least they may add to the cume. What, realistically, will help WABC improve its ratings and lose the ad-dollar-sapping old folks?

"BruceNYC
WABC will not break format and play any type of music."

What 'format? Much of WABC's airtime is peddled to whoever-whatever on weekends.

It is a sinking ship, anyone who can pump or bail is welcome. I'm surprised Sniffen hasn't gotten together with several other would-be-dj's and bought time.

I would imagine most of WABC's audience is 55 plus. Most talk stations do not do very well 25-54. Mark Simone'sSaturday night show was a bright spot on Saturday. Weekends for the most part are infomercials. I can't imagine anybody listening to them, but a few do, obviously, and that is where they make their money

I would love to hear an oldies show on WABC. How much difference is there in the audience it would attract? It would still be 55 plus,but at least it would be worth listening to.

I think it might be sellable. I really do. It would take some work, but I think there are enough boomers in the area who might want to pay to bring back the past.

If you listen to WABC on the weekends, you will realize that the only qualifier to be on the air is the ability to buy the time. From Doctors, to financial planners, to the union guys who think they are broadcasters, to the guy from Talkers Magazine, to the nut job that's on in the middle of the night, they have 2 things in common.... (1) they have the 3-5 thousand dollars WABC charges for the hour and (2) they have no business being on a 50,000 watt clear channel AM radio station in the #1 market. Seems like the perfect scenario for a dentist!

WABC may be the worst major market talk station in the country. I'm amazed they even get a 1 share. I won't compare it to it's sister station in LA, KABC,which is in the same boat, but KFI which also is a 50,000 watt powerhouse. How can two stations be so different? KFI is live and local until 10PM and the weekends aren't filled with infomercials.

From a syndicated morning show that should have been gone long ago to the same syndicated stuff you could hear on so many other stations from 3PM on save the 5PM hour which is piped in from KABC's AM host.

WABC did a Sinatra show on Saturdays with Mark Simone years ago, and Mark did his oldies show until a few years ago. WABC on the weekend is a vast wasteland. Yes, I realize those infomercials bring in money, but... Just horrendous. Anything would be better than what is airing now. Adding a music show on Satiurday nights again might bring in some new listeners..er..any listeners. So what if they are 55 plus? WABC has hit rock bottom on the weekend. They can't do any worse.

The Cumulus way=make money, care not about listeners!

Oldies on weekends seems to work well for NJ101.5. I'm surprised more talk stations haven't tried it - especially those with a history in top 40 radio. Talk audience numbers go way down on weekends, which is why weekends are mostly best of or brokered. What NJ101.5 does that makes sense is they target the same age group with oldies that they get with talk. Talk listeners grew up with music radio, too.

But the talk shows on NJ 101.5 do not seem to be targeting old people. I tune in every once in a while and the people calling into those shows seem to be a lot of stay at home moms or people calling from work. Not 70 year old retirees as you might think. The hosts of the shows also seem younger than what you would find on other stations.

ansky beat me to it but let me add that nj1015s talk format does not concentrate on strictly political talk, it coves a variety of talk subjects. WTKS Orlando has a similar talk format with classic rock on thew weekends and they ok with ratings

This is kind of what Cumulus is trying to do with it's talk stations, move away from political talk. But so far, it hasn't helped their ratings in NY or LA.

So talk isn't working on AM anymore and music isn't working on AM anymore. What's left? Ambient sound? White noise? Maybe we go back to Morse Code?

^ Brokered foreign language programming and/or Jesuscasting isn't too far off in the distance for most AM radio.

CTListener said:

Maybe we go back to Morse Code?

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AM is just one step above Morse Code, which is why it really needs help, and why it's at such a competitive disadvantage with anything else.

WABC's sister station up in Bridgeport WICC 600 is a talk station and they play several hours of Oldies Music on the weekend. Several times I've also heard Oldies Music on WICC when the Yankees have been in rain delay or canceled due to rain. They also carry Oldies Music on their stream during Yankees games.

TheBigA said:

AM is just one step above Morse Code, which is why it really needs help, and why it's at such a competitive disadvantage with anything else.

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Why does it NEED help? If paid religion and brokered ethnic are the only formats that will work except for news in mega-markets and sports here and there, why not just allow stations to go dark? It's nice to think of the little people who own the 1 kw stations in the Ozarks or the Delta, but really, where's the pressing need to keep AM broadcasting going? When enough people got in the habit of using the telephone and other media to get urgent messages to each other, Western Union stopped delivering text messages. Advertisers aren't supporting AM because it's not attracting enough listeners in the demographics that are easy marks for a sales pitch. Fine, that's American capitalism in all its cynical glory. But if broadcasters can't find anything that will bring those listeners back to AM -- from FM, satellite, Internet, or whatever -- then why not bite the bullet and shut the band down?

CTListener said:

But if broadcasters can't find anything that will bring those listeners back to AM -- from FM, satellite, Internet, or whatever -- then why not bite the bullet and shut the band down?

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The government owns the AM band, and it won't shut it down. It wants access to any and all media for emergency purposes. That's all they care about. That the stations stay on the air in case of emergency...not whether or not anyone listens. And as long as it's there and cheap enough, there will be someone who can run a business using it. Just not a very entertaining or mass appeal business.