I hope not. Maybe I'm alone in this line of thinking, but in a few more than 50 trips around the sun I've concluded that format changes aren't something to only be anticipated or celebrated.
The first big city format change I remember was 1973. The old line aging audience MOR AM in my hometown switched to top 40. The new music was more to my liking. The jocks were hipper, edgier. What never occurred to me was the dozen or more people who lost their jobs in the change. What I didn't think about was the number of older listeners (family and friends included) that were no longer desired by advertisers and left without a radio station. And to this day, that frequency has never seen the same ratings or revenue that it did prior to that 1973 change.
Okay. So that's only one example.
But no matter what, there will always be two sides to a format change. One is "hey...cool...we have a new radio station." The other is failure. A failed business plan and lost jobs (though yes, probably not as many as there once was) doesn't strike me as something to look forward to There's a side to a format change (and I've been through a couple of them) where human nature means you're going to question what went wrong? What could I have done differently? You've worked your backside off for a radio station, but it wasn't enough.
I know. Probably not this weekend, but there are a couple of stations in town that likely will eventually end up pulling the plug. But I guess that rather than execute an all out change, I for one would prefer seeing them simply find the way to make what they're trying to do finally succeed. Work through a couple of failures in 35 years in any business and you'll understand.
Sorry. I'm sure that's not the answer you were looking for.
