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AM970 The Answer

B

bamagator62

New Participating Member
Has anyone heard the Joe Piscopo show today? It was pathetic Joe is going on and on like a broken record as he always does, about his kids, his divorce, then Debbie DuHaime chimes in about her divorce and her constant laughing I rather listen to a toilet bowl flush.
Joe please run for Governor of NJ and do us all a favor.
 
There are 3 morning talk shows in NYC, all of them hosted by narcissists: Piscopo, Schnitt and Imus. My morning radio listening is now streamed from out of town. I agree that "Live and Local" is important but first you gotta' like the host.
 
With all these floundering AM signals in the area, why can't one be smart and go Classic Oldies like Surf in LA. I just do not understand it, can't do any poorer and it could operate on a shoestring budget. I say the same for the Philly and all Northeast coast city markets.
 
Gunsmoke said:
With all these floundering AM signals in the area, why can't one be smart and go Classic Oldies like Surf in LA. I just do not understand it, can't do any poorer and it could operate on a shoestring budget. I say the same for the Philly and all Northeast coast city markets.
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The AM stations that you say are floundering are likely making money.

In a market where so much advertising comes from agencies, a music AM catering to people over 60 is not going to get much business.

The less viable AMs have lesser signals. So they are limited to relatively small portions of the market, and thus to smaller businesses. The issue is whether how many of them want to reach seniors and whether they can afford more expensive radio advertising. Many small local business have found targeted cable TV, local shoppers and mailers and things like Yelp and search optimization to be the best investments.
 
DavidEduardo said:


The issue is whether how many of them want to reach seniors and whether they can afford more expensive radio advertising. Many small local business have found targeted cable TV, local shoppers and mailers and things like Yelp and search optimization to be the best investments.
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A side note: The "Storm" weather app by Weather Underground has discontinued its "Ad Free" edition and now offers the ad-supported version only. Apparently there's money to be made from streaming ads - enough to make selling the app itself unprofitable.

It's interesting to see the ad-supported model that's been working well in broadcasting for decades shifting to online ad delivery.
 
wadio said:
It's interesting to see the ad-supported model that's been working well in broadcasting for decades shifting to online ad delivery.
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Not exactly "shifting," but expanding, and with basically the same demographic rules.

The big exception is music, where the creators are opposed to people getting music for free. They are encouraging companies like Spotify and Pandora to discontinue their ad-supported free services and replace them with "premium" subscription services.
 
TheBigA said:
Not exactly "shifting," but expanding, and with basically the same demographic rules.
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I should have said, "shifting into," not, "shifting to," but the demographic rules are different in that advertisers can directly target listeners based on metrics far beyond age, sex, income and general location. They can drill down, for example, to listeners in specific zip codes who are shopping for a full-sized SUV and have a less than 3 year old vehicle to trade in. If that happens to be a 75 year old male, he gets served the ad. So that makes targeting age, per se, far less important.

The big exception is music, where the creators are opposed to people getting music for free. They are encouraging companies like Spotify and Pandora to discontinue their ad-supported free services and replace them with "premium" subscription services.
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Interesting. Not sure why it matters to the music industry where the money comes from as long as they get paid. In the 1930s and 40s, the music industry tried to stop allowing their records to be played on "free" radio for the same reason but, when they lost that battle, record sales exploded.
 
wadio said:
I should have said, "shifting into," not, "shifting to," but the demographic rules are different in that advertisers can directly target listeners based on metrics far beyond age, sex, income and general location.
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Sure they can drill down, but it doesn't change the fact that there are fewer advertisers targeting the 75 year old male than the 40 year old female.

wadio said:
In the 1930s and 40s, the music industry tried to stop allowing their records to be played on "free" radio for the same reason
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It wasn't the music industry but the musicians union. Playing records meant less work for musicians. Paul Whiteman sued, and lost.
 
wadio said:
There are 3 morning talk shows in NYC, all of them hosted by narcissists: Piscopo, Schnitt and Imus. My morning radio listening is now streamed from out of town. I agree that "Live and Local" is important but first you gotta' like the host.
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Who do you listen to?
 
Sure they can drill down, but it doesn't change the fact that there are fewer advertisers targeting the 75 year old male than the 40 year old female.
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Why would an advertiser target an age demo when other metrics are far more specific? Times are changing.
 
mohawk82 said:


Who do you listen to?
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I've been listening to WMAL's "Mornings on the Mall" (Washington, DC.)

This was a terrific show with Brian Wilson and Larry O'Connor until the begging of this year when O'Connor moved to afternoons. Then they ran the show with guest co-hosts until hiring Mary Walter as permanent co-host a few weeks ago. She has good ideas and can be interesting but, to paraphrase the late Senator Lloyd Bentsen, "She no Larry O'Connor." Maybe she'll improve with experience.

Then today there was another co-host alongside Mary Walter who will apparently be there for the remainder of this week but there was no mention that he's "filling in" for Brian Wilson."

So where this show is going I'm not sure. I've sampled morning shows closer to home but couldn't find anything very good.
 
wadio said:
I've been listening to WMAL's "Mornings on the Mall" (Washington, DC.)

This was a terrific show with Brian Wilson and Larry O'Connor until the begging of this year when O'Connor moved to afternoons. Then they ran the show with guest co-hosts until hiring Mary Walter as permanent co-host a few weeks ago. She has good ideas and can be interesting but, to paraphrase the late Senator Lloyd Bentsen, "She no Larry O'Connor." Maybe she'll improve with experience.

Then today there was another co-host alongside Mary Walter who will apparently be there for the remainder of this week but there was no mention that he's "filling in" for Brian Wilson."

So where this show is going I'm not sure. I've sampled morning shows closer to home but couldn't find anything very good.
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Thanks for the information! I've heard Mary Walter fill in for a few folks over the years. I like her.
 
wadio said:
Why would an advertiser target an age demo when other metrics are far more specific? Times are changing.
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Radio is bought with age targeting as the first "gate" that must be opened for a station to be on an agency buy. The second is the rate they charge as applied to the client's target. Then there may be other dictates such as "no controversy" or specific formats that are known to represent lifestyle groups that over-index on advertiser product usage.

Since radio is bought that way, stations program that way.
 
TheBigA wrote: Sure they can drill down, but it doesn't change the fact that there are fewer advertisers targeting the 75 year old male than the 40 year old female.
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wadio said:
Why would an advertiser target an age demo when other metrics are far more specific? Times are changing.
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Sorry if I wasn't clear. My reply above referred to Pandora, Spotify, etc. Since these services can deliver ads to very specific potential buyers based on zip codes, recent searches, past purchasing habits, etc., etc., age is no longer a factor.

The specifically targeted results may result in a predominance of a certain age demo, but to target the age demo first is like the tail wagging the dog.

Radio is of course a different matter.
 
wadio said:
No, I think you said only. But you were talking about radio, and I was talking about streaming music services, so "let's call the whole thing off!"
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I thought I was responding to your post about online weather information.
 
Salem, owner of the Answer, is quite adept at developing local ad buys for their programming making them less dependent on agency buys.

Piscopo may have had an off day, but he doesn't do too poorly considering the many options in the market and his station doesn't require direct government subsidies to stay on the air.
 
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