Classic Country has a demographic problem where many if not most listeners will be out of the 25-54 or 18-49 sales demos.
This is why I think it'd be a good idea to center the format on the 80s-90s "Hot Country" that was dominant at the time. That decade should gain listeners as young as their late 20s with the bulk being in their late 30s and 40s, as opposed to the traditional Classic Country format that attracts a significantly older audience.
A more local example would be KFYN out of Bonham. CT makes a good point I had forgotten about.
There is also a huge split in country music at the moment, with listeners that like the new "pop/bro country" and the more traditional listeners that can't stand it. I'd suspect the split is large enough that a station that focuses on Country Music prior to the "popification" would have an appreciable audience.
Edit: Pulled the recently played list off the KFYN stream
Lee Roy Parnell - Tender Moment
Vince Gill - What The Cowgirls Do
Billy Ray Cyrus - In The Heart Of A Woman
Desert Rose Band - One Step Forward
George Straight - Ocean Front Property
Tracy Byrd - Holdin' Heaven
Lionel Cartwright - Give Me His Last Chance
Sammy Kershaw - Haunted Heart
Dwight Yoakam - Fast As You
Neal McCoy - No Doubt About It
Shenandoah - I Got You
Restless Heart - Familiar Pain
Tracy Lawrence - Alibis
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Fishin' In The Dark
I am very familiar with One Step Forward by the DRB because I played it on KEOM back in the 80s. Familiar with many, many other country hits from the 80s as well.
R
I know them all, too. It's just that I haven't heard some of them since the '80s. Several don't even make the cut on the SiriusXM channel covering that period, Prime Country. That's why I was surprised to see them on an FM, where playlists are usually smaller. There just doesn't seem to be any clear idea what songs and artists from that diverse, creative time in country music should be played today, when the genre has changed so much. Listen to the crickets chirping at country radio as Garth Brooks tries a comeback. He sells out arenas on nostalgia but can't crack a playlist. His stylistic nods to Billy Joel and Dan Fogelberg worked well on 30- and 40-somethings in the early '90s, but to reach today's 30/40 listener, he'd have to reinvent himself in the style of '90s/'00s artists -- most of whom he spent that period of his career providing an alternative to!
I would predict none of the above will happen. Jack is one of the highest billers of the CBS cluster. Why move it, especially when 100.3 was last a CHR 13 years ago? I can't see that heritage as being beneficial.
KRLD-FM also bills a fortune. Pretty sure both it and Jack outbill KLUV despite lower ratings.
La Grande seems most likely to flip (though that's far from a given), but it's highly unlikely it would go back to smooth jazz. That format is so PPM unfriendly and doesn't have a ton of new product.
I would predict none of the above will happen. Jack is one of the highest billers of the CBS cluster. Why move it, especially when 100.3 was last a CHR 13 years ago? I can't see that heritage as being beneficial.
KRLD-FM also bills a fortune. Pretty sure both it and Jack outbill KLUV despite lower ratings.
La Grande seems most likely to flip (though that's far from a given), but it's highly unlikely it would go back to smooth jazz. That format is so PPM unfriendly and doesn't have a ton of new product.
Signal-wise, I thought AMP could do better on 100.3. I initially thought Entercom would tell Jack to hit the road, move AMP to 100.3, and flip 103.7 to something new, but I wouldn't mind if Entercom decides to simply swap frequencies for AMP and Jack.
If Entercom decides to blow up La Grande 107.5, I'm not sure what they would put on 107.5, but like I said before, it's very unlikely that Entercom will bring another AC to Dallas-Fort Worth. People who want to listen to Smooth Jazz in Dallas-Fort Worth can tune over to 103.7's HD2 channel if they have an HD Radio receiver. Classic Hip-Hop or Urban AC may work on 107.5, but it's not given. That will all depend on where the format wheel will land if La Grande is blown up.
Thanks for the info, David. I could've sworn I'd heard Jack was either the top or second highest biller in that cluster, though that was a couple of years ago, and I've slept since then. Unfortunately, I don't have the access to the information I once did since I've been out of radio for over eight years now.
I still wouldn't look to see many, if any, format changes in that cluster. I doubt we'll see many at all among CBS and Entercom once the merger happens. Both operate well oiled machines and have been relatively steady for several years. I can only think of a few format changes at both over the last few years.