Chuck, I really wish I could disagree with you, but...... I can't. You are exactly right.
Like Prais said, I love the music as well, and WJJD really did try hard with the format.
After WJJD. AM 850 picked up the DG standards format(or what name it was called at that
time), and even though that 2,500 watt station, far north of the city scored in the top 10
several times, it was still a tough sell and eventually went talk.
It is so tough for stations in big cities to sell it and make money off it. The format can
work in smaller areas, not an easy sell but much different than Chicago.
If I owned a small AM in Chicago, I would love to say that I would put this kind of format
on. Then there is reality, the price of the station and the fact that I could make a lot more
money brokering out the station. If I had to make money off the station to make a living
I would probably have to go the brokered route, to survive and not lose money, or break
even.
Now in my dream world where I was a wealthy and did not care about the station really
turning a profit, I'd be doing standards yesterday
.
To point out once again what you said Chuck, there's a big difference between a small
market station doing it, and one in a large market. I sell a station with an EZ-Hits, standards
in a small market, and it's a lot of work, but, most of my clients are mom and pops that know
the owner and listen to us. In Chicago unfortunately it would be a different story, not impossible
but very tough. Certainly much tougher than a small small market.
The biggest reason is the fact that a city has so many people from around the world,
that selling airtime for groups like Polish, Spanish, Russian etc. makes more money.
A 20 year old immigrant who just came from Poland will listen to AM radio for news
and entertainment, if they don't speak English. It would be hard to get a 20 year old
in Chicago to tune in to standards. I wish it wasn't, yet, that's reality :'(
