TC
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 9,480
|
Post by TC on Apr 5, 2009 8:10:58 GMT -5
Talk radio is still doing pretty well, I'm fairly sure. Music radio (non-XM/Sirius that is) is definitely deader than a doornail. Actually, Top 40 is the only format doing well. You don't need people for it - just cue up a giant playlist, have someone in your corporate studios do some bumpers, and it seems to be the format that PPM likes the best, so everyone is flipping stations to it. Spanish language was hit by PPM pretty hard but that's a growing demographic so it's probably a growing format. FM talk is dead (FreeFM as a format is gone, the last couple FreeFM's died in February when KLSX was switched to Top 40). If you're making the point that Sports Talk is doing ok, maybe they are in a few cities (Boston, NY) - but overall it's not a popular format. Political talk radio's average listener age is something like 65, so maybe they have a few years left but you have to question the viability of a format when the audience is literally dying off. The future is in podcasts once someone figures out how to make money off of them. |
|
Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
|
Post by Bando on Apr 6, 2009 9:25:25 GMT -5
Talk radio is still doing pretty well, I'm fairly sure. Music radio (non-XM/Sirius that is) is definitely deader than a doornail. Actually, Top 40 is the only format doing well. You don't need people for it - just cue up a giant playlist, have someone in your corporate studios do some bumpers, and it seems to be the format that PPM likes the best, so everyone is flipping stations to it. Spanish language was hit by PPM pretty hard but that's a growing demographic so it's probably a growing format. FM talk is dead (FreeFM as a format is gone, the last couple FreeFM's died in February when KLSX was switched to Top 40). If you're making the point that Sports Talk is doing ok, maybe they are in a few cities (Boston, NY) - but overall it's not a popular format. Political talk radio's average listener age is something like 65, so maybe they have a few years left but you have to question the viability of a format when the audience is literally dying off. The future is in podcasts once someone figures out how to make money off of them. Just to add to this, the lone classic rock station in DC shut down this weekend. Even a conventional format like classic rock is not long for this world. Just as an exception, though, is this radio station in San Diego that Pushy Guy turned me onto. DJs play whatever they want (including local music), mostly new rock and classic punk/new wave. They just celebrated their 6th anniversary, so they seem to be fine right now. |
|
Gold Hoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,578
|
Post by Gold Hoya on Apr 6, 2009 12:17:49 GMT -5
How many people under 30 subscribe to a paper today? Do any of you? I am 30 but I'm also a former journalist (The Hoya). I get the WSJ and actually read it when I'm in town; my subscription package comes with free wsj.com access, which I use when out of town. I have a partial Chicago Tribune subscription and the only reason I haven't canceled it is because it's on auto-bill. I will get around to it one of these days. Same reason as C86 cited earlier - their version of journalism sucks now. |
|
TC
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 9,480
|
Post by TC on Apr 6, 2009 12:45:07 GMT -5
I guess the converse of DFW's question is how many people (under, above, or equal to 30 years of age) currently subscribe to any *news-based* service that is purely virtual/internet-only?
I don't subscribe to any paper, but I do subscribe to a bunch of things on the internet (ESPN Insider, Baseball Prospectus).
|
|
PhillyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,016
|
Post by PhillyHoya on Apr 6, 2009 12:56:01 GMT -5
Actually, Top 40 is the only format doing well. You don't need people for it - just cue up a giant playlist, have someone in your corporate studios do some bumpers, and it seems to be the format that PPM likes the best, so everyone is flipping stations to it. Spanish language was hit by PPM pretty hard but that's a growing demographic so it's probably a growing format. FM talk is dead (FreeFM as a format is gone, the last couple FreeFM's died in February when KLSX was switched to Top 40). If you're making the point that Sports Talk is doing ok, maybe they are in a few cities (Boston, NY) - but overall it's not a popular format. Political talk radio's average listener age is something like 65, so maybe they have a few years left but you have to question the viability of a format when the audience is literally dying off. The future is in podcasts once someone figures out how to make money off of them. Just to add to this, the lone classic rock station in DC shut down this weekend. Even a conventional format like classic rock is not long for this world. Just as an exception, though, is this radio station in San Diego that Pushy Guy turned me onto. DJs play whatever they want (including local music), mostly new rock and classic punk/new wave. They just celebrated their 6th anniversary, so they seem to be fine right now. I am so irritated by 94.7's demise. 100.3 is decent but 94.7 was amazing. It's supposed to be "alternative rock" except alt rock stations have been dying for years (namely Y100 in Philly). What other station is going to play the full 16 minute version of Tenth Avenue Freezeout from Bruce's Live In NYC album? |
|
JimmyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Hoya fan, est. 1986
Posts: 1,867
|
Post by JimmyHoya on Apr 6, 2009 13:09:09 GMT -5
GAHHHH NO WHY 94.7 was the only station you'd hear any kind of new non-top 40 music! Time to invest in a new iTrip  |
|
Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
|
Post by Boz on Apr 6, 2009 13:20:21 GMT -5
I don't think I've listened to a traditional (non-satellite or non-Internet) radio station in at least four years, except maybe when I'm in a cab.
I understand TC's point about talk radio having a limited shelf life remaining, I don't disagree. I was just saying that RIGHT NOW, it still seems to be doing OK. It's not for me, I need music to calm my road rage (or, in some cases, to amplify it). Occasionally, I'll tune into sports or politics talk on a long road trip, but again, that's on Sirius/XM, not on a traditional AM/FM station.
|
|
TC
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 9,480
|
Post by TC on Apr 6, 2009 14:01:51 GMT -5
Boz, you're right (for instance both KFI and WABC are in the top-10 if not top-5 for their markets). But when you look ahead and think about the fact that new cars might have internet 5 years from now, you start to wonder if those cars will even bother having a standard radio.
I'm not saying that talk radio as a format will go extinct - if you look at the most popular podcast, it's by far and away This American Life. But traditional radio as a medium seems to have an expiration date stamped upon it right now.
|
|
jgalt
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,380
|
Post by jgalt on Apr 6, 2009 15:12:49 GMT -5
Newspapers, except maybe specialty ones like the Financial Times or the WSJ, will die. A few will remain, such as USAToday or Wash Po or NYT. They will all have regional monopolies and be able to set prices at levels that they can remain viable at. They will also cut staff and sections, and rely on national syndicated stuff. In our new news world the best thing for Newspapers is to form a monopoly. They are no longer competing with other news papers they are competing with the internet and TV. News is a commodity, who ever can provide it for the cheapest price will win (that is why the Free Washington Post Express is so popular).
One of the big mistakes some major metro newspapers have made is allowing their regional monopolies to fade away. The Washington post should have been doing everything they could to buy up the Wash Times and maintain the monopoly. Of course it would be only a matter of time before another small paper sprouted up which the major paper would have to buy out, leading to the major paper going bankrupt from all this spending. This would lead a gap in the market and a few new papers would spring up, with the strongest surviving and the cycle starting all over again.
A similar thing may happen with Radio. But more likely, the format (excluding some genres) will die. It is not expensive to start a local radio station so it will be possible for people to start their own small stations that cater to a specific audience. An alternative may be the rise of College radio stations that have funding apart from ad revenues. We may begin to see this stations attempt to gain market share by expanding their reach. The stations that will survive are those that rely on donations- namely public radio and free form Non Profits (like the great WFMU in Jersey City). People will pay to listen to something like that because they know it will disappear if they dont. They will value each station and the stations content according to how much they like it and how much they cant do with out the content. The ones with the biggest listening audiences will survive and the smaller ones will scale back or die off.
There are many reasons for the demise of local Music radio (like the horrible music that gets played on the radio these days). But one that will cause many stations, even popular ones (like 94.7) to die in the next year is the price increases that the record labels got congress to pass recently. Chalk up another disastrous foray into "helping" the economy for the government.
|
|
derhoya
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 584
|
Post by derhoya on Apr 6, 2009 15:18:16 GMT -5
sad day indeed to find 94.7 is dead. where am I gonna be able to get my PF, Led, etc after work...
what was the reasoning for the reprogramming?
|
|
JimmyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Hoya fan, est. 1986
Posts: 1,867
|
Post by JimmyHoya on Apr 6, 2009 16:01:41 GMT -5
My favorite part of 94.7 was when they'd play Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do?" in its full near 14-minute glory. F'ing tremendous. It made more than a few dutch cruises a LOT better.
|
|
Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
|
Post by Bando on Apr 6, 2009 16:05:25 GMT -5
sad day indeed to find 94.7 is dead. where am I gonna be able to get my PF, Led, etc after work... what was the reasoning for the reprogramming? Probably the same old story: advertising isn't enough and DJs cost money. It's a top 40 station now. Oh, and the very good San Diego station I mentioned before is here: www.fm949sd.com/listen/index.aspx. Social Distortion is playing right now. |
|
DanMcQ
Moderator 
Posts: 32,866
|
Post by DanMcQ on Apr 6, 2009 22:04:49 GMT -5
|
|
Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,729
|
Post by Nevada Hoya on Apr 7, 2009 16:52:47 GMT -5
Sorry to see all the newspapers going belly up. I was raised on the wages of the NY Daily News, where my father was in advertising. Indeed, the classifieds were the life blood of the paper. I believe at one time in the 1950's, NYC had seven dailies. The unions brought about the demise of several of them; most newspapers had multiple unions - when one union went out on strike and made a deal, the next would. I think I remember a 107-day strike in the '50's or '60's.
As far as radio goes, NPR is the only station we listen to for the in depth news and classical music. Indeed they have two frequencies in Las Vegas, one for the news outlet (and Car Talk, Prairie Home Companion, etc. and one for the classical music). Since they are a member subscribed organization, they have a direct link to the listeners.
|
|
