102.5 to flip to FM talk in two weeks

[Cedric]

Phil Hendrie is on 820 WWBA right now. I think he would be a great fit, but I would be surprised to see that happen.

[Obtuse1]

And let's not forget that 2 of top 3 songs on the Hot 100 this week are by alternative acts (Gotye and Fun.) The kids are really into this stuff so I think most alt stations would be better served going here than going more active friendly.

Um kids are into today's Metal.. like Avenged Sevenfold, 5 Finger death Punch.. they are what is selling.... alternative stations are hanging on barely by the 32-38 year olds. Active rock always beats out Alternative rock. 

Funny didn't see them among the Top 100 albums last year....oh wait, had to click through a few pages:

Avenged Sevenfold..#133
Five Finger Death Punch #179 (interesting fact...this was out-sold last year by a budget Lynyrd Skynryd compilation).

Not selling. Maybe enough to warrant a spin or two on 98Rock or 97X among the more popular fare, but not enough to build a format around.

As for "Active rock always beats out Alternative rock". This certainly doesn't apply to actual music sales. As far as ratings, one need look no farther than Jacksonville at Cox-owned 97X clone WXXJ to disprove that statement. And in the top 10 markets (spread across the country, so this is not a regional phenomenon) the top flavor of current rock station?

New York: Alt. (an out-of-market signal, as NYC proper has no current rock station).
L.A.: Alt. (KROQ is also the 7th largest billing station in the US).
Chicago: Adult Alt.
San Fran: Alt.
Dallas/Ft. Worth: Alt.
Houston/Galveston: Alt.
Washington D.C. Alt.
Philly: Rock
Atlanta: Rock (no major Alt. station in the market)
Boston: Alt.

yeah..."always". 

As for what "the kids" are actually listening to, you'll find that on 'FLZ and Hot (where what little rock you'll find is on the alternative side). If "the kids" were actually still into "metal", the stations that cater to them would be playing it. The "kids" around here all seem to be listening to Hip Hop, Dance/Pop, a side of Alt. Rock, and a splash of dubstep.

They seem to like sharing it, too (usually at 3am driving past my house).

Back to "The Bone"...I'd suggest the syndicated "Loveline" for late nights, but it's already tied up at WSRQ-AM Sarasota.

I also wonder if Fisher will make the jump over to 102.5.

[scottsvb5]

You posted no facts Obtuse. Everything you posted were flawed. First off when talking about kids.. they listen to Metal-Rock-Hip Hop. More Metal today then 5 years ago, but there is a lack of metal stations in the major markets. Of course kids listen to Hip-Hop... the statement was Active Rock vs Alt rock.  Some of the Top markets don't have a Active Rock station and some like here in Tampa, don't play alot of Todays Active Rock.. they are recurrents mostly or same old songs from 2-20 years ago grunge scene.
Some of the Alternative Markets that do well are ones with Great Morning Drives or Afternoon.. look at 102.5... without Bubba or Cowhead.. the station is dead.. but with them.. they lead the 18-34 age group and that's what Rock caters to.  Alternative rock songs are also played on some Top 40 stations.. like FLZ for example.. so they get more of a fan base from 12-21 year old girls that listen to some rock mixed in. But for True Rock stations.. Active Rock beats out every Alternative Station when both are in the same city unless the Alternative Drive time is better than who's DJ'ing the Active Rock Station.
97X is a great example of how much no one listens to it.. It's horrible Alt music, horrible playlist and that station needs to flip or do something.

[scottsvb5]

btw billboards this week is is Rock Album sales

1 Shinedown
2 Nickleback
3 Van Halen
5 High On Fire
6 5 Finger Death Punch
8 Meshuggah
9 My Darkest Days
10 Foo Fighters

Only The Used at # 4  Candlebox at # 7 were not HardRock or Metal that made the top 10 for example

[Parttimer]

Scott.... here's the big flaw in your logic:

You're assuming the rock stations are aimed at young people. For the most part, they're not. While some are aimed 18-34, the real money is in 25-54, thus the preponderance of older and non-metal stuff. So what "the kids" are listening to doesn't matter, because they aren't the target audience.

The other big problem is that even if a really hard-edged station has some ratings, advertisers (who are generally adults) will not buy a station they can't stand. Urban has the same problem.

[Cedric]

I hate to do it, but I have to agree with Scott on this one. All you old timers seem to forget what radio was like in your day, which totally explains the sorry state of radio these days. Parttimer's comment is like saying, WLCY would have fared better commercially by playing Lawrence Welk. The old farts who are programming these stations have ABSOLUTELY no idea what 20-somthings like myself want to hear. Let me give you a hint, neither 98 Rock or The Bone have it figured out (and that's why the bone is throwing in the towel)... And if 98 Rock's shows aren't already aimed at teenagers, I don't know what is! Seriously, that Kage Kult show sounds like something I would have been into when I was 14... beer can sound effects and fart sound effects... oh my, that's fancy.

The boomer generation has killed terrestrial radio (along with many other things) because they're so overly confident that they know what the next generations want. And apparently they think we have an attention span so short, that we won't notice they are only playing 30 songs, and voice tracking everything.... meh. This is why the only station I listen to anymore is WTAN.

[rfrus]

HOT 101.5's PD is 23 and is LIVE

[Mark Jeffries]

I hate to do it, but I have to agree with Scott on this one. All you old timers seem to forget what radio was like in your day, which totally explains the sorry state of radio these days. Parttimer's comment is like saying, WLCY would have fared better commercially by playing Lawrence Welk. The old farts who are programming these stations have ABSOLUTELY no idea what 20-somthings like myself want to hear. Let me give you a hint, neither 98 Rock or The Bone have it figured out (and that's why the bone is throwing in the towel)... And if 98 Rock's shows aren't already aimed at teenagers, I don't know what is! Seriously, that Kage Kult show sounds like something I would have been into when I was 14... beer can sound effects and fart sound effects... oh my, that's fancy.

The boomer generation has killed terrestrial radio (along with many other things) because they're so overly confident that they know what the next generations want. And apparently they think we have an attention span so short, that we won't notice they are only playing 30 songs, and voice tracking everything.... meh. This is why the only station I listen to anymore is WTAN.

Documented proof that 98 Rock and the Bone only have 30 songs in their playlist.  Please use Mediabase.

[Parttimer]

I hate to do it, but I have to agree with Scott on this one. All you old timers seem to forget what radio was like in your day, which totally explains the sorry state of radio these days. Parttimer's comment is like saying, WLCY would have fared better commercially by playing Lawrence Welk.

No, it would not. The business was different then, and not driven by agency buyers from somewhere else who just look at numbers on a computer screen to decide who gets buys and who doesn't. Bottom line is that a rock station, if it gets just 18-34 males, won't bring in that much money unless its ratings are off the charts. There's a lot more ad money out there for young females, thus the push to CHR. Rock has to get 25-54s.

And I'm not personally a fan of short playlists, but I worked for an owner once who wanted us to play fewer songs than our competitor. His logic was "any time a listener flips between us and them, I want us to be playing a better song." Now 30 songs is absurd if that's true, but his point was valid.

In 98 Rock's case, if they are treating it like a CHR and playing new songs, then a short list makes sense. I'm out of the market, haven't heard them in quite some time.

But if you guys really want variety and deep cuts, pony up the $15/month and get Sirius.

[BIGRIGGER]

30 songs  . Currents and recurrents maybe. You're not seeing the gold library or other level cuts...geez seriously dude Of course I'm only speaking for 98rock LOL..
In our lastest playlist period on the website we played a total of 594 songs. This is measured by the week.

Here's the page where you can look through them all : http://www.98rock.com/iplaylist/playlist.html

rig