Arp2 wrote:
Is "smart" programming programming that helps meet the financial need of the month or programming that creates and reinforces a brand that can carry a station for its lifetime? The ears of Lester and all the other Lesters out there are what we're really selling...how is it a smart thing to send them away in frustration? That "listener's point of view" that supposedly clouded Lester's mind is the real bottom line!
Yes, I know reality, and I know the times; still, I like to at least entertain the idea that there can be brand integrity and "promises made are promises kept"...it does still exist in almost every other industry, you know.
Fuckin' A.
However, I can see the thinking on this even if I disagree. I don't mean discounting the product. I'm the guy who considers packages and value adds a mortal sin requiring hellfire and eternal damnation as punishment. The programming idea I can see. Radio usage plummets to unseen depths on Super Bowl Sunday. Anyone listening to the radio is wishing they were watching the game. How many phone calls does every radio station in America get on that day asking what station will have the Super Bowl on the air? Why not own it? Why not stick your head in the lion's mouth? I think it's a bad idea for all the reasons Arp pointed out, but it has a small amount of upside and takes some balls.
Good thing the Lord invented CD players, iPods, and competitors.
There is a percentage of the population NOT totally enamoured with football and especially the Super Bowl. Especially if they don't have a favorite team in the mix. I couldn't care less about this year's game, but I did watch the last 10 minutes just to see who won. If I was on the road and only had my radio, I would have been listening to Ryan Secreast or the Golden Oldie Treasure Box or whatever hard drive was patched into the transmitter that night. Football on the radio just ain't that appealing to me ...
Arp2 wrote:Is "smart" programming programming that helps meet the financial need of the month or programming that creates and reinforces a brand that can carry a station for its lifetime? The ears of Lester and all the other Lesters out there are what we're really selling...how is it a smart thing to send them away in frustration? That "listener's point of view" that supposedly clouded Lester's mind is the real bottom line!
Isn't this at odds with your more traditional line about what a listener wants not being relevant (i.e., our dozen or so debates about LPFM) and that the radio programming gods at the clusters, in corporate management, and in the consulting biz know more about what a market or a demo really needs than some vocal listener ...
Hoosier Daddy wrote:Isn't this at odds with your more traditional line about what a listener wants not being relevant....
I have never said that....it's entirely the opposite.
...(i.e., our dozen or so debates about LPFM)....
Ohhhh....those people that clutter the dial and claim they want to "serve" some small community when they really want to play their favorite music for as much of entire metros as they can?? That's different....completely different. They're simultaneously too smart and too outside the mainstream.
...and that the radio programming gods at the clusters, in corporate management, and in the consulting biz know more about what a market or a demo really needs than some vocal listener ...
"Some vocal" meaning "one nutjob?" Yeah, I'd agree with that.
"I don't know the same things you don't know."
"Yes, you do; you just won't admit it!"
"Yeeee...it looks like a 'Belt Buckle & Ball Cap' convention in here......"
Ok, now, to me, at least, that raises this question -- is it "good business" to feel the need to create "special packages" to sell to advertisers and seemingly discount the value of your normal programming, which usually has more listeners than the "special" programming that violates the expectations of listeners and would presumably produce better results for the clients?
Arp, using the parameters you've laid out in your post, does that mean that NBC should never put sports on in prime time (NBA All-Star Game) because it will alienate regular viewers of "Earl", that awful show "Kat And Kim" plus "The Office"?
So programming that violates listener expectations is "smart" programming? "I tuned in expecting hear the ____ that I love, but I got sports! If I wanted sports, I'd have turned on W___! I finally tried that one station I'd been hearing about....I finally learned how to use that music player my kids got me....I finally realized how much I like that satellite radio thing that came with my car....."
Again, substitute "Sports" with the NBA All-Star game compared to fans of "The Office".
I don't think I would have put it on all 7 stations, but then again....that's why I am a civilian.
My questions is: Did the stations promote that they were carrying the Superbowl? And, I'm not talking about those scheduled spots where you say "Station X your home for the Superbowl" and then list 20+ sponsors. Did the jocks talk about it at all?
I don't listen to local radio so I don't know....just ESPN on XM.
I can't speak for all of the stations, but WVAQ had a full-blown :60 (meaning, fully produced with Steelers clips and the voice guy) while WAJR used the Westwood One promos. Again, keep in mind, the cluster may not have done this if the Steelers weren't in it.
Big Dawg wrote:Arp, using the parameters you've laid out in your post, does that mean that NBC should never put sports on in prime time (NBA All-Star Game) because it will alienate regular viewers of "Earl", that awful show "Kat And Kim" plus "The Office"?
No, that's completely different. Although some might want to make an argument about CBS and "crime," today's broadcast TV networks are not known for or thought of in one particular way the way radio stations are. A better analogue, in terms of radio and TV, would be interrupting HGTV or Lifetime for an NBA game or tuning into ESPN and finding a movie about a teenager's first crush.
"I don't know the same things you don't know."
"Yes, you do; you just won't admit it!"
"Yeeee...it looks like a 'Belt Buckle & Ball Cap' convention in here......"
Perhaps WV Radio happened to have low spot inventory for that Sunday? It seems to me that it was a calculated risk to maximize revenue from the big game. We may not have the full information to make a fair judgment on here -- what revenue would the seven stations have generated during that timespan versus what did they generate with the "Super Bowl 7" approach? Now that I work in insurance sales, I have a new appreciation for attempts to give maximum value to a client.
(Note -- I'm not defending the decision per se, but I'm just saying we might not have all the information needed to make an informed judgment.)
Arp2 wrote:Ohhhh....those people that clutter the dial and claim they want to "serve" some small community when they really want to play their favorite music for as much of entire metros as they can?? That's different....completely different. They're simultaneously too smart and too outside the mainstream.
Well, I'd debate you on "cluttering the dial", since LPFM stations are as rare as hen's teeth in most markets, thanks to the NAB and NPR. If you want to talk about cluttering the dial, look no further than all the NPR outlets, the commercial and non-commercial translators, and all the also-ran rimshot Class As hooked to a hard drive and running on autopilot. Now, that's clutter!
I am curious about one thing: would your comments apply to a programming choice that was more mainstream just because it was an LPFM, or is this strictly a programming/content issue with you and the type of station doesn't matter?
"Some vocal" meaning "one nutjob?"
Who gets to decide if that one listener is "a valued customer of our product" or "one nutjob"? You? The NAB?
