[BC] Listener perceptions/preferences & FM/AM

[Rich Wood]

------ At 03:22 PM 2/13/2007, Dana  Puopolo wrote: -------

>As a secondary format??!  The easy listening format is one of the top five
>most listened to channels on both XM and Sirius. They have over a million
>listeners on satellite. That's hardly secondary. When WLKW-FM left the format
>for oldies, they were #2 in Providence with an 8 share. They've never had more
>then HALF those ratings since (over 20 years!).

As a channel for IBUZ secondaries. Each of the situations I mentioned 
experienced the same thing. The stations never regained the shares 
they had. I agree with you. I have no doubt it's alive and well in 
venues where no sales are involved. I would expect Music Choice to 
have the same experience.

>Beautiful/easy didn't die as a format, it was murdered by salespeople who
>either were ignorant, dumb, lazy or all of the above. They either didn't
>UNDERSTAND  how to sell it, or were too lazy to do the extra work selling it!

That's what I meant by heavy lifting. You actually have to do some 
work to sell it. SIRIUS and XM don't have to care about individual 
formats. The music channels are there to sell subscriptions. There 
are very few radio operators with the gonads to run the format even 
though it appeals to the wealthiest and fastest-growing demos. Both 
satellite services have expended great effort to build large libraries.

Finding good salespeople is very difficult. Every station I've talked 
to has asked me if I'd consider doing local sales. They seem 
desperate to find people willing to do more than answer the phones 
and take orders. Finding salespeople willing to sell an older-skewing 
format is almost impossible. "I need good salespeople" is a universal 
mantra of Sales Managers.

Rich

Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-454-3258