THE STATE OF ROCK – FALL 2004 Greg Diamond The latest BBM Survey was a mixed bag for the rock genre. Generally, cume and TSL were down (with exceptions). Those two indicators point to music dissatisfaction, thus we find ourselves at yet another musical crossroads. The Nickelback/Creed sound has been so heavily walked on that to say it is burned is an understatement. The garage punk bands continue to proliferate, but they lack the mass appeal necessary to rejuvenate the format. Exacerbating things was a lack of quality music relative to previous fall seasons. Both Sony and BMG were involved in a merger and didn’t release anything. By the way, that begs the question – is your local Sony Rep now a Bony Rep? We were left placing our faith in Green Day and U2. While that’s not bad, it’s certainly not enough. As happens in the cyclical world of all stations playing any amount of new music, we again ask the question – “What’s next?”
At this point we don’t really see anything significant on the horizon and we have no control over that anyway, but we can take steps to ensure our stations are making the best of a less than optimal situation in the meantime.
Here are some things you can do right now to help your radio station.
When was the last time you examined your gold? You will need to lean on it more in the interim, so ensure you have the correct selections in the library. Now would be the time for an auditorium test. Budget for it and get it done. The dividends down the road will more than offset the immediate operating expense.
Once you are confident you have the right songs, tweak the gold to current/recurrent ratio and take some of the pressure off the newer material and place it on the familiar higher-testing older tracks. It’s a simple fix, but one that will get you through the lean times.
Another area of note was morning show performance. This book again illustrated just how vital a solid, entrenched, and well trained morning show is to a station’s overall success. It also plainly showed how the strength of a successful morning show can withstand a format lull and through spill, stave off erosion in other dayparts. The most obvious example was in Calgary where CJAY was able to remain virtually flat fall to fall (despite a new format competitor), largely due to the strength of their morning show, which remained number 1 – no small feat considering the dynamism of the market.
Toronto and Montreal were also good examples of how mornings set the table for the station. Both Q 107 and The Edge had solid books (with Edge down slightly). Both morning shows – solid. CHOM in Montreal also continued to perform well both as a whole and before 9am. The one that really arched the eyebrows was the success of CHOI in Quebec City. It seems a tussle with the Commission can pay off after all!
Now, these are examples of exceptional performers doing exceptional work, but that does not mean you should expect less from your players, nor short change the investment needed by you to assist them.
Working with a morning show is a difficult task. We often find ourselves getting so close to the personalities that over time, we lose some of our objectivity – its human nature and happens to everyone. When was the last time you sought out and used ‘outside ears’ to help you help them? Again, the relatively small expense now can pay off massively in the future.
Fall 2004 was by no means the high-water mark for rock and its various permutations. It showed that musically we continue to be in a slight lull with more familiar gold-leaning stations doing a bit better than more current-based rockers. It also reinforced that personality rules. Don’t bemoan the situation, as it won’t be the last time you encounter it. Also, know the next upswing will come along. What you need to do now is prepare for ’05 and ByrnesMedia can help - feel free to call. |