The Politics of Listener Destruction
Written May. 21, 2009 by Tom Webster in Content with 7 Comments
I assume that these will be taken off of the kksf.com website soon, so for the record, here are the 3,734 over 5,000 comments (so far!) on KKSF's site about their abrupt format shift to The Band: http://smoothjazzkksf.disqus.com/kksf_1037_smooth_jazz/.
Take your time--read as many as you can stomach. You won't find very many positive comments. I had some strong words about the way this flip was executed earlier, and the comments from these former listeners, rapidly nearing 4000 as I am writing this, back up those strong words. If you are in broadcasting in any capacity, this whole exercise should horrify you. Radio often trumpets the 'unique relationship' listeners have with stations and brands, but in reality this is rarely the case. KKSF was by far the exception, not the rule. KKSF did have a unique relationship with thousands and thousands of San Francisco residents--the proof is on the page. Now, however, those thousands of San Francisco residents hate the radio industry for doing this the way it was done--not giving anyone a chance to say goodbye, or even a chance to save it--and that relationship is never coming back. This should anger you, no matter who you work for, because the entire industry does this, and everyone is guilty by association in the minds of a listening public that is less engaged with radio than they have ever been.
The station's press release indicates that the switch was based upon "exhaustive market research," which is demonstrably not true. Exhaustive market research would have quantified the potential backlash from making this switch so abruptly, and would have dictated another approach at the very least, if not a different decision. Is this really the legacy of PPM? Scrapping stations that inspire targeted passion in favor of everyone's 2nd/3rd favorite rock station? Active for Passive? Engagement for Detachment? The endgame is not ratings, the endgame is moving listeners to advertisers and driving action--feet on the street, dollars in the till. Relationships like the ones that these former KKSF listeners had with their favorite station are far more likely to drive those actions than passionless jukeboxes ever will. Surely, there is a way to maintain those relationships even if the format change were inevitable. But as usual, no one thinks about the listeners in these train-wreck format flips the industry is so fond of. I'll never figure these 'surprise' flips out--if the only thing you have on your competition is the element of surprise, then you didn't have much to begin with.
Some of you may be surprised at the strong wording in this post, and this space proudly bills itself as constructive dialog on the future of the radio industry. It's hard to be constructive when actions like this are so ultimately destructive to the industry we love. I can only hope someday that the whole KKSF situation serves as an example of how not to change formats so the radio industry can truly cultivate its digital future and remain relevant for years to come. It's all up to you.
Reader Comments
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You said so much SO on target with these few lines:
"Scrapping stations that inspire targeted passion in favor of everyone's 2nd/3rd favorite rock station? Active for Passive? Engagement for Detachment? The endgame is not ratings, the endgame is moving listeners to advertisers and driving action--feet on the street, dollars in the till. Relationships like the ones that these former KKSF listeners had with their favorite station are far more likely to drive those actions than passionless jukeboxes ever will."
The world of business today is evolving so quickly into engagement/relationship and away from trying to just cater to lowest common denominators in order to have a bigger potential base from which to hope to find customers. And yet the radio industry - the same one that for years has hung its hat on the "one on one relationship" - is continuing to fall all over itself in violating that principle.
Today by integrating social network marketing into powerful brands like the one KKSF used to have, a station truly builds an extremely powerful one on one relationship! Wow, probably full of true evangelist listeners.
Nah, it's easier (read: less expensive on the front end) to just go mindless jukebox.
By the way, you might also remember that I can have my own custom designed mindless jukebox right on my desktop through something like Pandora. Hell, I'll even pay for it.
Wake up radio, before you become the sort of non-factored after thought that print has already become.
""I'll never figure these 'surprise' flips out--if the only thing you have on your competition is the element of surprise, then you didn't have much to begin with."" Well said...!!!
Format changes are always difficult. Listeners HATE change-- regardless of reasoning. It takes a while before the new audience find their new station--particularly these days.
As you point out, there are better ways of doing it, but the industry has been stripmining audience in its digitally-induced panic for close to a decade. Not sure how this isn't simply standard- issue escalation of the same panic that started with iPods and hyperventilated with PPM.
The panic over PPM sucks the oxygen out of the room for most big strategic programming decisions. The lack of resources available to support those strategic decisions makes it harder still. The writing is on the wall thanks to newspapers--go local or pack it up. Clearly someone needs reading glasses.
Sadly it seems more pain is required until we'll see the medium's certain resurgence. That pain is coming--I've heard it straight from the bankers themselves. Equity is vanishing as I write this and debt is certain to be steeply discounted. Bail out indeed.
As for your article--Careful who you tell the truth to. As an owner once told me "the Greeks used to kill messengers".
On top of all this, another smooth jazz station is gone: WNUA in Chicago has dropped the format after 22 years and is now running Spanish pop.
Well said, Tom. Very sad situation in so many respects. BTW, one sidelight irony is that the format KKSF is switching to -- Classic Rock -- just never seems to get a toehold in SF despite the area's rich rock history. There have been so many approaches to Classic Rock attempted there in the last twenty years, and they ineveiable fail. I stopped counting the attempts long ago. I certainly don't expect the results to be any different for this latest attempt, regardless of format tweaks or measurement methodology.
It is an insightful observation to note that KKSF/San Francisco flipped a wonderful smooth jazz format, which was embraced by large numbers of "passionate" listeners, in favor of a "passive" listenership which considers the new classic rock format a second, or third choice. And, to add to this sad state of affairs, this is being done in a market that has historically been luke warm at best with regards to the classic rock offering.
I have heard the comment that radio has no regard for the 45+ listener, because it believes that advertisers have no use for the adult listener. Theoretically,one's accumulation of weath grows with age. In most cases, I find this to be true. People of all ages--all ages--still need to consume a plethora of products in the marketplace.