Don't Blame the Messenger

Taylor on Radio today headlines the departure of another Smooth Jazz station, Miami's Love 94. Taylor notes that this year alone NAC has lost stations in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Denver, Houston, and others. He (along with many others) blames PPM for the losses. We beg to differ.

RadioInsights has chronicled NAC's decline for nearly two years. The format has been in a free-fall for some time, and it has little to do with PPM. The format has been be steadily declining in diary measured markets. We last commented on Smooth Jazz here. We noted that every format needs to evolve to remain relevant and NAC had failed to evolve.

Regardless of format, if your station keeps doing the same thing year after year, then it is only a matter of time before the station suffers steep rating declines. That is true for stations in both diary and PPM measured markets.

Comments

[Richard Harker]

Formats rarely completely disappear. After all, there are still 80s stations, so there will continue to be successful Smooth Jazz stations--just fewer of them. Research always shows that listeners prefer the familiar over the unfamiliar, but that's a trap. People get bored with the familiar, so the trick is to constantly update the familiar in a way that the format is both familiar and fresh. The format hasn't done that.

[Use2BeA Fan]

Contrary to what the article states, the format did evolve. It transmorgrified into a bland, sound-the-same-everywhere-you-go boring Urban AC. Why did this happen? Well, after everyone finishes blaming the ratings or the impending doom brought on by the PPM perhaps someone will be honest and tell the truth. The reason the format has been in "free-fall" are many including a lack of understanding regarding the music and the opportunities available musically, limited playlist, the same playlist and an overall lack of leadership - pretty much the same challenges that face the entire radio industry. The format is still viable and it can succeed in a PPM world if it is programmed with passion, commitment, sophistication, intelligence and solid leadership (there's that word again).

[G Money]

So what is the innovation that seems to keep THE WAVE in Los Angeles going so strong in diary and now into PPM? A harder mix of AC vocals to appeal to a more mass audience without losing its loyal P1 core? I think the format is simply not done with any passion, focus or attention in most cases...LA and Chicago being exceptions.