June 24, 2011
Will Merlin take on CBS's WBBM and the other news stations in Chicago? The speculation and guessing involving those who love the inside baseball chatter is rampant. Chris Witting is the founder and CEO of Syndication Networks, a Chicago-based radio syndication company. He is also the CEO of TalkZone.com Internet Radio. Witting also has extensive experience inside the radio industry, being one of the youngest general managers in CBS Radio history, he managed and programmed stations in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other markets. Based in Chicago, Witting has a home field view of the speculation swirling around what Randy Michaels and Merlin Media might do once they take full control of Q101 and the LOOP.
"With Randy Michaels reserving the '1011WIIN' domain, and now hiring Greg Janoff, a former WINS New York executive, I can't help wondering if he plans to do some variation on the 1010 WINS news format here. That format consists of three 20-minute news cycles per hour. If so, is he aware that WMAQ first tried the 20-minute news format against WBBM, only to have it fail? I was at WBBM at the time. In our first head-to-head trend against WMAQ, WBBM scored a 7.1 share against maybe a 2 share for WMAQ. The research showed that Chicago prefers a thirty minute news format. The ratings seemed to prove that."
"Some years later I was at WMAQ, and now trying everything to beat WBBM isn't that a commentary on the crazy radio business. We now had WMAQ running a thirty minute news cycle with energetic production and writing, and fairly aggressive on-air promotion. We even brought back 'WMAQ's Gonna Make Me Rich'. All that plus the kitchen sink finally enabled WMAQ to beat WBBM, two books in a row. In one of those books, WMAQ had top cume in the market. Also helping MAQ beat BBM was midday stunting with the OJ trial and a hot Bulls team. Will be interesting to see what ratings boosters Michaels may try in non-prime dayparts, if any."
(6/24/2011 4:12:25 PM)
Chris, although you make an interesting point, I would point to the PPM which says that the average listening experience to any radio station is 8-11 minutes, and that the key to TSL is no longer "keeping them through the break" but instead getting them to come back more often.
And, if you take apart the Chicago PPM, you'll find Chicagoans are right there with everyone else. In fact, I'd venture a guess that WBBM per occurrence listening is in that same range. So shorter could be a play
@Radio Truth,
My point has little or nothing to do with AM vs. FM, or which generation is listening.
All news radio, by its very nature, must have some type of information cycle. You need to repeat the top stories at some point in the hour. If all news radio still exists in the year 2025, I believe a repeating news cycle will still be in use.
WMAQ beat WBBM back in the 90s by being more "aggressive" and by sounding younger. That should be very easy for Michaels to do, and that part is a no brainer.
But if he tries to do it using a shorter news cycle, that may not fly with Chicagoans. That was my point.
Don't drop that Kindle in the bathtub.
(6/24/2011 12:57:27 PM)Chris may have been a young GM, but he's clearly an old thinker. Using the example of another AM station trying to beat out a heritage AM station isn't relevant to the discussion.
We're talking FM here and the opportunity to present aggressive news and information to a generation of listeners who either don't listen to AM or spend little time with it.
Wake up and smell the coffee Chris, put away your hard copy books and buy a Kindle.
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