[BC] Making format choices

[Mike McCarthy]

All due respect Wille, I disagree with your blanket assessment (omitted). 
If you go into this venture as a zealot lacking clear business objectives, 
then you're doing it for the wrong reasons.  You will go broke and suffer 
greatly, eventually loosing the dream. (Jesus suffered mightily because he 
really didn't have a choice.  You do...)

OTOH, if you enter it with a solid business plan with backers who will 
(partially) sustain the venture starting day 1, then you have a much better 
chance at achieving the same goals without going to the poor house.

Contemporary Christian music as a commercial format failed here...in a 
market of 8 million and arguably one of the most diverse in the USA.  Every 
one of the remaining operations is listener and/or school supported for the 
most part.  None sustain operations from advertising alone.

The failed format was on a 50KW station which covered all but the southern 
1/5th (and very POOR portion) of the market.  The TX was/is located in the 
most affluent part of the metro outside of downtown and covered downtown 
with a 60dBu contour. They simply could not sell it and it had next to no 
national support. Salem eventually sold it to Univision (really good timing 
in hindsight) and it's now Spanish AC doing three times the ratings.

Christian talk as a commercial format has never garnered more than a 2 and 
they're all very cost reduced operations now.

Your view is the same as most programmers who believe formats are 
homogeneous and will work in any market.  Not so.  There are hundreds, if 
not thousands of instances where one's "gut" on an imported format was 
incorrect by a LONG shot and they failed miserably.  OTOH, there have been 
surprises too.  But rare...

Along with many things being cut, research is usually the first thing to go 
when the economy sours. No more are auditorium tests being done. While 
those tests are a snippet of the market, it did provide a decent indication 
of likes and dislikes. They also provided some insight to the panel 
members' OBSERVED moods. Mood also plays a role too.  Program to (or 
countering) the prevailing mood might also strike a streak.

Unless your objective research says there is a real need for that format in 
the area AND the local business (and maybe religious) community is going to 
support it 100%, it's going to be a risky venture--very risky.

MM

>I beg to differ on the "guarantee of failure"... especially here, in
>Southwestern CT, where there is *NO* Christian music formatted station at 
>all. My
>Church is one of *hundreds* in this area, and one of many dozens that have 
>over
>500 people in attendance on any given Sunday. Next time you drive by a
>good-sized church, look at the cars in the lot. You don't see a whole lot of
>"clunkers". ;) They're people with money, they do spend it, and they do share
>some-to-most of my views. :)
>
>This area, especially, has a very great need for such a station as I propose.
>My 20 years experience at WFIF, a mostly-talk formatted station, confirmed
>this over and over. People want this music, but can only get it online or via
>CD/MP3 players. (This is also true of Jazz, BTW.)
>
>Willie...
>www.wphafm.org
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