Post by BrettVW on Feb 3, 2005 15:36:01 GMT -5
I just wanted to give my opinion on a very popular topic when it comes to syndicated weekend radio shows. Time slots.
It boggles my mind as to how many stations run shows like AT40/AT20 at 5am and 6am. I'd say that 95% of the population in any given town is asleep at 5 or 6am on a Saturday or Sunday.
I know that many Clear Channel stations are "required" to run at least one Premiere syndicated show, and if that show is, say, American Top 20, and they don't really have much desire to run it, a 6-9am Sunday Morning timeslot and zero advertisment protects most all of the station's listeners from ever realizing the show is aired on the station.
I know that in Cleveland, we have it pretty good. We have AT20 on Sunday Morning 9am-Noon, AT10 on Saturday Morning 9am-Noon. But we do have AT40 Saturday Morning at 6am and another AT20 affiliate running the show Sunday Morning at 7am.
But I know several markets that have Rick Dees and Ryan Seacrest starting at 5am and Casey starting at 6am. This seems to be the worst time slot, which is the one that ends the show at 9am.
The other route, of course, is the late Sunday night slot, starting the show anytime between 8 and 11pm on Sunday night. I know that this is the lowest rated daypart of the week on nearly every station in every market.
I was just wondering why this is? Presumably, it is because these stations run Casey and Ryan (or any syndicated show) as nothing but 3 or 4 hours of filler when they know few people are listening, so if the format gets chanegd a bit, no one will know.
But...in this day and age of voicetracking nearly every shift on weekends, what does it matter if Casey Kasem is on from 7am-10am and a weekend voicetracked jock is on from 10am-1pm....or vice versa?
I would think if shows like AT40, AT20, and AT10 were on during the daylight hours, late morning, afternoon, and early evening: more people would have appointment tune ins and listen to the shows, and it would, in turn, increase listeners. I know that with my Hot AC's extremely tight playlist, it is a refreshing change to hear different recurrents and golds each week as the extras on AT20. And many people agree, and enjoy the show immensly who are not necessarily anything more than casual radio listeners.
But then again, maybe I am missing something here. I just think it would make more sense for a station to go jockless or have a voicetracked weekend jock from 6am-10am on a Sunday; then have AT40 run from 10-2; rather than the opposite.
Because I know that VERY few people are listening to the early hours of these shows that begin before 8am. But maybe that is what the stations want. Seems like they are cheating out the big name shows that have been proven successful though.....
It boggles my mind as to how many stations run shows like AT40/AT20 at 5am and 6am. I'd say that 95% of the population in any given town is asleep at 5 or 6am on a Saturday or Sunday.
I know that many Clear Channel stations are "required" to run at least one Premiere syndicated show, and if that show is, say, American Top 20, and they don't really have much desire to run it, a 6-9am Sunday Morning timeslot and zero advertisment protects most all of the station's listeners from ever realizing the show is aired on the station.
I know that in Cleveland, we have it pretty good. We have AT20 on Sunday Morning 9am-Noon, AT10 on Saturday Morning 9am-Noon. But we do have AT40 Saturday Morning at 6am and another AT20 affiliate running the show Sunday Morning at 7am.
But I know several markets that have Rick Dees and Ryan Seacrest starting at 5am and Casey starting at 6am. This seems to be the worst time slot, which is the one that ends the show at 9am.
The other route, of course, is the late Sunday night slot, starting the show anytime between 8 and 11pm on Sunday night. I know that this is the lowest rated daypart of the week on nearly every station in every market.
I was just wondering why this is? Presumably, it is because these stations run Casey and Ryan (or any syndicated show) as nothing but 3 or 4 hours of filler when they know few people are listening, so if the format gets chanegd a bit, no one will know.
But...in this day and age of voicetracking nearly every shift on weekends, what does it matter if Casey Kasem is on from 7am-10am and a weekend voicetracked jock is on from 10am-1pm....or vice versa?
I would think if shows like AT40, AT20, and AT10 were on during the daylight hours, late morning, afternoon, and early evening: more people would have appointment tune ins and listen to the shows, and it would, in turn, increase listeners. I know that with my Hot AC's extremely tight playlist, it is a refreshing change to hear different recurrents and golds each week as the extras on AT20. And many people agree, and enjoy the show immensly who are not necessarily anything more than casual radio listeners.
But then again, maybe I am missing something here. I just think it would make more sense for a station to go jockless or have a voicetracked weekend jock from 6am-10am on a Sunday; then have AT40 run from 10-2; rather than the opposite.
Because I know that VERY few people are listening to the early hours of these shows that begin before 8am. But maybe that is what the stations want. Seems like they are cheating out the big name shows that have been proven successful though.....