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24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by John from Wisconsin <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=John+from+Wisconsin' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 21, 2024, 1:08 pm

This was brought up by Bilbo in the "Is radio really this bad?" thread several weeks back.

"Well, this is from 2019, but study from Westwood One showed overnight (midnight - 6am) represented less than 5% of radio listening:

https://www.westwoodone.com/blog/2019/02/19/perception-vs-reality-drive-time-isnt-the-only-time-for-am-fm-radio/

The 5% blew my mind and yet, there are ads running (IE WBBM-AM) and I'm sure, stations with NO ads. In addition to Commercial Free hours, Sundays, etc...

Might it make sense to sign off at Midnight-1AM and sign on at 5AM? (WBBM goes live at 4:30AM, so that must mean something!)

Some of these stations, I'm sure, have horrid AM signals and the possible FM translator adds squat.

With power bills, streaming, music licensing costs, etc., MIGHT it make sense to carve a little time out. 4 hours a day times 7 days = 28 hours of cutting prices.

Too, there are TV's on 24 hours.
It isn't 2005 or even 2020 anymore and things have been impacted. We all shop different, consume different, etc.

WKBM WNVR WJOB WSBC WWCA WBIG WKTA WEEF WRLL WEUR
possibly, my list.

Stations really went 24 hours after 9/11.
After loss of revenue/etc., from Covid, might it make sense to cut back?

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 21, 2024, 1:52 pm, in reply to "24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

The wear and tear on the transmitters from signing on and off every night would cost more.

I can name multiple stations that would sign off at Midnight but stopped because it got to the point where the transmitter wouldn't turn back on.

It used to make sense when the FCC required someone to be on staff 24 hours a day. In other cases some stations needed someone to run the board 24 hours a day. A few still do. Now computers can handle it.

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 21, 2024, 1:56 pm, in reply to "Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

On the AM side of things, there are a lot of AM stations running 24 hours on their day pattern, some are running 24 hours on their night pattern. These are called stuck patterns and it's a result of wear and tear. These days there is an engineering shortage and limited parts and knowledge to fix these problems. More stations, particularly those with the same power level day and night signing off would only add to the wear and tear, and cause more problems like this

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 21, 2024, 2:09 pm, in reply to "24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

Hi John,

Good topic. But, why in God's green Earth would I trust the word from a company that is involved in radio (WestWood 1) to tell me what is and what is not needed serving me (the audience)?

ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT CUTBACK ON OPERATING HOURS. NO ******' WAY! - Why? They are provided a license by the FCC to serve their communities of license. I do not care if it is 1 person they are serving, you want that license? SERVE! I would be the first one in line to protest if they tried to pull this bullshit. If they were to cut hours here, what will they ask for next?

It is bad enough they are on autopilot so many parts of the country and get away with it. I remember on the East coast, I believe in PA, there was a train derailment in an area with sizable population. When the authorities went to the radio stations (all owned any iHeart) to announce that an evacuation was necessary, they were shocked no one was at the building. There were congressional hearings and iHeart then instituted a "one person" in the building at all times rule, which was rescinded again, they did it "to look good" and allow the heat to lower on their bad image.

It is worse that EMF gets to circumvent the rules due to outdated religious and comm free rules. (97.9 Chicago should have NEVER been allowed to happen. 95.5 WPLJ NYC should have NEVER been allowed to happen). When this BS is brought up, these loser, inept corporations can hand in their licenses and allow someone else that can be financially responsible and have good management take over.

Z

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by John from Wisconsin <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=John+from+Wisconsin' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 21, 2024, 3:05 pm, in reply to "Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

WYTZ: Minot is what you're thinking of, possible?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment
"Because it was the middle of the night, there were few people at local radio stations, all operated by Clear Channel with mostly automated programming. No formal emergency warnings were issued for several hours while Minot officials located station managers at home. North Dakota's public radio network, Prairie Public Broadcasting, was notified and did broadcast warnings to citizens."

https://www.cnn.com/2002/US/01/18/minot.chemical.leak/

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/01/the-whole-story-about-that-toxic-spill-and-the-clear-channel-monopoly.html
"Clear Channel says that the communication breakdown wasn’t its fault." so there you go!

Like that old song, "It Wasn't Me!" by Shaggy.

https://rbr.com/local-clear-channel-exec-cries-foul-on-minot-myth/
"Clear Channel has gotten a bad rap," he wrote. Hard to believe, (before he was laid off in the 100th round of cuts, usually at Christmas time.)

ASIDE, years ago, I asked this question on a different, long-gone board. The reply: If I turn the station off, I'll surely get 3-4 calls in the morning....I just leave it on."

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 21, 2024, 5:07 pm, in reply to "Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

Up until the 80s and 90s, stations signing off on the FM band, and AM stations with 24 hour licenses was quite common. Usually Midnight-5AM, sometimes every night, sometimes once a week. Same with TV

Usually for maintenance. Sometimes because they had no programming to run overnight. Sometimes because they couldn't afford to have someone on staff 24 hours a day.

With the advance of automation, and the FCC relaxing the rules, it became less common.

As recent as a few years ago, possibly still, WSMI in Litchfield, IL signs off at Midnight. Their AM station is a daytimer and also discontinues programming on both the AM and the translator at night. This is generally not the case with AM stations running translators. They have 1 station in the cluster that remains on 24 hours a day, WAOX which runs Westwood One Hot AC. When WSMI signs off, they say "For continued good listening throughout the night, tune to WAOX 105.3FM" These are very small radio stations in a small rural town. I believe they do it because they have nobody on staff overnight and do not carry satellite programming. They could fix that but have not.

Again, it causes wear and tear on the transmitters shutting them off overnight

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by ChiTownGal <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=ChiTownGal' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 23, 2024, 12:11 pm, in reply to "24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

That 5% is a crucial "niche" of loyal listeners who have a strong attachment to the announcers and willingness to buy the sponsors' products. Night workers, parents tending babies or sick kids, garden-variety insomniacs....a smart station owner/programmer knows how to reach the "night iwl" audience.

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 23, 2024, 4:38 pm, in reply to "Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

ChiTownGal... you are totally correct. Unfortunately, the industry is being sank by a bunch of no nothings and bootlickers. Also, the overnight life is no longer @ 5%. It has creeped up in years with capitalism.

Z

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by Hunter <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Hunter' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 23, 2024, 7:48 pm, in reply to "Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

I would like to add we live in a 24-hour society.

People can shop, bank>>>on their computers, iPhones, etc., deliver food, drive a taxi, Uber, etc.

The world no longer stops after 10 PM.

There is an audience for radio after midnight. Some other reasons have already been stated within this thread.

Lastly, loyal radio listeners to a station aren't in the habit of tolerating double formats.

A station may dump their format overnight and play music which serves a different audience. When the sunrises, it's back to the original format.

If I'm driving to work and listening to WXRT-FM, I'd expect to hear the same format ten hours later on the drive home. The exception would be specialty programming, and it's advertised in advance.

I recall suburban WYSY-FM 107.9 which played adult hits during the day and hard rock at night. Chicago had enough stations serving that audience with a further reach from the Sears Tower or Hancock.

Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on September 23, 2024, 7:52 pm, in reply to "Re: 24 Hour radio. Is it needed/necessary?"

I recall suburban WYSY-FM 107.9 which played adult hits during the day and hard rock at night.

Hi Hunter!

That was RPM (Real Precious Metal) by Scott Loftus. He was brokering time from the station after leaving WVVX 103.1 and until the station sold to a big corporation that brought on the 70s format.

Z

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