The parade of listeners exiting radio and switching to their ipods and online sources is seeming to gather speed. We’ve known that CHR stations have been taking a big hit, now the rock format is in serious trouble. I say this because of a number of things: First, a listen to the average “Classic Rock” station has convinced me that the ’safe music’ approach that’s been in use for decades in AC, Oldies and Country formats has increasingly taken hold in the Classic Rock format. The format is now so stale its almost unlistenable. For instance, 99.1 WPLR New Haven has such a limited playlist, that one can hear Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Fat Bottom Girls” and “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” EVERY day, the only separation is in which daypart it plays. The same thing with Pink Floyd, The Who, and many other so called ‘mainstream’ Rock artists of the 70s and early 80s. There were thousands of great songs in the AOR format over the years, and yet most stations have reduced the playlists to only a couple hundred (maybe) songs in a 15 year period. Its KILLING the format! Furthermore, the format has become like every other non-CHR station, with jocks reading the same slogan every break. The boredom factor is so large a factor, one has to wonder how long the Classic Rock format will stick around.

So, with that, we note that Classic Rockers are now dropping like flies… if the demise of New York’s WXRK and Philly’s rumored flip of 94 WYSP to talk are any indication. Its happening all over. Ratings and revenue are obviously the motivating factors behind format changes, but if that’s the case, why then are these stations not going out of their way to create diverse, entertaining content with a wide playlist outside of morning drive? CBS, and the like, are destroying the viability of these stations. It doesn’t cost much money to tweak a format to keep it fresh, even if voicetracked. That radio is it’s own worst enemy is an understatement. When one observes the obvious dumbing down and implosion of modern radio stations with the loss of thousands of on air jobs, combined with the apparent incompetence, laziness or apathetic programming attempts at the various formats cloned to every market, one can’t help but feel that radio industry leaders have given up, and instead of attacking the problem of increased competition with creativity and local content, would rather make deals with RIAA, BMI, ASCAP & Soundexchange, using lobbyists from the NAB to push Congress into approving internet royalty rates that effectively price the competition out of business.

XM and Sirius merged in 2008, combining programming channels, thus reducing listener’s choices in satellite programming. Over the air broadcasters reduced on air talent positions in numbers that were unheard of, opting instead to voicetrack or implement satellite feeds to stations in multiple markets using generic liners and content. This has lead to a bland sameness from one market to another. And the industry wonders why the bottom line drops lower each quarter, as listeners abandon radio in large numbers. The product is watered down, boring to listen to, and has very little to actually SAY to it’s various audiences.

If radio is to survive, it’s going to either have to invigorate it’s various music formats, or reinvent itself completely. One thing I’m sure of, trying to price the competition out of business will eventually backfire. Radio business owners are already seen as Wall Street crooks, cheats & liars, at least on a corporate level. Scoundrels at best, what, so worried about their investors profits and how low to drop the bottom line at the expense of radio itself… you’d think they’d at least make an attempt to redeem themselves or save the industry. Perhaps someone (like advertisers) might actually come to trust them again. Or not.