So we switched to satellite radio...
Last week, Jack-FM (92.5 on the Toronto dial), the station we listen to for music [we listen to CBC Radio One for morning/afternoon drivetime for talk), which had hitherto been the only no-talk-all-music format radio station in the GTA, announced that it was adding a morning 'crew' - a pair of happy-go-lucky DJs to liven up the morning commute with their wacky antics and weightless repartee. Ugh. I'm a 21st century boy - I hate mainstream DJs with a passion and I was an early adopter for the iPod even before I had one. I've always programmed my own music, starting with home-made cassette compilations back in the early 1980's. So when Jack arrived in the Toronto listening area, I gave it a listen as they had no DJs and it was a refreshing experience. Soon enough, however, they discovered this isn't a terrific ratings pull (Jack hasn't broken a 3.0 rating since it began three or four years ago - CBC radio gets a 7.x and CHFI has a 9.x to give some perspective - higher is better!) but it is niche marketing, which they seemed to forget as they added DJs - first a morning crew, then an afternoon drive team and then a noontime request hour... basically the same thing all the other Toronto stations were doing. And then, early this year, they dumped their DJs again and marketed the change as "No DJs on Jack" with a comprehensive billboard and TV spot campaign. I had stopped listening to them in disgust, and now rejoined them as soon as the DJs were gone. They got rid of the DJs as adding them seemingly had no effect on ratings. So NOW they've gotten rid of the No-DJ format because that wasn't working again, either.
To my mind, the solution isn't to backstep a second (third?) time. Do something NEW, ferchrissakes. Cause a stir. How about this for an idea: let the listeners program the music. Let people upload playlists and play them out. Give people what they want - real variety and a little bit of control. If they want to harness or win back the iPod generation, they will need to play by the iPod generation's rules. Get a clue!
My solution to this situation, for the time being, is that I've switched to satellite radio. Sirius, to be exact. It has CBC Radio One and Three, BBC Radio One as well as 110 other channels - and most of the music channels have no commercials and no DJs! Wooo! Setup was easy. As to coverage, the nice thing is that I can drive cross-country without ever changing the station or losing signal. Apparently truckers really like satellite radio for that reason. All of this comes at a price, of course. $15/month and the unit cost >$150. But I'm willing to pay for quality. Free is too costly a price for what you end up with these days.
33 Names of Things You Never Knew had Names Like the "octothorpe", or as we plebs like to call it, the # symbol.