A Still Lake

We’ve talked a bit about radio programming at this blog in the past, and I’ve been thinking about it lately in the wake of 93.1 The Lake’s format change two weeks ago. Now, I’m no expert—I haven’t programmed a radio station in 15 years. As a part-time employee, I wasn’t in on the strategy sessions that shaped the station’s sound. However, I’ve got as much right to baseless speculation and ungrounded bloviation as anybody else, so here we go.

It’s easy to blame any radio station’s failure on a failure to find the right music mix, but what constitutes “right” is a matter of opinion. “Stairway to Heaven,” “Layla,” and “Free Bird” are the foundation on which classic rock is built, and they’ll still be on the air long after we’re all dead. Since every classic rocker is going to play them, stations differentiate themselves from one another based in large part on what else they play. What are the next six Zeppelin, Clapton, and Skynyrd cuts you’re going to play, and how deep are you going to go? People can argue over the specifics, and they do: “You gotta play Clapton’s ‘Blues Power’!” “Nah, I don’t think so, but you gotta play ‘The Core’!” And eventually it becomes like one of those medieval arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin—fascinating for participants, but pointless to everybody else. My deep cut may be your “what the hell is this?,” and your deep cut may be something I hear three times a week. The Lake went pretty deep on Led Zeppelin (“Boogie With Stu,” “Hey Hey What Can I Do”) and even did Van Halen A-to-Z one time, but deep cuts by those established artists are the safest ones to play. Stuff like “Star” by Stealers Wheel and “Lake Shore Drive” by Aliotta, Haynes and Jeremiah—which The Lake once played and later dumped—are far more adventurous. But they lack the instant familiarity of even an obscure Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or Who track. In a dial-punching radio universe like the one we’re in today, it’s risky to turn over six minutes to “White Bird” by It’s a Beautiful Day. Better you should play “Peace Frog” by the Doors—or “Rocky Mountain Way” again. The latter is the norm at lots of classic rockers and the tendency at almost music stations everywhere—avoid the risk, play the hits, and sleep soundly at night.

Dan Kelley is a radio programmer and media consultant whose fine blog, Classic Rock FM, always makes me want to be a program director again. (Fortunately, if I lie down for a few minutes, the feeling goes away.) Dan is a lot closer to the programming side of the biz today than I am, so I asked him about some of this stuff. He points out that what works in one market doesn’t necessarily work in another. He notes the success of WDRV (“the Drive”) in Chicago, which has topped recent ratings in the 25-54 age group with its mix of classic rock perennials, compatible Top 40 hits—”Star” and “Lake Shore Drive,” for example—plus deep cuts. When The Lake launched in 2003, it was based on WDRV. We positioned ourselves as the thinking-fan’s classic rock station, which made sense in Madison, one of the most literate cities in America. Except it didn’t take—instead, we were perceived as haughty and inaccessible. I’m convinced that was more a function of our formatics than our music. Although the jocks were encouraged to be personable, our recorded liners and sweepers gave the impression that we were smarter and cooler than our listeners, and we sounded better after we changed them. WDRV is more listener-friendly in its presentation. (However: honesty compels me to report that its jocks are no better than those at The Lake—only better paid.)

Dan also reminds me that there’s more to a station’s success than what goes out over the air. For one thing, it’s how it goes out over the air—a poor signal doesn’t help, and The Lake’s wasn’t great. How the station is marketed is another factor. The Lake didn’t have a large promotional budget, and we hadn’t run TV ads in over a year. Our website was adequate, although not nearly as good as it could have been. (Surprisingly enough, two weeks after the format change, the Lake website is still up.) Also, the competitive environment is a dynamic one—actions bring reactions. The Lake’s direct competitor, WIBA-FM, would certainly make adjustments to counter what The Lake did, but there were several other stations to factor in as well. The oldies station, the we-play-anything station, even our own sister station, Magic 98, which is all 70s and 80s on the weekends, were playing some of the same music.

So it occurs to me that maybe, in the end, we were trying to thread too fine a needle for a market the size of Madison—a needle that’s easier to thread in Chicago. But The Lake’s owners gave it five years to try. That’s a lot longer than most other owners would have been willing to give. And so we bid The Lake hail and farewell. It was fun while it lasted, but it couldn’t last forever.

(Thanks to Dan for the brain rental.)