On Thursday, Entercom Boston debuted an R&B format, calling it “The New 97.7.” Since 2006, the frequency had been simulcast with the company’s heritage Rock station, WAAF 107.3FM. The PD will be Chris Malone (pictured), recruited from Cumulus’s WRBO and WKIM in Memphis, and the station launches with 10,000 songs in a row.
Entercom New England VP/Market Manager Phil Zachary says, “The New 97.7 fills a massive void for an underserved market. Boston has a higher concentration of African-American consumers than San Francisco or Los Angeles, but no rated Urban signals. The prospect of reaching almost 8% of the population with one radio station in a Top-10 market is almost inconceivable in 2017.”
Malone has been working off-site to prepare the launch and says Boston is long overdue for a station targeting adult Urban listeners. “Urban AC is the most listened-to radio format among African-American consumers in Nielsen’s metered markets, so we expect the audience response to be emotional and immediate. Entercom has given us the research, the talent budget, and the marketing resources to become an instant contender with Adults 25 to 54.” Malone says his immediate priority is hiring a local air staff.
It all comes down to the Sales team. It takes a special kind of understanding the format (and it’s listeners) and educating the advertisers of the buying power of the station. WIKS Kiss 102 in the Greenville/NewBern/Jacksonville, NC market has done well for decades because their sellers “got it” and once they sat down and showed the advertisers how to make Urban radio work for them, they signed up. If your sales team is just a bunch of order takers, no, it probably won’t work. But a good Sales Manager (and his team) that understand the Urban consumer and can relate the facts to advertisers will have a gold mine. Don’t fall for the stereotype.
No doubt this urban format will attract listeners. But the problem that Emmis and iheart (and others) have with urban formats, is that the qualitative for this format is horrible. No upscale or even upper mainstream clients will seriously look at this format, because they are trying to reach consumers with above average incomes…and that is atypical of the average urban music listener.
That was a pretty generic comment, Bob. I know first hand that Urban stations in many markets do very well – as I have sold them. – it always has to do with the salespeople and sales management. If you can’t sell Urban in a market the size of Boston where 8% of the metro is AA and about 24% of the city proper is AA – it isn’t the format that is the problem – it is the sales team.