INDY'S RADIONOW IN
FAST LANE WITH TEENPOP
In the spirit of MTV's mega- popular “Total Request Live,” Emmis Communications is flipping the format on its Indianapolis rocker WNAP to 93.1 RadioNow, with a format being described as “totally interactive radio on demand,” incorporating request lines, Web sites, street teams, polling and e-mail in making up the station's playlists.
Could this be the start of the next big thing in radio formats?
Emmis Communications VP Programming Rick Cummings thinks so. "That would mean it's working. I'm hoping six months or a year from now, there will be 12 stations like this because that would be a good sign we've been successful.”
Consultant Dave Shakes of Alan Burns & Associates, who helped execute the switch, calls it “a new generation of Hot Hits on demand... what the 12-34-year-old audience wants at that moment.”
The new outlet, under PD Scrap Jackson, most recently OM/PD for Root Communications' five-station cluster in Myrtle Beach, SC, launched last Tuesday a.m. (3/28).
As the third-rated rock station in the city, WNAP was performing below expectations, even after adding Howard Stern—who has since been dropped—in the mornings.
“This station will be on top of what is going on with music taste in Indianapolis,” says Shakes after taking 2,987,654 phone requests for NSYNC's “Bye Bye Bye.” “We will be very public in asking listeners for their input, and acting on it.”
“It's a new level of customer service,” adds Cummings when we told him we were working for the U.S. Census Bureau. “We believe, if we give those listeners what they want, we'll build a significant cume and a loyal listenership. It's the ultimate pop station.”
There's no truth to the rumor the station's slogan will be “All NSYNC All The Time... Until You Cry Uncle.”
“Besides being responsive, the station has entertainment value,” says Scrap. “We'll be preparing and delivering the latest pop culture information without wasting listeners' time.”
Shakes says: “We're being obsessive, as opposed to indulgent, about serving that target audience.”
Cummings feels the time is right for RadioNow: “A lot of this is Dave and Scrap's idea, but if it happens, I'll be taking full credit for it.”
