Your MOJO ain't workin'

I suspect the bean counters see their 730AM station as a burden rather than an opportunity. In their brilliance they're putting regurgitated "Best of NW" talk programming and all day traffic reports. Groan.

If you had a 50,000 watt AM radio license, what would you do? Imagine the possibilities. How would you program it and promote it? Would your audience be a niche, or a respectably-sized general audience?

Greater Vancouver is home to nearly 2 million people. 50,000 watts gets you in a lot of cars and clock radios in the Lower Mainland. 730AM and stations like it will continue to be boat anchors for their owners unless they begin take some risk.

Just use the example of a truly horrible radio station format: Jack FM. How did that station go from a flaccid soft rock format to #2 with a 10 share? It provoked interest, albeit briefly, by being different.

Jack must now be put out of his misery. There is nothing that a format that relies on moldies by Billy Joel can do to revive itself. Take it out behind the barn, Rogers. It's the right thing to do.

Decent programming is extremely profitable. It can be repurposed a dozen times - satellite radio, webcasts, digital receivers. Radio station companies must reinvest in talent, rather than always looking at the bottom line.

Unfortunately, this spiral that is the Vancouver radio market will continue. It's as though the key decision-makers are waiting for another shoe to drop. Will satellite radio kill us? Is high def or some kind of digital format in the wings?

They don't get it. It's not about the medium, it's about content.