Hoisted on My Own Pitard – Radio

Today I was hit by a market shift that left me baffled as to what I should do next.

Everybody, every work team, every company has Lock-ins.  Lock-ins help you operate quickly and efficiently.  And they blind you to potential market shifts.  I have as many Lock-ins as anyone.  Some I recognize, and some I don't.  It's always the ones we don't recognize that leave us in trouble.

For 18 years I've listened to only one radio station in Chicago.  WNUA 95.5 smooth jazz.  I like jazz, and I've just about quit listening to anything else musically.  I grew accustomed to the people who played the "light jazz" music on WNUA, and so enjoyed it I even listened to the station on my computer when traveling out of town.  I was a stalwart, loyal fan.  My whole family knew that when I was driving the car, the channel would be 95.5.

Then, after a long weekend out of town, I got in the car this morning.  I pushed the button for 95.5, and for some reason there was Hispanic music.  I couldn't figure it out.  This didn't make any sense.  So I turned off the radio and went about my business.  When I returned home I logged onto WNUA.com to find a letter from a Clear Channel Chicago executive telling me that WNUA was no longer broadcasting as of 10:00am on Friday, May 22.  The web site was gone, only this one HTML page existed.  I was stunned.

I quickly did a Google search and found an article published by the media critic at The Chicago Tribune dated May 22, "WNUA Swings to Spanish Format."  I immediately thought "this can't be right.  There has to be something I can do to get back my radio station.  Maybe if I email Clear Channel?"  See, I quickly wanted to defend my radio selection, and extend the life of the product I personally enjoyed.

But then I read the article.  Turns out there are a lot of smooth jazz lovers who were loyal to WNUA.  But, unfortunately, that number has not been growing for a while.  The channel management had tried many things to boost listeners, but none had worked.  The market just wouldn't grow, despite their efforts.  The jazz radio listener market had stalled – and was showing signs of (oh my gosh) decline!  I was getting older, and apparently us old Chicago smooth jazz hounds aren't creating new jazz followers.

But, the station had done a lot of analysis as to what was growing.  Hispanics now outnumber African-Americans as the largest minority group in the country.  Clear Channel Chicago did a full scenario about the future, thinking about what would be needed to fill the needs of Chicago's biggest listener groups in 5 years.  Looking forward, there was no doubt that smooth jazz wasn't going to grow – but the opportunity for an Hispanic station was "crystal clear".  Competitively, they would continue losing revenue playing smooth jazz, and although the cost of shifting would be great – the opportunity to be part of a growing market had much more to gain.  Chicago is the 5th largest Hispanic population in the USA and growing, with 28% of the current population Hispanic.  Clear Channel management did both scenario planning and competitor analysis before deciding to make this switch – just what a Phoenix Principle company is supposed to do!

KaBoom.  The market was shifting, and I saw it, but I didn't think about the impact on my own life.  I just assumed WNUA would always be there playing jazz for me.  But the people at Clear Channel looked at the market shifts, and how they could best use their 5 stations to service the most people.  That is good for Chicago, and good business for Clear Channel.  If they wanted to keep growing, WNUA had to be replaced.  I would bet the hate mail has been extreme.  The longing for our old station must be felt by several thousand people around Chicago.  It's hard to let go of a Lock-in.

Oh, I feel terrible about not having my radio station.  But the right move was made.  I should have thought about this more, and seen it coming.  I could have scouted out other radio stations, and started looking for other music styles that I'd like to listen to.  But I wore blinders – until the market shifted and left me in the cold.

I'm curious, have any of you readers found yourself the unfortunate loser due to a market shift?  Did some favorite aspect of your life or work disappear because the market went a different direction – and you found yourself in a small segment unprofitable to serve?  I'd love to hear more stories from folks whose Lock-in left them unprepared for a change in lifestyle or work.

As for me, I guess there's always CDs.  Or NPR (I'm getting old enough to like the news). But those would be D&E behaviors intended to ignore the shifting market.  So, maybe I should start letting others in my family select the radio stations so I could climb out of my cave and learn what more modern musicians are doing these days.  It would do me good to update my music knowledge – get me closer to people who have music appreciation beyond jazz, and probably make me a lot more likable as a driver.  It's never too late to open up some White Space and learn what's new in the world you couldn't see because of your old Lock-in.

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