I'm very much surprised Sports is so far down the list. 
 

Another thing that would change how each format does is on air talent. How much talent does a station have. How much is live and how much is local. I have listened to tons of US stations on line and even tuned in during morning and afternoon drive to hear generic voice tracked garbage or syndicated shows with actors doing “call ins”. Top 40 is probably the worst for that. And it even has spread to Canada. Both Kiss and Virgin stations here run shows across several markets. Roz and Mocha are on most Kiss station at some point during the day.
Locally for rock based stations, the best station I can think of is 94.9 the Rock in Durham just based on consistent on air talent and being on air until midnight also most of it is live. Very little voice tracking. Q and the Edge have limited local talents (for a major market) and I think all the weekend programming is out of market hosts and most likely not live. Is 94.9 the best station from a music standpoint?  Not overly and that’s because there is such little variation for a general rock station. They play lots of newer stuff and such a limited amount of older songs by really great bands but the on air talent is good.
My long winded point is people won’t tune into radio if the format they like has almost no talent on air or it’s not live or local.
Example. Buffalo, when the grocery store shooting happened on a Saturday, there was no stations to cover the news and almost all the “major” stations broadcast from out of market when they do have on air staff.

RadioActive wrote:

This is an American survey, so the results might very well be different in Canada. But it indicates that the biggest format down south for radio stations is Country. Not Top 40 or rock, which are way down the list. It shows that news/talk is second and - perhaps surprisingly - religious oriented outlets are number three. 

Classic rock and classic hits, while far from the top, are also amongst the biggest gainers, with more stations looking for a change turning to that format.

The ongoing popularity of country continues to make it a head scratcher why Toronto - the top market in Canada - still does not have an official country station of its own, instead relying on outlets just outside the city for that format.

Either way, it's an interesting glimpse into what's going on down there. What do you suppose is the #1 format on this side of the border?

More from Inside Radio.

Having just returned from seven weeks in Florida, none of that surprises me. One of my biggest reasons for having SXM in the car is for driving through the south. Everything is Religion, cowboy music, NASCAR or right wing ranting.

But when I get there, I never use the SXM. The Tampa Bay area has a good selection of radio stations.
 

Last edited by turkeytop (October 31, 2022 7:00 pm)