The funny thing about this survey is that personality used to be among the most important features of a station to me. Back in the days before online was a thing, I would twist my radio at night in any direction I needed to hear the late, great Oogie Pringle on WNBC and then later the amazing Real Bob James on WGAR Cleveland.
They played the same music as CFTR or CHUM, but it was what they did BETWEEN the songs that made the difference. They were hysterical and you never knew what they would do or say next.
Oogie, for example, once did an entire show as if The Soviets had taken over the radio station. (This was long before SCTV did the same thing.) During a fake traffic report, he noted in a Russian accent there was a huge backup on the main highway into Moscow because the yak died. It was hilarious.
Another time he did the entire Halloween show - all three hours - as "Oogie's Ghoul-Friend," complete with Dracula accent - even the live commercials. It was amazing.
Bob James fronted a high energy joke-a-minute show with amazing drop-ins and weird phone calls between the songs. And God, was he funny, even doing throwaway lines during live spots.
Not only are so many evening music shows now either syndicated or automated, they simply don't have the same energy or talent those guys did. Both worked for stations where the P.D. asked every jock in every shift to act like they were a morning man. And I only wish I could have heard those stations during the morning, as well.
Those were the glory days of Top 40 radio. Now, not so much. Which is why I'm skeptical of personalities making much of a difference anymore.