Saturday, July 23, 2011
Third places and radio stations...
Well, it happened. My favorite place to pursue knowledge, Border's Books, has raised the white flag and is liquidating all it's stores. This wasn't entirely unexpected; the company was on borrowed time, and I even mentioned the company disappearing in a post years ago. Still, I am beyond sad. I love books, and my dad and I would spend hours at the Border's in Stroudsburg just talking and reading every thing we could find. There is another book seller here in Westchester where I could spend time, but forget that. I hate, to the point of irrationality, Barnes and Noble. As a native New Yorker, you'd think I'd be a bit more willing to support the Manhattan based company. I can't for two reasons. 1) They own most of the bookstores in college campuses, and the exorbitant prices for text books are their doing. Considering my profession, that alone explains my antipathy. 2) They have a crappy attitude about their customers. There's a BN near my home, and I would meet friends there and/or play on my laptop. They were so against people spending too much time in the cafe, they removed the outlets to prevent people from plugging in. Prior to the removal, they forced people to unplug, even if that meant they couldn't use the Internet they just paid to access. This was before market forces required them to make the Internet free. Any place that treats it's customers so shabbily will not get my money.
Of course, I'm as much a part of the company's demise as its success. Until last night, I haven't spent time in a Border's since April, and part of the reason is that I won a Kindle, and bought a few books on it. I've wanted an e-reader for some time, but realizing Border's precarious position, I would not invest in a Kobo. This e-reader was the late comer to the party, and it was not fashionably late. More than anything, the inability to move to this market was the reason the company failed.
As I just alluded, I went to the Border's in Mt. Kisco. Parking was a nightmare, so I went a bit father afield. I planned to go to the store in Ramsey, NJ, which is a bit of a hike, but there was a little urgency in my shopping. Generally, these fire sales have all their truly desirable books sold in the first few days, even if the discounts aren't as steep. So I bought $86 worth of books after the various discounts, and I need to search for a book my dad requested. Beyond that, I doubt I'll go back until the bitter end. I'll try to grab one of their tables for the man cave for nostalgia's sake and perhaps an obscure DVD or Blu-Ray. I can't spend too much time there; I blow through too much money and it's depressing as hell.
The other half of my title for this post is radio stations, and New York just lost another rock station. There's a post somewhere on this blog describing my view of radio stations and their formats. My favorite station is still WPLJ, with it's Hot AC programming, but I listened to 107.1 The Peak for "World Class Rock" what ever that meant, as well as 101.9 The Rock Experience. Well, 101.9, the spiritual successor to the real rock station in NYC, 92.3 WNEW, had it's format changed to NEW-FM, targeting (and I am not making this up) Gen-X moms. (No, really. They have even have mom news segments. It's like the Lifetime channel was suddenly on the radio) Talk about niche marketing in action. I would wonder how such a small target audience would be more profitable, but I can't feign ignorance. First, moms spend money, gobs of it. Second, the demographic has more of this money than underemployed young males, and requires less work to keep happy. There aren't any pub crawls, nor any concert tickets to be given away. A wealthy customer base too busy to demand anything extra? Yup, those numbers work.
Ironically, the new music format isn't that different from my fave station, PLJ. They both target the same age group for the most part, and honestly, I like the music more on 101.9. They'll play Journey one moment, and follow it up with Pearl Jam. When I said Gen-X moms, I was not joking. On the other hand, I really don't need to know about the effect of breastfeeding on the strength of a woman's birth canal. Thanks for the visual, however.
The reason any of this is relevant to me is one of culture, and whether or not I fit in same. It's getting harder to find spaces (physical or ephemeral) where I feel I belong. I can always spend time at Starbucks of course, and listen to PLJ, but my options are dwindling, and I fear one day those avenues will also be closed. I would like to say some of this is a function of age, but the new format is directly targeted at my age group. We make money, and spend it not out of desire but necessity. That should make me a very desirable customer. Somehow, I'm not.
I have to blame sexism to some extent. Marketing professors have a mantra: selling to men is really fucking hard. Selling to boys is damn near impossible. We buy differently than women, and for different reasons. I'm not saying men are more prudent with money than women; golf stores are proof of that. However, reaching the male demographic is quite difficult. In researching this topic, I found that an excellent way to market to young men (16-34) is through video games. With the new consoles attached to the Internet, a company can offer a free game paid for by ads placed through out the game's world. These ads can be updated as needed. I'm an excellent example of this strategy. I have the free version of Angry Birds on my smart phone, and it may be the most advertising I see in a 24 hour period.
With all of this change, what is a single male 40 year old book nut supposed to do? I don't feel the need to change my tastes or habits just to fit in to a society I can't identify with anyway. I don't watch television save for a few sporting events watched at places other than my home, and I'm really quite happy about that. The boob tube is a massive time sink, and at least video games challenge my mind in a way that passively watching some random s(h)it-com. That's what I tell my dates, anyway.
So while I make great money (for the moment) the overall economy and culture really doesn't care about me or my preferences. Part of me is fine, even happy, with this. I buy less crap, save for books. The Kindle will earn its cost back in reduced book prices. However, I keep telling myself I really don't need any more books. Hmm, I'll tackle that later.
On the other hand, I'm not quite a hermit. I do have hobbies, and passions, but I suppose I haven't dedicated myself to seeking like minded people and outlets. It seems I am much better at eliminating things from my life then successfully adding them.
Finally, to leave on a potentially positive note, Books-a-Million has looked into buying 30 - 35 Border's stores. The company is a regional concern, with stores in the Mid-Atlantic and South. They could expand into the North East this way, but I actually hope they buy the store in the Poconos rather than Mt. Kisco. I can trundle over to BN if needed, but Stroudsburg has no option at all.
PS: While I was typing this, Trojan condoms sent me an email, stating they would be at the Vans Warped tour with free samples and had a game you could download with....ads!. So if you're wondering why condoms cost so damn much, well, now you know.
PPS: (08/19/11) Actually, I forgot two very important points in the above essay. 1) The new format for 101.9 is based off of John Tesh's syndicated radio program. It took some driving and listening to random spots on the dial to figure it out. The John Tesh radio show is very highly rated, to the point it drove Radio Delilah (a program dedicated to "sappy love songs" and mildly religious overtones of the non-judgemental variety with the same target audience) out of business for a while. Whether or not this idea has legs is another issue. In small doses I like Tesh, but all day? It will be interesting to observe, or hear, the format's future success.
The other issue with both the loss of 101.9's format and the ignoring of men in the commercial sphere is the severe effect the recession has had on men. I touched on it above when I said underemployed males, but that does not begin to touch on the loss of male-oriented jobs. The housing crash killed the construction industry, which is primarily male (pardon me whilst I flex), and manufacturing, again mostly male (and again I flex). The government, services and health care industries fared better, and these employ women much more than men. Even these industries have begun to falter, with local and state governments laying off people right and left, while services are increasingly outsourced.
The change in the work force is so dramatic that some have called this the "He-scession," though feminists bristle at this nomenclature. Of course, they bristle at everything. Easily offended political groups aside, it's simply good business to target people who are more likely to be working. Moreover, with families to raise and probably a single parent, these ladies have to spend. They'll miss out on my money, but I'm tight with a buclk these days anyway.
Of course, I'm as much a part of the company's demise as its success. Until last night, I haven't spent time in a Border's since April, and part of the reason is that I won a Kindle, and bought a few books on it. I've wanted an e-reader for some time, but realizing Border's precarious position, I would not invest in a Kobo. This e-reader was the late comer to the party, and it was not fashionably late. More than anything, the inability to move to this market was the reason the company failed.
As I just alluded, I went to the Border's in Mt. Kisco. Parking was a nightmare, so I went a bit father afield. I planned to go to the store in Ramsey, NJ, which is a bit of a hike, but there was a little urgency in my shopping. Generally, these fire sales have all their truly desirable books sold in the first few days, even if the discounts aren't as steep. So I bought $86 worth of books after the various discounts, and I need to search for a book my dad requested. Beyond that, I doubt I'll go back until the bitter end. I'll try to grab one of their tables for the man cave for nostalgia's sake and perhaps an obscure DVD or Blu-Ray. I can't spend too much time there; I blow through too much money and it's depressing as hell.
The other half of my title for this post is radio stations, and New York just lost another rock station. There's a post somewhere on this blog describing my view of radio stations and their formats. My favorite station is still WPLJ, with it's Hot AC programming, but I listened to 107.1 The Peak for "World Class Rock" what ever that meant, as well as 101.9 The Rock Experience. Well, 101.9, the spiritual successor to the real rock station in NYC, 92.3 WNEW, had it's format changed to NEW-FM, targeting (and I am not making this up) Gen-X moms. (No, really. They have even have mom news segments. It's like the Lifetime channel was suddenly on the radio) Talk about niche marketing in action. I would wonder how such a small target audience would be more profitable, but I can't feign ignorance. First, moms spend money, gobs of it. Second, the demographic has more of this money than underemployed young males, and requires less work to keep happy. There aren't any pub crawls, nor any concert tickets to be given away. A wealthy customer base too busy to demand anything extra? Yup, those numbers work.
Ironically, the new music format isn't that different from my fave station, PLJ. They both target the same age group for the most part, and honestly, I like the music more on 101.9. They'll play Journey one moment, and follow it up with Pearl Jam. When I said Gen-X moms, I was not joking. On the other hand, I really don't need to know about the effect of breastfeeding on the strength of a woman's birth canal. Thanks for the visual, however.
The reason any of this is relevant to me is one of culture, and whether or not I fit in same. It's getting harder to find spaces (physical or ephemeral) where I feel I belong. I can always spend time at Starbucks of course, and listen to PLJ, but my options are dwindling, and I fear one day those avenues will also be closed. I would like to say some of this is a function of age, but the new format is directly targeted at my age group. We make money, and spend it not out of desire but necessity. That should make me a very desirable customer. Somehow, I'm not.
I have to blame sexism to some extent. Marketing professors have a mantra: selling to men is really fucking hard. Selling to boys is damn near impossible. We buy differently than women, and for different reasons. I'm not saying men are more prudent with money than women; golf stores are proof of that. However, reaching the male demographic is quite difficult. In researching this topic, I found that an excellent way to market to young men (16-34) is through video games. With the new consoles attached to the Internet, a company can offer a free game paid for by ads placed through out the game's world. These ads can be updated as needed. I'm an excellent example of this strategy. I have the free version of Angry Birds on my smart phone, and it may be the most advertising I see in a 24 hour period.
With all of this change, what is a single male 40 year old book nut supposed to do? I don't feel the need to change my tastes or habits just to fit in to a society I can't identify with anyway. I don't watch television save for a few sporting events watched at places other than my home, and I'm really quite happy about that. The boob tube is a massive time sink, and at least video games challenge my mind in a way that passively watching some random s(h)it-com. That's what I tell my dates, anyway.
So while I make great money (for the moment) the overall economy and culture really doesn't care about me or my preferences. Part of me is fine, even happy, with this. I buy less crap, save for books. The Kindle will earn its cost back in reduced book prices. However, I keep telling myself I really don't need any more books. Hmm, I'll tackle that later.
On the other hand, I'm not quite a hermit. I do have hobbies, and passions, but I suppose I haven't dedicated myself to seeking like minded people and outlets. It seems I am much better at eliminating things from my life then successfully adding them.
Finally, to leave on a potentially positive note, Books-a-Million has looked into buying 30 - 35 Border's stores. The company is a regional concern, with stores in the Mid-Atlantic and South. They could expand into the North East this way, but I actually hope they buy the store in the Poconos rather than Mt. Kisco. I can trundle over to BN if needed, but Stroudsburg has no option at all.
PS: While I was typing this, Trojan condoms sent me an email, stating they would be at the Vans Warped tour with free samples and had a game you could download with....ads!. So if you're wondering why condoms cost so damn much, well, now you know.
PPS: (08/19/11) Actually, I forgot two very important points in the above essay. 1) The new format for 101.9 is based off of John Tesh's syndicated radio program. It took some driving and listening to random spots on the dial to figure it out. The John Tesh radio show is very highly rated, to the point it drove Radio Delilah (a program dedicated to "sappy love songs" and mildly religious overtones of the non-judgemental variety with the same target audience) out of business for a while. Whether or not this idea has legs is another issue. In small doses I like Tesh, but all day? It will be interesting to observe, or hear, the format's future success.
The other issue with both the loss of 101.9's format and the ignoring of men in the commercial sphere is the severe effect the recession has had on men. I touched on it above when I said underemployed males, but that does not begin to touch on the loss of male-oriented jobs. The housing crash killed the construction industry, which is primarily male (pardon me whilst I flex), and manufacturing, again mostly male (and again I flex). The government, services and health care industries fared better, and these employ women much more than men. Even these industries have begun to falter, with local and state governments laying off people right and left, while services are increasingly outsourced.
The change in the work force is so dramatic that some have called this the "He-scession," though feminists bristle at this nomenclature. Of course, they bristle at everything. Easily offended political groups aside, it's simply good business to target people who are more likely to be working. Moreover, with families to raise and probably a single parent, these ladies have to spend. They'll miss out on my money, but I'm tight with a buclk these days anyway.
