Boston Radio Ratings: September 2023

Least · Oct 5, 2023

TheBigA said:
Once again, that's not the point.

But it is. The original post that started this was that Newsradio was failing because it's on AM. Racoonradio theorized where it could fit on analog FM. A reply was that it's already on 107.9-2. That resulted in my reply. Therefore, it is the point. You're actually veering off away from the discussion on this individual occasion, not me. However, you have spot on points.

TheBigA · Oct 5, 2023

Least said:
But it is. The original post that started this was that Newsradio was failing because it's on AM.

But that's not true. Just a few months ago, it was Top 5.

Least · Oct 5, 2023

TheBigA said:
But that's not true. Just a few months ago, it was Top 5.

Yes it was. You're not following the trail of posts, and I'm too indifferent to cite them all. Since you're debating my point, which is all evident on this thread, the burden of proof isn't on me. If I interjected to a point you made, the burden of proof would be on me.

MassMusicMan · Oct 5, 2023

Literally the entire point of AM radio at this point is a service to old people who don't do changes to routine...and people are suggesting with straight faces that WRKO and WBZ swap frequencies in 2023?

nowradioguy · Oct 5, 2023

AerieAlso said:
I've been thinking that WBZ and WRKO should exchange frequencies. WBZ has the big Class A signal that covers most of New England, but concentrates on Boston news, Boston weather, Boston traffic, Boston sports that many people outside of Rte 128 don't care about. 680 could adequately cover all that. Moving the talk programming to 1030 would give them a far bigger reach and maybe inspire some better programs.

Uh, if you actually listen to WBZ 1030, you'll find they have upped their coverage of western MA and the Cape, and even RI, since they have news/talk stations in Springfield, Worcester, the Cape, and Providence, which are, for the most part, carrying the Premiere syndication lineup of Beck, Clay/Buck, Hannity, Pags, etc. This idea of a 680/1030 format swap was first tossed around in the late 90s, when CBS acquired American Radio Systems (owner of 'RKO at the time). It was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idea now.

What iHeart needs to do is program 'RKO with quality talk (much less political), as they do their LA ratings powerhouse, KFI AM 640. Putting 'BZ on either 97.7 or 101.7 is a waste of wattage.

nowradioguy · Oct 5, 2023

TheBigA said:
It's on the iHeart app. That's the future of radio, not FM.

iHeart isn't giving up on AM, and it doesn't simulcast AMs on FM unless it's a translator.

WROR had a worse book than WBZ and ROR is not on AM. The sky is not falling.

As much as I dislike the thought of "apps" as the future of radio, I have to agree with you that "the sky is not falling" for WBZ. But I also agree with a couple of other posters who say it needs to return to its glory days as a more "serious" news provider. A lot of what's on the morning news (especially) is fluff.

Methuselah · Oct 6, 2023

...and K0000nah continues to be an anchor dragging down RKO.

AerieAlso · Oct 6, 2023

EnterCommunicator said:
It's depressing. I'm 48 and grew up going to sleep at night with a pair of headphones on listening to obscure call in shows on AM. Listening softly is how I could fall asleep even though some of the shows were stuff I knew nothing about, ie financial advice. There was just something about the cadence of the host and the callers from across the country that was fascinating. Nowadays if I can't sleep I'll try and find Coast to Coast but too often it feels like there's an extended commercial break every 5 minutes which is jarring when you're trying to drift off to sleep.

I agree! Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall right back to sleep, so I switch on the radio. Nine times out of 10, when I turn to WRKO, it's seemingly endless streams of commercials and I give up and turn the radio off.

EnterCommunicator · Oct 6, 2023

Methuselah said:
I listen to Frank Morano on WABC radio overnight, 1a-5a. He has some interesting guests from time to time.

I simply can't listen to C2C.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

CTListener · Oct 6, 2023

sacredcod said:
I do not have an HD radio in my vehicle and it is of the newer ilk (2020). If WBZ were to go away from AM I would not likely turn on the stream nearly as often. I am sure I am not alone.

The stories on WBZ do not always make sense for me in how they arrange things. Silly headlines over what I care about. Washington and my 401K, what is happening with state government. Local news. Silly is fine once in a while but not all the time. I know they need young listeners and must evolve to stay relevant. It seems the social media is part of that. I am concerned iheart will look at these ratings see this is not working for them. We need WBZ. I worry it will go away.

If Millennials, Gen Z and future generations continue the trend of tuning out news and all but celebrity/scandal talk -- from all sources -- in favor of music, music and more music, then news/talk radio is doomed. Boomers and Gen X will take it with them to their graves. Rock, too.

vmorrison99 · Oct 6, 2023

Methuselah said:
I listen to Frank Morano on WABC radio overnight, 1a-5a. He has some interesting guests from time to time.

I simply can't listen to C2C.

I listen to Frank Morano most nights as well. I have exchanged emails with him over the last coup[r of years. He really loves the talk format and overnight radio. I think he is a great talent. 77WABC has cleared his program on several stations. The guy on before him Dominic Cater is horrendous

raccoonradio · Oct 9, 2023

Talking about the ratings on facebook it was mentioned how WEEI AM, once a huge force [including when 850 was WHDH] was barely doing anything with its gambling format. People have gone to FM and streaming, etc.
Up in Rutland VT WSYB 1380 flipped from Fox Sports to classic hits--with a nickname based on their FM translator's frequency. That may cover less ground than the AM, but people prefer FM. The change came after the end of the Red Sox season (an affiliate). Classic hits an easier sell than syndie sports.

And "where are 104.9 and 107.3 in the ratings?", it was asked. These K Love stations care not about ratings, for they use the NCE designation to fundraise from willing listeners. It's...a miracle (as the monk in the old Xerox ads would say).

Methuselah · Oct 9, 2023

vmorrison99 said:
The guy on before him Dominic Cater is horrendous

I haven't listened to him enough to really judge, nor would I really catch enough of his show to form an opinion, but his voice does grate on me. I usually fall asleep listening to RKO (Kelly) and then wake up sometime after 1 to pee. On the rare occasion I wake up before 1 I will tune in to WABC and sort of half-listen to fall back asleep. Most of Morano's show I catch is 3am+ when I wake up for the day. On weekends I stream Pags podcasts and go back to listen to Morano's podcasts I missed that may be of interest.

CTListener · Oct 9, 2023

raccoonradio said:
Talking about the ratings on facebook it was mentioned how WEEI AM, once a huge force [including when 850 was WHDH] was barely doing anything with its gambling format. People have gone to FM and streaming, etc.
Up in Rutland VT WSYB 1380 flipped from Fox Sports to classic hits--with a nickname based on their FM translator's frequency. That may cover less ground than the AM, but people prefer FM. The change came after the end of the Red Sox season (an affiliate). Classic hits an easier sell than syndie sports.

I wonder if WSYB will remain on the Red Sox network now that it's a music station. The Sox are on three music stations in the Upper Valley and thereabouts (Alternative WWOD, Oldies WFYX/translators, and Country WCNL//translator), but not on the WEEI affiliates on either side of the river -- which, oddly enough, are on the Patriots network! Strange to hear the "WEEI Upper Valley" liner during breaks on a Patriots game.

MassMusicMan · Oct 9, 2023

CTListener said:
I wonder if WSYB will remain on the Red Sox network now that it's a music station. The Sox are on three music stations in the Upper Valley and thereabouts (Alternative WWOD, Oldies WFYX/translators, and Country WCNL//translator), but not on the WEEI affiliates on either side of the river -- which, oddly enough, are on the Patriots network! Strange to hear the "WEEI Upper Valley" liner during breaks on a Patriots game.

Nope. They didn't even air the games first half of this season because they didn't have advertisers. The station only had three advertisers total at the end of sports.

The place is run by straight imbeciles. Least they did what I thought they should have done with the frequency - lean into whatever withering husk of heritage they have left. Everybody got old and retired...and never bothered to prepare the next generation. Like the city as a whole.

Joseph_Gallant · Oct 9, 2023

I wonder if WBZ-1030's ratings might go up this month because of the war that broke out this past Saturday (October 7th) in Israel.

I suspect that ratings of all-news or mostly-news stations, like BZ, will rise in times of major news (i.e. the outbreak of war, an election, etc.)

Tired Of It All · Oct 18, 2023

Methuselah said:
...and K0000nah continues to be an anchor dragging down RKO.

GOONer does spots on Talk1200. He does one for QC Kinetics and one of the words he has to say is halloween. GOONer calls it HOLLOW-een and with all the spots he does, the closer to the end of the sentence he gets, the higher his voice rises.

BostonRadioListener · Oct 19, 2023

pjc1961 said:
Covering the survey period from Thu. 8/17/2023 thru Wed. 9/13/2023, age 6+ overall:

Boston - RadioInsight (refresh page if not updated immediately)

OR Radio Industry News, Radio Show Prep, Radio Promotions, Radio Station Data, Podcast News

OR https://www.urbaninsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BOSTON.htm

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis from Research Director Inc.:
(scroll down to see Boston market)

RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP SEPTEMBER 2023 PART 2 | Research Director, Inc.

As promised – we’re back. And we’re glad you found the new home for The Radio Ratings Roundup (formerly a part of the All Access empire). The R

researchdirectorinc.com

25-54: 1. WBZ-FM 2. WXKS-FM 3. WWBX 4. WZLX (up from #8) 5. WBUR 6. WBWL (up from #10) 7. WBOS 9. WMJX
18-34: 1. WXKS-FM 2. WBZ-FM 3T. WBQT 3T. WJMN (up from #9) 5. WMJX 6. WKLB
_______ 9T. WBGB (down from #2) 9T. WWBX (down from #3) 9T. WBWL (up from #13)
18-49: 1. WBZ-FM 2. WXKS-FM 3. WWBX 4. WZLX 5. WMJX 6T. WBQT 6T. WBUR 8. WROR (down from #4)

Prefer SportsHub big time over WEEI…98.5 is far superior overall. But AM Drive at 98.5 is almost unlistenable. It’s a couple of guys just shooting the breeze, weak if any preparations, those guys are just mailing it in. Not a fan of WEEI’s AM talent, but they have a better show, more substance, better dialogue—98.5 never should have given WEEI that opportunity—but they did. The trends in AM are dramatic. It’s extremely telling to see the long term trends of 2 stations in ALL other day parts diverge that dramatically in ONE day part.

Heres the thing—there’s little indication WEEI is making any progress—except where 98.5 just punted—in AM. Can’t imagine there won’t be change. Touched and Rich sound like they’re resigned to that fact,

MassMusicMan · Oct 20, 2023

BostonRadioListener said:
It’s a couple of guys just shooting the breeze, weak if any preparations, those guys are just mailing it in.

This is a crock of (expletive), and is beneath my expectations for intelligent commentary, even for this forum.

Least · Oct 20, 2023

When has Hill outperformed T&R? For the short while when T&R were the morning team on WBCN, I thought they did better than Hill on WAAF. For the tenure of T&R on The Sports Hub vs Hill still on WAAF, T&R performed better. I get they weren't exact competing formats, but they did overlap in targeted audience. How has T&R on The Sports Hub perform against Hill on WEEI? I always took it as T&R were top performers while Hill comes in 2nd.