Nash FM Does Not Seem to be Gaining Much Traction

[Jeffrey]

A big part of Nash's ratings stagnation is they didn't hire a great PD with a strong track record of programming today's Country music.

They hired a Hot AC guy who was convenient. He is overseen by hasbeens and neverweres. I'm not trying to be mean, but why not hire the best for NYC?

Big radio companies are lazy and the guys who run it, and their henchmen have big egos and no talent.

Name a big station success story for the Dickey Brothers? Or Jan Jeffries, or Mike McVay, where they actually do the work?

They didn't hire the best because they don't care. This is country on the cheap. WNSH exists to anchor a brand. It's not a stand alone station. It was created to give country music an outlet in the top market so they could sell advertising on a national level. Ratings in NY are not incredibly revelant for Cumulus to make money off the brand especially when you consider what they paid for the mediocre signal. They never expected Nash to pull in 3.0. It's not realistic in this market.

 

[dcowboy7]

All stations do that. WNOW will play a 7 year old song 2-3 times in a day for maybe several days until it drops out of rotation. I don't think current country is probably any different. Most commercial stations in the US have very tight playlists.

For a 7 year old song ? that seems alot.
Im looking at Z100s playlist from a few weeks ago & no 7 year old song is getting that # of spins.

1Robin Thicke Featuring T Blurred Li
107 plays
2Calvin Harris Featuring I Need You
105
3Maroon 5 Love Somebody
105
4Zedd Featuring Foxes Clarity
105
5Imagine Dragons Radioactive
59
6Paramore Still Into You
58
7Jay Z Featuring Justin T Holy Grail
58
8Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Same Love
57
9Anna Kendrick Cups (Pitch Perfect’s
57
10Daft Punk Featuring Phar Get Lucky
54
11Selena Gomez Come & Get It
44
12Bruno Mars Treasure
44
13Rihanna Featuring David Right Now
44
14Icona Pop Featuring Char I Love It
42
15Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Can’t Hold
35
16Nikki Williams Glowing
34
17Capital Cities Safe And Sound
33
18Ke$ha Featuring will.i.a Crazy Kids
31
19Jason Derulo The Other Side
31
20Katy Perry Roar
28
21Enrique Iglesias Turn The Night Up
22
22Miley Cyrus We Can’t Stop
22
23Justin Timberlake Take Back The Nig
20
24Lana Del Rey & Cedric Ge Summertime
18
25Drake Featuring Majid Jo Hold On, W
16
26Pitbull Featuring Danny Outta Nowh
16
27Labrinth Featuring Emeli Beneath Yo
15
28Austin Mahone What About Love
14
29Avicii Wake Me Up!
13
30Taylor Swift Featuring E Everything
11
31Fall Out Boy My Songs Know What You
11
32Krewella Alive
11
33Cee Lo Green F**k You! (Forget You)
10
34Flo Rida I Cry
10
35Swedish House Mafia Feat Don’t You
10
36Ke$ha Die Young
10
37Justin Bieber Featuring Beauty And
10
38Demi Lovato Heart Attack
10
39Ne-Yo Let Me Love You (Until You Le
10
40Justin Timberlake Mirrors
10

 

[Jeffrey]

For a 7 year old song ? that seems alot.
Im looking at Z100s playlist from a few weeks ago & no 7 year old song is getting that # of spins.

1Robin Thicke Featuring T Blurred Li
107 plays
2Calvin Harris Featuring I Need You
105
3Maroon 5 Love Somebody
105
4Zedd Featuring Foxes Clarity
105
5Imagine Dragons Radioactive
59
6Paramore Still Into You
58
7Jay Z Featuring Justin T Holy Grail
58
8Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Same Love
57
9Anna Kendrick Cups (Pitch Perfect’s
57
10Daft Punk Featuring Phar Get Lucky
54
11Selena Gomez Come & Get It
44
12Bruno Mars Treasure
44
13Rihanna Featuring David Right Now
44
14Icona Pop Featuring Char I Love It
42
15Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Can’t Hold
35
16Nikki Williams Glowing
34
17Capital Cities Safe And Sound
33
18Ke$ha Featuring will.i.a Crazy Kids
31
19Jason Derulo The Other Side
31
20Katy Perry Roar
28
21Enrique Iglesias Turn The Night Up
22
22Miley Cyrus We Can’t Stop
22
23Justin Timberlake Take Back The Nig
20
24Lana Del Rey & Cedric Ge Summertime
18
25Drake Featuring Majid Jo Hold On, W
16
26Pitbull Featuring Danny Outta Nowh
16
27Labrinth Featuring Emeli Beneath Yo
15
28Austin Mahone What About Love
14
29Avicii Wake Me Up!
13
30Taylor Swift Featuring E Everything
11
31Fall Out Boy My Songs Know What You
11
32Krewella Alive
11
33Cee Lo Green F**k You! (Forget You)
10
34Flo Rida I Cry
10
35Swedish House Mafia Feat Don’t You
10
36Ke$ha Die Young
10
37Justin Bieber Featuring Beauty And
10
38Demi Lovato Heart Attack
10
39Ne-Yo Let Me Love You (Until You Le
10
40Justin Timberlake Mirrors
10

I don't actually see any 7 year old songs on Z100's playlist but it isn't uncommon for older songs to get several spins in a day before they drop out of rotation and are replaced by other older songs on many stations. A quick glance at WNOW's playlist shows some songs about 7 years old. My post however was in response to someone's post about WNSH playing some older songs and ignoring others.
I think you get the point.

 

[davideduardo]

They didn't hire the best because they don't care. This is country on the cheap. WNSH exists to anchor a brand. It's not a stand alone station. It was created to give country music an outlet in the top market so they could sell advertising on a national level. Ratings in NY are not incredibly revelant for Cumulus to make money off the brand especially when you consider what they paid for the mediocre signal. They never expected Nash to pull in 3.0. It's not realistic in this market.

Even network is sold by delivery. It is not sold by a brand name.

Networks need total ratings to get the kind of rates they want as rates are set by the number of people reached. More people, higher rates.

Networks also have to have market coverage. The more major markets you have in a network, the better.

And "networks" are not networks for the most part. They are sales aggregations of similar stations sold as a package Many of the most successful networks share absolutely no programming.

Nash in NYC is a less than full market signal for which they paid less than full market prices and likely expect performance of less than the majority of the bigger signals. For that reason, they have to be more than frugal in operating the station, as it has more limited potential.

 

[Barry]

Nash in NYC is a less than full market signal for which they paid less than full market prices and likely expect performance of less than the majority of the bigger signals. For that reason, they have to be more than frugal in operating the station, as it has more limited potential.

Interesting observation.
Any guess what Nash's ratings would be with a full market signal? I suppose the main gains would come from central Long Island. People in the more northern suburbs can receive sister station Kicks 105.
And would this need to be thrifty likely explain the lack of promotion, and the fact that the station is automated during the evenings and for most of the weekend?
The morning show, which brought in Blair Garner after he had hosted After Midnight for a long time and has several country music cohosts, must be rather pricy. But of course Cumulus may eventually run it also on several other Nash stations

 

[TheBigA]

Any guess what Nash's ratings would be with a full market signal?

Would you consider 103.5 a full market signal? If so, it peaked in the low 2s. But the average was around 1.8. The big problem was local sales which were below average.

 

[Jeffrey]

Even network is sold by delivery. It is not sold by a brand name.

Networks need total ratings to get the kind of rates they want as rates are set by the number of people reached. More people, higher rates.

Networks also have to have market coverage. The more major markets you have in a network, the better.

And "networks" are not networks for the most part. They are sales aggregations of similar stations sold as a package Many of the most successful networks share absolutely no programming.

Nash in NYC is a less than full market signal for which they paid less than full market prices and likely expect performance of less than the majority of the bigger signals. For that reason, they have to be more than frugal in operating the station, as it has more limited potential.

Networks may not sell as a brand but Nash has been referred to as a brand by Cumulus in many interviews regarding what it has in store for the "Nash Brand", ie. radio, magazine, etc.

Obviously 94.7, not being a full market signal is why they paid less for the frequency and were more likely to gamble on country but it is also true that where the signal is strongest is the area where potential country listenership would be strongest.
Nonetheless the objective appears to be to get a country music an outlet in the market so they've accomplished the task despite it's poor showing. My guess is their ratings wouldn't be that different if they did have a full market signal as history has shown over the last few times the format has been tried here.

 

[Willits]

The other thing to consider is that Nash has had very little promotion. Aside from a few billboards in the city when the station first launched, there has been absolutely no promotion of the station on TV, and I have not seen a single advertisement for Nash anywhere in NJ (where the station would likely gain the most listeners).

For that reason alone I think it will be a tough sell in New York, where there are countless stations on the dial. To expect a listener to kind of “discover” it by roaming around and telling their friends is pretty futile. Most people have presets and just pop over to another station and ignore all what’s in between; they'd never even know the station exists. However as others have pointed out, it may be more about just the status of having a flagship station located in New York and establishing a brand. That probably makes it an easier sell in, say Cleveland.

 

[Jeffrey]

This discussion about sagging ratings caused by lack of promotion is not very realistic in my opinion. How many stations have a lot of promotion nowadays? ESPN and WFAN FM had little or no promotion. In fact the last billboard I remember seeing was for Nash FM itself. Furthermore there "was" quite a bit of promotion for Nash, ie. national and local television, billboards, ads on taxi cabs, commuter trains...
Could it be there are just not that many country music fans in New York maybe.........?

 

[Jeffrey]

An All Access interview with the Dickey's at Cumulus states that WNSH is between the 3rd and 4th most listened to country station nationwide (obviously due to sheer market size, not stellar ratings) and that they are 6 months ahead of where they wanted to be in terms of programming. Programming what?? The Nash brand nationwide, WNSH? The short mention of Nash doesn't give the overall feeling of them being incredibly invested.


http://www.allaccess.com/power-player/archive/17247/lew-dickey-john-dickey?ref=mail_roundup

 

[Barry]

About two months after the original post noted that Nash's ratings were stagnant at around 1.9 overall, that is still their rating for October. They are tied with WNOW, as the CHR's 6+ ratings slipped during the month.
According to AllAccess, Nash lost ground with the 18-34 demo, where it had done best. And in the Middlesex Somerset Union ratings, Nash's overall rating dropped a bit, while Thunder Country picked up the difference.
I wonder whether Nash FM's elaborate morning show has helped them.

 

[iyiyi]

I wonder how things would look right now if Cumulus had let 94.7 remain as WRXP and ran the Alternative format instead of Country...

-

 

[TheBigA]

I wonder how things would look right now if Cumulus had let 94.7 remain as WRXP and ran the Alternative format instead of Country...

-

Probably the same. Consider that WRXP peaked at 2.1 with a better signal at 102. This is 2/10ths less with a weaker signal. But the key thing, once again, is that as a country station, it will be the flagship for it's "Nash" brand. This past week, Lew Dickey said to expect the full roll-out of Nash in 2014. That means a 7-midnight show, probably called NashFM Nights, that will be syndicated nationally. That means a print magazine. That means multiple web and mobile sites. There will be a New Year's Eve concert coming. So they really haven't even begun the process, at least according to Dickey.

 

[MarkW]

With an out of town morning show and limp signal, a 1.9 is probably about where WNSH ought to be.

 

[ansky212]

Prior to Nash, most people on here didn't even think a country station could break a 1.0 share, so 1.9 sounds pretty darn good.

 

[TheBigA]

With an out of town morning show and limp signal, a 1.9 is probably about where WNSH ought to be.

WBLS does pretty good with an out of town morning show.

 

[Barry]

But the key thing, once again, is that as a country station, it will be the flagship for it's "Nash" brand. This past week, Lew Dickey said to expect the full roll-out of Nash in 2014. That means a 7-midnight show, probably called NashFM Nights, that will be syndicated nationally. That means a print magazine. That means multiple web and mobile sites. There will be a New Year's Eve concert coming. So they really haven't even begun the process, at least according to Dickey.

Nash Nights Live will be carried on WNSH 94.7 and all other 80+ Cumulus country stations on January 6. The host of this new show will be Sean Paar, who will be leaving his gig as host of the morning program on KKGO in Los Angeles, and moving to Nashville.
Evidently WNSH will be local only from 10 am -7 pm on weekdays.

Nash Nights Live: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/86634/cumulus-to-launch-nash-nights-live/

 

[thataveragejoe]

Prior to Nash, most people on here didn't even think a country station could break a 1.0 share, so 1.9 sounds pretty darn good.

You're joking right. The 100pg thread was filled with people calling for a 3.0 by summer no less. Now everyone wants to change their tune. Here come the excuses. #hypocrites

 

[Macker]

Probably the same. Consider that WRXP peaked at 2.1 with a better signal at 102....

They had 2.5 in the 1st incarnation.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Well, they didn't get their 3.0 by summer, or fall or even winter. With the severe lack of promotion and completion of the radio station, I'm not surprised.

Not an excuse, but I guess I was naive that I thought Cumulus would be launching a complete product, with mornings, mid-days, afternoons, evenings and weekends already in place with plenty of specialty programming on weekend evenings. I was also naive that there would be a large promotional campaign featuring TV, billboards and online ads for the radio station. Considering it's a frequency that for all intents and purposes did not exist in the minds of most of the market for 40 years, a 1.9 overall for a non-urban format isn't terrible.

I'm not changing my tune, I will admit that I was wrong and over-estimated the potential audience for the station. I don't think a 3 is possible now; however, with a full schedule/radio station and a well funded promotional campaign increasing that 1.9 to a 2.5 within the next year isn't unreasonable.

But getting a 3.0 or more really doesn't matter as it's the NYC "flagship" for the Nash brand. Just like Radio Disney, it's there to say "we're in market #1" more than anything else.