September 2013 PPM results

[Boss Radio]

Biggest development is yet another increase for The Fan, now third overall in the market 6+. Big bump from the Pirates' success, obviously.

At the other end, The X drops and is as low as I can recall. Will the Penguins help them climb back up?

Y108 still No. 1 followed by DVE.

 

[Pratte4Life]

This deserves some discussion.

First of all, I think we need to ask "Why is Y108 No. 1?" Is there something that they are doing other stations aren't? What changes have they made?

I find country stations and country music in general get popular when the cultural and political shifts of the country go that way. Think late '70s-early '80s; Smokey and the Bandit, Dukes of Hazzard, Reagan, NASCAR is on TV for the first time, and Eddie Rabbit can make the pop Top 40 and Barbara Mandrell can host a variety show.

Now it's 1991. Bush is at 91 percent approval, half the country is horrified by this new fangled rap music, and so Garth Brooks becomes king.

2005. Bush enjoys reelection with the "War on Terror" still looming large, NASCAR is riding a crest of popularity along with, my goodness, Johnny Knoxville, and that was the last time Y108 hit No. 1 in a single month.

But I'm not sensing we have a political and cultural tide this way. Or maybe I'm just not paying enough attention to Duck Dynasty and Obama's 37 percent approval.

You tell me.

 

[Pratte4Life]

On to WDVE. They aren't really in a demise, and I do applaud their updated playlist. Finally I'm hearing some of my favorites from the 1980s instead of Neil Young and Uriah Heep.

So I'm enjoying 30-year-old music instead of 40-year-old music.

But I really do think WDVE is missing Jimmy Krenn. Maybe he hasn't been picked up by another station- so what? Krenn on another station would be like Franco Harris in a Seattle Seahawks uniform. He is the most identifiable personality the station has ever had, and I say he is missed.

Here's Randy Baumann, who for years basically insulted my tastes and the tastes of anyone 35-45 with his "Mullet Talk" character, and now the station is putting Whitesnake and Quiet Riot on their playlist prominently. Not a good mix.

And Pittsburgh Dad. It's not only gotten repetitive, but the fact is Jimmy Krenn basically started all those Pittsburgh centric characters and so Pittsburgh Dad seems like an extension of it. As Howard Stern says, the imitator is never as popular as the innovator.

The morning show seems a bit angry. With Krenn it was always so much fun. I don't care if he doesn't know how to turn on a microphone and needs someone to do it for him or if Baumann's fans all bombarded the station in 2010 when contract negotiations took a snag.

You really think this station is stronger without him than with?

 

[Pratte4Life]

Now, finally, The X.

Like Sidney Thornton, this station has shortcomings and they are great.

First off, let's look at the music they play. Modern Rock. I hate to say this, because to me modern pop and hip-hop won't have me late for the door in 10 minutes, but rather 10 seconds, but what is this era's Guns N' Roses?

Or Nirvana?

White Stripes?

There isn't one. While Justin Morneau and myself belief Rock and Roll, it will survive; modern rock is in a slump and is fighting to stay relevant.

And the problem here isn't so much that. It's that The X is the Chunky Soup of Pittsburgh radio stations- is it a sports station (Pens, Madden, Benz) or is it a music station?

But the music isn't happening and the sports format, what it is, has been eclipsed by The Fan.

Say what you will about the station, The Fan doesn't talk hockey in July. The Fan doesn't follow up an interview or a take with 15 minutes of music and commercials.

On top of that, I had this thought. Remember WPTT 1360? The station was, essentially, WTAE II. Doug Hoerth. Lynn Cullen. Even Bruce Keidan, I believe, though his tenure at the station predated those two.

For a little while, it made a lot of sense for WPTT to go this way. Hoerth and Cullen are/were broadcasting legends in Pittsburgh. But after awhile, it seemed as if they were just resting on their laurels and their time passed.

The X is the new WPTT. It's ESPN 1250 in 2001. Only it's 2013. Mark Madden isn't shocking us anymore. Tim Benz? The most damning thing I can say about him is that I've never heard his morning show- and I'm a sports fan who likes rock music.

Lots of talk on this board about what is going to happen to 104.7. But The X is faring no better. Yes, maybe we will have a second all-sports FM in Pittsburgh, but at the expense of what format, and with what talent?

 

[Parttimer]

Why is Y108 #1?

Micro answer..... Baseball on the Fan took a lot of 25-54 men from DVE, meaning Y108 moved up from its usual top 5 spot to #1.

Macro answer.... Country music now appeals to people who also like rock or would be A/C listeners. Artists like Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum cut across multiple genres. Pittsburgh was always a huge Southern Rock town, that music is marketed as country now.

Likewise, the X lost listeners to baseball on the Fan. That will certainly level out now that it's hockey season.

And by the way ESPN can't be happy with 970 after Friday's Mike & Mike appearance at Stage AE. Saw it on ESPN2 from a hotel room, Heinz Field looked great in the background but they were lucky if there were 30 people there.

 

[secondchoice]

This deserves some discussion.

First of all, I think we need to ask "Why is Y108 No. 1?" Is there something that they are doing other stations aren't? What changes have they made?

I find country stations and country music in general get popular when the cultural and political shifts of the country go that way. Think late '70s-early '80s; Smokey and the Bandit, Dukes of Hazzard, Reagan, NASCAR is on TV for the first time, and Eddie Rabbit can make the pop Top 40 and Barbara Mandrell can host a variety show.

Now it's 1991. Bush is at 91 percent approval, half the country is horrified by this new fangled rap music, and so Garth Brooks becomes king.

2005. Bush enjoys reelection with the "War on Terror" still looming large, NASCAR is riding a crest of popularity along with, my goodness, Johnny Knoxville, and that was the last time Y108 hit No. 1 in a single month.

But I'm not sensing we have a political and cultural tide this way. Or maybe I'm just not paying enough attention to Duck Dynasty and Obama's 37 percent approval.

You tell me.

If you listen to Country now it sounds a lot like top 40 did it the 1970's & 1980's. I don't have access to the old Pittsburgh ratings but I bet Full Service AC and Top 40 did very well during that time period.

 

[Pratte4Life]

I know country is the new adult contemporary, but I'm not sure it really sounds like the Top 40 of a previous generation.

 

[secondchoice]

If you can mentally "replace" the organ or synthesizer with a steel pedal or fiddle in a lot of 1960's an 1970's top 40 you will see what I mean. Several years ago a bunch of country acts did a tribute / cover of the Eagles. About 10+ years ago (I am not too sure about exact dates) Brooks and Dunn had a hit with BW Stevenson's My Maria.

The whole "Southern Rock" (Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd , Marshal Tucker, etc) movement was really county acts with too long of hair to be accepted by Nashville, at least according to my several friends of the family. I lived in the Nashville Suburbs and had several record company folks (not artists but business types) live in the neighborhood. Of course at that time the Coutry music industry lead by Chet Atkins was trying to take the "twang" out of Country music. Creedence Clearwater Revival would have a hard time getting "air play" to day on a lot of "modern" Country Stations because would sound too "Old or Classic Country".

If you read read the Wikipedia link on Southern Rock:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_rock

especially the 50's and 60's part I am might be understating the Rock / County connection.

 

[Pratte4Life]

Asking to mentally replace an organ with a steel pedal guitar is a bit much. I'll buy it's the new adult contemporary- today's country sounds nothing like it did pre-Garth Brooks. In fact, it doesn't even sound much like the Dixie Chicks era. But I'm still not willing to say it sounds like Madonna.

I'll buy what you're saying about Southern Rock. In fact, I recall going to a mega country concert in 1996 with Charlie Daniels promoting a movie on Skynyrd.

If we can reach mutual ground- I believe we could say that today's pop music is very rap orientated, and to many audiences that's a recipe for changing the station, be it Kiss, Star, etc. Hence, with country the new adult contemporary, it fares quite well in a market that is 92 percent white, perhaps not as old as it once was but still traditional, and much of the area of the counties outside of Allegheny seem rural.

Hence, that leads to Y108 success (though Part, as always, brings up strong points additionally that are spot on).

Or it could be something else. That Jimmy Roach is one of the most tenured and respected morning show hosts around, and he is no longer humiliated nor is our intelligence insulted by having "Jumping" appear before his name.

 

[xm41]

I've always said there's a strange connection between 80's/90's hard rock/hair metal and country music. I know allot of so called head bangers from back then that have grown to be country music fans today. There's more than one example of an ex hair band member who's doing country music today and if you listen to allot of so called hair metal songs from back in the 80's/90's it's not a far stretch to imagine them being redone as country songs.

 

[Pratte4Life]

I've always said there's a strange connection between 80's/90's hard rock/hair metal and country music. I know allot of so called head bangers from back then that have grown to be country music fans today. There's more than one example of an ex hair band member who's doing country music today and if you listen to allot of so called hair metal songs from back in the 80's/90's it's not a far stretch to imagine them being redone as country songs.

I am one of those head bangers from back then who have grown to be a country fan today (though not above 1980s head banging music, which is precious).

But is it all that unusual? The Rolling Stones often put a country song or two on their albums, and before he joined AC/DC Cliff Williams was playing bass in an English country band.

From my personal experience, my mom was a big Kingston Trio and folk fan in the day, so I grew to like the sound of songs with banjos in them. Some of my first memories of listening to the radio were hearing Kenny Rodgers and Eddie Rabbit in the Top 40.

If I can list a few reasons that I like country today:

1. In an era where music is made by computer or rapped; country, for the most part, is still played with instruments and still features "legitimate" vocals.

2. For the most part, 1980s hair bands were rather positive in their content. So is country today.

3. It's targeted to the age group of the old head bangers. As mentioned repeatedly above, it's the new adult contemporary.

4. I might even go as far as to say a song like "Red Solo Cup" by Toby Keith brings back memories of the humor that AC/DC delivered.

5. People will view this comment negatively, and they shouldn't, but the society we live in demands I write that little disclaimer.

Both genres are very white.

 

[xm41]

I am one of those head bangers from back then who have grown to be a country fan today (though not above 1980s head banging music, which is precious).

But is it all that unusual? The Rolling Stones often put a country song or two on their albums, and before he joined AC/DC Cliff Williams was playing bass in an English country band.

From my personal experience, my mom was a big Kingston Trio and folk fan in the day, so I grew to like the sound of songs with banjos in them. Some of my first memories of listening to the radio were hearing Kenny Rodgers and Eddie Rabbit in the Top 40.

If I can list a few reasons that I like country today:

1. In an era where music is made by computer or rapped; country, for the most part, is still played with instruments and still features "legitimate" vocals.

2. For the most part, 1980s hair bands were rather positive in their content. So is country today.

3. It's targeted to the age group of the old head bangers. As mentioned repeatedly above, it's the new adult contemporary.

4. I might even go as far as to say a song like "Red Solo Cup" by Toby Keith brings back memories of the humor that AC/DC delivered.

5. People will view this comment negatively, and they shouldn't, but the society we live in demands I write that little disclaimer.

Both genres are very white.

I agree with all your points. I'm also a head banger and while some of the country songs I hear catch my ear they still don't do it for me. I need that special crunch in my music.