atthestars said, "they were generally trending in the Upper 4's to Low 5's for the majority of the year." Now they have a 2.7, so approximately half their audience went somewhere. As I stated before, I have hard time believing that fans of songs like Filter "Hey Man Nice Shot" suddenly had a desire to listen to Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas Is You". So where do you think they went?
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Radio 104.5's playlist
- Thread starter radiodx10
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atthestars said, "they were generally trending in the Upper 4's to Low 5's for the majority of the year." Now they have a 2.7, so approximately half their audience went somewhere. As I stated before, I have hard time believing that fans of songs like Filter "Hey Man Nice Shot" suddenly had a desire to listen to Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas Is You". So where do you think they went?
Maybe they're college students and left Philly for their homes in other states. Or snowbirds who went to Florida for vacation. There are lots of explanations. People don't usually plan their lives around radio.
So female alternative rock fans will abandon their favorite music for Christmas songs but all three urban stations were basically unaffected by Christmas. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I love alternative rock but I've never had a sudden urge to listen to a completely different type of music for a month.
For two-ish weeks, people don't commute regularly, and may not listen to their favorite station regularly.
Sure, there are absolutely a ton of reasons why. And yes, I can attest to people the 104.5 demographic switching over to 101.1 the second they flip to Christmas.
I don't see how it's hard to imagine a fair number of people making a switch, at least part of the time, to what amounts to audio comfort food. Add in the disruptions and pattern changes in daily life often associated with the season, and there's plenty of ways that can all add up.
The January ratings will be announced in a few days. If the college break affected the December numbers, they will likely still be slightly affected in January. But there should be a slight upturn. Check back later.
Do you know what date the Christmas format ended and WBEB went back to whatever it was they were playing? If it was January 1st and you guys are right then 104.5 should be back to a 4.9 tomorrow.
Maybe. Last year they went from 3.7 to 4.5. As we've all been saying, this has been a consistent station throughout it's history. Except for December.
First, this is not about "abandoning" a favorite station for a month. It's more about allocating hours each day to different choices than during the rest of the year. People listen less to their favorite stations during the Holidays mostly because holidays, from the Fourth of July to Thanksgiving to Christmas are habit disruptors. And the, at Christmas, this is accented by the holiday spirit among many that causes even more changes in listening.
There is African American listening to all-Christmas seasonal programming, but it is not as extensive or disruptive. In the significant Hispanic markets, pop and AC stations in Spanish lose significant numbers of listeners to English language "Christmas station".
Hol '15-Jan '16 3.3-->3.8
Hol '14-Jan '15 3.7-->4.5
Hol '13-Jan '14 3.2-->4.2
Hol '12-Jan '13 3.9-->4.3
Hol '11-Jan '12 3.8-->4.4
(Didn't have info on Holiday 2010)
Hol' 09-Jan '10 3.9-->4.1
Dec '08- Jan '09 3.2-->4.3
So has WRFF consistently bounced back from the holiday book? Yes. They have. Have they ever slipped as low as a 2.7 in the Holiday book? No, but then again, WBEB has never pulled as high as the 17.9. One bad book in a month that stations/advertisers don't pay attention to does not a format flip make.
But then again, you are not the 25-54 female that is the target of all-Christmas temporary formatting.
I am in no way predicting nor hoping for a format flip. I just want them to become a better alternative rock station. If you read the first five posts on this thread they all complain about the small playlist. One described the station as a chore to listen to. Is your favorite radio format alternative rock? Mine is. That's why I commented about how predictable their playlist is and how often they play the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There are hundreds of alternative rock bands yet 104.5 literally spends an hour a day on the Chili Peppers. The second I hear those same extremely overplayed songs I click on WXPN. Sometimes XPN is playing something good, sometimes they're not.
WXPN gets approximately 5 times the 25-54 listening of 104.5, so it is really unlikely that 'XPN is a role model they will emulate; WRFF is third in the market in 25-49 and second in 35-44.
WRFF's problem is not audience size, it's sales. They, like other late-comers to the format seem to have trouble monetizing the ratings they get.
As I said, I don't expect them to completely make up their December loss in January. However, the trend is that they will continue to rise as the year goes on.
"Better" for whom? Obviously their listeners were happy in every month other than December. And as I said, they're not aiming to be WXPN. They're better when they play the artists people want to hear. If that means once an hour, that's what it means. You're behaving exactly the way someone your age behaves. But you're a bit too old for this station.
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The poster says he wants the station to be 'better' and play a wider mix. Amid those complaints, the station appears just fine, if not doing extremely well as they are doing things now. If you would remove yourself from the word radio and just consider this a business, would you be so willing to change what is currently making your business successful in order to try something you are not positive will produce the same result?
A great radio station is the favorite of few but the preferred choice of many. That means many complain but listen loyally because even though the station is not perfect, it is the best one on the dial for their tastes.
A great radio station is the favorite of few but the preferred choice of many. That means many complain but listen loyally because even though the station is not perfect, it is the best one on the dial for their tastes.
So do the Christmas format loving females stay with WBEB for a while after the holidays until they realize they're listening to music they don't enjoy?
Better for the first five people on this thread and their friends.
I never said I want them to be like WXPN. If I did, then I would just listen to WXPN all the time. I could have just as easily said, when I hear those same extremely overplayed songs I immediately tune over to Rick Jensen on WDEL, which I do sometimes.
I regret telling you my age if you're going to use it as an excuse for a station receiving negative criticism from multiple people on this thread for overplaying the same songs.
Now, will you please tell me what your favorite music format is? If it's not alternative rock, then maybe you shouldn't be defending a station that you don't listen to.
I never said they went to WBEB. I was the guy who said they left town for winter break. Remember, these were people who were extremely happy with the station in November.
The other thing is you're attempting to use one bad ratings book to justify your personal taste in music. I have no reason to believe that if this station added 50 more songs to their playlist, or decreased the airplay frequency of certain bands that automatically the ratings would double. No question that a small percentage would appreciate it, but it wouldn't necessarily result in increased listening. People aren't going to change their personal behavior just because of a radio station.
To be honest, if you hadn't told me your age, I could have guessed. I see enough research from 45+ demo to recognize the behavior. It's around that age that people begin reacting negatively to playlist size and commercial load in EVERY format, not just alternative. You should see the comments from classic hits.
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The temporary audience mostly leaves instantly. A few either find the regular music appealing or increase their listening to WBEB. Keep in mind that the average person is shown to use around 6 stations each week, and very few use only one station.
Stations have specific targets, just as restaurants have specific menus. In the case of 104.5, the main target is quite apparently persons 25-44. If you are out of the target, the station does not and should not care what your opinions on the music and rotations are.
The personal preferences of a radio professional should never have any bearing on that person's ability to find out the tastes of a target group and serve them as best they can. Were it otherwise, what you are insinuating is tantamount to saying that a man should not be a women's fashion designer...
Obviously you got your stations inverted but I know what you meant. I never said I want them to be like WXPN. If I did, then I would just listen to WXPN all the time. I could have just as easily said, when I hear those same extremely overplayed songs I immediately tune over to Rick Jensen on WDEL, which I do sometimes. And yes, I copied and pasted my own sentence.
I don't have access to those numbers. The Radio Online page I'm looking at has them tied for 13th place.
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