November PPMs are Out!

[atthestars]

Of note:

Congrats to WIP for being #1 overall. Have they ever reached #1 overall before? They've gotta love a 10-1 Eagles team powering them to that. WPEN saw small gains too.

WOGL sliding back a bit... nothing too worrisome at the moment.

WISX- Showing signs of life as "Real"

K-Love- Which is the fluke? Their 3.1 a while back, or their current 1.3?

 

[deepstblu]

If someone had told me years ago that the NPR station would one day be tied in the ratings with the market's only CHR...

 

[Gunsmoke]

I could never understand how sports stations get high ratings, I mean seriously, how much is their really to talk about with sports, it gets boring hashing the same details over and over. Unless its a quick turnover, people tune in 5 minutes to hear whats up then tune out, and put WIP/WPEN down as their main listen when all day they might have WXTU on, it doesn't add up.. Kudos to WRFF which continues to hover around the 3.8, to 4.5 mark for over 10 straight years, and with the growing popularity of Alternative music, with little or no hype or fanfare and not madisons avenue favorite format, can we expect a 5.0 in upcoming books..

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

It ads up just fine. Your tastes, and mine in the case of sports radio, do not mean there aren’t plenty of people with quite the opposite inclination. I don’t have to relate to it to realize it’s very much true.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

If someone had told me years ago that the NPR station would one day be tied in the ratings with the market's only CHR...

It has no real significance, though.

 

[davideduardo]

I could never understand how sports stations get high ratings, I mean seriously, how much is their really to talk about with sports, it gets boring hashing the same details over and over.

Sports stations are guy-talk stations. The same reason that makes guys go to bars drives them to sports stations.

Unless its a quick turnover, people tune in 5 minutes to hear whats up then tune out, and put WIP/WPEN down as their main listen when all day they might have WXTU on, it doesn't add up..

People in the PPM panel don't "put" anything "down". The listening is detected by an electronic device, which is quite accurate in doing that.

In any case, sports has among the highest time spent listening of any format... the core listeners like to hear about sports non-stop. It's not just about scores... it is about players, strategies, coaches, teams, hometown spirit and a whole lot more. Just go to a sports bar and you will see guys who can shoot the bull for hours on the subject.

Kudos to WRFF which continues to hover around the 3.8, to 4.5 mark for over 10 straight years, and with the growing popularity of Alternative music, with little or no hype or fanfare and not madisons avenue favorite format, can we expect a 5.0 in upcoming books..

Now if only WRFF could figure out how to sell to most advertisers at rates that are not just add-ons to the better stations in the cluster.

And alternative is not on a growing popularity ramp-up. You have a couple of songs charting in CHR in some parts of the country, which is interesting after a near-decade of rhythmic hits, but that the genre has not grown in partisans... it's just produced some interesting crossover songs.

 

[Miguelito]

And alternative is not on a growing popularity ramp-up. You have a couple of songs charting in CHR in some parts of the country, which is interesting after a near-decade of rhythmic hits, but that the genre has not grown in partisans... it's just produced some interesting crossover songs.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to confuse the trend of Entercom flipping stations to Alternative with an increase in popularity for the format. I'm sure they're only doing it where research shows that it will make more money than what the station was previously doing. If WRFF's transmitter exploded and iHeart decided to leave it burnt up on the ground, I doubt very much that Entercom would try to pick the format up here. It simply doesn't make enough money.

 

[Miguelito]

WIP is #1 but actually had higher cume last month.

We have a consistent down trend for WOGL. Are people turned off by the '90s? BEN's on a slide as well.

WRNB up to a 4.0? Has that ever happened before? And when was the last time WUSL was as low as 3.6?

People are obviously trying out WISX. I wonder if it can last. Somewhat interestingly, cume is off a bit from last month.

 

[Gunsmoke]

I wouldn't encourage anyone to confuse the trend of Entercom flipping stations to Alternative with an increase in popularity for the format. I'm sure they're only doing it where research shows that it will make more money than what the station was previously doing. If WRFF's transmitter exploded and iHeart decided to leave it burnt up on the ground, I doubt very much that Entercom would try to pick the format up here. It simply doesn't make enough money.

I would bet the farm if WRFF disappeared ALT 96.5 would be launched before the ink dried, and whats to say it still might not launch with WRFF alive and well.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Everything is to say it won’t launch with Radio 104.5 still around.

 

[atthestars]

I would bet the farm if WRFF disappeared ALT 96.5 would be launched before the ink dried, and whats to say it still might not launch with WRFF alive and well.

It always comes down to the billing, but yes, like Abraham said... as long as WRFF exists, Entercom won't attempt Alt in Philly. IF 104.5 were to disappear, I don't think it'd be instant, but seeing Entercom's commitment to the format, (and with such a roster of Alt stations nationwide, they could nationalize it and run it cheap), I COULD see 96.5 going Alt. It might not be instantly, but I could see it happening.

Of course, it all comes down to $$, and if Entercom thinks jumping on Alt (again, if WRFF disappears), would make more $ than being second fiddle to WBEB, they'd do it

 

[Gunsmoke]

Can this market support two Alternatives, sure can, Philly has always been more of a Rock then Urban metro, are there any cities with two Alternatives, yep...Los Angeles,
Kansas City, Seattle, San Diego, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Norfolk, Buffalo, Honolulu and more with Alternative rimshots. With all the talk about the all new WJBR, might they decide to go Alternative, their main coverage area has no full time commercial Alternative especially going due south, time will tell.

 

[atthestars]

Can this market support two Alternatives, sure can, Philly has always been more of a Rock then Urban metro, are there any cities with two Alternatives, yep...Los Angeles,
Kansas City, Seattle, San Diego, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Norfolk, Buffalo, Honolulu and more with Alternative rimshots. With all the talk about the all new WJBR, might they decide to go Alternative, their main coverage area has no full time commercial Alternative especially going due south, time will tell.

Audience-wise? Maybe.

$$-wise? No.

WRFF is one of the lowest billing stations in Philly (and I believe the WORST billing full-power FM station in Philly). Entercom would not want to look at the tiny cash flow and say "You know what? I want a piece of that." and launch a 2nd Alt station in Philly, splitting the already tiny billings into two stations.

And WJBR will not flip to Alternative. Full stop. Their billing is fine for the market they serve. (Wilmington). There is no talk about the All-New WJBR other than on here. The morning show was released. Other than that, and the occasional update of the music library to match the current demographic of the AC listener... they're not changing.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

WJBR alternative? Yeah....gotta say no on that one. Heck, the job posting make it clear they’re looking for an AC host. (Side note, I firmly believe in the ability of talented people to manage different, even divergent, genres; that’s not the point.)

Any day of the week, I’d take second place AC to Second place alternative when it comes to revenue. Heck, I’d take being a third place sports station.

Ok, that might be an exaggeration. But still, there isn’t much to be gained by splitting one of the smallest pies into even smaller slices.

There’s no “we’ll see” to be seen as the market is currently constituted.

 

[AM/FMRAINMAN]

WIP is up because of how the Eagles are playing and Sports Talk Radio is huge in this city.
I don't think the 90s have anything to do with why WOGL is down. They need to freshen up their playlist. They seem to play safe 80s and 90s songs. I would honestly go for it and start adding songs by 80s and early 90s rock and hip hop artists. I really think that would work. Even if you listen to their Back to the 80s Sundays, they play no Hip Hop, really no 80s Hair, minus Bon Jovi. Its safe 80s songs.

 

[mjb1124]

We might see some tweaks after they're done with Christmas music, but WOGL is not going to do anything drastic to alienate their audience. They might be able to get away with some late '80s rock crossovers, but adding hip-hop and grunge this soon would be a mistake. (I say that as a fan of both.) For now, you'll need to go to Radio 104.5 and to an extent Ben FM for '90s alternative, and to Real 106.1 for '90s hip-hop. Anyway, Classic Hits stations usually do worse in the fall than in the summer - the trend has been similar for WCBS-FM in New York.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

WIP is up because of how the Eagles are playing and Sports Talk Radio is huge in this city.
I don't think the 90s have anything to do with why WOGL is down. They need to freshen up their playlist. They seem to play safe 80s and 90s songs. I would honestly go for it and start adding songs by 80s and early 90s rock and hip hop artists. I really think that would work. Even if you listen to their Back to the 80s Sundays, they play no Hip Hop, really no 80s Hair, minus Bon Jovi. Its safe 80s songs.

I’d guarantee they’re playing what tests. If hair and hip hop isn’t testing well with the target audience, why add it?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I think hip-hop is incompatible with the existing music in the classic hits library. In other words, someone who tuned in for Michael Jackson or WHAM! will tune out if you play Notorious B.I.G.

 

[CTListener]

I think hip-hop is incompatible with the existing music in the classic hits library. In other words, someone who tuned in for Michael Jackson or WHAM! will tune out if you play Notorious B.I.G.

Rap and grunge triggered the great seismic shift in CHR in the late '80s. The Jackson/Wham/Men at Work/Phil Collins crowd, by and large, couldn't stand either. Grunge eventually faded, but hip-hop only got stronger, causing CHRs to split into rock and rhythmic. Twenty-seven years later, rhythmic rules at CHR, while rock is a minor presence at best.

 

[AM/FMRAINMAN]

that i agree, but other classic hits stations are playing, Candyman, Young MC, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, Mc Hammer etc. I think their big hits would work.