Atlanta Ratings

[secondchoice]

Here are the 6+ non-sellable ratings for Atlanta.

https://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb047

School wise summer is over, only a couple of months till the Christmas buys are placed. The New Talk 106.7 is bringing up the rear of the stations with decent market coverage with a nearly 45% drop in audience for two months in a row. I don’t think this is a fluke. Mathematically it would be hard not to lose some money demos with that kind of drop. I don’t know how much the weekend investment guys pay but it must be a lot. The cloud company is coming out of bankruptcy. I don’t think they need the tax loss. The Cumulus sales force has to be thankful for Kicks, Q100 and Rock 100.5. I would hate to try to sell 106.7 on its own.

 

[nightmanager]

Hadn't listened to 106.7 in months, until yesterday. When did they replace Jim Cutler with Chris Corley? And will it matter?
Always liked Chris's work for KFI and wondered why iHeart didn't use exactly the same "More Stimulating Talk" branding for WGST.

 

[gregg75]

Here's hoping WYAY switches back to oldies.
I can remember back in the day when V-103 was on top and their ratings equaled about the next 4 stations ratings all added together.

 

[MarkW]

Variety Hits would work reasonably well in the ATL and would put a noticeable dent in 97.1 The River, thereby benefiting Rock 100.5.

However, for some unknown reason Cumulus hates the format! They'd rather put low-rated alternative stations with weak demos on the air (see Kansas City).

Talk 106.7 will never amount to anything successful. EVER.

 

[jabba17]

Variety Hits would work reasonably well in the ATL and would put a noticeable dent in 97.1 The River, thereby benefiting Rock 100.5.

However, for some unknown reason Cumulus hates the format! They'd rather put low-rated alternative stations with weak demos on the air (see Kansas City).

Talk 106.7 will never amount to anything successful. EVER.

Is it just me or are most of the Variety Hits stations in smaller markets? It seems like most of Big Radio considers it a rookie-league play in a bigger market.

That said, it could indeed put a hurting on Cox's 97.1. Cox's 103.7 Chuck FM (out of the Athens/North GA cluster, not Digital White Columns like 97.1) has gotten harder to pick up since there's now a translator for Dickey's 1340 on the frequency. https://radio-locator.com/info/W279CZ-FX

The other issue is that anything that smacks of "oldies" is toxic to the sales weasels because the money ratings never seem to materialize. Not sure how 97.1 has avoided that stigma, despite featuring the oldest music on the radio outside of the shrinking number of times that WABE plays classical.

I will say this: Talk 106.7 has posted better ratings as a talk station than as a news/talk or all-news station. It's also killed what remaining life there is in WGST and WGKA. 106.7 would do better with better talent. The Kimmer is an Atlanta talk radio icon, but the rest of the schedule is meh. I doubt Premiere would let Cumulus have Glenn Beck unless WGST went away, though--although they did let Cox have Rush and Hannity.

Premiere could let Cumulus have Glenn Beck for the same reason--maybe if they can convince Cumulus to bid for Rush to see how much they can get out of Cox. A Beck/Rush/Kimmer schedule would turn that station around, and would almost be like WGST's glory days.

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

On the Hip Hop side of radio, V103 came up a bit. Wonder if the situation with Wanda Smith vs Katt Williams played a part? HOT 107.9 cooled off a bit and is anyone listening to 96.7 THE BEAT? Cant see STREETZ 94.5 ratings but last time I saw they weren’t too far behind HOT 107.9. Forgot about POWER 92.3 JAMS, but i dont live inside of 285 so IDK what they got going on.

 

[LegalTender]

106.7 news/talk ratings were never 1.3, 1.3, 1.5. The format languished below 2.0 - and once cracked 2.1 - but never was in the current crevice.

 

[MarkW]

Is it just me or are most of the Variety Hits stations in smaller markets? It seems like most of Big Radio considers it a rookie-league play in a bigger market.

By sheer number, there are many more "small markets" than big markets. Nielsen ranks over 230 radio markets across the Country. I would say any market in the top 50 is considered "large" and any market in the top 20 or top 25 is considered "major."

Variety Hits is programmed on full market signals in Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Seattle, Austin, San Antonio, Cleveland, Nashville, St. Louis, and other markets of significant scale. In many of those same markets, it has garnered decent - or even great - ratings for years on end.

True, there are some places where it's been tried where it just didn't take hold. Miami and Chicago are two examples that come to mind.

 

[davideduardo]

By sheer number, there are many more "small markets" than big markets. Nielsen ranks over 230 radio markets across the Country. I would say any market in the top 50 is considered "large" and any market in the top 20 or top 25 is considered "major."

Variety Hits is programmed on full market signals in Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Seattle, Austin, San Antonio, Cleveland, Nashville, St. Louis, and other markets of significant scale. In many of those same markets, it has garnered decent - or even great - ratings for years on end.

True, there are some places where it's been tried where it just didn't take hold. Miami and Chicago are two examples that come to mind.

Don't forget the highest billing of them all, KCBS-FM in Los Angeles.

The licensee of the "Jack" brand, the first and largest of the Adult Hits brands, does custom consulted formats for the Top 50 markets and the format is syndicated in the smaller ones.

The top 50 markets have 151 million persons 12+ and all 265 rated markets have 229 million. So markets one to fifty have twice as many people as the next 179 markets combined.

The top 25 markets have half of the population of all the rated markets.

 

[davideduardo]

The other issue is that anything that smacks of "oldies" is toxic to the sales weasels because the money ratings never seem to materialize.

At one time in my career, I pushed a station I was consulting from being the lowest rated FM in the market to #1. But after 6 months, the owner told me that sales had not improved, so he was going to ask me to move into the market and also become the OM and GSM. We refocused the selling, and taught the existing sales staff that could not ask more than $20 for a spot how to ask for hundreds of dollars a spot.

They all learned, because we showed them it was possible. The station went on to be by at least double the sales leader in the market for the next 22 years.

Weasels don't do such spectacular things as taking a station from just over $50,000 in monthly billing to over $1,000,000 in monthly billing. Bright, competent sellers who know how to serve their clients do that!

Calling salespeople "weasels" is inappropriate. While there may be an individual weasel or two in the herd, most sellers are trying to earn a living and they usually find that to do so they must deal fairly and serve both clients and their station.

Sellers don't like "oldies" in the transactional markets because there is no agency money for 55+ buys. It's very simple a concept, and it is not due to salesperson incompetence.

Not sure how 97.1 has avoided that stigma, despite featuring the oldest music on the radio outside of the shrinking number of times that WABE plays classical.

Simple. 97.1 is not an "oldies station". Oldies stations are centered in the 60's. 97.1 is a "classic hits" station, and the focus is on the 80's. And it's the #2 station in a multi book average on 25-54.

WSRV avoids the oldies stigma by not playing oldies.

 

[jabba17]

Calling salespeople "weasels" is inappropriate. While there may be an individual weasel or two in the herd, most sellers are trying to earn a living and they usually find that to do so they must deal fairly and serve both clients and their station.

Simple. 97.1 is not an "oldies station". Oldies stations are centered in the 60's. 97.1 is a "classic hits" station, and the focus is on the 80's. And it's the #2 station in a multi book average on 25-54.

WSRV avoids the oldies stigma by not playing oldies.

"Sales Weasels" is an old Neal Boortz term for the salespeople at White Columns, who were and are very good at their craft. No offense intended by either Boortz or me.
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244561

The music on 97.1 or most any other classic rock radio station is still the oldest music on the radio in most markets (including Atlanta) besides classical. And at 30-40 years old, it's as least as old as nostalgia/standards was in the 80s or "golden oldies" was in the 1990s. It may not be "oldies", but it IS that old.

 

[TheBigA]

Not sure how 97.1 has avoided that stigma, despite featuring the oldest music on the radio outside of the shrinking number of times that WABE plays classical.

While The River is #2 25-54, it doesn't place in the Top 5 in 18-34 or 18-49, which tells me a healthy chunk of their audience is 45-54. And for the time being, it's still a sellable demo. Not sure for how much longer.

 

[davideduardo]

While The River is #2 25-54, it doesn't place in the Top 5 in 18-34 or 18-49, which tells me a healthy chunk of their audience is 45-54. And for the time being, it's still a sellable demo. Not sure for how much longer.

On a rolling average it is 4th in 18-24, 7th in 18-34. 5th in 18-49. Yes, it leans 40-45, with a lot of upper end spillage; it's #1 in 35-64.

As similar stations in other markets have shown, that is a very good sales demo.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

At one time in my career, I pushed a station I was consulting from being the lowest rated FM in the market to #1. But after 6 months, the owner told me that sales had not improved, so he was going to ask me to move into the market and also become the OM and GSM. We refocused the selling, and taught the existing sales staff that could not ask more than $20 for a spot how to ask for hundreds of dollars a spot.

They all learned, because we showed them it was possible. The station went on to be by at least double the sales leader in the market for the next 22 years.

Weasels don't do such spectacular things as taking a station from just over $50,000 in monthly billing to over $1,000,000 in monthly billing. Bright, competent sellers who know how to serve their clients do that!

Calling salespeople "weasels" is inappropriate. While there may be an individual weasel or two in the herd, most sellers are trying to earn a living and they usually find that to do so they must deal fairly and serve both clients and their station.

Sellers don't like "oldies" in the transactional markets because there is no agency money for 55+ buys. It's very simple a concept, and it is not due to salesperson incompetence.



Simple. 97.1 is not an "oldies station". Oldies stations are centered in the 60's. 97.1 is a "classic hits" station, and the focus is on the 80's. And it's the #2 station in a multi book average on 25-54.

WSRV avoids the oldies stigma by not playing oldies.

WSRV/97-1 The River calls itself Classic Hits, but it's not a Classic Hits station in the vein of a WCBS-FM or KRTH. It's really a Classic Rock station. WSRV started calling itself Classic Hits before Classic Hits meant former Oldies stations. It was meant to connote Classic Rock minus the really hard stuff.

 

[DoctorRadio997]

While The River is #2 25-54, it doesn't place in the Top 5 in 18-34 or 18-49, which tells me a healthy chunk of their audience is 45-54. And for the time being, it's still a sellable demo. Not sure for how much longer.

The station isn't targeted 18-34, so that's why it doesn't show up in the top 5 18-34. There are very few buys that come down from agencies / national based on 18-34. If River was #1 18-34, they'd be doing something wrong.

 

[TheBigA]

The station isn't targeted 18-34, so that's why it doesn't show up in the top 5 18-34. There are very few buys that come down from agencies / national based on 18-34. If River was #1 18-34, they'd be doing something wrong.

In Philadelphia, the classic rock station is #1 18-34, and no one is complaining. They're doing it with songs older than 97.1.

My point is the audience of The River appears to be mostly at the higher end of 25-54. That will be a problem soon.

 

[TheBigA]

As similar stations in other markets have shown, that is a very good sales demo.

For the time being.

 

[DoctorRadio997]

In Philadelphia, the classic rock station is #1 18-34, and no one is complaining. They're doing it with songs older than 97.1.

My point is the audience of The River appears to be mostly at the higher end of 25-54. That will be a problem soon.

Why would that be a problem "soon"? Even if the bulk of the audience is 40-54... each day someone who is 54 and turns 55 ages out, someone who's 39 turns 40 and ages in. I think The River has shifted the music over the last few years to make sure they're appealing to more than just 50 year old. They hardly play any 60s anymore and are starting to add in a few early 90s, sounds like they're adjusting to stay relevant as time marches on.

 

[TheBigA]

I think The River has shifted the music over the last few years to make sure they're appealing to more than just 50 year old.

It depends. As I said, the station in Philadelphia plays rock songs from the 60s and gets younger listeners, so focusing only on the age of songs in radio programming ignores other factors. A radio station is more than just a music distribution system.

 

[davideduardo]

WSRV/97-1 The River calls itself Classic Hits, but it's not a Classic Hits station in the vein of a WCBS-FM or KRTH. It's really a Classic Rock station. WSRV started calling itself Classic Hits before Classic Hits meant former Oldies stations. It was meant to connote Classic Rock minus the really hard stuff.

There are quite a few rock leaning classic hits stations, with one of the first being KOLA in the Riverside / San Bernardino market. That one moved from real 60's oldies nearly a decade ago to a classic hits without the hard-core pop things and has fairly consistently been the second highest rated station in the market right behind a Spanish language adult hits station.

KRTH is an interesting study of how classic hits stations are so different from market to market. It has the playlist size of an AC station, and leans, selectively, to the rock side. Much of this is due to the influence of a 70% ethnic and first generation immigrant population in LA.