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Ho-Ho-Uh, Oh for KOOL?

DrAkbar

DrAkbar

The December monthly (11/8-12/05) shows KEZ up from a 6.9 to a 9.5 in the all unimportant 6+ ratings. Keep in mind, they weren't all Ho-Ho-Ho Music for over one week during that time period. BUT, KOOL was, and had started right after Halloween. KOOL dropped from 4.5 to 3.3 in the same monthly - not a good sign going into the equally unimportant Holiday month of 12/06-1/02/19. What does all this mean? Did a large number of KOOL Classic Hits listeners bail for non snow covered pastures? Do Valley listeners wanting All Ho-Ho-Ho music wait patiently for KEZ to throw the switch and won't accept an imitator? All of this is beyond our pay grade (currently $4.75 an hour), so Nurse Jeff and I'll sit back on our lazy butts and let the speculation play out on this thread.
 
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It’s surprising given one of those days KE(s)Z had Christmas music they had major transmitter issues. In fact, they haven’t had their HD on in a couple weeks. That hit should have shown in the ratings and given some good cheer to KOOL, but it didn’t.

Also, it looks like The Oasis benefitted from KOOL’s Christmas flip. I guess there won’t be a third try by 94.5 next year.
 
Seems to me when Entercom's classic hits WOGL did a Christmas flip, it didn't work out well either.

They didn't do it this year, primarily because Entercom now owns the main Christmas station B-101.
 
I'm just guerssing here but tend to think KOOL's normal demo is not into the Christmas music scene - at least not nearly as early as Halloween. I sure am not but then I quit KOOL several years ago when they went 80's. KOOL used to be the best Oldies station in the country. Not no mo'.
 
This just in to the Media Hut 20/20 Newsroom. Nielson is delaying Days 3 & 4 and recalling Days 1 & 2 of the December monthly ratings. Stay tuned for further updates as we return to our regularly scheduled programming.
 
The whole Entercom cluster isn't looking too good right now. They're getting killed by iHeart and Hubbard.
 
Derek said:
The whole Entercom cluster isn't looking too good right now. They're getting killed by iHeart and Hubbard.
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So let's throw this out for the topic of discussion:

There was a time under CBS ownership when the Phoenix cluster was rumored as being for sale.

Anyone think Entercom might now be considering the same thing?
 
TheBigA said:
So let's throw this out for the topic of discussion:

There was a time under CBS ownership when the Phoenix cluster was rumored as being for sale.

Anyone think Entercom might now be considering the same thing?
Click to expand...

I didn't believe the rumors back then, so I'm not going to try to start them again.
 
Why not just do a Detroit and blow up 101.5 for Soft AC? They’ll have to use a name that is not “The Breeze” though.
 
TheBigA said:
So let's throw this out for the topic of discussion:

There was a time under CBS ownership when the Phoenix cluster was rumored as being for sale.

Anyone think Entercom might now be considering the same thing?
Click to expand...

It's too big a market for them not to be in. In the next few years, it might even move up closer to being a top 10 market. Already it is revenue ranked at 12th and 14th in population.
 
DavidEduardo said:
It's too big a market for them not to be in. In the next few years, it might even move up closer to being a top 10 market. Already it is revenue ranked at 12th and 14th in population.
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I understand that, but they only own three stations, and none of them are doing well right now.

They either have to go big or go home.
 
TheBigA said:
I understand that, but they only own three stations, and none of them are doing well right now.

They either have to go big or go home.
Click to expand...

What they really need to do is get a handle, nationally, on markets with high ethnic populations. Entercom seems to simply ignore ethnic segments, rather than looking at how to attract portions of them into their audience bases.

Phoenix is a place where "where are you from" is part of normal conversation. It's a market of migrants and immigrants, and Entercom does not seem to be at their best at dealing with that kind of market.
 
Live 101.5 is definitely the weakest of the cluster. I think a flip to smooth AC or even an LGBQ driven format would work great. I know a lot more cities are trying LGBQ stations with some flipping after stunting with Christmas music. I know both I-Heart and Entercom have HD sub channel LGBQ stations in Phoenix. According to the most recent statistics, 4.1 percent of Phoenix-area residents identified themselves as gay, lesbian or transgendered, which is higher than San Diego, New York City, Chicago, Washington DC and Silicon Valley. Would that kind of format work here in Phoenix?
 
asugeorge1 said:
Live 101.5 is definitely the weakest of the cluster. I think a flip to smooth AC or even an LGBQ driven format would work great. I know a lot more cities are trying LGBQ stations with some flipping after stunting with Christmas music. I know both I-Heart and Entercom have HD sub channel LGBQ stations in Phoenix. According to the most recent statistics, 4.1 percent of Phoenix-area residents identified themselves as gay, lesbian or transgendered, which is higher than San Diego, New York City, Chicago, Washington DC and Silicon Valley. Would that kind of format work here in Phoenix?
Click to expand...

The only place main signal LGBTQ broadcasting exists, as far as I know, is in the tiny Palm Springs metro. In that market, it is estimated that as much as 15% of the market may be part of that diverse group. The city of Palm Springs has a totally LGBTQ mayor and city council. There are many, many LGBTQ specific businesses and even more owned and run by members of that community. And that makes the market rather unique.

What remains to be seen is whether there is radio programming that is liked broadly by all LQBTQ persons. Unless we think that the stereotype of gays all loving dance music, this is not a well founded conclusion.

The two stations in Palm Springs, one of which is non-commercial, are brand new. There is no indication, one way or the other, whether those stations will be successful.

One would hope that, just as there are stations for different age groups and various ethnicities, there might be an opportunity for an LGBTQ format. It would be a valuable addition to radio's format options and a good way to further serve the public. But I think that broadcasters with full facilities will want to wait and see what happens in the small, but very competitive Palm Springs market.
 
DavidEduardo said:


The only place main signal LGBTQ broadcasting exists, as far as I know, is in the tiny Palm Springs metro. In that market, it is estimated that as much as 15% of the market may be part of that diverse group. The city of Palm Springs has a totally LGBTQ mayor and city council. There are many, many LGBTQ specific businesses and even more owned and run by members of that community. And that makes the market rather unique.

What remains to be seen is whether there is radio programming that is liked broadly by all LQBTQ persons. Unless we think that the stereotype of gays all loving dance music, this is not a well founded conclusion.

The two stations in Palm Springs, one of which is non-commercial, are brand new. There is no indication, one way or the other, whether those stations will be successful.

One would hope that, just as there are stations for different age groups and various ethnicities, there might be an opportunity for an LGBTQ format. It would be a valuable addition to radio's format options and a good way to further serve the public. But I think that broadcasters with full facilities will want to wait and see what happens in the small, but very competitive Palm Springs market.
Click to expand...

I completely agree David, I think it would be a valuable asset to radio and would provide a good public service to the community. The station I was specifically thinking of was the Palm Springs station you mentioned because they were classic hits, stunted with Christmas music over the holidays and then Christmas music from the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus on Christmas Day before flipping on December 26th. Would be interesting to see how things work out there, I know Phoenix has a thriving LGBTQ community, maybe an LP-FM would be a good start first.
 
Getting back to the OP, it is very odd that a station would switch to All-Christmas music and see its ratings go DOWN. Someone mentioned Classic Hits WOGL Philadelphia, that would get smashed every holiday season by AC WBEB. So for the last decade, it would also switch to Christmas music and pretty much keep its usual ratings through the holidays. Same for Detroit, where the CBS/Entercom Classic Hits station WOMC switches every year, along with the iHeart AC station WNIC. In all these cases, during the December and Holiday books, the AC station is #1 and the Classic Hits station is #2.

One year in Philadelphia, around 2000, three stations flipped, WBEB, WOGL and 97.5 which was changing formats. And in the Holiday book they finished #1, #2 and #3.

So I am amazed that the Christmas flip for KOOL caused a significant drop in its December ratings. KESZ is credited as the first large market station to go All-Christmas in the weeks before Dec. 25th (although that may be disputed by others). I'm sure most radio listeners in Phoenix automatically connect Christmas music with KESZ. But surely there's enough audience in Phoenix to give two Christmas music stations decent ratings for the December & Holiday books.

Let's see how KOOL does in the Holiday book.
 
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