Boston Radio Ratings August 2019

[Wimmmex]

My $.02


WAAF has sunk to the lowest (a 1.3!) they've been in some time. They need something. Not sure what.

They are getting beaten by out of town signals WCTK & WXLO.

Not much better than the above mentioned stations are:

WODS (1.8) and WJMN (2.2) that needs an infusion of talent, promotion, marketing, and/or research.

WXRV (2.7) does better than one would expect considering they are located 35 miles out of town.

 

[Retro]

Now I would like to see how both WAAF and WXLO are doing in their home market? Then again, that is probably moot for WAAF as they want to consider themselves a " Boston" station instead!

I still wonder what Entercom's reasoning was for ending their simulcast on 97.7 two and half years ago now.

 

[davideduardo]

Now I would like to see how both WAAF and WXLO are doing in their home market? Then again, that is probably moot for WAAF as they want to consider themselves a " Boston" station instead!
.

Actually, WAAF is a home station to the Boston MSA. It is licensed in the part of Worcester County that is part of the Boston market, not the Worcester market.

In April-May-June WAAF had a 5.5 in the Worcester book, and WXLO had a 4.6.

 

[CTListener]

Actually, WAAF is a home station to the Boston MSA. It is licensed in the part of Worcester County that is part of the Boston market, not the Worcester market.

In April-May-June WAAF had a 5.5 in the Worcester book, and WXLO had a 4.6.

That's a pretty strong rating considering the format.I suppose WXLO's having to share the AC audience with WSRS (and with Boston stations in the eastern part of the county) has something to do with that, but still, a 5.5 is a 5.5.

 

[Wimmmex]

It is licensed in the part of Worcester County that is part of the Boston market

???

It's licensed to the City of Worcester, which is not part of the Boston Market.

 

[davideduardo]

???

It's licensed to the City of Worcester, which is not part of the Boston Market.

No, it is not. The city of license is Westborough, which is in the Boston part of Worcester County.

 

[Wimmmex]

No, it is not. The city of license is Westborough, which is in the Boston part of Worcester County.

You appear to be correct!

TRIVIA QUESTION: For the radio geeks on the board, when did WAAF change it's city of license from Worcester to Westborough? When did their top of the hour ID change?

 

[davideduardo]

You appear to be correct!

TRIVIA QUESTION: For the radio geeks on the board, when did WAAF change it's city of license from Worcester to Westborough? When did their top of the hour ID change?

Jan 20, 2004 was the filing date for the application to amend. It was accepted for filing three days later.

The grant was issued on April 24 of the same year, so the ID would have gone into effect that day or the next.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

My $.02

WAAF has sunk to the lowest (a 1.3!) they've been in some time. They need something. Not sure what.

They are getting beaten by out of town signals WCTK & WXLO.

Not much better than the above mentioned stations are:

WODS (1.8) and WJMN (2.2) that needs an infusion of talent, promotion, marketing, and/or research.

WXRV (2.7) does better than one would expect considering they are located 35 miles out of town.

WXLO and WXRV both have on-channel boosters on-air in Boston (Hancock Tower), Lexington, and Waltham. In addition, WXRV has two more in Charlestown and Natick.

 

[ksradiogeek]

I still wonder what Entercom's reasoning was for ending their simulcast on 97.7 two and half years ago now.

Create another revenue stream and try to take some shares from Jam’n and Hot.

 

[Tomgsinger]

Actually, WAAF is a home station to the Boston MSA. It is licensed in the part of Worcester County that is part of the Boston market, not the Worcester market.

In April-May-June WAAF had a 5.5 in the Worcester book, and WXLO had a 4.6.

Is it really though? https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=SU19&band=fm&callLetter=WAAF says that it is in “Worcester - WO Split”. If I check WSRS (which is the highest rated Worcester station) at https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=SU19&band=fm&callLetter=WSRS, it also says its in “Worcester - WO Split”. Therefore, they are both in the Worcester market, but WAAF counts as a Boston station for ownership and marketing purposes. WAAF is listed as “Westborough-Boston” because that is what their legal ID says.

 

[Time Traveler]

Jan 20, 2004 was the filing date for the application to amend. It was accepted for filing three days later.

The grant was issued on April 24 of the same year, so the ID would have gone into effect that day or the next.

Are you sure that wasn't the date that the grant to change transmitter location was issued instead? As I recall....The city of license change from Worcester to Westborough occurred way back around 1983 or so...Having worked there in the later 1970's until 1980....I know for a fact that they couldn't wait to flee Worcester at that time...

 

[davideduardo]

Are you sure that wasn't the date that the grant to change transmitter location was issued instead? As I recall....The city of license change from Worcester to Westborough occurred way back around 1983 or so...Having worked there in the later 1970's until 1980....I know for a fact that they couldn't wait to flee Worcester at that time...

On the FCC site, it gives the actual document and shows it as an application to change COL being granted.

The reason for changing COL was to be able to be listed as a "home" or "above the line" station in Arbitron. That was much more important then, as they still used paper books in that era and being "below the line" was a literal statement: out of market stations were listed after the WA-- to WZ-- home market calls and following an actual double line.

 

[davideduardo]

Is it really though? (Nielsen site) says that it is in “Worcester - WO Split”. If I check WSRS (which is the highest rated Worcester station), it also says its in “Worcester - WO Split”. Therefore, they are both in the Worcester market, but WAAF counts as a Boston station for ownership and marketing purposes. WAAF is listed as “Westborough-Boston” because that is what their legal ID says.

The Legal ID is "WAAF, Westborough". You may legally add anything you want after the legal ID.

https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9 shows the FCC data as not being a dual city ID.

"Worcester Split" means a station is in Worcester County, which is divided into two "splits". One of the splits is the Worcester market, the other is part of the Boston market. Any station licensed anywhere in Worcester County is in Worcester (Split), but they are individually either in the Boston or the Worcester market, but not both.

Similarly, all stations in Fairfield County, CT, are listed as "Fairfield (Split)" since that county has pieces that are in three different MSAs.

 

[Jacko]

Are you sure that wasn't the date that the grant to change transmitter location was issued instead? As I recall....The city of license change from Worcester to Westborough occurred way back around 1983 or so...Having worked there in the later 1970's until 1980....I know for a fact that they couldn't wait to flee Worcester at that time...

I was an avid WAAF listener back in the mid to late 90's, and they were still IDing as "Worcester-Boston" then. They ran their IDs around :50 after in the middle of the commercial break. 2004 seems like when the ID changed to Westborough. I think they moved their studios from Westborough to Brighton in the late '90s or early '00s.

Jacko

 

[spt87]

If this information can be posted - when I see a 5 share - how many actual people does that translate too in the Boston market? I know share is the percentage of people listening out of all the radio listeners but how many is that? I guess you could figure 90% of the population but not sure how accurate that would be.

Just curious as I saw some real numbers of people who watch the Boston TV news casts and it seems shockingly low to me. Just wondered how that compared to radio.

 

[CTListener]

If this information can be posted - when I see a 5 share - how many actual people does that translate too in the Boston market? I know share is the percentage of people listening out of all the radio listeners but how many is that? I guess you could figure 90% of the population but not sure how accurate that would be.

Just curious as I saw some real numbers of people who watch the Boston TV news casts and it seems shockingly low to me. Just wondered how that compared to radio.

I would imagine they'd be even more shockingly low, when you consider how few people are listening to radio compared to watching TV at any given time. The people who aren't watching TV when the local news is on are usually doing something other than listening to the radio -- online activity, going out for entertainment, family time, sports, socializing, sex...

 

[davideduardo]

If this information can be posted - when I see a 5 share - how many actual people does that translate too in the Boston market? I know share is the percentage of people listening out of all the radio listeners but how many is that? I guess you could figure 90% of the population but not sure how accurate that would be.

Just curious as I saw some real numbers of people who watch the Boston TV news casts and it seems shockingly low to me. Just wondered how that compared to radio.

In 6 AM to 7 PM in PPM markets about 9% of persons 12+ are listening to radio. A 5 share would be a rating of about 0.4 to 0.5.

And 0.5 is the percentage of all persons in that demo in the market listening to the station.

 

[nowradioguy]

In 6 AM to 7 PM in PPM markets about 9% of persons 12+ are listening to radio. A 5 share would be a rating of about 0.4 to 0.5.

And 0.5 is the percentage of all persons in that demo in the market listening to the station.

David,

I have no doubt what you wrote above is correct, but I believe what spt87 was asking for was an actual count of listeners for a given share, percentage, what-have-you.

 

[Tomgsinger]

David,

I have no doubt what you wrote above is correct, but I believe what spt87 was asking for was an actual count of listeners for a given share, percentage, what-have-you.

There are approximately 4,200,000 people in Greater Boston. A 0.5 share would account for only 21,000 listeners, a 2 share would account for ~~84,000 listeners, etc.