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Philly April Ratings

A

atthestars

We knew with COVID-19, it was going to be an odd month.... and boy was it.

CUME across the board was down everywhere... up to 50% on some stations. Highest cume went to WMGK with just 585,000!

The shares of those left listening?

WDAS a runaway #1 with nearly a 3 share jump
KYW numbers looking like the glory days at #2.
WBEB- Craters without "At work" listening don't they? Lowest share # I can remember. And the Breeze only a few tenths behind. We don't have the breakdowns, but it seems the Christmas music didn't help?
Ben FM comes down to earth.
Q102 and 96.5 TDY show there's little appetite for pop at the moment.
97.5 the Fanatic was just a tenth ahead of Mega's AM/Translator signal combo. (Again, just the vanity 6+ numbers)

The question will be, are these months throwaways like Neilsen suggests they are, or is this the start of a new listening pattern for many?
 
I have never seen WBEB in the 3s ever. That is abysmally low for B101. In fact- Radio 104.5 is now MORE popular than B101.

An KYW-AM continues to prove AM is still useful and a popular way to get news and information especially during these times. Kudos to them indeed. and a 7.5 share! that's huge numbers for an old-fashioned analog AM, of course their 50kW blowtorch helps keep the signal nice and clear all around philly.

The fact that WRTI is comfortably higher than WPEN is a sure sign that station cannot continue like this. PEN cannot compete with WIP.

Let's not gloss over WEMG's success. They've made a 1kW signal a decent station. They got very good ratings for a spanish AM, and they should be applauded for that.

The breeze might be too slow and tiring for at home orders, as they have dropped all the way down to a 3.1.

And as was pointed out, WTDY is tanking tremendously with a 1.4 share, right next to WXPN. WIOQ dropped an entire share to a 2.1.

Here's a fun fact though, what didn't show up at all is WDAS-AM 1480. But what did show up is an out of market signal WKMK, which is barely listenable due to WISX's HD sidebands.
 
In most of the other markets which released their meaningless beauty pageant numbers Monday, sports stations fell off the cliff, but WIP-FM held nearly steady in Philadelphia. What was it attracting listeners with while all sports organizations were paralyzed with fear? The NFL draft? New York has two NFL teams, yet draft talk couldn't keep WFAN from a disastrous book.
 
CTListener said:
In most of the other markets which released their meaningless beauty pageant numbers Monday, sports stations fell off the cliff, but WIP-FM held nearly steady in Philadelphia. What was it attracting listeners with while all sports organizations were paralyzed with fear? The NFL draft? New York has two NFL teams, yet draft talk couldn't keep WFAN from a disastrous book.
Click to expand...

WIP has always been "guy talk" going back to the focus Andy Blum put on it when he was PD there years ago.

Think Imus on WFAN: guy talk. Big numbers, immune to seasonal ebbs and flows in sports.
 
TheBigA said:
Especially when there are no other distractions.
Click to expand...

And let’s be honest, speculating about the NFL draft and who the Iggles should/would take was easily enough on its own to keep WIP’s conversation going for a couple of months ahead of time. Now that they took a QB—WIP is golden for months to come.

Ok, that’s somewhat exaggerated, but for a guy talk station with lots of sports, being fungible with the ratio is a saving grace when there are no sports taking place. At least enough to get through to a restart of baseball, whatever that may look like.
 
Interesting tidbit dropped in an AllAccess article today about the ratings.

WHYY was #2 in Persons 18-34. A year ago, they were #18. That's remarkable.
 
HGN2001 said:
Take people out of their cars and down goes radio listening.
Click to expand...

It's not just that.

The PPM only shows at-home and away listening. The diary showed home, work and car listening.

"Away" includes at work, so if people are not driving to work, they are also not listening at work. It is a double whammy.
 
WHYY is the only non far-right talk available on radio, besides WURD. 18-34 avoid rush and that crew like the plague, or virus in this case lol
 
radiodx10 said:
WHYY is the only non far-right talk available on radio, besides WURD. 18-34 avoid rush and that crew like the plague, or virus in this case lol
Click to expand...

Younger people do not avoid just the right leaning radio talk shows. They avoid all forms of talks shows that deal with politics and serious social issues.

Younger listeners deal in podcasts and snippets from Youtube and social media, not long-form talk.

Whether right or left leaning... or near the center... talk on broadcast radio has far less interest among people under 50 years old.

If you look at KQED in San Francisco, you will find that only about 10% of its audience is 18-34 and just under 25% is under 50. And that station, which many consider the most successful centrist* talk station in America, reaches about 33% fewer people in April during the pandemic weeks than just two moths.

* And many on the right believe the station, and NPR in general, leans to the left as well.
 
No, they do not avoid all talk shows that deal with politics/social issues. Podcasts attract younger listeners far more than terrestrial signals do.

I might not have numerical data to back it up, but I know from my own experience plenty of my friends listen to political talk podcasts.

And for what it's worth, my best friend, Kaity, is a reporter at NPR. And NPR does not have a left-wing bias. It's just the right wing can't stand factual reporting because it shines on a light on their administration, but I shall not go further.
 
CTListener said:
That is anecdotal data in its purest form and carries no weight at all.
Click to expand...

This is true. But there are sources with sourced stats available....



So broad generalizations like "most" or "everyone" are frequently faulty, and of course, podcasts can cover everything from sports to politics to crime to lifestyle. But it isn't dismissible out of hand that there may be interesting demographic variations in how audiences consume political content.
 
What I seem to notice when I look at research for millennials is a lack of interest in real time media. The idea of setting your watch to listen or watch something doesn't exist. If something is conveniently on so that it's there when I want it, that's great. But the preference is to be able to access content on their own schedule, and podcasts fit that description. The concept of "appointment viewing" or listening doesn't translate to younger audiences. To summarize: I want what I want when I want it, and I want it for free.
 
radiodx10 said:
No, they do not avoid all talk shows that deal with politics/social issues. Podcasts attract younger listeners far more than terrestrial signals do.

I might not have numerical data to back it up, but I know from my own experience plenty of my friends listen to political talk podcasts.

And for what it's worth, my best friend, Kaity, is a reporter at NPR. And NPR does not have a left-wing bias. It's just the right wing can't stand factual reporting because it shines on a light on their administration, but I shall not go further.
Click to expand...

But my point was that any kind of discussion (I said "long form") that fits the traditional radio mode (live, hours long, lots of ads) is not used by younger demos irrespective of the political perspective. There is no interest in the medium setting the time schedule.

Podcasts tend to be shorter, more concise and can be selected both on the nature of the content and the perspective. In other words, we can get podcasts that fit our perspective in multiple aspects.

I do disagree with the nature of NPR. As someone who lived outside the US political system for most of his adult life, I have a broader definition of the scope of the left to right spectrum. I find NPR to be to the NNW of centrist, while, for example, Fox is to the east and the traditional networks are to the northwest and CNN is perhaps SSW.

I am also used to understanding that "the truth" depends a lot on factors ranging from national origin, socioeconomic level, culture, age and other factors. I've seen too many "factual" reports on news items that come out considerably differently just because of what a reporter's beliefs causes them to see. One reporter's car accident is another reporter's story about the industrial complex failing to make safe cars and another reporter's focus on how public transportation as a way to avoid accidents. They all see the same physical evidence, but their mind changes the importance of facts.
 
TheBigA said:
Not necessarily a political bias however. Half empty vs. half full is not a political dichotomy.
Click to expand...

Everything I have seen is mostly based on political / social constructs. The same international event reported by Prensa Latina or TASS will sound much different than the report from Reuters, FrancePress or AP.

I have witnessed too many international news events in places where I have been working or living going back to the Guatemalan Coup d'etat in 1963 up to the hurricane in Puerto Rico just a couple of years ago. The international media has had vastly different perspectives depending on the mindset, social values and societal bias of the culture their reporters bring to the event.
 
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