• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WLKK

changing call letters costs nothing. You simply use the FCC call letter search to find unused calls and submit online.
 
Call letters these days hold less meaning in diary reporting markets and virtually no relevance in PPM reporting markets. This is not to say they have no value. There are stations that rely on call letters, WYRK, WBEN and WGR being notable in Western New York. Listeners will often write "106-5," "930"; "55" or "550" in their diaries, and the station will receive credit for the notation. A substantial number of listeners in diary markets enter a radio station's frequency or slogan, e.g., "Kiss 98," "97 Rock," "Jack FM." Radio stations in diary markets, prior to each rating period, submit slogans to a slogan file at Nielsen in order to claim/justify credit for listening. Years ago, much of the Lake's diary ascription appeared as "Lake," "The Lake," "107-7," "107" (which in some cases was split with Q-107 Toronto) and "WLKK."
 
It depends on the station branding. California stations like KFOG in San Francisco had legendary call letters. KLOS and KMET are two others. The call letters only matter if they are used in the main station IDs.

WLKK was chosen as the calls when The Lake was launched. When Entercom tried the ill conceived WBEN simulcast, WBEN FM in Philadelphia already had those calls. Since the simulcast failed badly, they haven't had to bother changing them a third or fourth time...
 
Element9 said:
Call letters these days hold less meaning in diary reporting markets and virtually no relevance in PPM reporting markets. This is not to say they have no value. There are stations that rely on call letters, WYRK, WBEN and WGR being notable in Western New York. Listeners will often write "106-5," "930"; "55" or "550" in their diaries, and the station will receive credit for the notation. A substantial number of listeners in diary markets enter a radio station's frequency or slogan, e.g., "Kiss 98," "97 Rock," "Jack FM." Radio stations in diary markets, prior to each rating period, submit slogans to a slogan file at Nielsen in order to claim/justify credit for listening. Years ago, much of the Lake's diary ascription appeared as "Lake," "The Lake," "107-7," "107" (which in some cases was split with Q-107 Toronto) and "WLKK."
Click to expand...

Whatever happened to the idea of just wearing a PPM and letting the box pick up a tone from the radio?
No writing in a diary. Toronto market does that.
No need to care about call letters just as long as people listen long enough for the PPM box to hear the tone.
PPM Meter:
 
Last edited:
TheBigA said:
Toronto has ten times as many people as Buffalo. PPM costs money, and Buffalo is to small for PPM to make financial sense.
Click to expand...
Great point, except the better question might be whether or not larger markets are doing this?
It's sort of like how I wouldn't expect Ottawa Ontario to have a PPM system in place.
Another important point is, if diary is the only way to go, call letters are still important when two markets are so close together.
What if someone is listening to the wrong station? (Jack Toronto Jack Buffalo used to be a great example, so close on the dial)
 
Yeziknoradio said:
Great point, except the better question might be whether or not larger markets are doing this?
Click to expand...

Sure...Memphis is market 51, and they use PPM. Buffalo is market 59, and they use diary.

There is potential for error in diary, so sometimes a station will go to Nielsen to look at the diaries and see if they can spot an error.
 
Yeziknoradio said:
Whatever happened to the idea of just wearing a PPM and letting the box pick up a tone from the radio?
No writing in a diary. Toronto market does that.
No need to care about call letters just as long as people listen long enough for the PPM box to hear the tone.
PPM Meter:
Click to expand...

There are several differences, one of which was noted which is the huge population difference.

Second is the cost. The PPM requires all subscribers to pay for 52 weeks of measurement. In Buffalo, some only buy the 24 weeks of Spring and Fall.

Also: in Canada, the broadcasters themselves own the measurement system.

And finally, the PPM is about 70% more expensive than the diary. In markets that don't do as much transactional business, it is not worth it.
 
Last edited:
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom