June 2021 Numbers

[atthestars]

What caught my eye:

WDAS-FM continues to be #1 overall. A nice bump from their recent low in May.
WIOQ handily beating WTDY in the overall numbers in the CHR wars.
WBEN and WOGL both drop, with WBEN taking a slight lead in the Adult/Classic Hits battle.
WXPN pulling some great numbers. Can't remember them being that high in recent memory.
WEMG and their AM/FM Translator combo now tied (share-wise) with full-market signal WTDY. Yikes.
WRNB numbers still in the gutter, but trending slightly up.
WPHT down to a very low 1.1 overall. Don't remember them being that low in recent memory. Can't compare to WNTP since they don't subscribe.

 

[wibgradio99]

Could the Woody Show and more soccer mom cuts (they are far more gentle than 14 years ago), be responsible for WRFFs demise, and what the heck happened to Power, a once dominate force in Philly radio, listening habits have sure changed.

 

[davideduardo]

Could the Woody Show and more soccer mom cuts (they are far more gentle than 14 years ago), be responsible for WRFFs demise, and what the heck happened to Power, a once dominate force in Philly radio, listening habits have sure changed.

WRFF has the problems most alt stations have... a fragmented audience which has few songs they like in common.

 

[MarkW]

Could the Woody Show and more soccer mom cuts (they are far more gentle than 14 years ago), be responsible for WRFFs demise...

The numbers were already slumping before the rebrand, but I agree that the weak-sauced playlist + Woody are not helping matters.

I like the playlist found on their sister station in Pittsburgh these days:

Find the most recently played songs on 105.9 The X

Find the most recently played songs on 105.9 The X, Radio Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins

1059thex.iheart.com

The biggest problem with Alt is the vast majority of the new song adds over the past few years fall into the wuss music category. Less in the way of ballads and electro-pop music and more in the way of guitar-based music would serve the format well.

In some markets where iHM Alt stations have added more rock music back into the playlist, such as Pittsburgh and Charlotte, ratings have responded positively. Of course, it is certainly worth noting that neither market has an Active Rock station.

 

[Miguelito]

Let's say WRFF suddenly jumps into 5th place with a 5.0 and stays there for several months. Would it even matter? It's all about dollars and advertisers simply aren't buying what the station is selling. My brain kinda automatically skips over WRFF when I'm looking at the ratings each month. It's like a cow's opinion.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

I suppose the "who" pushed them to those hypothetical numbers would matter for sales? So maybe the cow has a point in that case, lol.

 

[Miguelito]

They'd probably have to have a real demo explosion. It seems buyers have too many better places to advertise. Pretty sure WRFF is at its (not great) peak--and has been for many years.

 

[wibgradio99]

When they first launched, there were great new bands they played, Killers. Panic at the Disco, Linken Park, plus they threw in great older bands, Pistols, Flys, Screaming Trees, it was also at the time WYSP who played these bands went away, the area was seasoned for a WRFF type format after Spanish failed.

 

[Miguelito]

Anything's possible these days but I really hope they're making programming choices based on research (local would be nice but I'm sure they're not paying for that). But to my point above (re: ad sales), if they reverted right this second to the programming philosophy they had at launch, I can't imagine how it would have any impact on their bottom line.

I have no evidence to back this up but I assume they're selling WRFF as a package with Q102 with Q being the main course and Alt being the gravy. If WRFF gets a 3.0 or a 2.0 or a 1.9 or a 4.0 or a 3.5, I just don't see it making much difference.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Probably quite fair and rational assumptions. Even going back to a philosophy, if it’s really changed, as we know can’t replicate the past. The audience changes. The product changes. What’s done is done and recreating the glory days, if you want to call it that, isn’t going to happen.

 

[JH_Radio]

The thing is, its gotta be hard to put a new format on air, build it up, the on-air, the promotions, on and on it goes. I liked WRFF before too. when it was more local. I don't much like the rebranding myself. but eh. as long as it is making money my opinion means diddly squat. and if its not making money, could the other stations in the cluster prop it up or make enough money that it doesn't matter if its losing or not?

 

[Miguelito]

I don't much like the rebranding myself. but eh. as long as it is making money my opinion means diddly squat. and if its not making money, could the other stations in the cluster prop it up or make enough money that it doesn't matter if its losing or not?

I think the re-branding is more for the company than it is for the listeners. It's cheaper to have one brand across all similarly-formatted stations. I doubt very many listeners care whether the station is called Radio 104.5 or Alt 104.5. Some probably don't even notice.

To your last point, it really doesn't matter that the station isn't doing well. Unless there's some unheard of influx in listenership by a group advertisers want to reach (and and and can't reach more easily on one or more of the other stations in town), WRFF is going to make the same amount of money regardless of the numbers because it's likely being sold as an add-on with Q102.

If you were an advertiser trying to reach that audience, and you could see that way more of them listen to B101 and Q102 (and more consistently), why would you bother paying for spots on WRFF when you could just as easily pay for them air on B101 and Q102--where you know they have a (probably better-than) equal chance of being heard?