Do listeners really care about short commercial breaks? KYOT in Phoenix (an iHeart station, nonetheless) regularly has 20-minute commercial breaks in the mornings and they're the second highest rated station 6+.
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What's the matter with Audacy? (Especially their legacy stations?)
- Thread starter victorres43
- Start date
It depends on the listener and the content, I guess? If something is worth waiting for, they'll lineup for hours to get their fix, but I don't see this happening in radio; A drive is on average less than 20 minutes (although in Phoenix I hear it can go up to an hour), so those ratings must be coming from somewhere else. Perhaps KYOT limits commercials during the afternoon drive-time. Personally, when I'm just listening to a station, I would want limited ads, but my Dxer side likes ad filled stations so I can track it down easier.
They're the automated Variety Hits station, so they've replaced morning show banter with commercials. As someone who likes waking up to the radio, I'd rather hear music than a morning show or commercials.
I take it banter doesn't get ad revenue but of course commercials does? I agree that I would rather hear the music as well, but personally, having a morning show is sometimes better to listen to than the commercials, if the station does it right.
What!?! That's insane!
Looking through the KYOT playlist for the 6a-9a hours this morning, at most the length of time between song start times looks to be 12 minutes. Subtract 4 minutes for the last song before spots and you're looking at an 8-ish minute spot break, which is on par with pretty much anywhere else on the dial
I did the same thing you did, and arrived at the same conclusion. However, I see there are two breaks an hour, so it's two breaks of between 8-9 minutes of spots, imaging, and promos that might add up to 16-18 minutes an hour.
BTW I see that KYOT is owned by iHeart, not Audacy, which is the company we're discussing in this thread.
Don't get me wrong, I can't stand long commercial breaks, but I was comparing the difference between Audacy stations trying out 2-minute commercial breaks, and the ratings of stations with large spot breaks, like KYOT. When iHeart was Clear Channel, they tried out "Less Is More." How did that work out? Back then, Infinity was the king of very long commercial breaks, and their stations were successful for the most part.
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You speak like Panic didn't score two Top 40 hits a short time ago, "High Hopes" and "Hey Look Ma, I Made It". Panic will likely be quite relevant to "classic hits" stations years from now due to those two songs plus the earlier smash "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies".
Keep in mind the 2 minute promise is only for the alternative format. The battle is often between having five short breaks or two longer breaks. You can pay full price for something, or monthly payments. Which do you prefer?
Why don't you mention the audacy stations that are getting good ratings?
The thing is, Audacy's successful stations tend to be classic hits (WCBS-FM, KLUV, WOCL, etc.), sports (WIP-FM, WEEI, WXYT, WJZ-FM), and news (WINS, WBBM, KYW, WWJ). There are, of course, exceptions to the rule (WVKL comes to mind), but too many legendary brands under Audacy are faltering or no longer being as dominant as before.
Although WLYF is doing well in the ratings, WFEZ has practically equalled them, both in ratings and in billing, whereas it may not be the case ~10 years ago, when WFEZ was an easy listening station that is more customized for Punta Gorda than Miami.
Late here, but the thing is, very few, if any, classic rock stations are having emo music in regular rotation. Even 2000s-friendly stations like WBGG aren't obsessed with Fall Out Boy.
WCBS-FM is a very pop-leaning classic hits station, WOGL has more R&B tendencies, and WDUV, well, kind of the same as WCBS-FM but more ballads and less hard rock. Also, WFEZ would seldom play Panic! at the Disco (even High Hopes isn't a high rotation song there), even if they play more fast-tempo tracks from the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Ed Sheeran, etc. So playing emo will be tricky for a classic hits IMO, especially with the aforementioned stations (I know WFEZ is a Soft AC, technically speaking, but they tend to sound like an 80s/90s pop/classic hits station. All whilst going Soft AC during Delilah). This is not unlike how classic hits skipped a large majority of hair metal.
What's been interesting is that of the three, WOGL has been struggling lately, causing regular listeners some concern.
Yes. While in the 2016-2018 period, the 12+ shares averaged in the 7's, in 2020 is twas in the 4's and this year is now in the first 6 months, a 3.9 average.
You hit on what may be a good discussion point... why has it dropped so much in the last 30 months?
Oh that seems like a fun topic for speculation.
Could be, although WOGL has had a rhythmic lean for a long time, whereas WISX leans towards lite music.
The stations I listen to have short, frequent breaks. When I listen to Christmas music I know the minute I hear a commercial I'd better just change stations because I won't hear any more music for a long, long time.
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