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Boston Radio Ratings November 2021
- Thread starter freqlost
- Start date
I see what you did there. And I must say, Bill Belichick also deserves some credit for being so cunning and moving on from Tom Brady. I do like to see Mac Jones play though, he's good. It's interesting how much mileage WBZ still gets out of their news/talk format.
Going off the recent Nielson ratings solely, the numbers for WBOS show stagnation shifting between a 1.9 and 2.0. That's according to the numbers I read on Radio Insight. It doesn't look any more of a dip than it looked like a climb when it went from 1.9 to 2.0 last time.
My area of interest, despite not liking that kind of music, is the slow drop of WXKS-FM with the slow climb of WWBX. I don't predict Mix overtaking Kiss, but in a hypothetical sutuation where that does happen, what does iHeart do?
Also WXKS-FM's number is teetering near that of WKLB. WBWL's numbers are recently stagnant between 1.6 and 1.8, which is lower than WBOS. WBWL exists partly to take listeners away from WKLB, protecting WXKS-FM. If WKLB passes WXKS-FM for a long period, and WBWL remains stagnant, do we see a change at WBWL? Again, this is all based on the Nielson numbers, and is there a format hole in Boston needing to be filled? But under the unlikely scenario that this all happens, could we see a reason to bring either WBZ-AM or WRKO to FM?
Please note that as the insiders always say, Nielson numbers don't really mean much, we don't know much each station is making in billing, and (most importantly) this is all time wasting fodder for me while I wait for my kid to get out of practice.
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While Mix 104.2 has doubled in its share over the last 3 months, it is very highly doubtful that they will ever Top Kiss 108, at least under its present format anyway.
Beasley should put WBOS out of it's misery. My big question. Beasley has 2 major successful rock stations in both Philadelphia and Detroit, albeit that they are heritage stations. Why do they not take a page from one of those existing stations, and implement it in Boston also?
Impressive showing by RKO. No doubt assisted by K0000nah being on vacation for a week.
Anyone know when was the first week of this book?
Where I don't disagree about WBOS, since Beasley gain the intellectual property of WBCN in it's purchase of WBZ-FM, then why not play a bit of nostalgia with the air staff? Perhaps bring back some old talent to swap stories. They already have Adam 12 and Hardy back-to-back. Also, what if they dumped Dave and Chuck for a local morning show, or do would that take from Toucher and Rich?
I heard an episode of Who Are These Podcasts with Drew from Drew and Mike (the old morning show on WRIF). It was funny getting his take on Dave and Chuck's format, while admitting that Dave and Chuck gained on them in the ratings when Dave and Chuck were on 89X out of Canada, then were brought in to replace Drew and Mike.
But, since we are pointing to Nielson ratings and WBOS, (based solely on the metric) why don't we say the same for WBWL?
While The Sports Hub was #1 in all demos (25-54, 18-34 + 18-49),
WXKS is hanging in in the money demos: #2 in 25-54, #2 in 18-34 and #3 18-49.
So, while the overall number doesn't look good (and they did have their lowest numbers in quite a while),
I'd hold off on saying that this may be more of a long-term trend.
Plus, any future evaluation is really on hold until we get past the holidays
and more into the Jan.-Feb.-Mar. 2022 period.
WXKS is hanging in in the money demos: #2 in 25-54, #2 in 18-34 and #3 18-49.
So, while the overall number doesn't look good (and they did have their lowest numbers in quite a while),
I'd hold off on saying that this may be more of a long-term trend.
Plus, any future evaluation is really on hold until we get past the holidays
and more into the Jan.-Feb.-Mar. 2022 period.
I do not know. iHeartMedia seems to have some type of strategy that works. Even if WBWL is not performing very well at all. Somehow it all just seems to work into their diversified audience.
Kiss 108 is performing much better than it's L.A. sister!
I have summoned all the self contol the Nuns rammed into me 50 years ago in order to resist posting the plethora of incredibly ridiculious statements CK made over the last two weeks.
My understanding is that WBWL's purpose in part is to take listeners away from WKLB, giving WXKS-FM higher numbers. But that understanding comes a time when WXKS-FM and WKLB were among the top stations. Should WXKS-FM drop below WKLB (going off Nielson, which isn't worth a hill of beans in all actuality), and WBWL stays at numbers below the likes of WBOS, has WBWL lost its purpose?
I get what you're saying. I just scratch my head at everyone who is pointing their fingers at WBOS, while WBWL is performing lower. The other thing to keep in mind is that WBOS must pull from the same demos as WBZ-FM. Could that be part of Beasly's strategy, just as iHeart has a strategy for WBWL?
Jeff’s show is a key reason why WRKO is performing at such a high level. WRKO’s ratings are impressive. Give credit where credit is due!
While that is indeed possible, I do not think that Beasley works with the same strategy iHeartMedia does. The Bull is more or less a second player, which I do not pay much attention to.
WBOS has a much stronger signal, and just seems like the station has much more potential! Back when Greater Media owned them, and they were a AAA format, it seems that their ratings were a bit higher. They were usual in the 2 shares, if I recall. It just seems like the station could do much better ratings wise.
The question becomes what do they put on it? Beasley has Sports and R&B/Hip-Hop. Country is covered by two stations, Pop is covered way too much in Boston between Top 40 and Hot AC. 103.3 failed as Amp, trying to also play in that same arena. Try taking on WMJX? That would be just as bad as taking on WZLX. Go back to Alternative? We see how that's doing across the country? Switch it to modern Rock? Although I would personally love to see that happen, modern Rock is in the same boat as Alternative. They would essentially play most of the same 90s alt-rock with some newer songs mixed in. Go back to AAA? Well, they conceded that to WXRV a while back.
Going to the days of AAA, has it been about 15 years now since WBOS was known "92.9 WBOS?" I know it was before WBCN was flipped that WBOS became "Radio 92.9." At the time, it put WBOS in a four way battle for the then rock/alternative crowd. I wouldn't see the numbers of "92.9 WBOS" to be comparable to the market, today. The thing with audiences is that it is subjective. Where AAA might have worked in the 2s in 2004/05-ish, we see that not the same was WXRV as the sole station in the market, today. WXRV is performing below WBOS and WBWL.
The thing that must be noted is your point on the strength of WBOS's signal. WXRV is stronger north of the city, if I'm correct. So, it isn't an apples to apples comparison. But I do look at WXRV and the knowledge that no strong signal Boston station choose to challenge it as an indicator that AAA wouldn't work now. That brings me to my conclusion that something with WBOS currently works, and I would hypothesize that it has to do with being in the same cluster as WBZ-FM. Perhaps it gets some stronger billing due to that. That was the same thought process when (then) Entercom created the "wall of women" when it merged with CBS; getting Mix, Amp, and Magic under its umbrella.
Off topic, I still think that part of the flip from Amp to Big had to do with the sale of WAAF. It created a low cost station that could have some cross appeal. And, it plays many of the classic rock songs that was present in WAAF's playlist, in the stations last few years.
I see 2 possible formats that could at least be tried. Either go Active Rock, or some variation, taking a page from either their 2 heritage stations in the other Top 10 markets. Or perhaps, Beasley could try a format that is emerging in a couple of other markets, and try an all 90s format instead?
That could happen. I said this before, but if they wanted to lean on the heritage of a station (which I don't think will work) would be to either change the calls to WBCN, as they control the calls and own the history of the station (which they gained when they acquired WBZ-FM); or they could keep the WBOS calls while bringing in some of the big names from WBCN to do a whole nostalgia theme.
I don't see them only following the likes of a station like WRIF, because although WBOS on 92.9 is a heritage call and frequency for Boston, it isn't a heritage station format-wise. As others pointed out, the rock stations across the country that are thriving are all heritage stations. Upstarts aren't working (much to my disappointment).
My unprofessional take to this day is that CBS wanted to flip their rock stations on the East Coast; and out of their markets WBCN was one of the better performing. That's why it didn't go to Free FM. But CBS poorly handled the playlists and muted some of the "free form" that made WBCN what it was, with an aim to flip it to originally talk, then sports talk. Out of it's East Coast stations, most went in that direction. And as most of them flipped, I observed WBCN relying on overplayed 90s songs, with a few new songs thrown in here and there. I can read Big A in my head, saying "it's not up to the station to find songs, it's up to the record companies to push the bands/artists." But while I heard CBS stations on the West Coast (through streaming) playing more new songs, the East Coast just went into what I claim to be a self-destructive mode. My theory always has been that they wanted to flip the rock stations the minute that Howard Stern left for Sirius.
As for all-90s, my question is that between WBOS, WBQT, WBGB, and WROR; isn't 90s music fragmented in those stations and the genres of music that they cover? I know that all of them play multiple decades, but isn't that the appeal? I just don't see a sole decade themed station to be sustainable on commercial FM radio for a long time. I know that iHeart also tried it with all 80s themed stations, and they didn't last long (if I'm correct).
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This is the second time you have stated something like this but I don't think it's correct. Yes, Beasley ended up with the call sign but that had nothing to do with the WBZ-FM deal. Though WBCN went away when the Sports Hub was launched by CBS remember that the former license is now with WWBX (former WBMX) the station now on 104.1 which is still owned by Audacy the former Entercom. The Trademark WBCN is also owned by them and has been renewed right up to last year. My guess is that Enercom would probably not let that happen without a fight. I don't think anything from the former WBCN was transferred to Beasley except for the call itself and that was due to a completely different transaction. Perhaps Beasley would win in the end but I think it might be a costly battle and for what a callsign recognized by folks over 60?
The intellectual property of WBCN wound up on 98.5 HD-2, which was transferred to Beasley. Case and point, turn on the start of Hardy's show on WBOS and listen to the intro. It's the same exact intro from his WBCN show, with only one variation. They replaced Dickie Barret from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones saying "you're listening to 104.1 WBCN Boston" with Metallica saying "you're listening to Rock 92.9." An even more keen ear would notice that the "Boston" at the end of Metallica's "you're listening to Rock 92.9" is Dickie Barret from the shows intro on WBCN.
A second keen listener would notice that over the years Toucher and Rich replayed their Westborough Basptist Church bit (last time I heard it was July of 2019). That bit originally was produced and aired on WBCN. Yet, they played it on their Sports Hub show after Beasley owned the station. Again, if Audacy owned WBCN's intellectual property, Toucher and Rich wouldn't be allowed to air the bit.
With that, if Audacy owned the intellectual property, would Hardy be able to use the same exact intro, word for word? I always wondered what happened to it, but after Hardy started on WBOS, I came to the deduction, also noting that the last form of WBCN that existed was the 98.5 HD-2 version. The 100.7 HD-3 Freeform version was discontinued by CBS, before the merger. My understanding is also that Beasly replaced the 98.5 HD-2 WBCN with Hubcast mainly because WBOS made having the WBCN HD version redundant. I think that audacy owns wbcn.com, but Beasley controls the calls and the station's intellectual property.
Even though Mix uses the original license from WBCN, essentially Mix's intellectual property and WBCN's were switched (with WBCN changing formats to the Sports Hub). WBCN's history went with The Sports Hub, as it claims WBCN in its legacy; while Mix claims its legacy as starting on 98.5 then moving to 104.1.
Lastly, 60 year olds is a bit of a hyperbole. The station went away 12 years ago. Many people in their Mid-30s forward (today) would remember the station. But, as I originally said, "It's highly unlikely."
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