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NYC Metro Radio Ratings November 2022

Covering the survey period from Thu. October 13 - Wed. November 9.
(Thus, Holiday programming is mostly not present for this survey.)
WBLS continues at #1 with a 7.0 share.

Age 6+ overall: New York Radio Ratings Nov. 2022 (goes back to June 2022)

From AllAccess.com, discussion of demo rankings for ages 25-54, 18-34 + 18-49
(includes Top 5+ rankings in each demo): Scroll down to see New York Market demo rankings - Nov. 2022

25-54: 1. WSKQ 2. WBLS 3. WHTZ 4. WLTW 5. WKTU 6. WNEW
18-34: 1. WBLS T2. WHTZ T2. WSKQ 4. WCBS-FM 5. WQHT 6. WAXQ
18-49: 1. WSKQ 2. WHTZ 3. WBLS 4. WLTW 5. WKTU 6. WNEW
 
This lists WINS as an FM station although the first two weeks of this book are AM only.

Meanwhile, a big drop at WCBS, although that could be attributed to the end of the Mets season.
 
Alt was an 0.8 in HD which is better than 94.7 HD-2 a reason why we need Alternative back in NY. It's still making ratings.
That is a format that can only be sold as a bonus add-on to a station cluster with significant delivery by other stations.
 
I know the signal is limited but 94.7 should be able to adjust to get some of that WBLS pie.
Yes, WBLS heritage loyalty is unparalleled in this market, but getting just a little more sharing should be maximized. Obviously in New York it's a much better piece in their cluster than Country ever was.

This market has so much gold music playing on every signal now.
90s on wnew, WKTU(few 80s too), and wxbk.
Whtz goes back to 2000.
Wqht and wwpr play 2000s.
And obviously WCBS, WLTW, Waxq and the leader WBLS.
I think that makes the state of new music as a new level of awful. What new songs work now are lots of rehashes of older hits too.
It's subjective I guess, but I wonder if we are now in a place where true mass appeal hits are a thing of the past. Maybe Blinding lights or even Uptown funk will go down in history as the last truly mass appeal hit song.
 
WINS-FM-HD2 1.3 down to 0.8. HD2 was "New Arrivals". I am assuming it went down since new arrivals disappeared and was
replaced with the main WNYL Alternative?

There seems to be conflicting information in that it is hard to tell what is going on since there was no WINS-FM news stream.

https://ratings.****************/content/arb001
WINS-FM-STRNewsAudacyN/A0.70.90.9
WINS-FM-HD2AlternativeAudacyN/A1.21.30.8
WINS-FM-HD2-STRAlternativeAudacyN/AN/AN/A0.1


https://radioinsight.com/ratings/new-york/
0.30.50.70.90.9WINS-FM Stream1010 WINSNewsAudacy111,300
1.61.51.31.21.30.8WINS-FM HD2Alt 92.3AlternativeAudacy
 
I know we have a large Spanish speaking population in NYC. I am skeptical, since is it really enough to propel WSQK to #3 in the ratings?
 
These top five lists are so counter-intuitive. Stations that clearly are aiming at the 35+ or 40+ audience seem to be doing better with young listeners than more mature listeners.

--WBLS is Urban AC. Yet it is #1 in the 18-34 demo. It is well ahead of the two urban stations which aim at 18-34 listeners, WQHT and WWPR.

--WAXQ is Classic Rock. Yet it is #6 in the 18-34 demo. Not only were these listeners born after most of WAXQ's songs charted. But even their parents may have been born after some of the Stones, Beatles and Who songs were recorded.

--Classic Hits WCBS-FM only plays a handful of songs recorded after 1988. Yet it is #4 among 18-34 listeners, its best demo, where everyone was born after 1988.

--I can remember when Lite-FM was almost always #1 in the 25-54 demo and often #1 18-49 too. But we see here, Lite is #4 in those two adult demos.
 
I know we have a large Spanish speaking population in NYC. I am skeptical, since is it really enough to propel WSQK to #3 in the ratings?
The market is 25% Hispanic, and there are only 3 good Spanish language signals.

Figure that there are, in most US markets (except traditional ones like San Antonio, El Paso, ABQ, Fresno) about 70% of Hispanics use Spanish language radio, and near 50% who are Spanish dominant only use Spanish language radio. Hispanics also use more hours of radio a week than non-Hispanic whites.

So there should be between 12 and 15 Spanish language radio shares in the market. In New York, the Spanish dominant Puerto Rican audience is very old now, so we can discount the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Puerto Ricans as they don't use Spanish language radio much or at all and Puerto Ricans stopped migrating to New York in the late 60's.
 
These top five lists are so counter-intuitive. Stations that clearly are aiming at the 35+ or 40+ audience seem to be doing better with young listeners than more mature listeners.

--WBLS is Urban AC. Yet it is #1 in the 18-34 demo. It is well ahead of the two urban stations which aim at 18-34 listeners, WQHT and WWPR.

--WAXQ is Classic Rock. Yet it is #6 in the 18-34 demo. Not only were these listeners born after most of WAXQ's songs charted. But even their parents may have been born after some of the Stones, Beatles and Who songs were recorded.

--Classic Hits WCBS-FM only plays a handful of songs recorded after 1988. Yet it is #4 among 18-34 listeners, its best demo, where everyone was born after 1988.

--I can remember when Lite-FM was almost always #1 in the 25-54 demo and often #1 18-49 too. But we see here, Lite is #4 in those two adult demos.
Remember, most agency buys are based on an average of 4, 6 even 8 books. And they buy by rating, not share. When you look at ratings, there are many stations all with the same rating. Little differences in share such as +/- 1.0 don't have much effect there.
 
I think that makes the state of new music as a new level of awful. What new songs work now are lots of rehashes of older hits too.
It's subjective I guess, but I wonder if we are now in a place where true mass appeal hits are a thing of the past. Maybe Blinding lights or even Uptown funk will go down in history as the last truly mass appeal hit song.

I don't know, I think Adele's "Easy On Me" charted in 8 formats? That's what music has to do in order to become mass appeal. But it's an interesting topic, and one that we've discussed under different subject lines. What we've seen is that millennials, particularly those in their 30s, have a lot of respect for classic rock and 90s country. It shows up in the ratings. You can see in the OP that WAXQ is Top 5 with listeners 18-34, with the largest part of that demo in their 30s. We see that in many other cities as well.

At the end of the day, this is more of a music industry thing than a radio thing. Radio plays the music it gets from the labels. The recording industry business model is built around streaming, not radio airplay. Streaming is one-to-one rather than one-to-many. When the industry that creates the content isn't aiming for mass appeal hits, then this is what you get.
 
WINS-FM-HD2 1.3 down to 0.8. HD2 was "New Arrivals". I am assuming it went down since new arrivals disappeared and was
replaced with the main WNYL Alternative?

There seems to be conflicting information in that it is hard to tell what is going on since there was no WINS-FM news stream.

https://ratings.****************/content/arb001
WINS-FM-STRNewsAudacyN/A0.70.90.9
WINS-FM-HD2AlternativeAudacyN/A1.21.30.8
WINS-FM-HD2-STRAlternativeAudacyN/AN/AN/A0.1


https://radioinsight.com/ratings/new-york/

0.30.50.70.90.9WINS-FM Stream1010 WINSNewsAudacy111,300
1.61.51.31.21.30.8WINS-FM HD2Alt 92.3AlternativeAudacy513,900
*****0.1WINS-FM HD2 StreamAlt 92.3AlternativeAudacy45,900

Plus, for reference, the on-air signal with AM + FM combined (see explanation below):
2.73.22.83.03.03.5WINS-FM1010 WINSNewsAudacy1,322,000

As WFAN does, WINS is using single-line reporting for their simulcast, choosing "WINS-FM" as their station ID.
For this particular survey, here's what the station IDs represent (I think this is right - corrections/clarifications welcomed).
(Format change on 92.3 occurred at 8:50 AM ET on Thu. 10/27/2022, day 15 of 28 days of "November 2022"):

WINS-FM = WINS-AM from 10/13-10/26; plus WINS-AM + WINS-FM from 10/27-11/9. ("1010 WINS News" format on-air)

WINS-FM Stream = WINS-AM Stream from 10/13-10/26; plus WINS-AM + WINS-FM Stream from 10/27-11/9. ("1010 WINS News" format online)
--- (Of course it has been and still is only one actual stream, not two separate streams.)

WINS-HD2 = WNYL-FM from 10/13-10/26; plus WINS-HD2 from 10/27-11/9. ("Alt 92.3" format on-air)
(Note: from the ratings chart data, it appears that the "New Arrivals" format on-air from 10/13-10/26 is *not* included in any tabulations.)

WINS-HD2 Stream = WNYL-FM Stream from 10/13-10/26; plus WINS-HD2 Stream from 10/27-11/9. ("Alt 92.3" format online)
(Note: WINS HD2 Stream totals *might* only pertain to the "Alt 92.3" format online from 10/27-11/9, possibly
not including the WNYL-FM Stream from 10/13-10/26.)
(Likely that the "New Arrivals" format online that was on from 10/13-10/26 is *not* included in any tabulations.)
 
I'm not sure how Q104.3 does well if Rock isn't a format NYC is friendly towards. 🤔 Also why is Q104.3 there in the first place, what's IHM's strategy for them in their cluster they seem out of place. Is it to protect Lite FM?
 
I'm not sure how Q104.3 does well if Rock isn't a format NYC is friendly towards. 🤔 Also why is Q104.3 there in the first place, what's IHM's strategy for them in their cluster they seem out of place. Is it to protect Lite FM?
There are enough listeners in the rock-friendly demos in the city and, especially, its suburbs to generate decent numbers and revenue for one station playing rock. Two, three or four stations also playing rock, be it classic or current, would only hurt Q104.3 while not moving the needle with advertisers any more than that lone station does now. That's the problem: The market simply has too few potential ears left for rock, while stations playing rhythmic genres continue to have strong advertiser appeal and do well enough in listener share so as not to slice the pie too thin.

I'll use my old home state of Connecticut as a parallel. WWYZ is the only country station serving the Hartford and New Haven markets. It's a successful station by any metric. But Hartford is not Nashville, or Dallas, or even Wichita, where two or more country stations can coexist and thrive. The only country listeners in the market are the ones who are giving WWYZ its steady 5.0 to 7.0 Nielsens every month. A competitor wouldn't attract anyone new. Wichita's two hit country stations did a combined 14.0 in the most recent book. Eliminate one of them and the survivor would be the top station in the market by the radio equivalent of Secretariat's margin in the 1973 Belmont. Add a third and all three would likely remain viable. That is the definition of a country-friendly market. Now transfer those comparisons to New York and, say, Seattle or Minneapolis, where rock still works (as it does in Wichita, interestingly enough -- that's what happens in an unusually non-ethnic market), and you'll see why the NYC radio landscape makes sense.
 
I live and grew up in the area. Granted I grew up in the rural western area of the market. I do understand how NYC is rhythmic friendly. I just still not sure the use for Q104.3 for IHM.
 
Classic rock is apparently huge on Long Island. In the latest overall ratings, Q104.3 is number2, with 5.4. WBAB is #4 with 5.0 And even WBZO, which recently switched to classic rock and is running without jocks (and has a more limited signal), is #8 with 3.7.
There's also WWSK-The Shark which leans toward active rock. But it's much further down in the ratings with a 2.2.
 
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