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CHR Ratings

MVB13

MVB13

I noticed the majority of CHRs have horrible ratings. Their music selection is 25 year old songs that should be played on classic hits stations. They aren't taking chances on new artists or new music. What can be done to fix ratings?
 
Some of it has to do with the preference of if I like rhythmic but then have to sit through alternative or adult pop I don’t want the hassle or have to switch the channel. CHR is also suffering from overkill with the general pop product at this point.

All depends on the listener though. Some people like familiarity and some like new music and some like a balance of both.

Also, a big part is that there are likely just too many Mainstream Top 40 outlets and it waters it down. Some of these markets don’t need 3 or 4 CHR channels. But it isn’t that the format doesn’t work there.
 
radiorobert said:
Some of it has to do with the preference of if I like rhythmic but then have to sit through alternative or adult pop I don’t want the hassle or have to switch the channel. CHR is also suffering from overkill with the general pop product at this point.

All depends on the listener though. Some people like familiarity and some like new music and some like a balance of both.

Also, a big part is that there are likely just too many Mainstream Top 40 outlets and it waters it down. Some of these markets don’t need 3 or 4 CHR channels. But it isn’t that the format doesn’t work there.
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Which cities have 4 CHRs? Some have 2.
 
TheBigA said:
The way to good ratings is play familiar music. The 25 year old songs help ratings because there's little passion for new artists.
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Look at the CHR's in PPM markets doing well right now. It usually has nothing to do with music why those succeed, but rather morning shows with strong mother/daughter coalitions and 25-54 numbers. Z100, 99.7 Now, WKQI, etc...

The reason they're playing more golds in the current cycle is to retain the 25-54's as teens/18-34s have adopted streaming platforms for their preferred listening. But none of the stations that have gone to a mostly gold direction have yet to see any success (B96, Power 96, Z104.3 Baltimore, Hits 96.1 Charlotte, Kiss Cincinnati). The only CHR that made a change that has paid off in the past year was WTDY Philadelphia moving from CHR to a music-intensive Hot AC presentation.
 
radiorobert said:
I’m in the Midwest. Des Moines has 3 CHRs and 2 Hot AC outlets. I believe Seattle has 3 CHRs. I’ve seen several others too. 2 is probably common but several have 3-4.
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While there may be musical overlap, the formats are not identical in terms of classifications. In the case you specified. Des Moines has 2 full-power CHRs and 1 Hot AC. It also has a rimshot Hot AC mostly focusing on Ames and a Rhythmic leaning translator that serve as flankers. Keep in mind the demographics of the market too as there is a smaller percentage of minorities to support many formats with as many signals as their are in the market so you also end up with more duplication. That is not replicated in many markets other than some other over-radioed markets such as Salt Lake City which does have a three Mainstream CHRs and four ACs, but no real Hot AC or current based Rhythmic/Hip Hop station.
 
CentralFL said:
Does any market have a CHR playing only or even mostly new music?
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The Top 50 at Z100 are all 2024 or 23. Then they start mixing in 5-10 year old songs. But the Top 5 get 110 spins a week, 5-15 get 60 spins a week, the 15-25 get 30 spins a week, and so on. So the newer songs get played more frequently. Which is what you expect from a CHR. The difference is that the playlist is bigger, so they play a wider range of gold. But each song may only get played once.
 
lanceventa said:
While there may be musical overlap, the formats are not identical in terms of classifications. In the case you specified. Des Moines has 2 full-power CHRs and 1 Hot AC. It also has a rimshot Hot AC mostly focusing on Ames and a Rhythmic leaning translator that serve as flankers. Keep in mind the demographics of the market too as there is a smaller percentage of minorities to support many formats with as many signals as their are in the market so you also end up with more duplication. That is not replicated in many markets other than some other over-radioed markets such as Salt Lake City which does have a three Mainstream CHRs and four ACs, but no real Hot AC or current based Rhythmic/Hip Hop station.
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Couple things. The translator is not Rhythmic any longer as it’s a mainstream. Also Rhythmic has and would get very high ratings. It’s the ad agencies that look at the 12-15 percent minority number and don’t see it as high enough to insert a full Rhythmic package. So they go with the mainstream package.

The second full power is suffering for the size of signal because there isnt enough mainstream actual numbers to give it much. As you said the number of signals doesn’t match the business dynamics.
 
radiorobert said:
There’s a few big markets out west.

I’m in the Midwest. Des Moines has 3 CHRs and 2 Hot AC outlets. I believe Seattle has 3 CHRs. I’ve seen several others too. 2 is probably common but several have 3-4.
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Seattle has Hits 106.1 and Movin 92.5 what's the 3rd? I don't include Adult CHR that's Hot A/C and is different than Mainstream CHR.
 
radiorobert said:
Couple things. The translator is not Rhythmic any longer as it’s a mainstream. Also Rhythmic has and would get very high ratings. It’s the ad agencies that look at the 12-15 percent minority number and don’t see it as high enough to insert a full Rhythmic package. So they go with the mainstream package.
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Ad agency media buyers don't look at station playlists. They look at delivery of the target demo of the campaign and each station's delivery of that demo vs. each station's cost per listener (or CPP, Cost Per rating Point).

Whether a station plays certain artists or not does not matter and is not looked at. Some buyers look at cume duplication and try to avoid buying two stations that overlap in cume too much; instead they buy a station with a different format to improve the reach of a campaign.

Today, so many stations are in clusters that agency buyers look at the stats for the cluster or a part of a cluster and not the individual stations. For example, a female targeted buy in LA might look for 25-54 women, and the first thing they will see as a must buy is the iHeart "wall of women" of KIIS, KBIG and KOST. While the three may have monthly ups and downs, they average a very stable combined share using multi-month ratings averages and, thus, become a must buy.

Of course, there may be other restrictions on the campaign: if there is no budget for Spanish creative, no station in that segment will be bought. If the product has lesser appeal to people of color, that is a consideration. There can be lots of other ethnic, lifestyle and cultural considerations, too. But the ad buyer is given specific instructions on how many Grips to buy against which demographics and they don't evaluate nuances about station playlists and the like.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Ad agency media buyers don't look at station playlists. They look at delivery of the target demo of the campaign and each station's delivery of that demo vs. each station's cost per listener (or CPP, Cost Per rating Point).

Whether a station plays certain artists or not does not matter and is not looked at. Some buyers look at cume duplication and try to avoid buying two stations that overlap in cume too much; instead they buy a station with a different format to improve the reach of a campaign.

Today, so many stations are in clusters that agency buyers look at the stats for the cluster or a part of a cluster and not the individual stations. For example, a female targeted buy in LA might look for 25-54 women, and the first thing they will see as a must buy is the iHeart "wall of women" of KIIS, KBIG and KOST. While the three may have monthly ups and downs, they average a very stable combined share using multi-month ratings averages and, thus, become a must buy.

Of course, there may be other restrictions on the campaign: if there is no budget for Spanish creative, no station in that segment will be bought. If the product has lesser appeal to people of color, that is a consideration. There can be lots of other ethnic, lifestyle and cultural considerations, too. But the ad buyer is given specific instructions on how many Grips to buy against which demographics and they don't evaluate nuances about station playlists and the like.
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I’m not disagreeing with any of that. My point was why it (Rhythmic) hadn’t been done in Des Moines. And a major contributing factor is low minority population. Out of 779k in the media market only 103k are Black or Hispanic which is why a Rhythmic CHR hasn’t been done successfully. I realize buys have other factors in and of themselves.

The companies have chosen not to do the format here because the female demo of mainstream holds more revenue promise. At least in theory. But because there are 3 mainstreams the ratings are lower because the business desire doesn’t match the actual listener desire. Hence the overlap and overkill.
 
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It looks like I'm left with just lurking at this site and though this will most likely get deleted, I figured that I would try because I love chr and the summer 2024 songs are the best in awhile!

Post Malone Morgan Wallen-I had Some Help
Tommy Richman-Million dollar baby
Billie Ellish-Lunch
Bradley Simpson-Picasso
Myles Smith-Stargazing
Shaboozy-Bar Song
Kane Brown and Marshmallow-Miles on it
Hozier-Too Sweet
Benson Boone-Slow it down
Kendrick Lamar-Not like us

And Austin, Espresso, Birds of a feather, I like the way you kiss me, Euphoria, and Samantha Harvey's song are not too bad either.

Already the best summer in quite some time!

Enjoy the music and your summer, and thanks to some of you for whom I enjoyed chatting with here!
 


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