June 2024 Bay Area Radio PPM Ratings

[Radiopaw]

Country has an incredibly bad track record in the broader San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) market (which runs from Wine Country in the north to Garlic Country way south of Silicon Valley, a span of at least 100 miles). It's been tried on a number of full-market, full-signal stations and failed each time. However, it has done well in the South Bay/San Jose sub-market, specifically in a long run at a lower-power Class A station (KRTY), and up in the North Bay/Santa Rosa sub-market at KFGY.

KRTY's long-time owner died at a ripe old age about 5 years ago, and for estate reasons the station needed to be sold, so it was, to EMF for another K-LOVE repeater. The Country programming and personalities were moved onto the web, which Alpha Media (owner of KBAY) thought gave them a market hole, which they grabbed when they flipped KBAY to "Bay Country" along with a sister station up in Concord in the East Bay. It's been a mediocre performer after an initial burst of interest/listenership.

I recite this history to make the point that there is an audience for Country if a local operator knows where to find it, but if you think that a full-market station is going to ignore history and flip their station "to compete with Bay Country", you don't know the market. (And it so happens that any audience for Country in the immediate San Francisco/Oakland area can likely pick up one of the two stations I mentioned above on their car radio, so it's not like they have *no* country options. I'm halfway down the Peninsula and can receive both on a table radio.)

KFGY anywhere south of even Marin is very; very impressive: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=34074a63e69140788529c1b6063ebeb7&map=Y

KBAY has a much better signal though, yes. Agreed there.

 

[Signal Geek]

KFGY anywhere south of even Marin is very;

KFGY anywhere south of even Marin is very; very impressive: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=34074a63e69140788529c1b6063ebeb7&map=Y

I think you meant to say UN-impressive. KFGY is strong for a Sonoma County-focused signal. But it peters out south of Marin. And close to San Francisco, there's too much adjacent-channel interference from 92.7.

 

[Weiserguy]

KFGY anywhere south of even Marin is very; very impressive: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=34074a63e69140788529c1b6063ebeb7&map=Y

KBAY has a much better signal though, yes. Agreed there.

I'm not saying KFGY comes in well enough to listen to it for long stretches, but the fact is I can pull it in on my Superradio in the kitchen and on my car radio. It helps that I live in the hills and KEXC gets terrain-blocked up here, so 92.9 squeaks by. It is a Class B, after all. But again, a grab is different than extended TSL. (I'm personally not a big Country fan, so TSL's a non-issue for me on either station.)

 

[Weiserguy]

I think you meant to say UN-impressive. KFGY is strong for a Sonoma County-focused signal. But it peters out south of Marin. And close to San Francisco, there's too much adjacent-channel interference from 92.7.

No, @Radiopaw is right, it is impressive that I can pull in Froggy at all on the Peninsula. It's the signal quality that's UNimpressive.

 

[K.M. Richards]

These ratings threads creep too far into Psychedelic Phantasyland anyway, and I wouldn't want to encourage even more of that kind of drift.

If I am reading Lance and Scott's posts in various places around RD correctly, the posters who consistently engage in fantasy scenarios are not going to be around much longer. I already know of one on the television boards who we have waved "goodbye" to.

That's also a good reason why we should distance the discussions away from the free, meaningless 6+ ratings at an increased pace.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I think the best use of the 92.1 signal would be for KDFC and KKIQ for KDFC as well.

Could work. But KKIQ ought to be viable enough as a mainstream commercial station covering otherwise not-well-covered fringes of the East Bay. KKDV, on the other hand, hasn't been viable on its own for decades.

Has the Alpha slash-and-burn approach been brought to the Bay Area yet? (The KBAY-KKDV simulcast preceded that, and was more of an opportunistic move.)

 

[Mark Roberts]

That's also a good reason why we should distance the discussions away from the free, meaningless 6+ ratings at an increased pace.

Not just that, but the "ratings" that really mean something have a dollar sign in front of them.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Not just that, but the "ratings" that really mean something have a dollar sign in front of them.

That is especially true in markets where a station (or cluster) is dependent on direct local ad sales. If you convince a business owner to listen to your station for a while and they like what they hear, they tend to think that "people who like this station are the kind of people I want as my customers" and they sign.

 

[MarkW]

If I am reading Lance and Scott's posts in various places around RD correctly, the posters who consistently engage in fantasy scenarios are not going to be around much longer. I already know of one on the television boards who we have waved "goodbye" to.

That's also a good reason why we should distance the discussions away from the free, meaningless 6+ ratings at an increased pace.

Trade pub after trade pub publishes 6+ share data and articles. Maybe the people in your own industry should clean up their act first.

Research Director indeed does a decent job - especially compared to the others.

Something clearly is wrong with KBAY. I don't have much confidence in Alpha's abilities to fix the station. Others have mentioned signal or audio quality issues in the past. I cannot help but wonder to what extent such issues are harming their performance. If they slip much more in the ratings, they'll be on the verge of matching the long defunct Nash FM 92.3 for ineptitude.

If Alpha bails on country within, say, the next year, I wonder if they would consider classic alternative for KBAY's next format?

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe the people in your own industry should clean up their act first.

Not sure what you mean. These are each very different and distinct industries: Radio, trade pubs, ratings services, and message boards.

Also nothing really wrong with 6+ numbers. All the OP was saying is don't draw any conclusions from them.

If Alpha bails on country within, say, the next year, I wonder if they would consider classic alternative for KBAY's next format?

My take on Alpha is they really like the country sales demos, regardless of how the format does in ratings.

 

[MarkW]

I am referring to the trade pubs that exclusively serve the radio industry and are staffed by folks "who should know better."

****************** as an example is owned by Inside Radio which is partially or wholly owned by iHM.

If the consensus is 6+ share is useless, why do so many past and present online radio industry websites devote space to it?

 

[TheBigA]

****************** as an example is owned by Inside Radio which is partially or wholly owned by iHM.

They aren't necessarily radio people. I know people there, and many have never worked in radio. They're mainly writers. That's why they're hired.

If the consensus is 6+ share is useless, why do so many past and present online radio industry websites devote space to it?

It's a press release. Most trades rewrite press releases regardless of their value.

Once again my view is 6+ aren't totally useless. Just don't draw conclusions from them. The main goal is revenue, not ratings.

 

[HenryOchs]

Trade pub after trade pub publishes 6+ share data and articles. Maybe the people in your own industry should clean up their act first.

Research Director indeed does a decent job - especially compared to the others.

Something clearly is wrong with KBAY. I don't have much confidence in Alpha's abilities to fix the station. Others have mentioned signal or audio quality issues in the past. I cannot help but wonder to what extent such issues are harming their performance. If they slip much more in the ratings, they'll be on the verge of matching the long defunct Nash FM 92.3 for ineptitude.

If Alpha bails on country within, say, the next year, I wonder if they would consider classic alternative for KBAY's next format?

Maybe either Rhythmic Top 40 or All-Christmas Music.

 

[Radiopaw]

Alpha’s primary issue isn’t definitely signal. 98.5, 104.9 and 92.3 have such a clear improvement over 94.5

I recently moved to Pacifica right by SF, and the signal is not usable now, in most of my new stomping grounds. It’s a shame.

 

[MarkW]

I'm confused by what you just wrote.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Something clearly is wrong with KBAY. I don't have much confidence in Alpha's abilities to fix the station. Others have mentioned signal or audio quality issues in the past. I cannot help but wonder to what extent such issues are harming their performance.

For what it's worth, Sean Ross recently featured KBAY in his newsletter, along with a couple of other stations in the "new country" genre.

If they slip much more in the ratings, they'll be on the verge of matching the long defunct Nash FM 92.3 for ineptitude.

92.3's been a problem ever since the 1990s KSJOs format was packaged up and moved to Live 105 (complete with dreadful audio processing) around the turn of the millenium. It also lost grandfathered power/height status when Clear Channel created the 92.1/92.3/92.7 simulcast. Its current ethnic format is probably its best option.

If Alpha bails on country within, say, the next year, I wonder if they would consider classic alternative for KBAY's next format?

I want Polish techno.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I'm confused by what you just wrote.

@Radiopaw moved to a location that's shadowed from 94.5 by the ridge on the Peninsula. Pacifica - the city, not the broadcaster based in Berkeley - is on the Pacific coast south of Daly City and Colma.

 

[MarkW]

1990s KSJOs format was packaged up and moved to Live 105 (complete with dreadful audio processing) around the turn of the millenium.

No, it was not. Are you thinking of Infinity divesting 98.5, keeping 105.3, and moving Stern from 98.5 to 105.3?

 

[Mark Roberts]

No, it was not. Are you thinking of Infinity divesting 98.5, keeping 105.3, and moving Stern from 98.5 to 105.3?

Sorry about that. Yes, I confused KSJO with KOME and the spinoff that caused KUFX to land on 98.5 from 94.5. There may have been a step in there that I missed; the South Bay had a lot of changes in 1997 and 1998, which was just before I moved to San Francisco. Some of the dust had settled by the time I got there. I do remember being so disappointed in what KITS had become that I started listening to "Channel 104.9", KCNL, when it was licensed to Fremont; I could get a decent signal from it in my third-floor SF apartment. I lost that when I moved to Oakland.

 

[MarkW]

Per RadioInsight, Alpha blew out its
SVP/Programming responsible for KBAY and KEZR today.

Hopefully his successor does a better job with KBAY and resuscitates its AQH share.