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WINS AM vs FM General Question

Steve Green NEPA

Steve Green NEPA

Audacy news properties WINS and KYW Philly have been billboarding their FM addresses for a while now instead of the old AM ones.
WINS' stream shows up 'okay' but is persistent and 'active'. KYW's stream shares are a lot better.
Both AM stations are directional around the clock. WINS 1010 signal has trouble spots to the west and parts of NJ (even in Staten Island!); KYW's weak spot is to the northeast (where around sunset in northeast Philly WBZ can be louder in the car). Each station got on the FM dial for similar reasons. Younger dial, AM was eroding. I'm presuming that each station also is 100% simulcast on both dials.
Forgetting KYW for a moment: In 2025 .... now, Autumn ..... what percentage of WINS listeners are tuning in to 1010? What percentage? I'm not speaking about target demos or other breakdowns -- just the sheer listenership.
Anyone know the ratio who can share the info?
 
It looks like the signals overlap nearly everywhere except some points at the eastern edges like Bridgeport, CT and Coram, NY, on Long Island, where the AM signal may outperform the FM by a bit. Maybe a few people still use 1010 around there, but apart from that if they turned off the AM transmitter they'd probably lose almost no one.
 
TheBigA said:
As I've said in many other posts, these radio companies know that the future isn't AM or FM. It's streaming. That's why they're focused on converting their listeners to using their streaming apps. However, the Nielsen system is primarily focused on AM & FM. So that's what they're using.
Click to expand...

Be careful what you wish for. Once those radio companies push listeners to streaming, those people will now have *thousands* of streaming options to choose from instead of a couple dozen local stations on the radio, dominated by the companies that are pushing them away.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Be careful what you wish for. Once those radio companies push listeners to streaming, those people will now have *thousands* of streaming options to choose from instead of a couple dozen local stations on the radio, dominated by the companies that are pushing them away.
Click to expand...

How many of those steaming services have this level of staffing to support LOCAL news? All in one place?

The fact is if people want something other than WINS, they're already gone.
 
Trouble with streaming.....ads, ads, ads, at the beginning of the stream. As I said in another thread, I tried listening to a stream....couple of years ago, can't remember if it was iheart/Audacy or whomever..... but after logging in to the stream I gave up and quit after the 8th and in a row began. And still have dropouts, complete disconnections, etc. when trying to listen to a stream whether it's on my phone/home computer/whatever and I have top of the line internet/data plans.
 
Yabadabado1 said:
Almost all of them when I tried to listen. Many times had to close out the website, reopen and reconnect to get it playing again.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a router troubleshooting issue, possibly neighbors using the same WiFi channel as you causing interference, There are lots of tech support forums and Reddit subs that could be helpful, or call your Internet Service Provider's tech support if it's their router. Speaking of getting what you pay for, if you're paying for a top-of-the-line Internet/data plan you should get the expected performance.
 
TheBigA said:
As I've said in many other posts, these radio companies know that the future isn't AM or FM. It's streaming. That's why they're focused on converting their listeners to using their streaming apps. However, the Nielsen system is primarily focused on AM & FM. So that's what they're using.
Click to expand...
Fairly recently Nielsen changed the master measurement of the ratings from Persons Using Radio to Persons Using Mass Media. That includes, for the moment, the streams of broadcast stations. The assumption is that they will include any other encodable source at some point.
 
davideduardo said:
Fairly recently Nielsen changed the master measurement of the ratings from Persons Using Radio to Persons Using Mass Media. That includes, for the moment, the streams of broadcast stations. The assumption is that they will include any other encodable source at some point.
Click to expand...

The main advantage of Nielsen is the demographic information. For real numbers, the most accurate user count is done at the server.
 
TheBigA said:
The main advantage of Nielsen is the demographic information. For real numbers, the most accurate user count is done at the server.
Click to expand...
Yet server counts are sorta' like the diary. People leave the stream on even while they are away from the device, such as turning down the volume for a phone call or to talk with someone... or bathroom breaks or meetings or taking the kids to the bus stop.

And we don't know who on the internet account is actually listening.
 
All the above posters are correct. There is a reason Audacy makes you create an account to use their app. So they know exactly who is listening. Real, tangable data they can sell with, unlike Nielsen's funny numbers. Unfortunately, their app sucks, and streaming on the whole does not have the immediacy and attention grab that broadcast radio does. But my AM radio can't phone home and tell Audacy who I am, where I am, and what I am doing with my phone when their app is open.
 
AlligatorClipz said:
All the above posters are correct. There is a reason Audacy makes you create an account to use their app. So they know exactly who is listening. Real, tangable data they can sell with, unlike Nielsen's funny numbers. Unfortunately, their app sucks, and streaming on the whole does not have the immediacy and attention grab that broadcast radio does. But my AM radio can't phone home and tell Audacy who I am, where I am, and what I am doing with my phone when their app is open.
Click to expand...

The real kicker is Nielsen could have partnered with cell phone companies to gather this kind of granular data but they're still stuck in the dinosaur age.

My Google Pixel phone tells me what I'm listening to all day long. Some of these songs were on a radio station I was streaming while others were playing on the supermarket P A. system when I went to buy groceries. Maybe one was heard coming from a car in the parking lot. The phone is always listening, yet somehow Nielsen makes people carry around inconvenient meters, or worse, fill out a diary like it's still 1985.
 

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davideduardo said:
Fairly recently Nielsen changed the master measurement of the ratings from Persons Using Radio to Persons Using Mass Media. That includes, for the moment, the streams of broadcast stations. The assumption is that they will include any other encodable source at some point.
Click to expand...
If someone uploads an aircheck of a radio station, with PPM encoding intact as transmitted, and then someone else listens to that recording a week later within earshot of their PPM, would that count towards the ratings, or is the encoding time-coded so that delayed listening doesn't count?
 


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