Albany-Schenectady-Troy ratings are out.

[kbradio]

WGNA WGY then WFLY. WRVE down big, WTRY is on a steady upswing. WYJB slipped to 4th and MAGIC 590 is out of the picture. What are your thoughts?

 

[flipperzipper]

Thanks for sharing kb... just went to allaccess to check it out. Yes, River down BIG...WTRY from a 4.4 to a 4.5 is more flat than an upswing. We'll see what happens. WOW!!! B-95 in 4th place...not good. You make a good point KBRADIO that with Magic no longer on the FM, B-95 is still failing. Guess the plan of moving Magic from the FM to the AM to boost B-95 to the top isn't working.
Magic is actually making a respectable first show on 590 AM at a 2.3 and WKLI is now tied with the River at a paltry 3.7. WKLI hasn't seen numbers this low since Magic first appeared on the scene. Wouldn't it be funny to see Magic 590 on the AM surpass the old Magic on WKLI 100.9. It's not that far fetched of a thought when you think of it. There is now only a 1.4 share now seperating the two.
The spring book will tell more. Stay tuned...

 

[Seltzer]

Bad move by Pamal to move Magic to AM. The station eventually will be irrelevant on that band. Should have stayed on FM.

 

[tower17]

It's too early to be making these sort of speculations. The book that's out doesn't reflect all these changes. Most of them happened at the END of the winter book so this data is based on things that happened months ago.

 

[flipperzipper]

The winter book was January, February and March. Not too early at all since the changes on WKLI and WROW took place during the winter book. It appears that with the number swings being so drastic especially with WKLI that it does begin to show a reflection. The format changes for WKLI and WROW began in mid February, so the new winter numbers that are out do represent approximately 5 weeks out of the 12 week winter book. That's almost half of the winter book period.

 

[Voice Track]

Possibly the worst book ever for WRVE, and the lowest for 100.9 since the WCPT days....PYX was fairly low too....The change to country at WZMR dosen't exactly seem to be lighting the world on fire either. 104.9 is a poor signal, and it did have a loyal cult following before...now????? WROW is the only station that benefited from any of this...

 

[Gregg]

WRVE used to be a great Soft Classic Rock station. (I would say Classic Hits but that term now refers to an Oldies station that plays some 80s hits.) Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Elton John, Heart, Bob Segar, Clapton, etc. WRVV Harrisburg PA, also called The River, also owned by Clear Channel, still is doing that format and is usually #3 or #4 in that market and even better 25-54.

But I guess as co-owned WPYX moved toward more of a Classic Rock format, reducing currents, WRVE was pushed to being just another Hot AC. As WYJB keeps getting more uptempo, WRVE's ratings drop further. Stupid move. In Tampa, Cox owns a Classic Rock station, WHPT; a Classic Hits station, WXGL (pop-leaning Classic Rock, not Oldies plus 80s Classic Hits) and an 80s Rock station WPOI. They all happily co-exist. A buy on all three pretty much captures most Tampa men from 30 to 54.

Clear Channel should move WRVE back to Classic Hits (Pop-leaning Classic Rock) and keep WPYX playing the harder-edged Classic Rock.

(By the way, can't we figure out a way to distinguish the two Classic Hits formats? One plays Motown, one doesn't, one uses jingles, one doesn't, one has big talking DJs shouting over the intros, one doesn't.)


Gregg
[email protected]

 

[cowboyup8]

It sure seemed like the changes they made to the Pamal Broadcasting family to help out B95.5 has not done that at all. WKLI, now the Bridge, made a big move downward, which would probably look even worse if anyone could look at their monthly number (for March alone), because at least half of that belongs to Magic (now on am). WZMR, now the Cat, slid even further down where they were tied with the BUG and getting beat by a station like EQX. Again, if they were making progress, they would be moving in an upward direction. WROW, now Magic, who both station's listeners were upset with because they not only got rid of the Talk program, which ticked off the AM listeners, but then kept programming like the Car shows and health related shows on Saturday mornings, which ticked off the FM listeners, so for them to show an upward motion was a really a credit to them and probably wasn't as big as it's monthly number. WGNA stayed strong so where is the plan coming to fruition for B95.5? WGY & WFLY certainly are holding their own and WTRY just keeps chugging along..........

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

People, people... changes take a long time to set in with listeners, now if we're in this same situation a year from now, it'll be a different story.

 

[tower17]

Making declarations after one month of a books worth of data is like someone going to the gym for a week and declaring that the workout plan didn't work because they are still fat.

I agree with ThatGuyOnTheRadio that if this were a years worth of data with no upward movement there'd be reason for concern. Changes like these take 1-2 years to happen.

 

[valhallafred]

It may take 1-2 years to show real progress but we all know they won't have 1-2 years to justify things. More like 6 months at best to show results or it's KA-BOOM!

 

[Element9]

Add to all the caveats here, it's Persons 12+, not much more than a spittin' contest. I've seen a few stations score a 3 share P 12+ do pretty well in their target demo (e.g., Women 35-49.) Still, it's fun to speculate, but that's just about all it is. Please, no wagering.

 

[Time Traveler]

Over the years though I have noticed that the successful format changes either showed immedate growth 12+...or were at least flat. In particular, I'm recalling WHRL flipping from smooth jazz to alternative rock. In that case there was some slight total audience erosion. In the case of easy listening station WHSH becoming AOR station WPYX, there was a slight increase in total audience 12+, but in that case the former audience was completely dumped, but there was immediately a new audience that was listening., The case was the same with WGY-FM, when they dumped Top 40 for Oldies...The 12+ was essentially flat, but obviously there was interest from a whole new audience while the previous audience fled! When WGY-FM flipped from oldies to the River WRVE...there was immediate growth. In the case of WKLI, they seem to be losing far more than they are gaining. It also looks as though 104.9 will bcome a completely insignificant station as time goes on too...

 

[vinyltapecd]

Of course WKLI's ratings are down, this doesn't surprise me at all. That is what happens when you kill a one-of-a-kind station that actually had personality and replace it with something from the homogeneous breed of stations that play the EXACT SAME songs which everybody is mortally sick of hearing. I don't care what people say...they can claim that the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, and all the other Magic artists from the 60s/70s are "campy" or "sissy" or whatever, but let's face it...every single one of those artists represents REAL music. But now Magic is virtually dead; who the hell listens to music on AM...even YouTube sounds better. Actually, I have most of the Magic music on my ipod, but I actually loved listening to it on Magic FM; there was something awesome about listening to "campy" 60s/70s music on the radio...the dynamic range compression brought life to the music and made it sound punchier; IMHO, it kicked the ass of any music that "The Bridge" and its 1000 twin brothers around the country might play.

And by the way, I am a 27 year old male.

 

[klutch00]

Of course WKLI's ratings are down, this doesn't surprise me at all. That is what happens when you kill a one-of-a-kind station that actually had personality and replace it with something from the homogeneous breed of stations that play the EXACT SAME songs which everybody is mortally sick of hearing.

When you have a major signal in a given market, and WKLI probably qualifies as such, you almost always are saddled with a heavy debt to service, whether it be the mortgage or keeping the physical plant and equipment operational or other costs. In order to service that debt, you have to have a format that will generate the greatest revenue within the shortest period of time possible, and the audience needs to be in the demographics which advertisers desire most, which is the 25 to 54 age bracket.

I don't care what people say...they can claim that the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, and all the other Magic artists from the 60s/70s are "campy" or "sissy" or whatever, but let's face it...every single one of those artists represents REAL music. But now Magic is virtually dead; who the hell listens to music on AM...even YouTube sounds better.

While that is generally true, in some areas there are still music stations which still do well on AM. Pittsburgh PA has a standards station WJAS which does respectably well. WDIA a legendary R&B station out of Memphis TN does quite well and was #1 in the the Winter Arbs. Denver CO has a standards station and an oldies station (KEZW and KRWZ respectively) which while they don't do great, will pull in half-decent numbers. There are probably other examples I could mention as well. As already mentioned, WROW has realized an increase since the switch.

To you and other disenfranchised WKLI listeners, I say look at the bright side: you still have your station, so go there if you choose. Yes, the sound quality isn't the greatest but it's better than nothing isn't it? Besides, 590's range, particularly during the day, is better than that of 100.9 so you can travel as far away as the southern Adirondacks, Kingston, Little Falls and Pittsfield, Massachusetts and still listen to your station with a decent signal, which is probably more than you could say with 100.9. Now, when can there be a decent analog AM transmission standard enacted....????

Actually, I have most of the Magic music on my ipod, but I actually loved listening to it on Magic FM; there was something awesome about listening to "campy" 60s/70s music on the radio...the dynamic range compression brought life to the music and made it sound punchier; IMHO, it kicked the ass of any music that "The Bridge" and its 1000 twin brothers around the country might play.

And by the way, I am a 27 year old male.

I'm 44 and I will confess I, too, will listen to that kind of music, OCCASIONALLY. It was considered un-cool even in my day to admit you liked this kind of stuff. But the fact of the matter is that this format has a difficult time trying to draw in the bucks needed to keep it going. The advertising interest simply isn't there. Just MAYBE with the format being on AM and having a lower debt to service due to the lower costs it required to keep an AM station going, the format has a better chance of survival.

Now on a different note, if WROW wishes to draw in more listeners, maybe they may want to play music from artists that are lesser known but still have some relevance. Examples could include:

Vogues - Magic Town
Petula Clark - Color My World
" " - Kiss Me Goodbye
Barry Manilow - Daybreak
Elton John - Friends
" " - Harmony
" " - Candle in The Wind
" " - Border Song
Carpenters - Solitare

Just for starters.

 

[Osama]

What about somebody just doing a good 60's/early 70s based Oldies station even including some 50s titles too?
There was such a variety of great music released during those years. WROW/WTRY/WCKM are all wretched....and to my ears entirely unlistenable...Not every station needs to appeal to the 39 year old that has maxed out his credit cards...

 

[vinyltapecd]

What about somebody just doing a good 60's/early 70s based Oldies station even including some 50s titles too?
There was such a variety of great music released during those years. WROW/WTRY/WCKM are all wretched....and to my ears entirely unlistenable...Not every station needs to appeal to the 39 year old that has maxed out his credit cards...

I could not agree more. Except: I think the music on WROW is excellent, especially compared to everything else on the radio ... the one and only reason WROW is wretched is because it is an AM station...

 

[Osama]

What about somebody just doing a good 60's/early 70s based Oldies station even including some 50s titles too?
There was such a variety of great music released during those years. WROW/WTRY/WCKM are all wretched....and to my ears entirely unlistenable...Not every station needs to appeal to the 39 year old that has maxed out his credit cards...

I could not agree more. Except: I think the music on WROW is excellent, especially compared to everything else on the radio ... the one and only reason WROW is wretched is because it is an AM station...

I respect your opinion, and I would listen to the right music on a good AM signal like that of 590. However,
they are just too damn soft for me....

 

[Seltzer]

Vinyl...funny to find you here. You must be on a mission to save the Carpenters all over the nation.

Great thing about 2010. We have this thing called streaming audio. Imagine that. I can listen to Magic in stereo on my computer.

I may not be able to enjoy it in the car yet because of AM static, but that is changing too with internet access in cars a sure thing coming soon.

Pamal wanted to put something on this FM signal that might be sellable. With the River WRVE no longer a Classic Hits station and a Hot A/C, they saw an opportunity. Just isn't working out yet.

And if you have all these songs on your IPOD, you can enjoy Karen Carpenter all you want.

 

[vinyltapecd]

Vinyl...funny to find you here. You must be on a mission to save the Carpenters all over the nation.

Great thing about 2010. We have this thing called streaming audio. Imagine that. I can listen to Magic in stereo on my computer.

I may not be able to enjoy it in the car yet because of AM static, but that is changing too with internet access in cars a sure thing coming soon.

Pamal wanted to put something on this FM signal that might be sellable. With the River WRVE no longer a Classic Hits station and a Hot A/C, they saw an opportunity. Just isn't working out yet.

And if you have all these songs on your IPOD, you can enjoy Karen Carpenter all you want.

First of all, the fact that I have the songs on my ipod is irrelevant, because any music currently played on The Bridge (or any other station) is much more easily downloadable or otherwise attainable than what Magic plays. So I could throw that argument right back at you, with a lot more validity. As the other poster said, EVERY SINGLE A/C STATION doesn't need to play virtually the exact same songs.

On that note, as I mentioned in the earlier post, the reason why I like to hear these songs on the radio in particular is because the dynamic range compression adds lots of punch to the music and makes the instruments and background music come alive (IMHO). I have to admit that the Carpenters, Neil Diamond...or pretty much any old song doesn't sound nearly as good on a CD as it does on the radio (to my ears at least). The music just sounds "thin" or "inhibited" on a CD or iTunes, but it sounds "full" and "rich" on a good FM station. You may say I am an idiot but I encourage you to do the comparison for yourself...it only applies to older music though, newer music tends to sound crappy on the radio because it is has less dynamic range to begin with, so radio compression just makes it sound "overcompressed." Also, while internet radio may be stereo, it is still low bitrate crap...ever tried comparing an actual static-free FM signal with its internet-stream counterpart? The loss of quality in the internet stream is just incredible!

Anyway, Seltzer, since you seem to be in full support of keeping Karen Carpenter and Dan Fogelberg off of any FM station in the country, and you also seem to be omnipresent as far as radio markets go, I have a question for you. Do you happen to know of any FM stations within like, a 300 mile radius of York PA, that actually do still play easy listening music? The reason I ask is, I actually became interested in Magic FM because I happen to travel up to Albany every once in a while, and last year I happened to notice that there was actually an FM station with the exact format I was looking for. So I had planned to take a trip there in March and record a few days worth of beautiful-sounding dynamic range compressed music, but Pamal switched Magic to AM just 2 weeks before I was able to travel up there.....The only other station I know of is WEZW 93.1 in Wildwood, NJ. My concern is the fact that they seem to be totally non-commercial, so I am wondering if the sound quality won't be very good, in case they use low quality mp3s as their source, for instance. I guess I should just inquire from the station directly. Anyway, since they aren't too far away, I might plan a little beach trip with my wife one of these weekends and check out the station...hopefully the sound quality is good.