My old radio prof, Ralph Rogers was part of the KXL morning news, when it started in the mid 1960s. In the '40s he programed KGW(Red) & KEX(Blue)before a stint as Don Ameche's announcer.
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All-News KOMO-AM-FM Seattle Tied for #1
- Thread starter Gregg.
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Understand, but I'm adding some additional explanation for those who still believe things are as they were back when there was just radio and TV
Thank you for the explanation. NBC doomed NIS from the start when they refused to relay its programing on any of its O&O AMs and relegating it to its FMs, at a time when FM wasn't quite there yet. That was 45 years ago and the window of opportunity has long since expired.
Ya don't say?
If you bill $30 million a year (WTOP bills closer to $60 million) and spend only $15 million, that is a 50% operating profit margin (before allocated corporate overhead and non-cash items such as depreciation & amortization) and WAY more cash flow than the vast majority of music-based stations in the Top 20 markets generate.
Washington, D.C. is "underadioed" when it comes to commercial FM stations with full market signals. That props up revenue on a per station basis. Indeed, the fact WTOP's audience is (probably) overwhelmingly white collar certainly helps, too.
For anyone who is Caucasian and is looking for secular music on the FM dial, the options in the Nation's Capitol are pitiful. I've written about that before. (Of course, once you head 15 or 20 miles outside of D.C. toward Baltimore, the options are significantly better.)
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Yeah, you know those Caucasians and their love of Pat Boone. Maybe Debby Boone on an edgy night, when you are feeling loose. LOL.
Seriously, what do you really mean when you make that statement? No "Caucasian" music? I guarantee a 25yo Caucasian is likely listening to rhythm based pop/ mild hip hop. Just like a 25yo African-American or probably just about any 25yo out there. I am guessing what you likely are saying is there is a lack of music stations playing White Baby Boomer favorites in DC.
To which I say, Thank God for Small Favors! Pretty tired of everything in this society catering to one huge group of people. If we were playing 60 year old songs when YOU were 25, you would have been hearing Scott Joplin on KHJ/KJR/WABC etc.
This isn't about race, it's about age.
Seriously, what do you really mean when you make that statement? No "Caucasian" music? I guarantee a 25yo Caucasian is likely listening to rhythm based pop/ mild hip hop. Just like a 25yo African-American or probably just about any 25yo out there. I am guessing what you likely are saying is there is a lack of music stations playing White Baby Boomer favorites in DC.
To which I say, Thank God for Small Favors! Pretty tired of everything in this society catering to one huge group of people. If we were playing 60 year old songs when YOU were 25, you would have been hearing Scott Joplin on KHJ/KJR/WABC etc.
This isn't about race, it's about age.
But if you bill $60 million and the operating costs are $45 million, that is very different.
Remember, you can consider a big piece of revenue never reaches the station... it is agency commissions, rep commisions and the like. Then you have local seller commissions. So around 20% to 25% of revenue is sales commissions in a large market on a "must buy" station
But several of the non-commercial stations are huge audience magnets, and get nice shares.
The market has 29 FMs. Baltimore has 19. Richmond has 25. Norfolk/Newport News/Virginia Beach has 32.
That's a bit distorted. the market is only 42.5% non-Hispanic white, 26% Black, 12% Asian and 17% Hispanic of any race. That means that the choices are going to have a lot to do with what those groups, collectively and individually, like.
Further, in many markets a significant share will go to religious music listeners, most of whom are non-Hispanic white. And then there are all the white folks and Hispanics listening to hip hop and rhythmic stations...
It’s not all bad in Washington DC if you’re looking for older music. They have classic hits on 94.7 and classic rock on 100.3. With that being said, you certainly don’t see many repeat formats.
In my view, that's a true statement. Unlike Seattle/Tacoma, the D.C. market has a really good balance of stations and formats served by (for the most part) single stations. Demographic spread among stations is well balanced. With few exceptions, and unlike Seattle, you won't find multiple stations slugging it out with the same format for a smaller piece of the audience pie. WTOP is the all news commercial station. WAMU is the NPR/public radio station. WJFK is the sports station. WBIG is the classic rock station. WWDC is the active rock station. WETA is the classical station. AM stations are completely a non-factor.
Compared with the congested bands in Seattle/Tacoma, the Washington, D.C. radio landscape is refreshing.
That's true, especially these days. Now a station running margins in the 15-20% range is considered to be doing well.
As the example of WTOP, they have a lot of talent and reporters for radio and digital to pay. I doubt their expenses run 45-50% of revenue.
Radio never catered to just one huge group of people, unless you lived in some small, predominantly rural market somewhere. It never did here in Seattle. When I was young there were plenty of stations (on both broadcast bands) appealing to older demos than mine.
Right now, 18-49 leaves out most GenXers and all Boomers. It's Millennial territory that matters the most. But the top rated stations here show that there are stations that include GenXers and Boomers (to a much lesser extent) in their target range, as well as the younger demos. Slice 'em and dice 'em, as they say.
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