and the verdict is.......?

[KDRadio]

what is the verdict on the pulse? bump it or dump it?

 

[neo11]

A verdict after only four months? Sheesh.

So far though the station seems to be doing fairly well. It was announced recently that they have a cume of about 450,000 listeners weekly, which is not bad at all for a station with a limited signal, niche format, and minimal publicity at the start of the dial.

 

[JustinCase]

seems really low, aren't most cume numbers released a daily average? not weekly?

Here's how I judge without ratings, you can tell how well a station is doing by their interaction with listeners... 1) they're doing all these free street team like appearances, but its not a street teams its some or all of the jocks showing up; 2) they're asking for mere caller #8 when they do contests... that says lack of callers! Those are desperation red flags right there. You expect that in small markets, say markets 150 and smaller, not NYC, market #1.

 

[myke25]

Well at least jocks are showing up to do appearances to meet and greet their listeners, putting a voice to a face. It's much better than some of the far less enthused street team interns who could really care less.

If Pulse wasn't doing all that well, they wouldn't have snagged some high profile DJ's local and worldwide, advertising from Sobe/Pepsi and the very large Major World Auto. The way that I see it, Pulse is doing quite well and has been strongly interacting with their listeners. The only other station that does that well is none other than Z-100. After 4 months, I've noticed things have gotten a bit better. I still wish though that they'd lay off the crappy pop remixes and that damn Chris Brown song. If I wanted to hear an overly saturated, repetitive mix of that, I'd keep on Z-100.

Anyone else's thoughts?

 

[davideduardo]

seems really low, aren't most cume numbers released a daily average? not weekly?

Here's how I judge without ratings, you can tell how well a station is doing by their interaction with listeners... 1) they're doing all these free street team like appearances, but its not a street teams its some or all of the jocks showing up; 2) they're asking for mere caller #8 when they do contests... that says lack of callers! Those are desperation red flags right there. You expect that in small markets, say markets 150 and smaller, not NYC, market #1.

If a station flushes the lines prior to doing the contest, it is more likely that they will get fresh callers than prize pigs using a low number count.

The #1 station in LA seldome asks for a caller above #9, because the redials are done by the pro contest players.

And most adult listeners seldom go to a street hit, jocks or no jocks.

 

[TonySantiago]

what is the verdict on the pulse? bump it or dump it?

Uhhhh......you're asking ME whether I think they should keep or dump Pulse?

Can Pulse do things to improve...absolutely, but than can be said for any radio station. Look at the tons of posts about RXP. The only thing that Pulse SHOULD dump is that crappy signal and hopefully along the way, "buy up" to a better location should that be available.

 

[Mixmaster Tony Rocca]

seems really low, aren't most cume numbers released a daily average? not weekly?

Here's how I judge without ratings, you can tell how well a station is doing by their interaction with listeners... 1) they're doing all these free street team like appearances, but its not a street teams its some or all of the jocks showing up; 2) they're asking for mere caller #8 when they do contests... that says lack of callers! Those are desperation red flags right there. You expect that in small markets, say markets 150 and smaller, not NYC, market #1.

...thoughts of what I expected after going over the parent company's annual report.

 

[cisco_d]

I was listening online to the station from allentown .. wish i had a station like that over here.. =/

 

[TonySantiago]

Breaking it down....

Here's how I judge without ratings, you can tell how well a station is doing by their interaction with listeners... 1) they're doing all these free street team like appearances, but its not a street teams its some or all of the jocks showing up;

The "street teams" have just been developed. The van is there and you do have people, outside of just the on-air personalities, giving away stuff.

2) they're asking for mere caller #8 when they do contests... that says lack of callers! Those are desperation red flags right there. You expect that in small markets, say markets 150 and smaller, not NYC, market #1.

I won't say who it is, but I was in the studio when one of the on-air personalities (OAP) was giving out tickets to the Freestyle Reunion 3 concert. The person asked for caller 87. The OAP went through the phone banks doing the traditional "number calling" upon answering....35, 36, 37, 38. Caller 87 was in FACT caller 87, not just some random caller who might have been number 6 but since Pulse is on "87", sounds good to use that number.

Hell, we've fought for a station like this for quite awhile. Will anything be "perfect?". No. But let's go back a couple of years as the majority of us complained how 'KTU was too late in the adds and played tons of old stuff. A lot of us wanted a current leaning dance station then. The majority of people just "accepted" things. And yeah if this was market number 256 doing this, then no complaints. But being NEW YORK, we would expect a station to be on top of things and mainly current, not a rehash of Disco 92/Hot 103-97.

Re-read the comment from cisco_d! That says it right there! People WISH they had a Pulse 87 and I'm gonna keep doing what I am doing to push the envelope somehow (I still want Philadelphia in the WORST way and Allentown can get them). And if Tony Rocca can bring on a current leaning dance station as well...we'd welcome it!

Though I will say one thing on Pulse. On my research, there are 4 distinctive mentalities of dance music listeners in New York...the underground (Manhattan clubs), the outer borough, the "soccer mom" and the GLBT (gay/lesbian/bi/transgender). Pulse mainly covers one aspect (the outer borough) and a slight tinge of "soccer mom" (not at blatant as 'KTU). For a station like Pulse, I'd love for them to tackle a bit of the underground. Hot 97 helped break out techno as well as pushing house to the masses (outside of the Kiss FM Tony Humphries remixes). Drum and bass down the road?? hmmmmmm... (just spewing out thoughts)

 

[disney fanatic]

Tony Sandiego, "Pulse 87" had no ratings in the first book, look what happened to another HV station which is about 90 miles away from here is WKNY, it's got no signal and still no ratings. Get a life! When I was stiil at my mother's new house in Putnum Valley, NY, they got "Pulse 87" on as well as channel 6 being broadcast via audio, but it does not come into Poughkeepsie very well on the way back as well as in Kingston, where it carries the TV audio from WRGB in Albany, NY. WPVI in Philadelphia, PA does carried the same TV audio on channel 6 which is an ABC station in Philly. Both WRGB in Albany and WPVI in Philly are on 87.7 on the FM dial. What's going to happen come February 17, 2009? They will take it off the air and go digital afterwards. Is that true?

 

[ccuphl]

If Pulse wasn't doing all that well, they wouldn't have snagged some high profile DJ's local and worldwide, advertising from Sobe/Pepsi and the very large Major World Auto. The way that I see it, Pulse is doing quite well and has been strongly interacting with their listeners. The only other station that does that well is none other than Z-100.

You're saying Pulse 87 is as successful as the legendary Z100 because both air Pepsi commercials? Pepsi or not, what are they selling spots for? It better be at a pretty good price with that big of an airstaff. If not, brokered programming starts to look tempting to owners. lol

The OAP went through the phone banks doing the traditional "number calling" upon answering....35, 36, 37, 38. Caller 87 was in FACT caller 87

I'm not trying to you-know-what in your corn flakes, but that really doesn't prove anything, either. You either have 87 individual listeners who don't know what the redial button does or 10 diehards hitting redial. Taking caller number whatever is just a gimmick - it doesn't prove anything. They could take caller #877 and the phones would still light-up until they got a winner.

 

[neo11]

Tony Sandiego, "Pulse 87" had no ratings in the first book, look what happened to another HV station which is about 90 miles away from here is WKNY, it's got no signal and still no ratings. Get a life! When I was stiil at my mother's new house in Putnum Valley, NY, they got "Pulse 87" on as well as channel 6 being broadcast via audio, but it does not come into Poughkeepsie very well on the way back as well as in Kingston, where it carries the TV audio from WRGB in Albany, NY. WPVI in Philadelphia, PA does carried the same TV audio on channel 6 which is an ABC station in Philly. Both WRGB in Albany and WPVI in Philly are on 87.7 on the FM dial. What's going to happen come February 17, 2009? They will take it off the air and go digital afterwards. Is that true?

Come on, this has been discussed here countless times. Pulse 87's numbers aren't published (to the general public), but it doesn't mean they aren't rated or have no ratings. It's been said they have a 450,000 person weekly cume, not bad for a station that just launched, with a limited signal, on a frequency before the official start of the dial, airing a niche format, with hardly any publicity. Someone remarked that 450,000 doesn't sound like a lot...and it isn't, if you're Z100 or KTU. But hey, that 450k puts them at around an 0.7-0.8. Think of 'RXP, with a full-power signal in the middle of the dial and lots of publicity, ending up with that number. It's entirely possible that as more people learn about Pulse, the numbers will continue to go up.

And no, they won't be going digital in February...LPTV stations do not have a cutoff date set for them yet. It'll happen eventually, but not in February.

 

[TonySantiago]

Tony Sandiego, "Pulse 87" had no ratings in the first book, look what happened to another HV station which is about 90 miles away from here is WKNY, it's got no signal and still no ratings. Get a life! When I was stiil at my mother's new house in Putnum Valley, NY, they got "Pulse 87" on as well as channel 6 being broadcast via audio, but it does not come into Poughkeepsie very well on the way back as well as in Kingston, where it carries the TV audio from WRGB in Albany, NY. WPVI in Philadelphia, PA does carried the same TV audio on channel 6 which is an ABC station in Philly. Both WRGB in Albany and WPVI in Philly are on 87.7 on the FM dial. What's going to happen come February 17, 2009? They will take it off the air and go digital afterwards. Is that true?

First...the last name is SanTIAgo.

Second...Pulse wasn't rated in the first book because they were still brokering a deal to get onto Arbitron, which they did so we'll see what happens this book. Am I expecting a ratings bonanza? No...and that's due to the signal but there are definitely WAY more listeners to Pulse than there were for WKNY (I did live up in Poughkeepsie so I know the station)...and it has been and still is a GREAT life that I have.

Lastly...LPTV stations are not affected by the 2-17-09 regulations.

And regarding ccuphl...you're right about what you've stated. I'm just trying to make the point that Pulse doesn't always use caller number 5...even if the same person called 86 times but another person got through and won.

 

[gumbyandpokie999]

They should move PULSE 87 up the dial more so more people can tune it in!Most radios dont tune in the frequency ,my $1000 yamaha does .Your average joe isnt going to ever turn to that end of the dial ,not ever,why ?because all there are in NY ,are college stations and BGO for jazz.If they put Pulse on say 94.7 ,it would do better.

 

[JerseyDude]

Breaking it down....

Here's how I judge without ratings, you can tell how well a station is doing by their interaction with listeners... 1) they're doing all these free street team like appearances, but its not a street teams its some or all of the jocks showing up;

The "street teams" have just been developed. The van is there and you do have people, outside of just the on-air personalities, giving away stuff.

2) they're asking for mere caller #8 when they do contests... that says lack of callers! Those are desperation red flags right there. You expect that in small markets, say markets 150 and smaller, not NYC, market #1.

I won't say who it is, but I was in the studio when one of the on-air personalities (OAP) was giving out tickets to the Freestyle Reunion 3 concert. The person asked for caller 87. The OAP went through the phone banks doing the traditional "number calling" upon answering....35, 36, 37, 38. Caller 87 was in FACT caller 87, not just some random caller who might have been number 6 but since Pulse is on "87", sounds good to use that number.

Hell, we've fought for a station like this for quite awhile. Will anything be "perfect?". No. But let's go back a couple of years as the majority of us complained how 'KTU was too late in the adds and played tons of old stuff. A lot of us wanted a current leaning dance station then. The majority of people just "accepted" things. And yeah if this was market number 256 doing this, then no complaints. But being NEW YORK, we would expect a station to be on top of things and mainly current, not a rehash of Disco 92/Hot 103-97.

Re-read the comment from cisco_d! That says it right there! People WISH they had a Pulse 87 and I'm gonna keep doing what I am doing to push the envelope somehow (I still want Philadelphia in the WORST way and Allentown can get them). And if Tony Rocca can bring on a current leaning dance station as well...we'd welcome it!

Though I will say one thing on Pulse. On my research, there are 4 distinctive mentalities of dance music listeners in New York...the underground (Manhattan clubs), the outer borough, the "soccer mom" and the GLBT (gay/lesbian/bi/transgender). Pulse mainly covers one aspect (the outer borough) and a slight tinge of "soccer mom" (not at blatant as 'KTU). For a station like Pulse, I'd love for them to tackle a bit of the underground. Hot 97 helped break out techno as well as pushing house to the masses (outside of the Kiss FM Tony Humphries remixes). Drum and bass down the road?? hmmmmmm... (just spewing out thoughts)

Tony,

You are on point as usual. Pulse is very Outer Borough with a little Soccer Mom with 3 kids and a gas guzzlin Jeep thrown.

They are really targeting the Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island crowd. They show the Bronx a little love from time to time.

Im a underground (Manhattan clubs) kinda dude. They aren't showing me any love at all.

My co-worker loves Star and Buc, but his digit home radio doesn't reach down to 87.7.
My cousin is a student at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, but cant pick it up out there. A whole bunch of stations that she doesnt want to listen to comes in loud and clear (KTU,Power 105.1).

 

[neo11]

They should move PULSE 87 up the dial more so more people can tune it in!Most radios dont tune in the frequency ,my $1000 yamaha does .Your average joe isnt going to ever turn to that end of the dial ,not ever,why ?because all there are in NY ,are college stations and BGO for jazz.If they put Pulse on say 94.7 ,it would do better.

How do you propose they do that? It's not as if Mega Media/Pulse had the choice of any frequency they wanted, and chose 87.7.

As for your other point...yes, not every radio goes down that far, but my cheapie ($20) Sony Walkman does, as do all the other radios that I own including a Radio Shack tabletop receiver and an Aiwa stereo, and three car radios (factory models) which go down to 87.7 and have no problem with the Pulse.

There's college stations and stations like WBGO all over the country from 88-92 because it's the non-commercial FM band.

 

[murcuryvapor]

Lastly...LPTV stations are not affected by the 2-17-09 regulations.

We'll see if adjacent channel interference takes a toll. Some channel 6 digital signals will be occupying the old analog spaces below 88.

 

[neo11]

In this area, it's going to be WPVI from Philly which will go back to Channel 6 when the switchover takes place. Considering that there's already an analog signal coming from the same location on that frequency, I can't imagine that there would be much of a difference in terms of interference than there is currently.