RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, May 2025, Part II | Research Director, Inc.
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with the intrepid data diviners from XTRENDS – are back to regale you with more stories
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Big 98.1
- Thread starter AM/FMRAINMAN
- Start date
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, May 2025, Part II | Research Director, Inc.
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with the intrepid data diviners from XTRENDS – are back to regale you with more storiesresearchdirectorinc.com
To answer the second part of the question, they have a paid license from Nielsen for limited use of the demographic breakouts. (So if you were looking for some kind of "loophole" ... it comes with a price.)
Thanks. That's the info I was looking for. I checked out much of the "About Us" section on the website but while it provided a few interesting profiles of the people involved in the Research Director operation, it didn't address the relationship with Nielsen.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Best guess: They don't mention it since, as an industry site, they would (correctly) presume most of those reading are in the business and know Nielsen well enough to conclude that they had to have licensed the use of those figures.
Nielsen only gives away the numbers (6+/12+) that are of absolute no use to the industry. Everything else, they rightly expect to be paid for.
Nielsen gives "the broadcast websites" short rankers in 18-34 and 25-54, but without shares. They give share and cume for 12+ or 6+.
There’s definitely something to this. Even tho they are calling themselves Big 98.1 and they haven’t played 50’s and 60’s music in decades, it still SOUNDS like Oldies 98. The tight board work, the jocks always hitting the posts, etc. These are all qualities that I’ve enjoyed immensely on various radio stations for 40+ years but there is something about Big’s presentation that comes across as forced and predictable. I find myself tuning in for a song or two when 95.7 or 102.9 goes on break but there’s nothing there to keep me tuned in for very long.
I would love to see the breakdown that Research Director does for the Top 15 markets for all of the Top 50 PPM markets. Although I am sure there is a rule against a broadcast website having a subscription based portion of the website to share that info to make up for the cost of publishing rights.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I rather doubt Nielsen would allow that, even if behind a paywall, because then stations in the PPM markets could subscribe there at a lower cost.
There are always real world stumbling blocks to what outsiders would "love to see".
Unless what they were finding was massively frequent tune-outs, I definitely think abandoning the experiment was premature. That makes me think that they were indeed finding massively frequent tune-outs.
This probably won't happen, but it'd be nice if the Philly PPM Research Director write-up (which I believe drops at 5pm ET tomorrow) mentions whether WOGL totally crapped the bed in one or more of the demos. (For Audacy to have reversed course so quickly makes me think they had to call in a professional to clean the bed.)
WOGL ratings are sinking!! Format change on the horizon
It's billing well enough, so more likely is a bit of research and some music and rotation changes.
Certainly not your father's radio station anymore, meaning whatever your parents grew up to listening is not on the air anymore. Whatever Baby Boomers and Generation X were listening to when WOGL was playing oldies is not what is on that station today. No more 50's, 60's or 70's music on 98.1
As K.M. says, the keyword is "some". I worked with a group that had two Top 40 stations in a market larger than New York City and where we had monthly ratings and weekly updates. The two stations played 50% overlapping songs. The difference is that one played half English songs, and half in Spanish. The other station was all Spanish language music.
Ratings analysis showed close to zero overlap between the two.
Perhaps the ethnic difference is extreme enough to make a difference. In LA, KRTH gets about half of its cume from later generation Hispanics. In Philly, the Hispanic community is much "newer" and many, if not most, were not exposed to the WOGL type of songs when they were young. And the Hispanic community in Philly is Afro-Antillean, while in LA it is predominantly of Mexican indigenous peoples origin.
WOGL continues to trend downward:
radioinsight.com
Philadelphia
Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings Philadelphia (Market #9) Population: 4,774,100 Black: 971,900 – Hispanic: 499,800 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2024 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and data...
radioinsight.com
Indeed, the music log looks a LOT different today.
Instead of a bunch of 90s rhythmic material, I am now seeing much more 90s and 00s adult contemporary and alternative titles getting spins.
Spins for rhythm crossover tracks have been reduced drastically beginning today.
Instead of 25 percent (or more) of the playlist being represented by the rhythm crossover category, today such titles have represented 10 percent or less of the music played.
They had a good February, March and April. But they are in the same range as they were in January. Remember, a 3.1 is a 2.9 is a 3.5.WOGL continues to trend downward:
Philadelphia
Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings Philadelphia (Market #9) Population: 4,774,100 Black: 971,900 – Hispanic: 499,800 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2024 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and data...
Given yet another significant music pivot by WOGL, there's gotta be something in the ratings data that spooked the decision makers.
The rhythmic friendly playlist was adopted in May, was it not? Now, the station seems to be abandoning it in favor of a big ramp up in Modern AC and Alternative crossover hits.
Heck, I saw a song from 2012 on the log today. Ho Hey by the Lumineers.
Would not shock me to see a major music shift at 96.5 next. Might a pivot to Rhythmic AC be in store?
The rhythmic friendly playlist was adopted in May, was it not? Now, the station seems to be abandoning it in favor of a big ramp up in Modern AC and Alternative crossover hits.
Heck, I saw a song from 2012 on the log today. Ho Hey by the Lumineers.
Would not shock me to see a major music shift at 96.5 next. Might a pivot to Rhythmic AC be in store?
Sweet Home Alabama, I Will Survive, and Rich Girl all have been played in the past hour. The '70s are still in the mix.