Boise's Spring 2008 Ratings

[nwoidaho]

Since I have been banned from that journalistic beacon that is Idaho Radio News, I will post my opinions here.

It's really hard to believe that KKGL, a Classic Rock station, is #1, 12+ in this market. Since rock oriented radio takes up around 30 percent of the market share here in Boise, it just amazes me that a rock radio station is #1 around here without a real rock station amongst the bunch.

What I find even more entertaining is the downfall of Journal's music stations. I have been spouting for years now about the musical identity issues the Journal cluster has and FINALLY the Arbitron ratings are starting to reflect how bad it's become.

KQXR/100.3 The X seems to be more and more Active Rock every day WITHOUT the proper image. KJOT/J-105, Boise's Heritage Rock station is a CLONE of The Eagle and the ratings prove it. No one cares about that station after the morning show goes off the air. Journal needs to tighten up the image and get some true air personalities that are actually broadcasting LIVE instead of cutting airshifts like they are doing now. It's sad to watch a heritage station get flushed down the toilet by the lack of enthusiasm and current music.

Once again for the record, The X should be a true-alternative station and J-105 should be the Active Rock station.

As what has been noted on this website, I'm even more disappointed that KTMB/99.1 "The Man" didn't show up in Boise's ratings book but did show signs of improvement in Twin Falls. It would seem to me that Impact didn't register The Man as a Boise station with Arbitron. This ratings period just caps off a poor effort by Impact to properly operate The Man.

Impact seems to only have 2 stations to sell. Rumor has it they are/were giving away 5$ spots on both 96.1/KSRV-FM "Bob-FM" and 100.7/99.1 KQLZ-FM "Idaho's True Oldies". Not really the way to make a profit on your signals if you ask me. Even if you do catch a rating, like "Bob-FM's" 3.6 this period, you still are stuck selling 5$ spots because you de-valued yourself in the process.

It's really sad to see Impact flip a station format every year, like homeless people change socks.

Citadel is going to take that top rating for The Eagle and sell the hell out of it. With the loss of Boise State Athletics to the Peak group, Citadel will have to focus even more on their musically oriented stations. KBOI will drop and level out eventually but the days of selling out logs are over for now.

The Peak group has got to be dancing in the hallways. KAWO/"WOW Country 104.3" is hammering away at the Citadel country combo and has divided them in half, making KQFC the next station in Boise that could be due for a format flip. I know for a fact the people at Peak are pretty glad they DIDN'T take KSAS/"103.3 Kiss-FM" and flip it to "Bob-FM" as planned last year. It has been a stellar year for Kiss with Magic nowhere in sight. The only thing that disappoints me is the lack of performance of KFXD-AM/"All Talk 63 KFXD".

With the return of Jon and Chris, I thought the station might do a little better than the last ratings period. With the syndicated line-up of talkers the have now, I just don't see it happening. The All-Talk format would be more attractive to the audience they are trying to capture on the FM dial. Plain and Simply, the audience they are trying to attract with All Talk 63 has never listened to AM radio before. Jon and Chris on the AM dial works but the rest of the stations line-up does not.

 

[radioresearcher]

Since I have been banned from that journalistic beacon that is Idaho Radio News, I will post my opinions here.

It's really hard to believe that KKGL, a Classic Rock station, is #1, 12+ in this market. Since rock oriented radio takes up around 30 percent of the market share here in Boise, it just amazes me that a rock radio station is #1 around here without a real rock station amongst the bunch.

What I find even more entertaining is the downfall of Journal's music stations. I have been spouting for years now about the musical identity issues the Journal cluster has and FINALLY the Arbitron ratings are starting to reflect how bad it's become.

KQXR/100.3 The X seems to be more and more Active Rock every day WITHOUT the proper image. KJOT/J-105, Boise's Heritage Rock station is a CLONE of The Eagle and the ratings prove it. No one cares about that station after the morning show goes off the air. Journal needs to tighten up the image and get some true air personalities that are actually broadcasting LIVE instead of cutting airshifts like they are doing now. It's sad to watch a heritage station get flushed down the toilet by the lack of enthusiasm and current music.

Once again for the record, The X should be a true-alternative station and J-105 should be the Active Rock station.

As what has been noted on this website, I'm even more disappointed that KTMB/99.1 "The Man" didn't show up in Boise's ratings book but did show signs of improvement in Twin Falls. It would seem to me that Impact didn't register The Man as a Boise station with Arbitron. This ratings period just caps off a poor effort by Impact to properly operate The Man.

Impact seems to only have 2 stations to sell. Rumor has it they are/were giving away 5$ spots on both 96.1/KSRV-FM "Bob-FM" and 100.7/99.1 KQLZ-FM "Idaho's True Oldies". Not really the way to make a profit on your signals if you ask me. Even if you do catch a rating, like "Bob-FM's" 3.6 this period, you still are stuck selling 5$ spots because you de-valued yourself in the process.

It's really sad to see Impact flip a station format every year, like homeless people change socks.

Citadel is going to take that top rating for The Eagle and sell the hell out of it. With the loss of Boise State Athletics to the Peak group, Citadel will have to focus even more on their musically oriented stations. KBOI will drop and level out eventually but the days of selling out logs are over for now.

The Peak group has got to be dancing in the hallways. KAWO/"WOW Country 104.3" is hammering away at the Citadel country combo and has divided them in half, making KQFC the next station in Boise that could be due for a format flip. I know for a fact the people at Peak are pretty glad they DIDN'T take KSAS/"103.3 Kiss-FM" and flip it to "Bob-FM" as planned last year. It has been a stellar year for Kiss with Magic nowhere in sight. The only thing that disappoints me is the lack of performance of KFXD-AM/"All Talk 63 KFXD".

With the return of Jon and Chris, I thought the station might do a little better than the last ratings period. With the syndicated line-up of talkers the have now, I just don't see it happening. The All-Talk format would be more attractive to the audience they are trying to capture on the FM dial. Plain and Simply, the audience they are trying to attract with All Talk 63 has never listened to AM radio before. Jon and Chris on the AM dial works but the rest of the stations line-up does not.

Nobody buys or sells 12+.

Bob-FM is #6 25-54 and a 0.6 share points away from being Top 3... Impact is very glad Peak doesn't have that format.

KTMB did show up in Boise and it was registered. Arbitron has minimum reporting standards and it fell just below - but it had very little cume - which is why it is gone. You keep blaming Impact- the audience has spoken and there was no market for it.

KQLZ saw some growth in its target demos - tripling 35-64 women in middays.

KTMB was flat in Twin in target demos (and barely showed up).

However, the LOR group was the #1 group (18-49 and 18-34) in the 2-book and the extrapolated Spring book in Twin Falls and has gained tremendous ground to be a solid #2 25-54.

 

[nwoidaho]

Nobody buys or sells 12+.

Bob-FM is #6 25-54 and a 0.6 share points away from being Top 3... Impact is very glad Peak doesn't have that format.

KTMB did show up in Boise and it was registered. Arbitron has minimum reporting standards and it fell just below - but it had very little cume - which is why it is gone. You keep blaming Impact- the audience has spoken and there was no market for it.

KQLZ saw some growth in its target demos - tripling 35-64 women in middays.

KTMB was flat in Twin in target demos (and barely showed up).

However, the LOR group was the #1 group (18-49 and 18-34) in the 2-book and the extrapolated Spring book in Twin Falls and has gained tremendous ground to be a solid #2 25-54.

I know no one sells 12+. I just don't have access to the full book and am spouting my opinions from what I read and what I've heard inside the offices.

The question, "How do you sell a one-book average" comes to mind.

No real advertising agency will purchase any airtime with a one-book average. Most of them in Boise's market size want research data and a 3-book average to purchase any type of quarterly contract for advertising. Even if you can sell the one-book number locally, How many of those local clients are actually going to spend anymore money on the station??

There's no steady consistency in those numbers for Impact when they are not giving formats a time to resonate with gaining the new audience. If "The Man" had half of the advertising budget on other media outlets "Bob-FM" had then I could drop my argument altogether but that wasn't the case. If Boise was a monthly updated, quarterly public rated market, then I could understand Impact's attitude towards the format.

Once again, 13 months isn't long enough to make a "dead stick" gain an audience. Especially with the programming mistakes that we're made.

Personally, I think Citadel could flip either Magic or KQFC and do a better job with that style of "Hot/Guy" talk radio.

The KQLZ number you quote sounds about right but what are the actual spot rates being sold on the station?? How many commercials for Insurance Companies, Limited Liability Lawyers and Gold Bond Medicated Powder can one station handle?? KQLZ is still going to be second pony to any and all News/Talk formats since that form of Oldies music is trying to gain the same demographic.

Instead of being the first-rate station, KQLZ is the "drift" station that ends up the second or third choice of the listener inside the target demo. It sounds like a good sales combo, "Hey, while Boise's numbers are still developing...We're killing it in Twin Falls! Now that's a good combo!" I can see where that angle would be attractive to advertisers but in the long term, something Impact seems to have a bad track record with.

One bad ratings period and you are back to square one. Two bad ratings periods and your station is gone, flipped to a new format.

In my opinion, there are too many knee-jerk reactions at Impact. I would hate to get geared up to put together a product, get into a groove of consistency then get the carpet pulled out from underneath me prematurely.

 

[radioresearcher]

Nobody buys or sells 12+.

Bob-FM is #6 25-54 and a 0.6 share points away from being Top 3... Impact is very glad Peak doesn't have that format.

KTMB did show up in Boise and it was registered. Arbitron has minimum reporting standards and it fell just below - but it had very little cume - which is why it is gone. You keep blaming Impact- the audience has spoken and there was no market for it.

KQLZ saw some growth in its target demos - tripling 35-64 women in middays.

KTMB was flat in Twin in target demos (and barely showed up).

However, the LOR group was the #1 group (18-49 and 18-34) in the 2-book and the extrapolated Spring book in Twin Falls and has gained tremendous ground to be a solid #2 25-54.

I know no one sells 12+. I just don't have access to the full book and am spouting my opinions from what I read and what I've heard inside the offices.

The question, "How do you sell a one-book average" comes to mind.

No real advertising agency will purchase any airtime with a one-book average. Most of them in Boise's market size want research data and a 3-book average to purchase any type of quarterly contract for advertising. Even if you can sell the one-book number locally, How many of those local clients are actually going to spend anymore money on the station??

There's no steady consistency in those numbers for Impact when they are not giving formats a time to resonate with gaining the new audience. If "The Man" had half of the advertising budget on other media outlets "Bob-FM" had then I could drop my argument altogether but that wasn't the case. If Boise was a monthly updated, quarterly public rated market, then I could understand Impact's attitude towards the format.

Once again, 13 months isn't long enough to make a "dead stick" gain an audience. Especially with the programming mistakes that we're made.

Personally, I think Citadel could flip either Magic or KQFC and do a better job with that style of "Hot/Guy" talk radio.

The KQLZ number you quote sounds about right but what are the actual spot rates being sold on the station?? How many commercials for Insurance Companies, Limited Liability Lawyers and Gold Bond Medicated Powder can one station handle?? KQLZ is still going to be second pony to any and all News/Talk formats since that form of Oldies music is trying to gain the same demographic.

Instead of being the first-rate station, KQLZ is the "drift" station that ends up the second or third choice of the listener inside the target demo. It sounds like a good sales combo, "Hey, while Boise's numbers are still developing...We're killing it in Twin Falls! Now that's a good combo!" I can see where that angle would be attractive to advertisers but in the long term, something Impact seems to have a bad track record with.

One bad ratings period and you are back to square one. Two bad ratings periods and your station is gone, flipped to a new format.

In my opinion, there are too many knee-jerk reactions at Impact. I would hate to get geared up to put together a product, get into a groove of consistency then get the carpet pulled out from underneath me prematurely.

People generally buy two-book averages in two-book per year markets and four-book averages in continuosly measured markets.

LOR/Twin has had the No. 1 cluster in the highly sought after 18-49 demo for two books straight. Considering two of those stations are fairly new (Canyon and I-Rock), that's pretty good against heritage stations.

Bob has gone from nothing all the way to 6th with significant growth in each book.

Why would Citadel flip KQFC when it's like the No.2 biller in the market and open KIZN up to getting beat by WOW? That statement is completely insane. Magic also still bills pretty good.

Find me a place "guy talk" is working.

 

[nwoidaho]

People generally buy two-book averages in two-book per year markets and four-book averages in continuosly measured markets.

LOR/Twin has had the No. 1 cluster in the highly sought after 18-49 demo for two books straight. Considering two of those stations are fairly new (Canyon and I-Rock), that's pretty good against heritage stations.

Bob has gone from nothing all the way to 6th with significant growth in each book.

Why would Citadel flip KQFC when it's like the No.2 biller in the market and open KIZN up to getting beat by WOW? That statement is completely insane. Magic also still bills pretty good.

Find me a place "guy talk" is working.

I think KQFC is a candidate for a format change due to the frequency re-allocation the station is going to have to do later this year. Why not blow up a station that is going to have to move frequencies?? No matter what, KQFC is going to loose some of it's audience when the station changes frequencies. Why not start with something FRESH and NEW?

Magic is NOT GOOD. KISS is kicking their cans all over the place. The cost of running a CHR/Top 40 station compared to a satellite delivered talk radio station has got to be less than half the cost with more spot inventory to sell.

I know several places where "Guy/Sports Talk Radio" is working.

#1 Example -- KBZZ-AM/1270 The Buzz" in Reno. #2 AM Station overall in the market.

#2 Example -- KCMD-AM/AM 970 The TALKER in Portland. Not a big number performer but a book-to-book average that is consistent. The numbers show the audience is loyal to the product.

#3 Example -- KLLI-FM/"Live 105.3" in Dallas. With all the programming holes and Russ Martin problems, this station has continually kept performing. Dallas is a huge market with a ton of stations and THIS station is in the top tier consistently.