Boston Radio Ratings April 2020.

[macattack]

Based on what you're saying, it's a 2 share station at best, even on a full market signal. Which once again puts the pressure on the sales demographics, and if Entercom already reaches them with other stations, why go through the expense of flipping a station just to play a certain genre of music? Radio companies aren't in the music business. The only reason to play those songs is they will attract a sellable audience, and I don't see that happening.

That's kind of what I was getting at, yes. I'd be slightly more optimistic and say its ceiling is 2.5 but I don't think it'd be anything more than a mid-tier station in total shares. It would also have to pull off a delicate balancing act of being an attractive 2nd choice to both WBOS and WXRV listeners and hopefully convert several of them into wanting to tune into the new station first.

Save for maybe the Weezer, that's a sweep I would have heard on WAAF, the station that spent its final decade posting 1 shares before selling for two-thirds of what WFNX sold for eight years prior.

I'm 36, and I'm not going to listen to that instead of HOT 96.9. And I grew up loving rock radio, but I like the kind where there's sometimes melodies and strings and woodwinds, not a textureless block of screaming and guitar distortion.

That is literally a sweep from St. Louis' KPNT from the other day that I copy/pasted without modification. I was wondering if someone would single that out.

St. Louis is a rock town like Boston and KPNT pulls down 5 shares on the regular, albeit in a smaller, Midwestern market. With modifications it would probably be the model I'd base a Boston Alternative on, with a more energetic playlist during work hours and a more indie bent during night (say hello to The Airborne Toxic Event, The Head and the Heart, CHVRCHES, etc.). Depending on results, data, etc. I would make adjustments from there, including whether more or less indie-style music is necessary.

This would be more what I'd play at night. Theoretical Rock Alternative 7 pm:

"No Excuses" - Alice in Chains
"Come On Out" - The Airborne Toxic Event
"Dashboard" - Modest Mouse
"Threw It All Away" - The Jacks
"Jars" - Chevelle

Break

"Bad Decisions" - The Strokes
"The Impression That I Get" - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
"Shine A Little Light" - The Black Keys (it'd be one of my heavies)
"Lydia" - Highly Suspect
"how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?" - KennyHoopla
"Uprising" - Muse
"loneliness for love" - lovelytheband

Break

"It's Been Awhile" - Staind
"Black Madonna" - Cage the Elephant

Some of the louder rock stuff remains so the station doesn't feel like it has an identity crisis, but there's not as much of an emphasis on it, instead focusing on indie and newer alternative music. This is how KPNT has been destroying its rival KLLT in St. Louis for years and I'd like to see if this strategy dents WXRV's evening ratings.

 

[CTListener]

All this tinkering and tweaking still assumes that Entercom wants to turn a station with a small audience in a demographic that advertisers drool over into a station with a slightly larger audience in a demographic advertisers perceive as too cynical about advertising to be worthwhile.

 

[TheBigA]

That's kind of what I was getting at, yes. I'd be slightly more optimistic and say its ceiling is 2.5 but I don't think it'd be anything more than a mid-tier station in total shares.

So where's the benefit financially? Entercom already gets that demo with WEEI. Which new advertisers will pay premium price for fans of active rock?

The boss keeps asking for "new money." Unless playing these songs will attract new money, why change formats?

 

[MassMusicMan]

St. Louis is a rock town like Boston

Stop it. I wish Steve Rivers was still alive so that you could tell him that and report back to me with his response.

This would be more what I'd play at night. Theoretical Rock Alternative 7 pm:

"No Excuses" - Alice in Chains
"Come On Out" - The Airborne Toxic Event
"Dashboard" - Modest Mouse
"Threw It All Away" - The Jacks
"Jars" - Chevelle

Break

"Bad Decisions" - The Strokes
"The Impression That I Get" - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
"Shine A Little Light" - The Black Keys (it'd be one of my heavies)
"Lydia" - Highly Suspect
"how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?" - KennyHoopla
"Uprising" - Muse
"loneliness for love" - lovelytheband

Break

"It's Been Awhile" - Staind
"Black Madonna" - Cage the Elephant

I've heard of most of those artists, but do you know how many of those songs (and again, I'm 36 and male, so I'm your target) I know out of those 14? Four. ALT 92.9 beat Boston over the head with familiarity and abandoned the format. WAAF was overflowing with gold titles and doesn't exist on a primary frequency.

Even if you're trying to go younger, I'll tell you that the 23 YO guys at my job are into Mac Miller and Chance the Rapper. The only person in a group of nine guys who gives a damn about hard guitar music is a 20 YO who goes to Metallica and Judas Priest concerts with his dad.

 

[TheBigA]

All this tinkering and tweaking still assumes that Entercom wants to turn a station with a small audience in a demographic that advertisers drool over into a station with a slightly larger audience in a demographic advertisers perceive as too cynical about advertising to be worthwhile.

Exactly. Someone else's personal playlist isn't a radio format.

 

[macattack]

Exactly. Someone else's personal playlist isn't a radio format.

Never said it was. Just listing out probably the only way the format has a chance of working.

We seem to mutually agree that regardless of the form it takes the format would have an uphill battle at the very least, and is a square peg into a round hole at worst.

 

[MarkW]

What chance would Entercom have of executing it better than Beasley did? Heck, what chance do they have of executing it better than WERS does? Zero commercials is a pretty damn good head start.

During its final six months as an alternative station, WBOS earned ratings that are much better than what Amp 103.3 presently earns.

Amp 103.3 likely has extremely few P1 listeners. It is the P2/P3 station for the folks who use Kiss 108 as their P1 station. Anyone who thinks a significant audience sits through a commercial break on 103.3 is crazy. So, I disagree with the suggestion that CHR/Pop is the "highest and best" use for 103.3.

My format suggestions for 103.3:
- Classic Hits (ya know, the format the station sported before flipping to Amp);
- Variety Hits
- Alternative
- News/Talk (is there a non-compete in place with iHM?)

 

[TheBigA]

During its final six months as an alternative station, WBOS earned ratings that are much better than what Amp 103.3 presently earns.

Are you talking about the 6+ numbers? We know what that's worth.

All of your suggestions target demos much older than CHR. Entercom has that base covered. Give me an idea that will bring in NEW MONEY.

The goal isn't to get great ratings, but to make money.

 

[davideduardo]

Amp 103.3 likely has extremely few P1 listeners. It is the P2/P3 station for the folks who use Kiss 108 as their P1 station. Anyone who thinks a significant audience sits through a commercial break on 103.3 is crazy. So, I disagree with the suggestion that CHR/Pop is the "highest and best" use for 103.3.

What is often ignored is that listeners to a format generally don't listen to another station in the same format. When we look at the PPM data that shows the average listener cuming 6 stations a week, the stations that get the bulk of listening (usually around 3) are different formats, not the same one.

 

[macattack]

I've heard of most of those artists, but do you know how many of those songs (and again, I'm 36 and male, so I'm your target) I know out of those 14? Four. ALT 92.9 beat Boston over the head with familiarity and abandoned the format. WAAF was overflowing with gold titles and doesn't exist on a primary frequency.

Even if you're trying to go younger, I'll tell you that the 23 YO guys at my job are into Mac Miller and Chance the Rapper. The only person in a group of nine guys who gives a damn about hard guitar music is a 20 YO who goes to Metallica and Judas Priest concerts with his dad.

I am not a professional and only have access to publicly obtainable information. I do the best I can but I know I am outclassed and all I ask is not be treated like I'm an idiot.

FTR, I would view the lack of familiarity as a good thing for evening listeners. This is when I want to get people who are more musically adventurous and discover potential hits that can be moved into the daytime, hopefully keeping ratings strong and keep attracting advertisers. That being said, several of those songs I listed are in the top 10 on the official Mediabase alternative chart, so I actually thought I was being rather conservative.

My local Alt, WKQX, tried Mac Miller and Chance the Rapper when it quietly became more of a pop alternative last year. That's when its ratings began to slide. They are still sliding. Granted, outside of Robert Feder's reports I don't know the exact demographic breakdown of WKQX's listenership, but Chicago strikes me as a place that'd be friendlier to the idea of Mac Miller and Chance on Alternative, and instead they got a firm rejection.

(Though I will say it's possible WKQX's core demos went up and the rest of the numbers went down, resulting in a lower overall share).

I'm not discounting your experience, but seeing what happened to WKQX suggests that maybe that 23 year old coworker is listening to Spotify and isn't willing to turn on the radio.

 

[MassMusicMan]

I am not a professional and only have access to publicly obtainable information. I do the best I can but I know I am outclassed and all I ask is not be treated like I'm an idiot.

That hasn't happened yet, and I hope no one does treat you like an idiot.

FTR, I would view the lack of familiarity as a good thing for evening listeners. This is when I want to get people who are more musically adventurous and discover potential hits that can be moved into the daytime, hopefully keeping ratings strong and keep attracting advertisers.

Yes, paid spins, when done above board, can make a station some money (but not as much as 20 years ago). CHR is a good format for that.

I mean, you weren't going to play non-hits for free, right?

That being said, several of those songs I listed are in the top 10 on the official Mediabase alternative chart, so I actually thought I was being rather conservative.

That's not the problem. The problem is that they're not in the Top 10 on any other chart. Panic! at the Disco, Billie Eilish, and Twenty One Pilots are the only genuine crossover stars right now in Alternative.

My local Alt, WKQX, tried Mac Miller and Chance the Rapper when it quietly became more of a pop alternative last year. That's when its ratings began to slide. They are still sliding. Granted, outside of Robert Feder's reports I don't know the exact demographic breakdown of WKQX's listenership, but Chicago strikes me as a place that'd be friendlier to the idea of Mac Miller and Chance on Alternative, and instead they got a firm rejection.

Without seeing a music log, I'd have to guess it's because they were played next to something radically different.

I'm not discounting your experience, but seeing what happened to WKQX suggests that maybe that 23 year old coworker is listening to Spotify and isn't willing to turn on the radio.

No, they turn on the radio. It's to listen to Felger and Mazz.

 

[MassMusicMan]

My format suggestions for 103.3:
- Classic Hits (ya know, the format the station sported before flipping to Amp);
- Variety Hits
- Alternative
- News/Talk (is there a non-compete in place with iHM?)

My suggestion is that Kendall Jenner have sex with me. But why would she?

Amp flipped formats almost a decade ago. I think the argument "but it's their old format" stops carrying any water after a while. Wasn't what WEEI is now smooth jazz in like 1990?

Now, you want to do classic hits, there's a pie. How do you do it better than WROR? The airstaff is elite, and the music is on the nose for the market.

Variety hits is a fad from 15 years ago popularized by a corporation that decided it didn't want to do radio anymore and sold all their stations to Entercom.

We're already discussing Alternative. Feel free to read the thread!

News/talk? Do you have a $12.75 board op rip and read off the wire? Because they don't have the money for much more than that. Do you carry national news? Where does it come from? Fox? CNN? Old, tainted boomer brands.

They just laid off their actual morning show on 103.3. What talk shows do you carry? National ones? Those are already on 1200 and 850. Local ones? Entercom already has one. His name is Greg Hill.

What do they talk about? Politics? Old, white, and right is already well covered, and our country isn't getting older and whiter. The left listens to non-commercial radio, because shrill monologues aren't their mindset. Sports? The company traded the best sports station in the country away for an AC.

 

[TheBigA]

They just laid off their actual morning show on 103.3.

That right there is the main problem.

 

[CTListener]

My suggestion is that Kendall Jenner have sex with me. But why would she?

Because she would be breaking format by taking requests?

 

[MarkW]

Variety hits is a fad from 15 years ago popularized by a corporation that decided it didn't want to do radio anymore and sold all their stations to Entercom.

We're already discussing Alternative. Feel free to read the thread!

Entercom has a number of very successful Variety Hits stations across the country. Some were home grown; others were inherited as part of the CBS Radio deal. To suggest the format is dead or that CBS Radio was the only company doing Variety Hits are both mischaracterizations on your part, MassMusicMan.

Would Variety Hits generate market leading ratings? Most likely no. However, I think the ratings performance - especially in Adults 25-54 - would be a significant improvement over what Amp generates. It would also complement Magic 106.7 and Mix 104.1 nicely for sales purposes.

I know some of you like to cite Amp's Female 18-34 ratings, but as time passes, radio becomes an increasingly less important vehicle in the eyes of advertisers for reaching that age group. Eliminating Amp would also provide Mix 104.1 more wiggle room musically, which might not be such a bad thing.

As for Alternative, I'm just taking a stab in the dark, but I'm hard pressed to believe a CHR/Pop station who's been hanging in the low to mid 1's as of late is generating stronger money demo AQH share than was the case with WBOS in its final few sureys as an Alternative station.

I wouldn't be so dismissive of Classic Hits, either. True, it's uncommon to have two stations within that format in one market, but a version of the format that's willing to dive into the 90's and even early 00's on occasion might be able to succeed. WROR is musically older than most stations in the format.

I will concede News/Talk would be a tough go. Entercom would need to be able to pry away top local & national talent from the iHM owned stations. I probably erred in including that format on my list.

 

[TheBigA]

As for Alternative, I'm just taking a stab in the dark, but I'm hard pressed to believe a CHR/Pop station who's been hanging in the low to mid 1's as of late is generating stronger money demo AQH share than was the case with WBOS in its final few sureys as an Alternative station.

Do you think Beasley has regrets about getting out of the alternative format? I don't see anyone rushing to fill the hole.

 

[CTListener]

Do you think Beasley has regrets about getting out of the alternative format? I don't see anyone rushing to fill the hole.

The young rock die-hards have my sympathy, because I don't think the pendulum is going to be swinging back. Not only is the U.S. population of ethnicities seemingly hard-wired for rhythmic genres -- either through place of birth, place of parents' birth or peer pressure to conform -- but it's obvious to me and quite a few others who have no dog in this fight that younger Americans of European descent are increasingly favoring rhythmic over rock. It's a dire situation for a genre that's had a nice run of more than 60 years, complicated on radio by label indifference to rock and negative advertiser perceptions of younger fans of rock. It's more primal, more streetwise sounding, and has an egalitarian appeal in that instrumental virtuosity or even the ability to sing are not required to become successful at it. It is, in many ways, the de-evolution of rock and what used to be known as soul. Why anyone in any market of any significance would be thinking of flipping any station to any form of rock but classic at this point is beyond me.

 

[Radionerd408]

"Rock and roll will never die. It will just pop up in different forms all over the place, changing shape with the passing of time" - Neil Young \m/

 

[davideduardo]

Variety hits is a fad from 15 years ago popularized by a corporation that decided it didn't want to do radio anymore and sold all their stations to Entercom.

It's hardly a fad. The variety hits format developed in Canada nearly 20 years ago and was spread into the US soon after its success in some significant markets "up north". It was already "popular" long before it came to the US via an independent syndication company.

Fifteen years is a long time for many formats. Beautiful Music, featuring covers of more current pop / Top 40 songs, lasted from the very late 60's until the mid-80's. Yet it was one of the most successful FM format for just under two decades. That is not a fad.

Disco was a fad format. Not variety hits.

 

[macattack]

Yes, paid spins, when done above board, can make a station some money (but not as much as 20 years ago). CHR is a good format for that.

I mean, you weren't going to play non-hits for free, right?

That's not the problem. The problem is that they're not in the Top 10 on any other chart. Panic! at the Disco, Billie Eilish, and Twenty One Pilots are the only genuine crossover stars right now in Alternative.

Without seeing a music log, I'd have to guess it's because they were played next to something radically different.

No, they turn on the radio. It's to listen to Felger and Mazz.

Since I am not a program director I will leave my response to your "non-hits" question to your imagination.

As for your other points... Rezz & Grabbitz got 12 adds today with their song "Someone Else", as did veteran pop-punk band All Time Low with "Monsters". Don't know who they are? I didn't know who they were either until a couple of weeks ago (ATL I've known about since 2006). Whether on Alternative or on another format, while relying on staples is a good strategy, the door has to be open for new artists with new sounds, or for someone like ATL who's been around for a while but might finally have a song that can work on radio. You can't be afraid of a lack of crossovers, because right now everything on rock, Alternative or no, is struggling to cross over (then again, so is country, folk, basically anything that isn't poppy rhythmic). You can't keep programming defensively or the genre will die and so will your station. I already see multiple people on this forum attempting to put the final nails in rock's coffin and I feel it is premature to write it off just yet.

After all, rock was written off in 1991 and it looked like Adult Contemporary ballads and pop megastars like Michael Jackson were going to continue forever. Cue Nirvana, who came out of nowhere, backed up by Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers to blow it all up (and eventually become the mainstream). Will this happen again in 2021? Maybe, maybe not. We'll soon see.

(Also, even if I was programming a "Rock Alternative" I would've spun Panic and Billie anyway like KPNT, WBUZ, and WCYY all have. Sometimes you do what you gotta do).

I know who Felger and Mazz are. Can't say I blame them. Far worse choices for morning radio in the Boston market.