Boston Radio Ratings February 2021

[Retro]

Geez, even the airhead has more affiliates. But but but, k00000hner is going national baaaaybeeeee, yes he is, not sure what century, but you just wait, he's going national!

Why does this even continue to be an issue anyway?

 

[vmorrison99]

I hope you can all tune into Kuhner's "Exclusive Newsmaker" interview with former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. this morning at 9:00am. I don't how he can call his interview an exclusive since Walker was on BZ with Dan Rea last night. These exclusive interviews must be the secret to his high ratings and blazing phone lines.

 

[Retro]

I hope you can all tune into Kuhner's "Exclusive Newsmaker" interview with former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. this morning at 9:00am. I don't how he can call his interview an exclusive since Walker was on BZ with Dan Rea last night. These exclusive interviews must be the secret to his high ratings and blazing phone lines.

Or maybe just exclusive to iHeartMedia instead?

 

[DavidZ]

iHeart owns WBZ as well.

 

[Tired Of It All]

I hope you can all tune into Kuhner's "Exclusive Newsmaker" interview with former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. this morning at 9:00am. I don't how he can call his interview an exclusive since Walker was on BZ with Dan Rea last night. These exclusive interviews must be the secret to his high ratings and blazing phone lines.

Aw shucks, I missed it (on purpose, haven't listened for 8 years, on purpose!)

 

[raccoonradio]

Kuhner is a success on 100 per cent of his affiliates.

 

[Retro]

I do not know what Kuhner's is really about, nor if he is being bombastic either. The little that I do know is that the only time that I heard his show, it seemed OK. And say what you want, but he has to have an audience of some sort to still be at the station.

 

[MarkW]

Nearly every big radio group with music stations in PPM markets is putting two stopsets in each hour, centered on :00 and :30 or :15 and :45.

This is a case of not seeing the forest because of the trees. Minute by minute obsessions came out of looking at data back in 2009 that we had never had before. However, creating those huge stopsets may win you credit for an extra quarter hour but it does not help to compete with streaming and other services with fewer commercials.

The same thing has happened with the injection of the PPM data... stations are pushing the insertions to very high rates and it is affecting the long-term listenability of the audio.

Few are programming for the hour, the day, the week. It is all about minutes and quarter hours. Very good quarter hour capturing, but very bad radio stations overall.

EXCELLENT post!!!

I have certainly noticed audio quality issues in my home market, and I suspect PPM encoding may indeed be the culprit.

I cannot stand Entercom's "Two Minute Promise" on its (failing) Alt stations. Four if not five interruptions an hour, each of which is book ended with prerecorded corny sounding front sells and back sells about the "Two Minute Promise." The front & back sells alone add 2 to 3 minutes an hour of annoyance. The amount of clutter is through the roof and it makes an already mediocre listening experience unbearable.

Two spot breaks an hour is preferred by me. Each should last no more than 4 minutes during music intensive dayparts.

In terms of the ratings, I see WBOS is still getting killed by WZLX. Is WBOS still way off its peak in key demos?

Hearing the "Final Countdown" by Europe becomes passé after the 1,786th time. WBOS is still playing too many songs it's burnt to a crisp over the past year. #LazyProgramDirectorsShouldBeFired

 

[Retro]

EXCELLENT post!!!

I have certainly noticed audio quality issues in my home market, and I suspect PPM encoding may indeed be the culprit.

I cannot stand Entercom's "Two Minute Promise" on its (failing) Alt stations. Four if not five interruptions an hour, each of which is book ended with prerecorded corny sounding front sells and back sells about the "Two Minute Promise." The front & back sells alone add 2 to 3 minutes an hour of annoyance. The amount of clutter is through the roof and it makes an already mediocre listening experience unbearable.

Two spot breaks an hour is preferred by me. Each should last no more than 4 minutes during music intensive dayparts.

And I guess that is only going so far with Variet Hits (or whatever) with WBGB "Big 103" as well.

 

[MassMusicMan]

EXCELLENT post!!!

I have certainly noticed audio quality issues in my home market, and I suspect PPM encoding may indeed be the culprit.

I cannot stand Entercom's "Two Minute Promise" on its (failing) Alt stations. Four if not five interruptions an hour, each of which is book ended with prerecorded corny sounding front sells and back sells about the "Two Minute Promise." The front & back sells alone add 2 to 3 minutes an hour of annoyance. The amount of clutter is through the roof and it makes an already mediocre listening experience unbearable.

Two spot breaks an hour is preferred by me. Each should last no more than 4 minutes during music intensive dayparts.

In terms of the ratings, I see WBOS is still getting killed by WZLX. Is WBOS still way off its peak in key demos?

Hearing the "Final Countdown" by Europe becomes passé after the 1,786th time. WBOS is still playing too many songs it's burnt to a crisp over the past year. #LazyProgramDirectorsShouldBeFired

The guy who makes that decision has programmed in New York and has a math degree from Duke. What major markets have you programmed in, and what Research Triangle university did you attend?

 

[nowradioguy]

The guy who makes that decision has programmed in New York and has a math degree from Duke. What major markets have you programmed in, and what Research Triangle university did you attend?

OK, clear and simple English this time, MMM; still waiting for you to explain this, though:

Spoiler alert: Between 5 squared and the New York disco Studio BLANK, WBZ-AM would be the first item which David Letterman would read in his lists. WRKO is not to be found on said list.

 

[raccoonradio]

You won't have Entercom to kick around anymore.

Clear Channel>>>>> iHeart
Entercom/radio.com>>>> Audacy

 

[Retro]

You won't have Entercom to kick around anymore.

Clear Channel>>>>> iHeart
Entercom/radio.com>>>> Audacy

And they had the Audacy to do that to!

 

[MassMusicMan]

OK, clear and simple English this time, MMM; still waiting for you to explain this, though:

Spoiler alert: Between 5 squared and the New York disco Studio BLANK, WBZ-AM would be the first item which David Letterman would read in his lists. WRKO is not to be found on said list.

First step is to grab a calculator and solve for 5 squared.

 

[pjc1961]

OK, clear and simple English this time, MMM; still waiting for you to explain this, though:

Spoiler alert: Between 5 squared and the New York disco Studio BLANK, WBZ-AM would be the first item which David Letterman would read in his lists. WRKO is not to be found on said list.

First step is to grab a calculator and solve for 5 squared.

A fancy way of saying that between ages 25-54, WBZ-AM would be number 1.
However, this is incorrect (due to a typo?) as for February 2021,
WBZ-FM is number 1 in adults 25-54, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49.
WBZ-AM is tied for 1st age 6+ while WBZ-FM is tied for fourth age 6+.

February 2021 PPM Analysis (may need AllAccess.com free email subscription in order to view):

Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts

All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...

www.allaccess.com

 

[nowradioguy]

A fancy way of saying that between ages 25-54, WBZ-AM would be number 1.

pjc1961, thank you for your courtesy to explain what some accomplished but pretentious obfuscator wrote.

Anyone posting here no doubt knows what 5 squared is, but New York disco Studio BLANK is obscure, and, pray tell, where does Letterman fit in all this?

Thank you again.

 

[TheBigA]

Anyone posting here no doubt knows what 5 squared is, but New York disco Studio BLANK is obscure, and, pray tell, where does Letterman fit in all this?

Studio 54, Top 10 list.

 

[MarkW]

The guy who makes that decision has programmed in New York and has a math degree from Duke. What major markets have you programmed in, and what Research Triangle university did you attend?

He also is responsible for a lengthy laundry list of stations with mediocre to downright terrible ratings! Given his educational background, perhaps he should consider a new line of work.

Perhaps I should also mention his New York station has ratings that are no better than a temporary placeholder station of similar format that had almost zero budget (New Rock 101.9).

Obviously, his programming recipe isn't "going over" too well. I do not need to hear 8 to 10 mentions an hour, every hour, for weeks on end about the "Two Minute Promise." I also do not need my music interrupted four times an hour for commercial spots.

At some point, results matter. Should I simply disregard the lengthy list of major market stations under his programming command with terrible ratings? Said individual may be out of touch with his target audience.

I didn't attend a Research Triangle university in North Carolina, but I do hold a BBA from a university whose undergrad business program has long been considered one of the best ten in the entire country (and when I was a student, was consistently considered top three).

 

[kp2780]

A fancy way of saying that between ages 25-54, WBZ-AM would be number 1.
However, this is incorrect (due to a typo?) as for February 2021,
WBZ-FM is number 1 in adults 25-54, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49.
WBZ-AM is tied for 1st age 6+ while WBZ-FM is tied for fourth age 6+.

February 2021 PPM Analysis (may need AllAccess.com free email subscription in order to view):

Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts

All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...

www.allaccess.com

Just read the All Access article. How in the world is WROR #3 in 18-34? That seems unbelievable to me that a station playing that type of music would do well in that demo.

 

[nowradioguy]

Studio 54, Top 10 list.

BigA,

I was able to tie it all together once pjc1961 broke MMM’s “code”. For some reason, the codes for 25-54 never entered my mind, since we peons don’t get to see anything but 6+. I knew Letterman did a nightly Top 10, but again, wasn’t expecting three disjointed references in the context of radio station performance. Perhaps this is the Forum analog of one’s “speaking in tongues”.