Buffalo ratings for July & August

[ckg279]

Per All Access. These are 12+ only. Some will have more info, others just observations. Add on more info if needed.

WYRK: 9.9 for July, 10.4 for August
WBEN-AM: 8.8 for July, 8.7 for August
WBLK: 8.2 for July, 8.4 for August (This is still a drop from its 10.0 in May)
WGRF: 7.8 for July, 7.9 for August
WHTT: 5.1 for July, 5.4 for August

WKSE(Kiss 98.5) was at a 5.3, down .7 from July.

WBFO remains in its comfortable 4.0 range(4.1 for August), right behind WTSS(Star 102.5). WNED-FM was at 2.1

WECK is at 2.6, down from a 3.3 from July.

CFLZ(101.1 More FM)and CJED(105.1 the River)are the only Canadian stations to land on the chart(at .4 and .3, respectively).

WEBR/1440 is at a .4, same as July.

 

[tbolt909]

ALT Buffalo still near the bottom in that 1.5 range and the PD was dismissed today. Entercom had another big purge of staff nationwide. "Be The 9th Caller When You Hear The Death Rattle" is their new nationwide promotion...

 

[davideduardo]

CFLZ(101.1 More FM)and CJED(105.1 the River)are the only Canadian stations to land on the chart(at .4 and .3, respectively).
.

Remember, stations that are not subscribed do not appear. So there could be many other stations with numbers, but they simply don't buy the Nielsen service.

 

[Buddy Shula]

Remember, stations that are not subscribed do not appear. So there could be many other stations with numbers, but they simply don't buy the Nielsen service.

I think the take home message from all the numbers I see in Nielson each month is that radio listening in general has decreased. Due to COVID...listener patterns have changed dramatically. I have never seen so many stations in the 2.5-4 range, 12 plus.

Your primary type A stations like WBEN WYRK, WGRF, WBLK are fine, but is it the secondary stations like WECK, WMSX, WEDG, WKSE, WTSS, WGR, WNED, WBFO that are in this weird type of horse race. The shares for all these stations are not far apart from each other.

Like T-Bolt said, what I am hearing from industry insiders is the ETM will be hubbing much of the programming, and I also heard that the plan is to have essentially one cluster programming operations manager. Meaning that a jock may have to do the music on the side, and that one person would be over-seeing the programming. This is what I heard today.

Tertiary stations like WEBR, WLVL, WUFO, WXRL, WWKB, WWWS are making no difference to anything. Those stations who do subscribe to Nielson are wasting their money, like WEBR.

As i scoured through the numbers today, overall radio listening in Buffalo/ Niagara Falls is down from last year. Could be other platforms are hurting, could be COVID, could be people are working from home more and less in-car listening, who knows. At my station, we are all about the demo 50 plus, and we are a top 5. That's all i really care about.

I also heard that WLKK will now be programmed nationally, with the same format. Sound a lot like an I HEART move. Entercom was being crushed by debt BEFORE the pandemic, and now revenue is off 40% - 50%, not just at ETM, but at Cumulus and TS as well.

I am not sure how long these stations can stay afloat. ETM Buffalo also let go of their long time National Sales manager today.

Interesting day.

 

[TheBigA]

I think the take home message from all the numbers I see in Nielson each month is that radio listening in general has decreased.

First time I read that sentence, I thought you said "deceased."

But seriously, how would you compare usage of your stream to your on air ratings?

 

[davideduardo]

I am not sure how long these stations can stay afloat. ETM Buffalo also let go of their long time National Sales manager today.

From what you know of the whole market, how does national revenue in Buffalo compare with last year?

 

[Buddy Shula]

First time I read that sentence, I thought you said "deceased."

But seriously, how would you compare usage of your stream to your on air ratings?

Our stream does very well. The cost is low, and the stream sounds great from an audio perspective. Smart-speakers, In Dash App, and Stream are great platforms, especially for a station like mine that can grow substantially as the frequencies just cover parts of the metros. I do not have a full-power FM. I wish I did, but we are doing the best with what we have. People are not complaining that they cannot get 97 Rock or STAR. So streaming may not benefit them as much. But for a station like WECK, which has scattered frequencies, we can compete on the same field as everyone else from a streaming standpoint.

 

[Buddy Shula]

From what you know of the whole market, how does national revenue in Buffalo compare with last year?

Dave, I am not sure the how much National is down, but I know it's down.

 

[TheBigA]

Our stream does very well. The cost is low, and the stream sounds great from an audio perspective.

That's why I asked. The reputation of WECK has gone beyond Buffalo. The fans for this music are hungry, and they seek out stations via the internet that feed their hunger.

I was tracking some of the action Cousin Bruce was driving last Saturday on WABC, and it was very widespread. His reach was far greater than it ever was with 50,000 watts.

 

[davideduardo]

Dave, I am not sure the how much National is down, but I know it's down.

What is your perspective on station clusters eliminating national sales managers? Is this because the volume of business has fallen, or because there is a trend towards computerized transactional buying? Or is the LSM or the GM taking on that job, too?

 

[TheBigA]

My view on national sales managers is the job became obsolete. It was a holdover from when companies only owned 7 stations nationally. Now that radio companies are selling across a broader platform, there's not as much need for national sales managers in every market. If you're in a local market that has national clients, such as Louisville with YUM, you're likely safer than someone else. Here's how David Field put it in his memo:

TODAY, we are also announcing that we will be restructuring our national sales teams to enhance our effectiveness in serving our national customers. We have operated with multiple national teams calling on the same accounts, limiting our ability to focus our communications and hindering our ability to execute as seamlessly as possible on behalf of our national agency and client partnerships. Effective immediately, we are aligning and unifying our national sales teams to make it easier for clients to do business with us while creating more flexibility for national client integration with our brands – locally and at scale across our platform. Our goal is simple: super serve our national clients and agency partners. This will significantly increase our overall value for our partners while accelerating our growth.

So these national people will be selling ALL platforms, not just radio.

 

[davideduardo]

My view on national sales managers is the job became obsolete.

Up until the post-recession period, a lot of work-hours was needed for national. Agencies were looking for promotion and merchandising, ranging from contests to events and remotes. Agencies also, to a lesser degree, wanted personality endorsements or "live" spots.

Today, the absence of live personalities and agency focus on new media have obviated the need for so many hours of work. It makes sense to consolidate and sell packages of stations, not individual station promotions and the like.

It used to be that agencies looked for "value added" to make final decisions. Now it is just CPP in the desired demo. Value added is often the addition of less efficient cluster members at a good price.

 

[TheBigA]

It makes sense to consolidate and sell packages of stations, not individual station promotions and the like.

They're buying numbers and the number they're looking for has gotten bigger as radio audiences have declined. So the new national shows will provide a bigger sales base. Plus Entercom Buffalo doesn't do local spot production any more. So that service isn't available.

 

[Element9]

https://ratings.****************/content/arb037

 

[Element9]

They're buying numbers and the number they're looking for has gotten bigger as radio audiences have declined. So the new national shows will provide a bigger sales base. Plus Entercom Buffalo doesn't do local spot production any more. So that service isn't available.

Actually, it's said they still do, primarily as it relates to local talent endorsements on their AM talk stations. Entercom still has a local prod guy in the building.

 

[Element9]

A number of PDs and national consultants speculated about the impact of Covid-19 on listening as relates to cume and TSL. The general consensus was all dayparts might be (adversely) affected due to the overall disruption of listeners' routines; working from home, unemployment, and adults having to assist their kids with schooling though the end of June.

The degree of the drop-off was another part of the discussion, with most predicting that established, legacy morning shows on stations such as WYRK, 97, WEDG, WBLK (with syndicated Steve Harvey), and NPR-WBFO taking less of a hit during the pandemic.

Prior to the pandemic, radio listening habits fluctuated to a degree in July and August because listeners' routines changed. Kids were out of school, in some cases families took vacations out of town. Air staffs took vacations.

These days, the question is, how much change occurred due to the pandemic?
How lasting might that change be?
If/when a proven vaccine arrives will peoples' lives/routines return to normal?
If/when listeners' lives return to some semblance of normal, will radio listening habits revert to pre-pandemic levels?

 

[TheBigA]

A number of PDs and national consultants speculated about the impact of Covid-19 on listening as relates to cume and TSL.

Huh? No need to speculate. The numbers are all very clear and obvious. The audience is now 95% of what it was before March.

What we don't know is the effect on revenue, because revenues lag behind ratings.

 

[davideduardo]

A number of PDs and national consultants speculated about the impact of Covid-19 on listening as relates to cume and TSL. The general consensus was all dayparts might be (adversely) affected due to the overall disruption of listeners' routines; working from home, unemployment, and adults having to assist their kids with schooling though the end of June.

BigA already covered this, but I'll add: within two weeks of the "start" of the pandemic in the US, we saw in the weeklies in the PPM markets the disintegration of TSL and the huge decline in cume.

There was no speculation. We had the hard data, and then every week we got 7 days more of weekly data and have been tracking both cume and AQH persons since then,

Prior to the pandemic, radio listening habits fluctuated to a degree in July and August because listeners' routines changed. Kids were out of school, in some cases families took vacations out of town. Air staffs took vacations.

But we knew, within the formats we programmed, how this would affect us as we had historical data we could refer to. With the pandemic, we had no point of reference and we did not know how listening would change, month to month, as the pandemic continued with no cure.

But, again, we have solid information indicating national trends based on averaging the big PPM markets. The delay in the diary markets is a bit greater, but now we have pretty recent data there, too. But the PPM gives us individual weeks, and the diary gives us rolling 3-month average.

These days, the question is, how much change occurred due to the pandemic?

We know very precisely because we can compare to prior years.

[/QUOTE]How lasting might that change be?
If/when a proven vaccine arrives will peoples' lives/routines return to normal?
If/when listeners' lives return to some semblance of normal, will radio listening habits revert to pre-pandemic levels?[/QUOTE]

Nobody can predict that any more than they can predict major league sports outcomes. We can make educated guesses, but we all believe that the foundation has been moved by the earthquake and some things will find a new "normal".

 

[Element9]

Huh? No need to speculate.

Speculated. Past tense. As in "the first days of the crisis, mid to late March." Should have used the pluperfect case "had speculated" and added "in mid to late March." Their speculation was on the money (axiom intended) and is now known.

 

[four4rock]

BigA already covered this, but I'll add: within two weeks of the "start" of the pandemic in the US, we saw in the weeklies in the PPM markets the disintegration of TSL and the huge decline in cume.

There was no speculation. We had the hard data, and then every week we got 7 days more of weekly data and have been tracking both cume and AQH persons since then,



But we knew, within the formats we programmed, how this would affect us as we had historical data we could refer to. With the pandemic, we had no point of reference and we did not know how listening would change, month to month, as the pandemic continued with no cure.

But, again, we have solid information indicating national trends based on averaging the big PPM markets. The delay in the diary markets is a bit greater, but now we have pretty recent data there, too. But the PPM gives us individual weeks, and the diary gives us rolling 3-month average.



We know very precisely because we can compare to prior years.

How lasting might that change be?
If/when a proven vaccine arrives will peoples' lives/routines return to normal?
If/when listeners' lives return to some semblance of normal, will radio listening habits revert to pre-pandemic levels?[/QUOTE]

Nobody can predict that any more than they can predict major league sports outcomes. We can make educated guesses, but we all believe that the foundation has been moved by the earthquake and some things will find a new "normal".[/QUOTE]

Interesting - to me at least - that radio listening dropped measurably in the weeks immediately following the onset of pandemic declaration. Would not radio have been (touted as) a primary and awesome place to get up-to-the-minute information about this emergency-like situation?

Also, doesn't Entercom on Corporate Parkway have some legal relationship with Kaufmann's jingle thing(?). If so, is that subject to any of these cuts?