Charlotte Ratings Posted 3/23/22

[davideduardo]

If that's true it should be affecting other markets...right???

It is. It is causing bubbles, bounces and excessive weighting everywhere. In theory, a representative panel does not need any weighting as it represents "in miniature" the whole market.

This is why the radio PPM survey is on "hiatus" from trying to achieve the Ratings Council accreditation.

 

[CLTRadio]

Similar to how the ratings for WBT are tabulated, but I think the ratings list the AM.

Nielsen still has the FM listed. WLNK-HD3 is still showing for the 102.5 translator as well. I believe it is being fed through WOSF-HD2 now. They’ll probably update it if they haven’t already.

 

[test123]

Oh and that Real Estate out on Radio Road I predict will soon be full of houses. Land is more valuable than a Directional 5KW radio station in 2022.

I am not sure they will be selling that land soon. There is more than just 610 on that site. The 102.5 translator is there and Beasley has their community backup antenna system there. They spent a small fortune on it. Transmitters for all of their Charlotte stations feeding a huge ERI combiner. I believe they can operate all of their stations at the same time from there.

t123

 

[CharlotteListener]

Now we know why WBT is so obsessed (especially Thompson) with celebrating their past - their present is a disaster.

 

[101tm]

Now we know why WBT is so obsessed (especially Thompson) with celebrating their past - their present is a disaster.

WBT’s collapse is astonishing. News/talk (outside of NPR) has been struggling nationwide but has still managed to hold up at least okay in midwestern and southern markets, Greensboro-Winston Salem and Raleigh’s talkers do quite well 6+. WBT is in the toilet, even 6+.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

WBT’s collapse is astonishing. News/talk (outside of NPR) has been struggling nationwide but has still managed to hold up at least okay in midwestern and southern markets, Greensboro-Winston Salem and Raleigh’s talkers do quite well 6+. WBT is in the toilet, even 6+.

Pains me to see there is really very little awareness of the station compared to when I first came to town. Back then we didn't have all the FM's that moved in from the areas outside of Charlotte. At one time WBT was a very big deal. Does anyone under 50 listen?

 

[101tm]

Pains me to see there is really very little awareness of the station compared to when I first came to town. Back then we didn't have all the FM's that moved in from the areas outside of Charlotte. At one time WBT was a very big deal. Does anyone under 50 listen?

Unfortunately it’s indicative of the format partially, but there are worse problems it seems with WBT. There are still news/talk stations that do well 6+, even AM only. 94.5 in the triad and 106.1 in the Triangle are top 3-5 in the beauty pageant numbers. Yes they’re on strong FM signals but that hasn’t been shown to really help news/talk ratings wise vs AM since most of the demo is content with listening on AM If the signal is good. WBT was great even 10-15 years ago but I don’t know if their recent issues can be attributed to Radio One’s likely lack of knowledge in the format or if it’s the market.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Pains me to see there is really very little awareness of the station compared to when I first came to town. Back then we didn't have all the FM's that moved in from the areas outside of Charlotte. At one time WBT was a very big deal. Does anyone under 50 listen?

I know I haven't since not long after clips of Rush were no longer airing.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I know I haven't since not long after clips of Rush were no longer airing.

Interesting...I never found Rush's brand of discourse enlightening but many did. Don't the other conservative voices do it for you? I find Mark Levin to be very annoying so I assume he's popular with people who enjoy that sort of thing. Henry Bogan is I'm sure spinning in his grave. WBT and other AM's should never have placed so much importance on one man.....they stopped doing really attention getting promotions and being out in the public, so the public forgot WBT, it's sad.

 

[101tm]

Mark Levin’s popularity surprises me. I don’t really agree with them on a lot of things but I can see why people liked Rush, I can see why people like Sean Hannity, etc. but Levin sounds like a mad screeching cat all of the time.

Rush’s passing was unexpected - well, his diagnosis was. I think Premiere/iHeart and other operators didn’t see him going anywhere considering he had just re-upped his contract yet again (he always stated he never planned to retire) and never crafted a backup plan in case something happened (which was more likely considering his age and other health issues) which was desperately needed if just for their own talk stations. The replacements - the main ones like Travis and Sexton from premiere (the “official” Rush/EIB replacement) and Bongino are terrible replacements. Truth is, Premiere and co. should have been grooming someone to eventually replace Rush that would have resonated the same way or at least similarly with his listeners. He was a character. His replacements are just angry talk show hosts rattling off worn out talking points, and the ratings losses a lot of news/talk stations have shown since his passing make it obvious.

Rush was literally the anchor and the glue that held most news/talk stations together between mornings and afternoon drive on the east coast. That glue is now gone. Here in Greenville Spartanburg Audacy replaced him with Dana Loesch from 12-3 and it’s the same angry sarcastic talking points. Did Rush run with the talking points? Yes, but he had his own spin and presentation that made them more interesting to listen to and to the right audience he was an entertainer. I’m not saying the replacements are bad as much as they just can’t fill the shoes they’re supposed to.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Interesting...I never found Rush's brand of discourse enlightening but many did. Don't the other conservative voices do it for you? I find Mark Levin to be very annoying so I assume he's popular with people who enjoy that sort of thing.

I couldn't stand to hear conservative views from anyone else. Over time, it became simpler to stay on one station once I could no longer hear the music I liked on the radio, so I was more open to the others. Not true now. I'm just more accepting of the music.

Henry Bogan is I'm sure spinning in his grave. WBT and other AM's should never have placed so much importance on one man.....they stopped doing really attention getting promotions and being out in the public, so the public forgot WBT, it's sad.

What a shame.

 

[tylerSC]

Interesting...I never found Rush's brand of discourse enlightening but many did. Don't the other conservative voices do it for you? I find Mark Levin to be very annoying so I assume he's popular with people who enjoy that sort of thing. Henry Bogan is I'm sure spinning in his grave. WBT and other AM's should never have placed so much importance on one man.....they stopped doing really attention getting promotions and being out in the public, so the public forgot WBT, it's sad.

I wish there was still a Hello Henry style program on WBT so everything isn't exclusively political or one sided. As Henry cordially invited all opinions and viewpoints without pushing a specific agenda. And John Hancock was good but now only does a one hour guest appearance on Friday mornings post retirement. While opinions on his program may have leaned conservative, it wasn't a forced political agenda unlike his replacement Brett Winterble who is more right wing.

 

[tylerSC]

Also it would be good if WBT had a stronger FM signal covering the whole market rather than 99.3 which only reaches some of the western fringes and a portion of Upstate SC. But it doesn't look like they want to swap with 107.9 unless their ratings deteriorate.