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Charlotte Ratings Updated 02/23/23
- Thread starter amfmradio1
- Start date
Bad month for iHeart. Only 2 stations in the top 10. The music changes at WKKT clearly aren't working. They were #1 in the spring, now they're down to a 3.5 share and out of the top 10. What the hell are they doing? They need to wake up.
I'm surprised the PD at WHQC hasn't been fired. A 1.8 share on a 100,000 watt full market signal is totally unacceptable, and they've been under a 2 share for 3 books in a row. They need to make some changes and quick.
Beasley is improving. They have the top 3 stations, and all of their FMs are in the top 10, including WNKS.
I'm surprised the PD at WHQC hasn't been fired. A 1.8 share on a 100,000 watt full market signal is totally unacceptable, and they've been under a 2 share for 3 books in a row. They need to make some changes and quick.
Beasley is improving. They have the top 3 stations, and all of their FMs are in the top 10, including WNKS.
CHR is struggling for iHeart and other owners nationwide. Without compelling personalities that drive listener loyalty, CHR’s are doing very poorly as we’re seeing with WHQC.
In PPM, WHQC is ranked #68 in the top 40 format. Their 1.8 share is actually the lowest for any full market signal nationwide. Top 40 is down as a format, but that doesn't change the fact that WHQC is significantly underperforming.
I do agree that the lack of compelling personalities is part of the problem. WHQC has no live and local jocks outside of AM Drive, and the morning show is weak and unfamiliar to most people. Almost every morning show in Charlotte is well established with a loyal listener base. It's been very hard for WHQC to compete in that daypart.
They should have kept Ace and TJ on 96.1 rather than allow them to return to direct competitor 95.1. The new hosts are unfamiliar. Other morning shows are more popular and well established such as Bob and Sheri, Ace and TJ, and John Boy and Billy. And is there a demand for 2 hit music stations? Since 95.1 is winning the battle, perhaps it is time for 96.1 to flip to something else.
Maybe iHeart-owned WNKS should go after Beasley-owned WKQC? WKQC, #3 in the latest ratings, straddles the line between AC and Classic Hits. The station is taking up two format positions.
Doesn't make a lot of sense that WKQC is both AC and Classic Hits, trying to serve both audiences. Meanwhile Charlotte has two Top 40 stations. iHeart might consider going either full AC or full Classic Hits on WNKS, which is only #17.
Doesn't make a lot of sense that WKQC is both AC and Classic Hits, trying to serve both audiences. Meanwhile Charlotte has two Top 40 stations. iHeart might consider going either full AC or full Classic Hits on WNKS, which is only #17.
Anything to compete against WKQC done by iHeart could cause issues. They don’t want to cut in to the successful (and decent billing, and cheap) WLKO, and WRFX is right down the hall.
Lake couldn’t lean rock like their sister station in Greenville because of WRFX. I can’t see an adult/classic hits 102.9 The Lake and an AC in the same building. Also, had a heritage AC on 102.9 “Lite 102.9” for many years that was getting mediocre ratings but they still blew it up for The Lake. I’m not sure why Urban One isn’t leaning more mainstream AC with WLNK. Also, WFNZ on 92.7 seems to have helped them.
96.1 was great from 2011-2014 or so when they launched as Channel 96.1. Sad what it’s turned in to.
Lake couldn’t lean rock like their sister station in Greenville because of WRFX. I can’t see an adult/classic hits 102.9 The Lake and an AC in the same building. Also, had a heritage AC on 102.9 “Lite 102.9” for many years that was getting mediocre ratings but they still blew it up for The Lake. I’m not sure why Urban One isn’t leaning more mainstream AC with WLNK. Also, WFNZ on 92.7 seems to have helped them.
96.1 was great from 2011-2014 or so when they launched as Channel 96.1. Sad what it’s turned in to.
WNKS is owned by Beasley. WHQC is owned by iHeart.
WKQC and WLKO don’t play any currents, and aren’t considered Adult Contemporary. WKQC, WLKO and WLNK all cater to adults who like pop music. With Top 40 playing the top 40 songs regardless of format, your audience is going to be further splintered with the full fledged formats. We don’t need 4 stations going after the same audience. No more “Hits” stations.
I used to like 96.1 back when it was 96.1 The Beat, and then later when it was Channel 96.1. They had strong morning hosts with Brotha Fred and then Ace and TJ. They adeptly transitioned from rythmic to CHR and remained strong. But they have fallen off since the change to Hits 96.1 and the loss of Ace and TJ. Looks like they need a major overhaul.
Maybe they could try a rhythmic ac approach. Urban AC is huge in this market and getting a preset for those listeners as the third option while also serving their own exclusive lane might be able to get them much stronger results in adult demos for which could be nicely packaged with their sister stations.
I don’t know why iHeart in Charlotte is so scared to try some type of urban format. They got good numbers going after the suburban white kids with WIBT.
Premiere owns the Steve Harvey Morning Show, which is a top performer in the market. No reason why they can’t bring it over once the contract with WBAV is up. iHeart’s Urban ACs usually perform well.
WPEG is the only full market Urban station, and does well in the demo. They could slap The Breakfast Club on there and go after WPEG one on one.
There's even a little more room for urban AC to do well with The Block now reduced to the flea 102.5 signal. Urban AC has consistently done well between WOSF and WBAV. I'm not sure of any markets that have 3 full market urban AC signals that are successful, but it seems like there's an opportunity.'
Here's a wild one, that I doubt - with iHeart having massive success in the Triangle with news/talk (mostly syndicated), and good performance for it in the Triad, what about News/Talk? Other than Coast to Coast, WBT doesn't even have any Premier content so it wouldn't be hard to get a full schedule. The demographic trade-off may not be worth it.
Here's a wild one, that I doubt - with iHeart having massive success in the Triangle with news/talk (mostly syndicated), and good performance for it in the Triad, what about News/Talk? Other than Coast to Coast, WBT doesn't even have any Premier content so it wouldn't be hard to get a full schedule. The demographic trade-off may not be worth it.
If WHQC went UAC, one of the others would have to flip to something else. WHQC is not flipping to UAC though. WBAV is too well established, and Urban One specializes in urban formats. Just nice to think about. I could see them doing Urban Mainstream or Rhythmic AC, though.
Even with some syndication, talk formats are very expensive to operate. I also can't think of the last time a talk format was launched and successful. Talk has been on the decline outside of a few markets ever since PPM launched.
I think the market could support an additional rock formatted station. The problem is iHeart already has WRFX and WEND, but I'm surprised one of the other operators hasn't gone in that direction. Beasley has some successful rock stations in other markets (WCSX, WRIF, WMMR), and they could sell it with WSOC. Urban One has WBT and WFNZ, and rock shares that older male demographic.
Yeah, it would not be iheart, and everyone else seems to be chugging along pretty well with what they are doing, outside of maybe a little fine tuning (my god one of the Chrs differentiate with more gold from 2000s on....shhhh I heard Z100 playing no scrubs which I think is too far, let KTU have that), but as it's now, 961, IF* it's done correctly, rhythmic ac is the choice, the posts here validate the approach. You make it massively mainstream where you thread the needle in plaing hits, but 90% of the playlist appeals also to the Black adults powering the success of the urban ACs in Charlotte.
If CHR doesn’t work, rhythmic CHR likely isn’t going to. Few stations are actually flipping TO rhythmic CHR.
However, here’s a thought - classic hip hop or maybe rhythmic AC? Both would stay out of the other iHeart stations’ way and might could take some listeners from the urban stations and WKQC with rhythmic AC.
However, here’s a thought - classic hip hop or maybe rhythmic AC? Both would stay out of the other iHeart stations’ way and might could take some listeners from the urban stations and WKQC with rhythmic AC.
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