WNWV has cracked a 2 share in the May book with a 2.1. That's probably better than much of the recent years as The Wave.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Cleveland Radio Apr 23 Ratings
- Thread starter skiwest
- Start date
To me, it is still a stretch. Like I said, the original station was very music-oriented with the Coffee Break Concerts and lots of live pickups from Music Hall, Public Hall, etc. I don't think that they have broadcast a live concert in years. In the classic days, they broke new acts and did lots of interviews with the performers. That is all gone. The jocks knew the music and gave you information about it. Gone as well. The two most important time periods are all talk and they broadcast hours of baseball. When they do play music, it is nothing special, just common stuff. They even changed The Buzzard logo to make what was once a friendly character into a mean creature with a snarl. I will point out that they refused to participate in the Scene Magazine "History of WMMS" special edition with this statement:
Keith Abrams, Regional Senior Vice President of Programming, iHeartMedia: We have heard from your folks that you are doing a story and talking to others. We would not want to participate in a story that was negative to what MMS is today. The radio station played a very positive, important role back in the 'music only' days...but is very different today....and so is the radio business. And please stop contacting current iHeart Media employees."
Note: "it is very different today". So I question that the current station is tied in any way to the classic WMMS by their own admission.
Keith Abrams has since left iHeart after he got cut due to the COVID pandemic.
I will say after his departure, MMS does sound better nowadays in its music blocks than a few years back.
Speaking of WMMS, they also did better than WTAM. Both stations are carrying the Guardians.
The Lake is up, Majic is still #1, KISS is still beating out 107.9, Star is down, and WNCX is steady.
The Lake is up, Majic is still #1, KISS is still beating out 107.9, Star is down, and WNCX is steady.
That's the trend nationally. Sports play-by-play has been moving to FM for the last few years. But if you take the sports hours away from WMMS, the numbers drop like a rock.
99.1 has a turnkey all-news format aimed at the Black community (and launched in the middle of the public reactions/protests to the George Floyd murder) with minimal overhead, it’s not meant to show in the ratings.
The current split flagship arrangement between WMMS and WTAM—clearly made to keep either team from defecting to then-CBS Radio and 92.3—has also gradually removed whatever ratings advantage WTAM ever had with the Guardians and Cavs. Of course people are going to seek out the better fidelity on the FM dial! The old "38 states and half of Canada" for AM 1100 lost its luster when AM DXing began to fall out of favor entirely; in very rare circumstances do Class A AMs, or AM stations in general, ever show up in ratings books in far away markets.
Coupled with Rush and Triv dying within months of each other, and their replacements failing to move the needle (which has a lot to do with the slow-motion death of the talk format), and it is no surprise to see WTAM collapsing like it is. It's probably not going to get any better before next year, if that.
Keep in mind that a lot of the day games are preempted on WMMS by The Alan Cox Show, though he is a popular draw on the station along with Rover and the games.
Could WMMS go all-talk and have the rock format elsewhere in case WTAM gets worse? The 106.9 signal doesn't do justice for 1100.
Could WMMS go all-talk and have the rock format elsewhere in case WTAM gets worse? The 106.9 signal doesn't do justice for 1100.
If they do that, they should change the call letters and ABSOLUTELY retire The Buzzard.
If iHeart wanted to do an all talk FM, 106.5 would be their best bet...doesn't upset the WMMS apple cart, and would cut down on a lot of music cannibalism from MMS and WMJI.
WHLK is like a spare room in iHeart's house...the other rooms have distinct purposes (current hits, classic hits, country, rock/mancave, talk, and sports) while "The Lake" is a catch-all room that has bits and pieces of the others.
The imaginary WTFM 106.5 could have iHeart's national talkers, with WTAM 1100/106.9 focusing on local talk, and little brother WARF 1350 concentrating on sports.
That is one format CLE hasn't had in a long time - a light rock/soft rock/soft AC station.
The most recent that was semi-kinda close was the Wave 2.0 before it became Jeny (and now 107.3 Alternative).
That would be one music format "The Lake" could use and not cannibalize their sister stations...they'd pretty much have that lane to themselves.
WAKR AM 1590 has had a soft rock format since the beginning of 2020, but coverage (along with their FM repeater) is mostly limited to the Akron area. Also, WAKR focuses more on music from 70s through the 80s with lost and forgotten hits, where anyone else would expand beyond that up to the 2010's and be more mainstream. Something like that would be good for 106.5, but then we're talking iHeart here, which will play the same 50 songs every day along with 12 minutes of the same commercials.
Translation : Big brother will now tell you what to listen to.
WINT is supposed to mean Integrity for the "Integrity Radio" branding.
There's always the option of WTAM being simulcasted on 106.5 instead of 106.9.
I have heard WDOK lean softer at times. Perhaps a tweak?
Since it is not appearing, I assume it is not even garnering a 0.1 rating. It was showing up previously when it was alternative.
- Status