Dallas Stations show up in Waco ratings

[rbrucecarter5]

This completely blows away the theories that only stations in the 70 dBu contour have a chance in the ratings. The last time I was in Waco, the signals listed were strong, but not nearly as strong at Platinum and Casa are in the Dallas area. Once and for all, it is about CONTENT and not necessarily signal quality. Platinum, Casa, and other rim shots will rise or fall in the ratings based on their content, not on their rim shot signal strength.

Arbitron Waco radio ratings, spring 2008

Shares, listeners ages 12 and older

WACO-FM 14.9

KWTX-FM 9.6

KBGO-FM 8.8

KKDA-FM 6.0

KBRQ-FM 5.6

KWOW-FM 5.2

KBFB-FM 4.0

KWTX-AM 4.0

KHCK-FM 3.6

WBAP-AM 3.6

KLRK-FM 3.2

KRZI-AM 2.8

KTFW-FM 2.0

KZPS-FM 1.2

KBBW-AM .8

KBCT-FM .8




Shares represent the percentage of people listening to radio who are tuned to a certain station.

 

[davideduardo]

This completely blows away the theories that only stations in the 70 dBu contour have a chance in the ratings.

Actually, on the average, 95% of in home and at work listening occurs inside the 64 dbu contour. 80% is inside the 70 dbu, too. In-car can not be attributed by ZIP code, but we know it extends farther.

The exceptions are where a significant group of listeners is not served in a market, but an adjacent market has a station or stations with formats serving that group. Note that a huge percentage of the DFW station listening in Waco is to Urban stations. Waco has no urban or urban AC station, so partisans of that format have little choice but to put up with bad signals from DFW properties.

The last time I was in Waco, the signals listed were strong, but not nearly as strong at Platinum and Casa are in the Dallas area. Once and for all, it is about CONTENT and not necessarily signal quality. Platinum, Casa, and other rim shots will rise or fall in the ratings based on their content, not on their rim shot signal strength.

Nobody, given a choice of good and bad signals, listens to bad ones. Since the average listener has 5 to 7 stations they use per the new PPM data, if a format of interest is not on a good signal, listeners go to a different but equally interesting format on something that comes in better. One thing the PPM is teaching us is that limited signals fall in PPM in nearly every case.

 

[copydesk2]

I'll put up with a bad signal to (A) listen to a program not available locally and (B) to find programming that doesn't have an overabundance of commercials.

 

[ButtnPushr]

If the PD at KBCT had a brain in his head, he would flip that crappy talk station to Urban and rocket into the top 5, plus increase his ratings by 400%!! What a dummy!!

 

[dallasrockradio]

Nobody, given a choice of good and bad signals, listens to bad ones. Since the average listener has 5 to 7 stations they use per the new PPM data, if a format of interest is not on a good signal, listeners go to a different but equally interesting format on something that comes in better. One thing the PPM is teaching us is that limited signals fall in PPM in nearly every case.

I listen to WBAP in Northern Arkansas at night alot, just because I can. The signal is usually good, but of course I hit spots where it fades for a second. I put up with the fading because I like hearing what's going on in Dallas. Besides, sometimes the Dallas AM comes in better than the local AM. I know AM is a different story than FM, and that listening to a Dallas AM would be considered a special format I don't have locally, but just thought I'd share. WBAP is actually the only AM I will listen to, I prefer music and FM.

 

[davideduardo]

If the PD at KBCT had a brain in his head, he would flip that crappy talk station to Urban and rocket into the top 5, plus increase his ratings by 400%!! What a dummy!!

First, in nearly all cases, it is management and ownership that determines format, not the PD alone... although a good PD would be part of the decision making. Many PDs are proficient or experienced in a specific sector of programming, such as country or AC and are not necessarily the right person for a new format, too.

And a format change requires looking at the competitors, the sales potential, the revenues in the market, etc. In many cases, a format that gets lower ratings may get higher billing.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The exceptions are where a significant group of listeners is not served in a market, but an adjacent market has a station or stations with formats serving that group. Note that a huge percentage of the DFW station listening in Waco is to Urban stations. Waco has no urban or urban AC station, so partisans of that format have little choice but to put up with bad signals from DFW properties.

Of course I could turn right around and say that Dallas has no station like Platinum or Casa serving their audience group, but the rim shot has it, so people have little choice but to put up with bad signals to get those formats.

Not everybody has bought a piece of junk like a Bose Wave with no sensitivity. The vast majority of new radios built around single ICs are actually fairly decent radios and have little trouble with the rim shots. It is hard even for Chinese cost cutting manufacturing firms to screw up the sensitivity because its in the chips.

 

[davideduardo]

Of course I could turn right around and say that Dallas has no station like Platinum or Casa serving their audience group, but the rim shot has it, so people have little choice but to put up with bad signals to get those formats.

The issue is actually whether any of these formats has enough partisans to make any difference. We will still see that 80+ percent of the listening to these at home or at work is inside the 64 dbu contour as people have many alternatives in DFW from which to pick so as not to have to listen to bad signals.

Not everybody has bought a piece of junk like a Bose Wave with no sensitivity. The vast majority of new radios built around single ICs are actually fairly decent radios and have little trouble with the rim shots. It is hard even for Chinese cost cutting manufacturing firms to screw up the sensitivity because its in the chips.

You know that more radios are sold at drug stores and Bed Bath and Beyond than Radio Shack and Best Buy and such? Most are ultra-unsensitive and don't have either the sensitivity or selectivity to deal well with rimshots.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

You know that more radios are sold at drug stores and Bed Bath and Beyond than Radio Shack and Best Buy and such? Most are ultra-unsensitive and don't have either the sensitivity or selectivity to deal well with rimshots.

Yes - I know. I see from looking at your page you are also a DX'er. Great page by the way! You might want to take another look at some of those cheapies - I have been amazed at the performance I've gotten out of them. They really skimp on AM - as you might expect - although simple mods can really improve AM. But they are really decent on FM, if you bother to stretch out the wire that comes on the back of some of these things, they are really decent FM receivers. My newest discovery is an iPod dock my daughter bought. Predictably one IC, one ceramic filter - at least it has digital readout. But even with the wire coiled up - all the locals including rim shots pop right in. Unwrap the wire, it gets a medium fringe station - not well - but there. Suspecting the new designs are pretty good, I did a bit of testing of hotel clock radios. Out in the boomies of the Florida panhandle, with a coiled up wire, stations 60 and 70 miles away came right in with no trouble. Same with Baton Rouge, even a Houma station from Lafayette. In Orlando, I had good luck with one of those cheapies on Tampa FM stations. You might want to pick up a couple of these newly designed radios - they don't cost much - and they are a quantum leap beyond those multi-transistor multi-can kludges they made 20 years ago. I haven't done it yet, but I am thinking of buying a sacrificial unit just for the chip - put in a multi-stage ceramic IF, put in an RF amplifier, use a decent antenna and see just how good the performance of the IC's really are. I did soup up an existing radio, and it didn't take much to get it as good as a GE Superadio.

And that is the real tragedy here - the cost cutting has gotten so bad that even with good chips, the sensitivity is compromised. A little care in the receiver, and I bet they could make HD work over longer distances. The chips are sure good enough - amazing technology.