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Fall Ratings

S

Slinky

In Washington, TOP is tops, even before the signal change. In fact, it was a huge book for all the news/talk/sports stations. WTOP is up almost a share and a half and WMAL and WJFK are each up more than a half share. Even WTEM was able to break a 2-share this book, thanks to lots of 'Skins talk.

WASH-FM had a nice Christmas music bump, and DC101 rebounded nicely after a down summer. Watch DC101 in this next book, I have a feeling that's where a lot of the Stern fans are going to wind up.

Toward the bottom of the book, Z104 proved that it deserved a format change after finishing dead last among commercial FMs and registering the lowest ratings it's ever had. Mega Clasica, which switched from Tropical to Tropical Oldies halfway through the book, more than doubled their ratings, and took a nice chunk out of El Zol. I suspect diary placement may have been a factor there though.

Also on the downslide, Arrow had an awful book, barely edging out Z104. I have to reiterate that an Arrow/El Zol frequency swap makes a lot of sense right now, especially if the Redskins end up buying 92.7 and 94.3. WBIG is the other station in big trouble right now considering its aging demos and continuously falling ratings.

In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2. WLIF gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right behind them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except for Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40% of its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM in Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of 94.7 and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.
 
> In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2. WLIF
> gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right behind
> them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except for
> Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40% of
> its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM in
> Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of 94.7
> and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.

Jack was also down half a share.
 
CBS Radio Baltimore

> In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2. WLIF
> gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right behind
> them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except for
> Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40% of
> its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM in
> Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of 94.7
> and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.
>

The first thing that came to mind when CBS flipped WQSR from oldies to JACK is that it could hurt sister station MIX. It took awhile, but now WWMX is doing even worse than I expected. They may want to consider evolving towards CHR, it would put more distance between themselves and JACK (who could use some help themselves) and it would fill a void in the market.
 
Jack and Mix

> > In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2. WLIF
> > gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right
> behind
> > them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except
> for
> > Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40%
> of
> > its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM in
> > Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of
> 94.7
> > and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.
> >
>
> The first thing that came to mind when CBS flipped WQSR from
> oldies to JACK is that it could hurt sister station MIX. It
> took awhile, but now WWMX is doing even worse than I
> expected. They may want to consider evolving towards CHR, it
> would put more distance between themselves and JACK (who
> could use some help themselves) and it would fill a void in
> the market.
>

What was CBS Radio thinking about putting a Variety Hits station in a market where they also own a Hot AC station? Hot AC's will hurt the most by Jack. I don't understand what CBS was thinking.
 
Re: Jack and Mix

> > > In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2.
> WLIF
> > > gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right
> > behind
> > > them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except
>
> > for
> > > Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40%
>
> > of
> > > its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM
> in
> > > Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of
> > 94.7
> > > and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.
> > >
> >
> > The first thing that came to mind when CBS flipped WQSR
> from
> > oldies to JACK is that it could hurt sister station MIX.
> It
> > took awhile, but now WWMX is doing even worse than I
> > expected. They may want to consider evolving towards CHR,
> it
> > would put more distance between themselves and JACK (who
> > could use some help themselves) and it would fill a void
> in
> > the market.
> >
>
> What was CBS Radio thinking about putting a Variety Hits
> station in a market where they also own a Hot AC station?
> Hot AC's will hurt the most by Jack. I don't understand what
> CBS was thinking.
>

I know what they weren't thinking about... overlap! In fact, MIX actually had an 80s weekend days after JACK hit the market. I believe it was Slinky who posted sample hours of each station and it was nearly impossible to guess which station was which.
 
> In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2. WLIF
> gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right behind
> them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except for
> Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40% of
> its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM in
> Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of 94.7
> and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.

Jack is "OFF" in yet another big market. I know, I know, it isn't
the 12+ share that counts in sales. But let's face facts. The
format is not the "answer" to CBS's problems. NY, Chicago,
Baltimore (and don't forget the Lesser Media clone--BEN--in Phila)
are all back down to pre-fever levels. So a year from now they will
be back to where they were with the "dying, ineffective oldies format"
they threw out.
 
A message to Dave Labrozzi at CBS....

Dear Dave,
Do my eyes deceive me.....Jack with a x.x. OH My!

Maybe Christmas Music 365/24/7.............

MediaBoy

(Moderator note: This post has been edited to remove Arbitron data.)<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Slinky on 01/18/06 04:59 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> > In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2. WLIF
> > gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right
> behind
> > them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except
> for
> > Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40%
> of
> > its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM in
> > Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of
> 94.7
> > and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.
>
> Jack is "OFF" in yet another big market. I know, I know, it
> isn't
> the 12+ share that counts in sales. But let's face facts.
> The
> format is not the "answer" to CBS's problems. NY, Chicago,
> Baltimore (and don't forget the Lesser Media clone--BEN--in
> Phila)
> are all back down to pre-fever levels. So a year from now
> they will
> be back to where they were with the "dying, ineffective
> oldies format"
> they threw out.
>

Not necessarily. The novelty of the new format has worn off and most stations might be "off" since the "sampling" period is over.

It doesn't mean the format is dead.
 
> > > In Baltimore, it's the usual suspects in the top 2.
> WLIF
> > > gets a huge Christmas boost though, and ends up right
> > behind
> > > them. The rest of the ratings are pretty steady, except
>
> > for
> > > Mix 106.5, which completely collapses, losing almost 40%
>
> > of
> > > its audience. It's now the lowest-rated commercial FM
> in
> > > Baltimore. Between losing Stern and the performance of
> > 94.7
> > > and 106.5, CBS Radio has some major problems here.
> >
> > Jack is "OFF" in yet another big market. I know, I know,
> it
> > isn't
> > the 12+ share that counts in sales. But let's face facts.
> > The
> > format is not the "answer" to CBS's problems. NY,
> Chicago,
> > Baltimore (and don't forget the Lesser Media
> clone--BEN--in
> > Phila)
> > are all back down to pre-fever levels. So a year from now
> > they will
> > be back to where they were with the "dying, ineffective
> > oldies format"
> > they threw out.
> >
>
> Not necessarily. The novelty of the new format has worn off
> and most stations might be "off" since the "sampling" period
> is over.
>
> It doesn't mean the format is dead.
>


Not dead, but JACK and other Variety Hits stations are down just about everywhere in the books released so far. There are two possibilities. Either the format peaks very early on and starts a slow decline about six months into the format OR Christmas music is soooo popular that all the non-holiday 25-54 type stations such as JACK get hurt. The Winter book will tell us a lot 3 months from now!
 
Re: Jack and Mix

Last year, stations raced each other to flip to a "Jack"-type format. You had to do it now, or else someone else would do it within a couple of days.

CBS probably figured that if they didn't flip one of their Baltimore stations to "Jack", someone else would very quickly adopt a similar (usually jockless) format.

For instance, CBS reportdely wanted to flip stations in San Francisco (probably KFRC) and Boston (likely WODS) to "Jack" last year, but got beaten-out by "Jack" clones. CBS supposedly was within 24 hours of making the switch in both markets when they were beaten. As a result, CBS was forced to abandon plans to launch "Jack" in these markets.
 
Re: Jack and Mix

> Last year, stations raced each other to flip to a
> "Jack"-type format. You had to do it now, or else someone
> else would do it within a couple of days.
>
> CBS probably figured that if they didn't flip one of their
> Baltimore stations to "Jack", someone else would very
> quickly adopt a similar (usually jockless) format.
>
> For instance, CBS reportdely wanted to flip stations in San
> Francisco (probably KFRC) and Boston (likely WODS) to "Jack"
> last year, but got beaten-out by "Jack" clones. CBS
> supposedly was within 24 hours of making the switch in both
> markets when they were beaten. As a result, CBS was forced
> to abandon plans to launch "Jack" in these markets.
>


and in the long run may be better off for it. Look at how much better KFRC is doing than MAX in SF. Look at how much better WODS is doing than MIKE in Boston. Although I am open to the idea that CBS would have done VH better than the "clone" versions those markets got.

But overall I agree with you Joseph. When CBS flipped WQSR to JACK all they were thinking was...this is the hot format, the next big thing, let's get this on before anybody beats us to it... Issues like overlap with MIX was the last thing on their minds.
 
Re: Jack and Mix

>
> But overall I agree with you Joseph. When CBS flipped WQSR
> to JACK all they were thinking was...this is the hot format,
> the next big thing, let's get this on before anybody beats
> us to it... Issues like overlap with MIX was the last thing
> on their minds.
>

Excellent points. CBS Radio simply wasn't thinking. The first thing on their mind was getting Jack on in Baltimore, forgetting that this will hurt another one of their other stations.

Pure stupidity in my opinion.
 
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