Fall Ratings

[MarkSC]

Well, the Fall ARB for GSP is out today...and it doesn't appear there was a honeymoon for WMYI's new format. They're down 2 shares 12+ from Summer, behind WSPA and most everyone else except The Planet. I know some of you will start harping about demos, but 6.5 - 4.6 12+ can't be good.

 

[carolinaradio]

That was a big hit for WMYI. That's even worse than the regular AC format was doing, and that was only including about 2 weeks? of Christmas music. If you're performing badly in your second book, that is not good. I figured they would at least do well for a couple of books.
WSPA was down a little as well, but they're safe and in a much better position than MY (IMO).

What's with WHZT? Seems like there is never any middle ground with them - they either do really well, or just badly.

 

[freqdev]

i agree that a 2 share drop is not good but it could possibly be that the audience left for other station when they went to christmas music the last 2 weeks of the book. i also noticed that 98.9 has been trending down the last 3 books 5.7, 5.6, 5.3. 102.5 jumped in the summer to make it appear that the new format was not liked when they had a 4.7 in spring. 93.7, word, 98.1, and 101.1 all were up in fall. with the exception of word those are format that might have benefited from 98.9 and 102.5 playing christmas. the country stations and the urban station were also down. it is arbitron and will take a year to see how the new station will perform. jmo

 

[carolinaradio]

As much as I think all-Christmas was a mistake for them after the adjustment they made, I find losing 2 shares in 2 weeks a little hard to believe. That's a huge hit. It might be that, combined with the fact that the newness of the station had begun to wear. Most stations have a good book or so when they start a new format or make a drastic change. I like a lot of the songs on 102.5, but then again, they still are making mistakes with their regular format that could drag them down. Throw all of that in with the fact that Hot AC struggles in the southeast (even Charlotte).

Christmas seems to hurt 98.9 in the past couple of years. This isn't a big market for Christmas music apparently. The next book will include 97.7 who might have taken some listeners from the AC's that didn't want all-Christmas music.

 

[Scooter Lesley]

It is my understanding that All Christmas for both MAGIC & MY...is a home office decission made by some Boob Corp PD, and/or some hemroidal Consutant...who fantisizes themself as a "Trail Blazer", but they failed the "Pathfinder" exam!

 

[freqdev]

I find losing 2 shares in 2 weeks a little hard to believe. That's a huge hit.

you missed the point assuming that you believe the 6.5 for wmyi in summer was real. that followed a 4.7 for that station. lots of stations in gsp have 2 share swings up and down. very few stations are consistant from book to book with arbitron methodology. depending on the demo and gender arbitron needed to make up in the last month to balance the 3 month average 2 weeks of christmas could have have affected both wspa and wmyi giving extra listening to other stations that did well especially in demos known for lots of tsl

 

[awp69]

Sad to hear this. I like MY's new format, but they haven't been pushing the "fresh" far enough. Still hanging on to some of the older songs and not adding new ones fast enough. It's just stupid. Those wanting the older ones are going to go to Magic (and now Chuck). Period. It's senseless to think you're going to make everyone happy.

The "fresh" should be trying to take away the slightly older segment of B93.7's audience (heck, they even have promos saying "it's like B without all the songs you hate"). But if you don't even play new Hot AC songs that they're playing on B because they overlap with the Top 40, you'll still have people tuning to "B" because they're wanting the new songs they STILL aren't hearing on MY.

They added some songs last week and maybe if they keep going that way -- stop trying to get Magic listeners wih Abba and Michael Jackson that just doesn't belong on a Hot AC station -- perhaps they can get a better Winter book. And for God's sake, get rid of Delilah, she doesn't belong on the new MY.

If they don't change for the better, they will likely fail. And that's sad because as I mentioned in another thread, I do think there's an entire demographic (my so-called Generation X) that wants a station like this.

EDIT: While, I don't know what to make of the ratings. Taking a further look at the trends, MY has been jumping up and down even prior to the format change (went from 6.7 last Winter to 4.7 last Spring). So who knows what the long haul will show. The only station that seemed to get much of a bump in the fall book was, ironically, WFBC. And Magic was steady (well down slightly) so you can't say there was a mass defection over to Magic from the change.

Hope they give it time, but also do what I mentioned above.

 

[carolinaradio]

I find losing 2 shares in 2 weeks a little hard to believe. That's a huge hit.

you missed the point assuming that you believe the 6.5 for wmyi in summer was real. that followed a 4.7 for that station. lots of stations in gsp have 2 share swings up and down. very few stations are consistant from book to book with arbitron methodology. depending on the demo and gender arbitron needed to make up in the last month to balance the 3 month average 2 weeks of christmas could have have affected both wspa and wmyi giving extra listening to other stations that did well especially in demos known for lots of tsl

Are you saying both the 6.5 and the 4.6 could be flawed? Seems like they had an extremely good book WI11 as well, when they were still AC. I comment about SU11 and FA11 being accurate because it's not uncommon for a station to have a good book when it makes a big move, then to fall off. Christmas might have factored in to it, but it could have been other things at play in addition. Magic was down, but not that much (their numbers were down last Christmas also) The least consistent station is WHZT. I can't recall any of the other stations having such swings.

The numbers could be down due to the fact that the station is not extremely well programmed (for Hot AC) and is running a format that's an uphill battle in this region. Honestly, how many Hot AC's are there around here? I give them credit for trying to do something to save the station. We'll see what the next book does. If they keep doing the things awp69 mentioned, they'll probably stay low and could be gone by 2013. I want them to be successful, but I'm just saying that a 4.6 share could be understandable.

As for Generation X, in this market, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them are listening to WSSL. At the end of the day, country rules the roost in this market, whether we're fans of it or not. They'll probably wait until next month to add anything else new, going by their track record.

 

[freqdev]

i agree with most of what you are saying and also dont want the station to fail so the gsp radio dial has more variety. i really dont listen anymore since they changed. imo arbitron has problems delivering truly accurate data from one book to the next. what did the station do to go up 2 shares from last spring to summer and pull ahead of magic it is a mystery and that is why i dont believe any concrete conclusions can be drawn here other than questioning every stations programming