Buffalo February Ratings

[SirRoxalot]

The February 3-month rolling average for 12+ is out:

Subscriber	Format	DEC 24 (OCT -DEC)	JAN 25 (NOV -JAN)	FEB 25 (DEC -FEB)
WBLK-FM	Urban Contemporary	8.6	8.6	8.9
WYRK-FM	New Country	9.0	8.7	7.8
WGRF-FM	Classic Rock	6.0	6.3	7.0
WHTT-FM	Classic Hits	6.4	6.7	6.6
WGR-AM	All Sports	5.9	7.0	6.4
WBEN-AM	News Talk Information	6.4	6.5	6.2
WKSE-FM	Pop Contemporary Hit Radio	6.2	6.1	5.7
WTSS-FM	Adult Contemporary	5.4	4.6	4.7
WEDG-FM	Alternative	3.3	3.6	3.5
WBFO-FM	News Talk Information	2.7	3.0	2.8
WNED-FM	Classical	2.4	2.4	2.3
WBUF-FM	Mainstream Rock	1.3	1.3	1.4
WLKK-FM	Country	1.2	1.3	1.2
WWWS-AM	Urban Oldies	1.1	1.1	1.2

See more at Buffalo/Niagara Falls

Quick observations? WYRK fades as 97-Rock gains, Classic Hits remains steady, and the Christmas music bump fades as November drops off the book.

 

[tbolt909]

The most exciting thing on this report is that KB doubled it's ratings. 0.1 to 0.2. Are they celebrating with champagne at Audacy.?

Everything else is within the normal fluctuation. 97 Rock gained less than a share and WYRK went down about 1...

 

[davideduardo]

...and the Christmas music bump fades as November drops off the book.

Remember, the "November" book ended mid-month and had little Christmas music. November 12 was the end day of the so-called "November" book. December 10 was the end of the 4-week period with that name.

 

[Buddy Shula]

I think at this point in the game, no one will truly deviate their radio listening habits again. Everything here is expected. Just nuances. It’s all the same stations at the top except WBEN and KISS. Over the years, they have fallen

This all depends on who gets these diaries. I have seen hundreds of diaries when I was a subscriber, and like I said many times, the listener comments were so off-base at times, I simply could not believe what I was seeing. For instance, one comment was all the listening the person was doing in 2024 to WSPQ in Springville. That station has not been on the air in ten years. I would say at least 40% of comments in these diaries included something about how they listen to Sirius, Pandora and everything else. Some said they only listen to certain channels on Sirius, yet they gave random QH to radio stations.

I was actually told by someone at Nielsen that “diary-keepers were stupid”

 

[radiofan2023]

I think at this point in the game, no one will truly deviate their radio listening habits again. Everything here is expected. Just nuances. It’s all the same stations at the top except WBEN and KISS. Over the years, they have fallen

This all depends on who gets these diaries. I have seen hundreds of diaries when I was a subscriber, and like I said many times, the listener comments were so off-base at times, I simply could not believe what I was seeing. For instance, one comment was all the listening the person was doing in 2024 to WSPQ in Springville. That station has not been on the air in ten years. I would say at least 40% of comments in these diaries included something about how they listen to Sirius, Pandora and everything else. Some said they only listen to certain channels on Sirius, yet they gave random QH to radio stations.

I was actually told by someone at Nielsen that “diary-keepers were stupid”

I’ve heard diary keepers call in to stations and talk about how they were diary keepers and had written the station down in the diary. Both times each person was immediately cut off and told never to discuss being a diary holder with anyone ever again, but especially not anyone at a radio station, and that both the person and station could get in trouble over this current conversation.

 

[davideduardo]

I’ve heard diary keepers call in to stations and talk about how they were diary keepers and had written the station down in the diary. Both times each person was immediately cut off and told never to discuss being a diary holder with anyone ever again, but especially not anyone at a radio station, and that both the person and station could get in trouble over this current conversation.

The only Nielsen concern is having stations learn who has a diary or who carries a PPM. They really could not care less if a person, after finishing their participation, talks about it. In fact, they might encourage it as it would make other people more receptive were they to be contacted to participate.

However, the station announcer who cut a diarykeeper off did the right thing, as stations are, per their contracts with Nielsen, not allowed to talk about the ratings process on the air... as well as reporting if a diarykeeper contacts them, etc.

 

[Easily Amused]

Welcome to Neilsen diary keeping. The first rule of Neilsen diary keeping is: you do not talk about Neilsen diary keeping.
🤔

 

[radiofan2023]

The only Nielsen concern is having stations learn who has a diary or who carries a PPM. They really could not care less if a person, after finishing their participation, talks about it. In fact, they might encourage it as it would make other people more receptive were they to be contacted to participate.

However, the station announcer who cut a diarykeeper off did the right thing, as stations are, per their contracts with Nielsen, not allowed to talk about the ratings process on the air... as well as reporting if a diarykeeper contacts them, etc.

Thanks for explaining about the past diarykeeper/PPMers letting the station know. Does Nielsen ask diarykeeper/PPMers to wait a certain amount of time after they finish participating to tell others that they participated, until the ratings for that time come out?

 

[Buddy Shula]

It is really a shame Nielsen has a monopoly on the market.

There should be nothing wrong with radio stations asking their fans to vote for them in diaries. That’s a Nielsen rule, not an FCC mandate.

If a station has earned a listener, the station should be able to tell that listener to “vote for us”.

It reminds me of the three credit bureaus. They are private companies that have total control over your financial life and information.

Like Nielsen, they make mistakes all the time, but you cannot get one person to help you correct the mistake.

Credit Bureaus rule your life, like Nielsen rules radio.

I could say on-air that WECK is the #1 rated radio station in Buffalo all day long. I could say it, print it, anything I want. Not being a subscriber, Nielsen does not have control over what we say on-air. The FCC is the only entity that can dictate what we do.

Ridiculous

 

[davideduardo]

It is really a shame Nielsen has a monopoly on the market.

No, it's not. When we had multiple services, such as Pulse and Hooper along with Arbitron, agencies would buy you based on the book that was lowest. And you pretty much had to subscribe to several.

There should be nothing wrong with radio stations asking their fans to vote for them in diaries. That’s a Nielsen rule, not an FCC mandate.

And Nielsen's rule is intended to prevent "voting" by listing listening that did not occur. The reason for that lies with the MRC, not Nielsen. Advertisers don't want inflated data.

If a station has earned a listener, the station should be able to tell that listener to “vote for us”.

Ratings are a usage survey, not an election.

It reminds me of the three credit bureaus. They are private companies that have total control over your financial life and information.

And there are no others because it is a very expensive process. Cost is the reason why there is one radio ratings company.

Like Nielsen, they make mistakes all the time, but you cannot get one person to help you correct the mistake.

Nielsen, overall, makes very few mistakes given the volume of data they handle. The real issue is that advertisers are more interested in potential consumers than average quarter hours of listening. We will see ratings based on consumption rather than age and gender in the future.

Credit Bureaus rule your life, like Nielsen rules radio.

There have been a dozen ratings services over the decades. Pulse, Hooper, Birch, Mediatrend, Mediastat, and several others. Agencies were sold by Arbitron and so radio buys what agencies want.

I could say on-air that WECK is the #1 rated radio station in Buffalo all day long. I could say it, print it, anything I want. Not being a subscriber, Nielsen does not have control over what we say on-air. The FCC is the only entity that can dictate what we do.

One time long ago I ran an ad in the newspapers in town (when people read papers) saying "We must be #2... because every other station says they are #1".

Ridiculous

Go anywhere in the world and there is a single ratings company. Only a very few places have two. Canada has one, owned by the industry. And guess what: they use the same methodology that Nielsen does, and they even license the PPM tech from them.

 

[davideduardo]

Thanks for explaining about the past diarykeeper/PPMers letting the station know. Does Nielsen ask diarykeeper/PPMers to wait a certain amount of time after they finish participating to tell others that they participated, until the ratings for that time come out?

Nielsen's only concern after the diarykeeper finishes their 7 days of listening logging is that the person return the diary to them. The do sometimes conduct a follow-up by mail or email about how the person reacted to the study.

 

[Buddy Shula]

David, it’s a survey for Nielsen, but an election for the listener. That’s my view.

 

[tbolt909]

it’s a survey for Nielsen, but an election for the listener. That’s my view.

Nielsen just records the data. They don't tell people what to listen to or write in a diary. Only a small percentage of your listeners will get a diary. Why bother telling people to "vote" for you? It's not an election. Listeners want to the hear the Oldies, not a campaign speech.

Obviously, you don't care for the methodology that Nielsen uses. It sounds like the only thing that would satisfy you is if Nielsen made sure that only WECK listeners were allowed to participate = A rigged election...

 

[Buddy Shula]

Nielsen just records the data. They don't tell people what to listen to or write in a diary. Only a small percentage of your listeners will get a diary. Why bother telling people to "vote" for you? It's not an election. Listeners want to the hear the Oldies, not a campaign speech.

Obviously, you don't care for the methodology that Nielsen uses. It sounds like the only thing that would satisfy you is if Nielsen made sure that only WECK listeners were allowed to participate = A rigged election...

Great insight as always. When you become an owner, then you can give me your philosophy. I agree with nothing you say, and I’ve been winning.

 

[flybynight]

There should be nothing wrong with radio stations asking their fans to vote for them in diaries. That’s a Nielsen rule, not an FCC mandate.

Guarantee if you ask a bunch of people how often they go to church, they'll give you a much higher number than if you just had them write down every time they went to church.

 

[TheBigA]

There should be nothing wrong with radio stations asking their fans to vote for them in diaries. That’s a Nielsen rule, not an FCC mandate.

Nielsen owns those diaries. They pay the people who fill them out. Their bar, their rules.

You want to tell them how to run their business. They don't have to listen to you. Especially now that you don't subscribe.

 

[radiofan2023]

Nielsen owns those diaries. They pay the people who fill them out. Their bar, their rules.

You want to tell them how to run their business. They don't have to listen to you. Especially now that you don't subscribe.

 

[tbolt909]

Nielsen owns those diaries. They pay the people who fill them out. Their bar, their rules.

You want to tell them how to run their business. They don't have to listen to you. Especially now that you don't subscribe.

Non subscribers cannot legally use Nielsen Ratings data anyway. It's pointless to break the rules of a game you're not playing in. Even if Nielsen provided their service for free to all stations, someone would be dissatisfied. Many stations with low ratings claim that "millions" of people "like" their Facebook posts. Therefore, they have millions of listeners...😑

 

[Buddy Shula]

Nielsen owns those diaries. They pay the people who fill them out. Their bar, their rules.

You want to tell them how to run their business. They don't have to listen to you. Especially now that you don't subscribe.

Correct, and they can't tell me how to run my business, so I can break any Neilsen on-air rule that I want. It's called marketing

 

[Buddy Shula]

Nielsen just records the data. They don't tell people what to listen to or write in a diary. Only a small percentage of your listeners will get a diary. Why bother telling people to "vote" for you? It's not an election. Listeners want to the hear the Oldies, not a campaign speech.

Obviously, you don't care for the methodology that Nielsen uses. It sounds like the only thing that would satisfy you is if Nielsen made sure that only WECK listeners were allowed to participate = A rigged election...

Not rigged at all. Our listeners would be the only ones hearing it, so they are listening to the station