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Fish's second quarter results

R

RickRose

The parent company for 104.7 The Fish has announced that WFSH improved revenue by 20% in the second quarter of 2005. Salem also announced that the Fish also achieved the highest their highest rating ever in females 25-54 the target demo for the station. The press release mentioned that some expenses include the recent upgrade of the signal.

If you simply add the ratings for 104.7 and 93.3 you can discover the format is an even bigger player in this market.
 
> The parent company for 104.7 The Fish has announced that
> WFSH improved revenue by 20% in the second quarter of 2005.
> Salem also announced that the Fish also achieved the highest
> their highest rating ever in females 25-54 the target demo
> for the station. The press release mentioned that some
> expenses include the recent upgrade of the signal.
>
> If you simply add the ratings for 104.7 and 93.3 you can
> discover the format is an even bigger player in this market.
>
They claim that a lot of their audience are not "church people". Some of the music they play is good enough to draw anyone in.....
 
> >
> They claim that a lot of their audience are not "church
> people". Some of the music they play is good enough to draw
> anyone in.....
>

Are you suggesting there is something wrong with...gasp..."church people"?
 
Here's the top of the press release

CAMARILLO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2005--Salem Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: SALM), the leading radio broadcaster focused on Christian and family-themed programming, announced today results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2005.


Commenting on these results, Edward G. Atsinger III, President and CEO, said, "Despite a challenging quarter of flat revenue growth for the overall radio industry, Salem achieved 6.2% same station revenue growth and 10.6% same station operating income growth. Salem's performance was a result of strong same station growth at our News Talk stations, which grew revenue by 23.7% and at our contemporary Christian music (`CCM') station in Atlanta, which grew revenue by 20.0% in the quarter. Our Christian Teaching and Talk stations continued their history of steady and consistent performance growing same station revenue by 5.7% in the quarter."


Mr. Atsinger continued, "We remain confident about our future growth prospects. Our CCM format stations in Atlanta, Cleveland, Portland and Honolulu each achieved their highest audience share to date in their female 25-54 target demographic in Arbitron's spring 2005 book. Also in the spring book, KLTY's female 25-54 audience share was tied for #1 in the Dallas market. This is a significant accomplishment since it is the first time a CCM station has been ranked #1 in the female 24-54 demographic in any major market. These audience trends position us favorably for future revenue and profit growth. Looking at our business as a whole, our most significant growth opportunity is to develop to maturity our start-up and early development stage radio stations. Approximately half of our stations, including all of our News Talk and many of our CCM stations, are in one of these development stages. We intend to fully exploit this potential."
 
> > >
> > They claim that a lot of their audience are not "church
> > people". Some of the music they play is good enough to
> draw
> > anyone in.....
> >
>
> Are you suggesting there is something wrong
> with...gasp..."church people"?
>
No, I happen to be one myself. No insult intended. My point was that they reach a larger audience than most people give them credit for.
 
Church people vs. non-church people

Which is exactly why the Fish dropped the moniker "Atlanta's Best Christian Music" a few years back. They didn't want to slap a label on what they do. They wanted to, at least, let the general public "taste test" the product before making a judgement.

The word "Christian" was a turn off to many people; many whom would never even consider listening to a "Christian" station if it was labeled as such.

Now, to the non-churched audience, it's just "family friendly music"... attractive especially to soccer moms in a minivan with a car seat in the back.

The Christian community, for a large part, could care less. They know it's a Christian station. They promote it amongst themselves as such. It's their music and it's a cool station with great prizes, too.

But, there is a segment who has caught onto the Fish's way of marketing and seems somewhat turned off by Fish's "compromise." There are some who believe that one shouldn't be "ashamed of the Gospel."

The flip side to that argument is that Fish isn't ashamed... the message is in the music.

I've heard both sides argue back and forth for ages: ministry versus business; eternal impact vs. today's best marketing. Personally, I'd like to think there's a middle ground. Great marketing should lead to a wide audience that leads to an obviously larger base to hear The Message.

bb

>>They claim that a lot of their audience are not "church people". Some of the music they play is good enough to draw anyone in..... <<
 
Re: Church people vs. non-church people

> Which is exactly why the Fish dropped the moniker "Atlanta's
> Best Christian Music" a few years back. They didn't want to
> slap a label on what they do. They wanted to, at least, let
> the general public "taste test" the product before making a
> judgement.
>
> The word "Christian" was a turn off to many people; many
> whom would never even consider listening to a "Christian"
> station if it was labeled as such.
>
> Now, to the non-churched audience, it's just "family
> friendly music"... attractive especially to soccer moms in a
> minivan with a car seat in the back.
>
> The Christian community, for a large part, could care less.
> They know it's a Christian station. They promote it amongst
> themselves as such. It's their music and it's a cool station
> with great prizes, too.
>
> But, there is a segment who has caught onto the Fish's way
> of marketing and seems somewhat turned off by Fish's
> "compromise." There are some who believe that one shouldn't
> be "ashamed of the Gospel."
>
> The flip side to that argument is that Fish isn't ashamed...
> the message is in the music.
>
> I've heard both sides argue back and forth for ages:
> ministry versus business; eternal impact vs. today's best
> marketing. Personally, I'd like to think there's a middle
> ground. Great marketing should lead to a wide audience that
> leads to an obviously larger base to hear The Message.
>
> bb
>
> >>They claim that a lot of their audience are not "church
> people". Some of the music they play is good enough to draw
> anyone in.....
>

Hey, I'm an agnostic and I love current CCM. There's a lot of innovative and good music there that isn't getting the attention it deserves because of the old stereotypes about "Christian rock". I wish Birmingham had a station like the Fish (or that WZZK would mysteriously vanish so I could listen to Fish west of Collinsville or Wedowee). And no, the talk-fest on DJC doesn't count.

And I'd say that as a commercial radio station and not a non-profit ministry, they shouldn't beat people over the head with the message. It would come off as being exceedingly crass, IMO. Let the music do the job.
 
Re: Church people vs. non-church people

> Hey, I'm an agnostic and I love current CCM. There's a lot
> of innovative and good music there that isn't getting the
> attention it deserves because of the old stereotypes about
> "Christian rock". I wish Birmingham had a station like the
> Fish (or that WZZK would mysteriously vanish so I could
> listen to Fish west of Collinsville or Wedowee). And no,
> the talk-fest on DJC doesn't count.
>
> And I'd say that as a commercial radio station and not a
> non-profit ministry, they shouldn't beat people over the
> head with the message. It would come off as being
> exceedingly crass, IMO. Let the music do the job.
>
Birmingham DOES have a station like the Fish as far as I know; WDJC, 93.7 FM. Do a Google search for Birmingham Christian radio and you'll come up with about 8 stations that play Christian mux there, although in what varying capacities, I don't know.
I've had the pleasure to work for both of Atlanta's Christian stations and I admire what they're doing. I really admire J93.3 for their new Saturday night cutting edge CHR show "After Hours". Not my type of music, but they're apparently pulling in a young audience previously alienated by mainstream CCM radio. I'm especially impressed that 93.3 is going out on a limb to do it considering how traditionally conservative management tends to do things there. Maybe bringing in new PD Don Schaeffer had something to do with it.
The Fish is one of the best stations on the planet to work for. The people are sincere about what they're doing, there's virtually no staff turnover and they're obviously doing a lot of things right there, based on their consistent numbers. As a strong Christian, I really like that they dropped the "Christian MUX" moniker. Why pigeonhole yourself when you can get people to tune in by being family friendly? I see no harm in that at all, and nothing to be ashamed up. Smart marketing and non-confrontational ministry. You win people over to your way of thinking by FIRST becoming their friend.
 
Re: Church people vs. non-church people

> > Hey, I'm an agnostic and I love current CCM. There's a
> lot
> > of innovative and good music there that isn't getting the
> > attention it deserves because of the old stereotypes about
>
> > "Christian rock". I wish Birmingham had a station like
> the
> > Fish (or that WZZK would mysteriously vanish so I could
> > listen to Fish west of Collinsville or Wedowee). And no,
> > the talk-fest on DJC doesn't count.
> >
> > And I'd say that as a commercial radio station and not a
> > non-profit ministry, they shouldn't beat people over the
> > head with the message. It would come off as being
> > exceedingly crass, IMO. Let the music do the job.
> >
> Birmingham DOES have a station like the Fish as far as I
> know; WDJC, 93.7 FM. Do a Google search for Birmingham
> Christian radio and you'll come up with about 8 stations
> that play Christian mux there, although in what varying
> capacities, I don't know.
> I've had the pleasure to work for both of Atlanta's
> Christian stations and I admire what they're doing. I
> really admire J93.3 for their new Saturday night cutting
> edge CHR show "After Hours". Not my type of music, but
> they're apparently pulling in a young audience previously
> alienated by mainstream CCM radio. I'm especially impressed
> that 93.3 is going out on a limb to do it considering how
> traditionally conservative management tends to do things
> there. Maybe bringing in new PD Don Schaeffer had something
> to do with it.
> The Fish is one of the best stations on the planet to work
> for. The people are sincere about what they're doing,
> there's virtually no staff turnover and they're obviously
> doing a lot of things right there, based on their consistent
> numbers. As a strong Christian, I really like that they
> dropped the "Christian MUX" moniker. Why pigeonhole
> yourself when you can get people to tune in by being family
> friendly? I see no harm in that at all, and nothing to be
> ashamed up. Smart marketing and non-confrontational
> ministry. You win people over to your way of thinking by
> FIRST becoming their friend.
>
regardless of the classification of what type of music, if you enjoy mainstream rock suck as Pappa Roach, Mudvayne, or Disturbed... check ut christian bands such as Blindside, Project 86, Spoken, or Zao... these guys prove that God Rocks!
 
Re: Church people vs. non-church people

> > Hey, I'm an agnostic and I love current CCM. There's a
> lot
> > of innovative and good music there that isn't getting the
> > attention it deserves because of the old stereotypes about
>
> > "Christian rock". I wish Birmingham had a station like
> the
> > Fish (or that WZZK would mysteriously vanish so I could
> > listen to Fish west of Collinsville or Wedowee). And no,
> > the talk-fest on DJC doesn't count.
> >
> > And I'd say that as a commercial radio station and not a
> > non-profit ministry, they shouldn't beat people over the
> > head with the message. It would come off as being
> > exceedingly crass, IMO. Let the music do the job.
> >
> Birmingham DOES have a station like the Fish as far as I
> know; WDJC, 93.7 FM. Do a Google search for Birmingham
> Christian radio and you'll come up with about 8 stations
> that play Christian mux there, although in what varying
> capacities, I don't know.

Look above, I mentioned WDJC . . . Their hosts talk way too much, the presentation is heavy-handed, and they're far more conservative with their playlist than Fish or J93.3(which I can receive OTA at home, but not in the car). A station that actually focused on the music (like their sister station on 101.1 was at one point before going talk) would squish them in the ratings.


> I've had the pleasure to work for both of Atlanta's
> Christian stations and I admire what they're doing. I
> really admire J93.3 for their new Saturday night cutting
> edge CHR show "After Hours".

That is a fine show. I just heard it for the first time last week. Great music, great radio.
 
CHRISTIAN RADIO IN ATLANTA

>Are you kidding? The Fish, J933 are horrible stations. I hate the music they play. You have 3 major Christian Radio stations, 1047, 933, 915. They all play the same style of music. You need to learn how to reach kids. Most of your audience is in there 30's to late 50 women. What about the young kids? You need to change your formates people. We need some alternative Christian Rock.. NOT SCC, Third Day, third day and third day.. Get a new line up


>
 
Re: CHRISTIAN RADIO IN ATLANTA

>Get a new line up
Agreed. Let the Fish have the soccer moms, since they have the best ratings. The other two should switch formats.
 
Re: CHRISTIAN RADIO IN ATLANTA

> >Are you kidding? The Fish, J933 are horrible stations. I
> hate the music they play. You have 3 major Christian Radio
> stations, 1047, 933, 915. They all play the same style of
> music. You need to learn how to reach kids. Most of your
> audience is in there 30's to late 50 women. What about the
> young kids? You need to change your formates people. We
> need some alternative Christian Rock.. NOT SCC, Third Day,
> third day and third day.. Get a new line up
>
>
> >
J93.3 has taken a huge step and has a program on there reaching teens and young adults called late night live. all it plays is Christian Rock. So dont say Atlanta doesnt have something that reaches to teens cause it does. I also think J93.3 needs to switch to a Christian CHR format b.c. they are privately owned. The Fish cant do anything b.c. they are owned by SALEM. The playlists are exactly the same and j93.3 needs to step up to the plate again. they already did with this rock show. i would never had thought they would do this but they have. so they will step it up again. ATLANTA CHRISTIAN RADIO is about to get a BOOST.
>
 
Re: CHRISTIAN RADIO IN ATLANTA

> > >Are you kidding? The Fish, J933 are horrible stations. I
>
> > hate the music they play.
- Therefore, because you hate the music they play, they're horrible stations, despite the Fish consistently battling Star 94 for the top ten? The music isn't my choice either, but that doesn't make them horrible stations.

> > >
> J93.3 has taken a huge step and has a program on there
> reaching teens and young adults called late night live. ATLANTA
> CHRISTIAN RADIO is about to get a BOOST.
... now if only J93's SIGNAL could get a BOOST!
 
Re: Church people vs. non-church people

Smart marketing and non-confrontational
> ministry. You win people over to your way of thinking by
> FIRST becoming their friend.
>

Win 'em over with music and then later lose them with logic.
 
Re: CHRISTIAN RADIO IN ATLANTA

> >Get a new line up
> Agreed. Let the Fish have the soccer moms, since they have
> the best ratings. The other two should switch formats.
>
If you look at the numbers, only southside counties, J93 does fantastic! WKHX is the ONLY station which beats them in practically ANY demo.
The signal has always been the problem, not the programming. Before the Fish came along, they still had a one share.....the Fish has taken nothing from them. Look at the southside numbers.....Fish is pathetic, ratings wise, south of the airport.
J93 has never had a metro-wide signal, and sadly, never will. No format change will help....they should keep on keepin' on!
 
How to spear a Fish

So, let me get this straight: Am I hearing that because one station (the Fish) is the forerunner in its format, the other Atlanta Christian stations should change theirs? Head to head competition is not wise in this case?

Because it is rare that a station will just take a chance without hard facts on this issue, I'll ask it here:

Will it really increase ratings (or take a bite out of Fish's ratings) if a competitor plays a heavier mix of music or a different style? Is that the best answer for the other Christian stations just floating around Atlanta?

Or would it be better to simply stick with the same format but present it in a different way... a way that would rival what Fish is doing? (Obviously this has proven unsuccesful since Fish came in to town).

But, by presentation, I also mean awareness. I don't see much advertising for anyone else but Fish. (And even the Fish seems to have a limited budget for this.) If Christians would get quit being doormats and invest in some self-promotion, would not that in itself create more of a buzz and and resulting spike in listenership?

b

> >Get a new line up
> Agreed. Let the Fish have the soccer moms, since they have
> the best ratings. The other two should switch formats.
>
 
Re: Church people vs. non-church people

> Win 'em over with music and then later lose them with logic.

It's easy to say in these boards when you don't have to defend your point of view...

Anyone know any boards that are out there where we can hash through the logic or non-logic?
 
Re: CHRISTIAN RADIO IN ATLANTA

> If you look at the numbers, only southside counties, J93
> does fantastic! WKHX is the ONLY station which beats them in
> practically ANY demo.
> The signal has always been the problem, not the programming.
> Before the Fish came along, they still had a one
> share.....
..albeit a higher 1 share.

>the Fish has taken nothing from them.
...just dropped them to below a 1-share.


>Look at the southside numbers.....Fish is pathetic, ratings wise, south
> of the airport.
Yeah, and they're pathetic in Macon, too. If J wasn't so strong on the Southside, where the tower is, then you'd really have a problem.

>J93 has never had a metro-wide signal, and sadly, never will. No format change will help....they should keep on keepin' on!
Then they should drop "Atlanta's J93 point 3". They weren't as good of a station as they are now.
 
Re: How to spear a Fish

> So, let me get this straight: Am I hearing that because one
> station (the Fish) is the forerunner in its format, the
> other Atlanta Christian stations should change theirs? Head
> to head competition is not wise in this case?

No, my point was that since there are so many fans out there that say this station sucks b/c they don't play my style of music, then save the one that's doing the best in there target audience and let the others change formats. They'd probably be more successful.


> Because it is rare that a station will just take a chance
> without hard facts on this issue, I'll ask it here:
>
> Will it really increase ratings (or take a bite out of
> Fish's ratings) if a competitor plays a heavier mix of music
> or a different style? Is that the best answer for the other
> Christian stations just floating around Atlanta?
Competition is always good, especially in business, and it's no different in radio. Only makes you focus more and rely on the basics.


> Or would it be better to simply stick with the same format
> but present it in a different way... a way that would rival
> what Fish is doing? (Obviously this has proven unsuccesful
> since Fish came in to town).
You just answered it.


> But, by presentation, I also mean awareness. I don't see
> much advertising for anyone else but Fish. (And even the
> Fish seems to have a limited budget for this.) If Christians
> would get quit being doormats and invest in some
> self-promotion, would not that in itself create more of a
> buzz and and resulting spike in listenership?
It's all about the bottom line. Why do you think they don't get the same type of pay?


> b
Thanks DB. I'll visit your site soon!
 
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