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Forget 100.7 versus 96.9, what about...

R

Radio_Realist

Guest
What does WJPA have to do with their oldies to overtake WPKL in the ratings.

What's the answer to that burning question?
 
> What does WJPA have to do with their oldies to overtake WPKL
> in the ratings.
>
> What's the answer to that burning question?
>

Nothing.

And how the hell do you know that WPKL purportedly beats WJPA? Last I checked, Washington-Uniontown wasn't a measured market.
 
> > What does WJPA have to do with their oldies to overtake
> WPKL
> > in the ratings.
> >
> > What's the answer to that burning question?
> >
>
> Nothing.
>
> And how the hell do you know that WPKL purportedly beats
> WJPA? Last I checked, Washington-Uniontown wasn't a
> measured market.
>

All I know is that both WJPA and WPKL showed up on the Pittsburgh Arbitrons, both ranked near the bottom. And, in case you missed the title of this thread, it's a comment about the discussion on that other burning issue, the imaginary race between 100.7 and 96.9. My point is that the topic of this thread has about the same gravitas as the thread about 100.7 and 96.9.
 
> > > What does WJPA have to do with their oldies to overtake
> > WPKL
> > > in the ratings.
> > >
> > > What's the answer to that burning question?
> > >
> >
> > Nothing.
> >
> > And how the hell do you know that WPKL purportedly beats
> > WJPA? Last I checked, Washington-Uniontown wasn't a
> > measured market.
> >
>
> All I know is that both WJPA and WPKL showed up on the
> Pittsburgh Arbitrons, both ranked near the bottom. And, in
> case you missed the title of this thread, it's a comment
> about the discussion on that other burning issue, the
> imaginary race between 100.7 and 96.9. My point is that the
> topic of this thread has about the same gravitas as the
> thread about 100.7 and 96.9.
>

And based on the tone of the poster's various questions and comments so far, I'd guess that the person who started the Star vs. Bob thread is probably 14-15 years old, max.
<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
> And based on the tone of the poster's various questions and
> comments so far, I'd guess that the person who started the
> Star vs. Bob thread is probably 14-15 years old, max.
>
In other words, he's what most people who work in radio regard as their typical listener. Regardless of chronological age, that's the mental age at which most radio programming is targeted.
 
> > And based on the tone of the poster's various questions
> and
> > comments so far, I'd guess that the person who started the
>
> > Star vs. Bob thread is probably 14-15 years old, max.
> >
> In other words, he's what most people who work in radio
> regard as their typical listener. Regardless of
> chronological age, that's the mental age at which most radio
> programming is targeted.
>

To paraphrase PT Barnum (I think), no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the public...<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
what about...

Exactly. And, to add to your point, even if you're using Pittsburgh ratings (for two rimshot, out-of-market signals), who cares if one station gets an 0.8 and the other an 1.0? In the overall scheme of Pittsburgh radio, there are far more competitive ratings scenarios to be played out.

> Nothing.
>
> And how the hell do you know that WPKL purportedly beats
> WJPA? Last I checked, Washington-Uniontown wasn't a
> measured market.
>
 
Re: what about...

> Exactly. And, to add to your point, even if you're using
> Pittsburgh ratings (for two rimshot, out-of-market signals),
> who cares if one station gets an 0.8 and the other an 1.0?
> In the overall scheme of Pittsburgh radio, there are far
> more competitive ratings scenarios to be played out.

And besides, WJPA kicks Pickle's sat-fed ass! :)
 
wow

Radio Trash Talk. VERY COOL, 'CAT. Give 'em heck!

;-}


>
> And besides, WJPA kicks Pickle's sat-fed ass! :)
>
 
Re: what about...

> > Exactly. And, to add to your point, even if you're using
> > Pittsburgh ratings (for two rimshot, out-of-market
> signals),
> > who cares if one station gets an 0.8 and the other an 1.0?
>
> > In the overall scheme of Pittsburgh radio, there are far
> > more competitive ratings scenarios to be played out.
>
> And besides, WJPA kicks Pickle's sat-fed ass! :)

You're half right. WJPA-FM is an example of just how good a station in a small town that's close to a major city can be. Their "New sound of the oldies" format is fun to listen to, and never boring with the same few songs played to death. Their on-air people are good. Their local new coverage is better than most of the big city stations. They also serve their local area extremely well. You'd have to go a long, long way to find a better station than WJPA-FM.

On the other hand, WJPA-AM, which merely simulcasts WJPA-FM most of the time, is a waste of radio bandwidth. It could be a second outstanding station for Washington, PA, carrying spoken word programming and other local alternatives, and providing a second revenue stream for Washington Broadcasting Company. But it isn't. All WJPA provides is the "Old sound of the oldies", in crappy AM monaural sound. It's a shame that such a potentially valuable resource is going to waste.
 
Re: what about...

> > > Exactly. And, to add to your point, even if you're
> using
> > > Pittsburgh ratings (for two rimshot, out-of-market
> > signals),
> > > who cares if one station gets an 0.8 and the other an
> 1.0?
> >
> > > In the overall scheme of Pittsburgh radio, there are far
>
> > > more competitive ratings scenarios to be played out.
> >
> > And besides, WJPA kicks Pickle's sat-fed ass! :)
>
> You're half right. WJPA-FM is an example of just how good a
> station in a small town that's close to a major city can be.
> Their "New sound of the oldies" format is fun to listen to,
> and never boring with the same few songs played to death.
> Their on-air people are good. Their local new coverage is
> better than most of the big city stations. They also serve
> their local area extremely well. You'd have to go a long,
> long way to find a better station than WJPA-FM.
>
> On the other hand, WJPA-AM, which merely simulcasts WJPA-FM
> most of the time, is a waste of radio bandwidth. It could be
> a second outstanding station for Washington, PA, carrying
> spoken word programming and other local alternatives, and
> providing a second revenue stream for Washington
> Broadcasting Company. But it isn't. All WJPA provides is the
> "Old sound of the oldies", in crappy AM monaural sound. It's
> a shame that such a potentially valuable resource is going
> to waste.

WJPA 1450 is a vital resource for Wash Broadcasting--it allows them to cover multiple sports events at the same time: for example, Trinity basketball on the FM, McGuffey basketball on the AM; Wild Things baseball on the FM, oldies on the AM, or Pirates baseball on the AM, or HS sports on the AM. It's also the same with W&J football and conflicting HS football on Saturdays.

Yes, during the day, WJPA 1450 simulcasts the FM oldies. But come nighttime, during the vast majority of the school year, the AM has some form of sporting event going on. Where else will you hear high school wrestling PBP on the radio???!!!
 
Re: what about...

> > You're half right. WJPA-FM is an example of just how good
> a
> > station in a small town that's close to a major city can
> be.
> > Their "New sound of the oldies" format is fun to listen
> to,
> > and never boring with the same few songs played to death.
> > Their on-air people are good. Their local new coverage is
> > better than most of the big city stations. They also serve
>
> > their local area extremely well. You'd have to go a long,
> > long way to find a better station than WJPA-FM.
> >
> > On the other hand, WJPA-AM, which merely simulcasts
> WJPA-FM
> > most of the time, is a waste of radio bandwidth. It could
> be
> > a second outstanding station for Washington, PA, carrying
> > spoken word programming and other local alternatives, and
> > providing a second revenue stream for Washington
> > Broadcasting Company. But it isn't. All WJPA provides is
> the
> > "Old sound of the oldies", in crappy AM monaural sound.
> It's
> > a shame that such a potentially valuable resource is going
>
> > to waste.
>
> WJPA 1450 is a vital resource for Wash Broadcasting--it
> allows them to cover multiple sports events at the same
> time: for example, Trinity basketball on the FM, McGuffey
> basketball on the AM; Wild Things baseball on the FM, oldies
> on the AM, or Pirates baseball on the AM, or HS sports on
> the AM. It's also the same with W&J football and
> conflicting HS football on Saturdays.
>
> Yes, during the day, WJPA 1450 simulcasts the FM oldies.
> But come nighttime, during the vast majority of the school
> year, the AM has some form of sporting event going on.
> Where else will you hear high school wrestling PBP on the
> radio???!!!

You missed my point. I said that 1450 simulcasts the same programming as 95.3 MOST of the time, not ALL of the time. During those hours when there are multiple local sporting events being covered, WJPA-AM is NOT a waste of bandwidth. During the hours when they simulcast, WJPA-AM IS a waste of bandwidth. Out of a 24 hour day, assuming the local sporting events being carried on WJPA-AM take about 3 hours, that leaves 21 hours when Washington Broadcasting is wasting the valuable resource of 1450 AM. And, there are days when there are no conflicting local sporting events that require two stations to cover both of them.

And, as important as high school sports are to high school athletes and their parents, the "golden hours" for a radio station are those hours during the day when people are out and about, listening to the radio in their cars. Whatever a radio station broadcasts during the evenings when most potential radio listeners are busy being television viewers has far less impact on anything than what they broadcast during the day. So WJPA-AM is broadcasting nothing of importance during the peak weekday radio listenership periods.

If you're going to disagree with me, disagree with what I said, not what I didn't say.
 
Re: what about...

> If you're going to disagree with me, disagree with what I
> said, not what I didn't say.

"On the other hand, WJPA-AM, which merely simulcasts WJPA-FM most of the time, is a waste of radio bandwidth."

Taking away the clause set off my commas, which the commas denote as an independent aside, we're left with "On the other hand, WJPA-AM is a waste of radio bandwidth."

It was this statement with which I took exception. I read that clause as independent, and thus, superfluous.

I happen to think WJPA 1450 provides a valuable service in the simulcast. It permits 1450 to operate a normal schedule for a low cost, and can serve outlying areas in the daytime where the FM's signal just can't reach (like the North Hills and Beaver County, as well as into Wheeling and Eastern Ohio). Any additional or substitute programming there would be out of the financial ballpark for Mike Siegel and Wash Broadcasting. Better to have one station on a simulcast than two stations dark or sold because the combined operations aren't financially stable.
 
Re: what about...

> I happen to think WJPA 1450 provides a valuable service in
> the simulcast. It permits 1450 to operate a normal schedule
> for a low cost, and can serve outlying areas in the daytime
> where the FM's signal just can't reach (like the North Hills
> and Beaver County, as well as into Wheeling and Eastern
> Ohio).

What "serving" is WJPA doing in those areas, other than giving them a chance to hear a better selection of oldies than what 3WS broadcasts? How many listeners in the North Hills or Beaver county are all that interested in Wash High wrestling matches? Just how many residents of the North Hills or Beaver county switch their radios over to AM just to listen to 1450?

You've got me really confused about what your opinion really is regarding "serving" a City of License. When you disagree with something a station does, then you oppose them serving areas other than their City of License. When you agree with something a station does, then serving areas far outside their City of License is something to be praised. So which is it? Should a station stick to serving mostly the area where it's licensed, or should it worry about what it can do for any area where it's signal can be picked up?

I lived in Washington, PA for almost 20 years. I listened to WJPA quite a bit. I was very familiar with their list of advertisers. I doubt if a single one of the advertisers who bought airtime on WJPA gave a damn about whether or not someone in the North Hills or Beaver county heard their ad. They did care that the local people who were their potential customers heard their spots. No one can dispute that. And WJPA-FM does a great job of getting local Washington county advertising messages into the ears of Washington county residents, as long as those resident like oldies or high school sports.

> Any additional or substitute programming there would
> be out of the financial ballpark for Mike Siegel and Wash
> Broadcasting. Better to have one station on a simulcast
> than two stations dark or sold because the combined
> operations aren't financially stable.

Again, you're grasping at straws. They could carry syndicated talk shows for next to nothing. They could fill the daytime on WJPA with brokered programs that wouldn't cost them a cent. They could even put a local talk show on the air cheaply enough to make a profit from the spots they could sell on it. They're a small market station, so they could get away with hiring entry-level talent for the AM side. Hell, from just the spots they could sell to Ace Sporting Goods, Keidel's Gunsmithing Service, and Reeves Sport Shop they could afford to have a right-wing local talk host in PM drive time.

They wouldn't have to reduce their billing for the spots they sell on FM if they dropped the AM simulcast, as no advertiser in his right mind thinks anyone who has a radio that receives AM and FM would choose to listen to 1450 if he could pick up 95.3 instead.

If WXZV can make a profit on its dinky 1,000 watts daytime signal in Washington, then there's no way that Mike Siegal couldn't do even better with different programming on WJPA-AM.
 
Re: what about...

> What "serving" is WJPA doing in those areas, other than
> giving them a chance to hear a better selection of oldies
> than what 3WS broadcasts? How many listeners in the North
> Hills or Beaver county are all that interested in Wash High
> wrestling matches? Just how many residents of the North
> Hills or Beaver county switch their radios over to AM just
> to listen to 1450?
>
> You've got me really confused about what your opinion really
> is regarding "serving" a City of License. When you disagree
> with something a station does, then you oppose them serving
> areas other than their City of License. When you agree with
> something a station does, then serving areas far outside
> their City of License is something to be praised. So which
> is it? Should a station stick to serving mostly the area
> where it's licensed, or should it worry about what it can do
> for any area where it's signal can be picked up?

You miscontrued my entire argument there: I never said the station should serve the COL and only the COL. I said that it owed something to the COL, as sort of repayment for the intangible good will attached to the station being situs there. There's no way a station nowadays can serve Washington, PA and only Washington, PA. But, as WJPA does and Froggy does not, WJPA actually provides a valuable and excellent service to its city of license--and has for well night 70 years now (or thereabouts)--from high school sports, to local news, to community action, to community bulletins, blood banks, etc.

> I lived in Washington, PA for almost 20 years. I listened to
> WJPA quite a bit. I was very familiar with their list of
> advertisers. I doubt if a single one of the advertisers who
> bought airtime on WJPA gave a damn about whether or not
> someone in the North Hills or Beaver county heard their ad.
> They did care that the local people who were their potential
> customers heard their spots. No one can dispute that. And
> WJPA-FM does a great job of getting local Washington county
> advertising messages into the ears of Washington county
> residents, as long as those resident like oldies or high
> school sports.

Yes, the Washington advertisers don't care whether they hit Beaver or North Hills residents. But that's because the sales focuses on the FM--the fringe listeners to the AM are an added benefit.

> > Any additional or substitute programming there would
> > be out of the financial ballpark for Mike Siegel and Wash
> > Broadcasting. Better to have one station on a simulcast
> > than two stations dark or sold because the combined
> > operations aren't financially stable.
>
> Again, you're grasping at straws. They could carry
> syndicated talk shows for next to nothing. They could fill
> the daytime on WJPA with brokered programs that wouldn't
> cost them a cent. They could even put a local talk show on
> the air cheaply enough to make a profit from the spots they
> could sell on it. They're a small market station, so they
> could get away with hiring entry-level talent for the AM
> side. Hell, from just the spots they could sell to Ace
> Sporting Goods, Keidel's Gunsmithing Service, and Reeves
> Sport Shop they could afford to have a right-wing local talk
> host in PM drive time.

Local WashPA talk? I'm as big a WashPA booster as there is, but I'd get damn bored with that. Anything else available--regional talk, syndicated, etc. is already available in Pittsburgh. You can't offer the same stuff as what's in PGH or Wheeling, so you have to offer something different.

And what's different isn't going to make you any money, because no one will listen to it. If they did, one of the big stations up north would have grabbed it. Jerry Doyle? Come on.

> They wouldn't have to reduce their billing for the spots
> they sell on FM if they dropped the AM simulcast, as no
> advertiser in his right mind thinks anyone who has a radio
> that receives AM and FM would choose to listen to 1450 if he
> could pick up 95.3 instead.

No argument there.

> If WXZV can make a profit on its dinky 1,000 watts daytime
> signal in Washington, then there's no way that Mike Siegal
> couldn't do even better with different programming on
> WJPA-AM.

But WKZV is about as niche format as you can get: classic country and polkas (sometimes one after the other). They're not growing, but they stay in the game. WJPA's best bet is to find a superniche like that...but with a graveyard signal, late afternoons or nighttimes are scratchy at best.

You have a decent argument, it's just that I can't see how Wash Broadcasting comes out ahead in the deal, financially. Now, there's always the option of giving the AM to the college. W&J talked about an AM station while I was there. I tried to dispose of that crap almost as soon as it started. Brian Mitchell had fanciful ideas, and the idiot they brought in in 2002 to run the station was more than happy to kiss ass enough to move on up. So, W&J administrators believed a college AM signal was feasible, necessary, and financially advantageous.

Idiots.
 
Re: what about...

> I happen to think WJPA 1450 provides a valuable service in
> the simulcast. It permits 1450 to operate a normal schedule
> for a low cost, and can serve outlying areas in the daytime
> where the FM's signal just can't reach (like the North Hills
> and Beaver County, as well as into Wheeling and Eastern
> Ohio). Any additional or substitute programming there would
> be out of the financial ballpark for Mike Siegel and Wash
> Broadcasting. Better to have one station on a simulcast
> than two stations dark or sold because the combined
> operations aren't financially stable.
>

I lived in the North Hills for two years. You can't hear 1450 there.

For that matter, you can't hear 970 either, even if you're looking at the towers, but I digress...<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
Re: what about...

>
> > If WXZV can make a profit on its dinky 1,000 watts daytime
>
> > signal in Washington, then there's no way that Mike Siegal
>
> > couldn't do even better with different programming on
> > WJPA-AM.
>
> But WKZV is about as niche format as you can get: classic
> country and polkas (sometimes one after the other). They're
> not growing, but they stay in the game. WJPA's best bet is
> to find a superniche like that...but with a graveyard
> signal, late afternoons or nighttimes are scratchy at best.
>

I look at operations like WKZV, or WTYM in Kittanning, where you can listen all week and not hear a traditional spot on the air, and wonder if there's any real money in the programming that does provide their cash flow (weekend polkas on KZV, taped high schol sports on TYM...and I worked at WKZV/WKEG for my first job). I mean, if these stations are turning a profit of $50k a year I'd be surprised. Probably on the books the stations break even or lose money, and the owners pay themselves a small salary to go with whatever their full-time life's work happens to be.

JPA, on the other hand, could carry some talk programming during the day and probably make a few bucks because the infrastructure provided by the FM is already there. This would just be more programming for the sales staff to sell. <P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
Re: what about...

> JPA, on the other hand, could carry some talk programming
> during the day and probably make a few bucks because the
> infrastructure provided by the FM is already there. This
> would just be more programming for the sales staff to sell.
>

And they don't have a big sales staff at all. It's a single owner operation from a storefront in Downtown WashPA, not Infinity or CC.
 
Re: what about...

> > JPA, on the other hand, could carry some talk programming
> > during the day and probably make a few bucks because the
> > infrastructure provided by the FM is already there. This
> > would just be more programming for the sales staff to
> sell.
> >
>
> And they don't have a big sales staff at all. It's a single
> owner operation from a storefront in Downtown WashPA, not
> Infinity or CC.
>
Their sales staff isn't big, but it does exist. Part-timer is correct that having additional programming to sell would create more opportunities for more sales. Perhaps some sort of semi-brokered system might do well for them, with entry-level air talent who work a few hours on the air and spend the rest of their day selling spots on commission. That also describes my own first entry level radio job many, many years ago.
 
Re: what about...

> > > JPA, on the other hand, could carry some talk
> programming
> > > during the day and probably make a few bucks because the
>
> > > infrastructure provided by the FM is already there. This
>
> > > would just be more programming for the sales staff to
> > sell.
> > >
> >
> > And they don't have a big sales staff at all. It's a
> single
> > owner operation from a storefront in Downtown WashPA, not
> > Infinity or CC.
> >
> Their sales staff isn't big, but it does exist. Part-timer
> is correct that having additional programming to sell would
> create more opportunities for more sales. Perhaps some sort
> of semi-brokered system might do well for them, with
> entry-level air talent who work a few hours on the air and
> spend the rest of their day selling spots on commission.
> That also describes my own first entry level radio job many,
> many years ago.

You know, that's a hell of an idea.

But, do people nowadays have the interest in doing that? Not to hate on folks my age, but they want the glory of the airshift and the fame, but not any of the hard work to go along with it (including show prep in many cases). No wonder radio's dull anymore.

But with the right talent, and a good mentoring salesman, it is infinitely workable and the best policy for lots of the fringe market stations.
 
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