> Is it easier to sell advertising for a Country station with
> a 3 share or a Rock station with a 3 share?
Jacques has a good point, but it also depends on market size.
If you're talking Utica, for example, where the #1 station has a 14.2 share, the next has an 11.6 and then it's 7 and below for the rest... yeah, it's going to be tough to sell a 3-share station no matter what the format is. I would also say it depends on whether there are other stations in the same format, and how well they do. For example, in Utica's case, any smart client knows that Big Frog 104 is "the" country station, and they seem to have a lock on the country audience, despite numerous attempts from other stations that have come and gone over the years.
Syracuse is an even better example of that, where B104.7 is the only station scoring double digits P12+. Even though WSCP makes a noble attempt by skewing more towards classic country, any advertiser who wants to spend serious money knows that B104.7 is where the listeners are at.
On the other hand, when you go to a much larger market, like New York City, Los Angeles, etc., things can be considerably different. When there are many more stations, and a much larger, more diverse audience, it's rare to see one station way ahead, pulling double digits while the rest are in the single digits.
With the exception of Lite FM's current lead over nearest competitor WRKS in New York, the race there is usually pretty tight. But if you look at formats, you HAVE to go down to the stations getting a 3-point-something share if you want Spanish Contemporary, Rock or Talk. So I would say that selling a rock station with a 3-share in New York City would be "relatively" easy, considering that market's structure would allow you to rightfully tell clients you're the #1 rock station in town... as opposed to Syracuse where you could have that same share number, and you're the #2 or #3 rock station in the market.
Generally speaking though... all other things equal, if you put a 3-share country station side-by-side with a 3-share rock station, I think you'll have better luck selling the country station. The country format usually attracts more females, and most (I stress most) advertisers usually want to go after those females.
