G101, B94.5, & 3WZ

[ratingsgeek]

I wasn't saying gay people, wrong establishment!!!! And ratings geek said college markets

College markets--not necessarily college students. Both AAA & alternative (or "classic" alternative) are adult (25+) formats. For well-educated, affluent adults. Penn State provides one-third of all Centre County employment. Thousands of very well-educated, well-paid adults. Check out Madison and Ann Arbor--and other "college" markets. Think 25+. Or 30+. Alternative isn't dead. It just grew up and got smarter.

But you're right, you've asked for comparisons of the two CHR stations. They really both sound fine, but not dramatically different from whatever else is on the air around here.

Last time I checked, WGMR was running syndication in mornings & evenings--so nothing to critique there; and AC in mid-days + CHR in afternoons. Very confusing, but nicely presented. The girl sounds good!

B94.5 sounds fine, too. Very consistent. Very automated? But nicely produced. What I notice mostly is the music, which seems targeted squarely at 12-24. The big question I would ask is whether there is a market for that anymore. Don't they all have iPods?

 

[Spackler1]

Last time I checked, WGMR was running syndication in mornings & evenings--so nothing to critique there; and AC in mid-days + CHR in afternoons. Very confusing, but nicely presented. The girl sounds good!

There's a girl?

I guess I need to listen more often.

 

[ratingsgeek]

Last time I checked, WGMR was running syndication in mornings & evenings--so nothing to critique there; and AC in mid-days + CHR in afternoons. Very confusing, but nicely presented. The girl sounds good!

There's a girl?

I guess I need to listen more often.

Think so. But I might have had the wrong station. To complete the trifecta, I agree with shilton: 3WZ sounds heavily dayparted. A Hot AC spiking it with more CHR as the day goes on. Not that different from old-style Top 40.

 

[ameyer]

Yes Spack there is a girl in mid-day now and yes Ratingsgeek you have the right station. Dave is on from 10-Noon and Reggie is on from Noon-3pm and then me from 3-7.

Ratingsgeek there is always room for critique with the morning show and evening show even though they are both syndicated, what are your thoughts...do you think they benefit the market or hurt the market?

Funny story a guy told me the other day that until a few days ago he didn't realize that Romeo was not local!

 

[shilton]

Yes Spack there is a girl in mid-day now and yes Ratingsgeek you have the right station. Dave is on from 10-Noon and Reggie is on from Noon-3pm and then me from 3-7.

Ratingsgeek there is always room for critique with the morning show and evening show even though they are both syndicated, what are your thoughts...do you think they benefit the market or hurt the market?

Funny story a guy told me the other day that until a few days ago he didn't realize that Romeo was not local!

Nods to G101 for Romeo and OHP. Both are upbeat and lively and seem to be good representations of what a CHR night show ought to sound like. As for mornings...seeing how I am now competing against the Ace & TJ Show...I kinda hope I pound the you know what out of it (KIDDING)...but seriously, I will say that B94.5 took the "most music" approach because we felt overall there was just too much "gabbing" going on in the morning all across the dial and we thought it would be nice for someone to just shut up and play the music. I'd be curious to hear the opinions of others from the radio world and from the "non-radio" folk out there about how you think each station fares in the mornings? Seems that 3-WZ's morning show always rates very well no matter what.

 

[ameyer]

I will say that B94.5 took the "most music" approach because we felt overall there was just too much "gabbing" going on in the morning all across the dial and we thought it would be nice for someone to just shut up and play the music.

Steve this is not a slam on you or anything but I do believe that I heard that same explanation when we did the "MORE Music Morning"...right?

By the way as the PD, I have to say Ace and TJ are gonna whoop you...KIDDING...or am I???? Hahahahahahahaha

 

[shilton]

I will say that B94.5 took the "most music" approach because we felt overall there was just too much "gabbing" going on in the morning all across the dial and we thought it would be nice for someone to just shut up and play the music.

Steve this is not a slam on you or anything but I do believe that I heard that same explanation when we did the "MORE Music Morning"...right?

By the way as the PD, I have to say Ace and TJ are gonna whoop you...KIDDING...or am I???? Hahahahahahahaha

Yes...you are right. G101 had the more music morning and it didn't perform as you had hoped, but that was after only 1 book and a short time and back then you were still up against Hot 103 as well so many of the top 40 listeners were tuning into Ken Prell still. Not saying Ace&TJ won't fare very well, but there are definately people who'd just want the tunes

 

[Harlow]

Here we go with the I'm better than you bickering.

For the love of Radio Pete, let it go.

Lets look at it this way. Radio sucks now because of what it has become.

There is no job security, very few could even think of raising a family and be on the air. Thankfully I have hung up the headphones.

 

[ameyer]

Harlow...if you notice I said it WASN'T a slam on Steve and the whole overall tone of the post was joking...I'm sure Steve got it!

 

[Harlow]

I know AJ, but there is always someone who will get back into a you vs. Hilton.

Sometimes it is funny, but sometimes it just gets old.

You take pride in what you do with WGMR and Hilton takes pride in what he does at WBHV.

When I was home over Memorial Day, I listened to your station and it sounds solid. Glad that you finally are taking a calm approach on the air.

 

[shilton]

Harlow...if you notice I said it WASN'T a slam on Steve and the whole overall tone of the post was joking...I'm sure Steve got it!

Yep...I did get it ;D

Harlow...haven't you noticed that anymore AJ and I are about the only ones who even bother to post anything unless its someone popping in toss another log on an already burning fire? The market has gotten stagnant and it shows, For "B" and "G", we may be the last real piece of true competition going on in Centre County so if we can't play every once in a while by kicking a little sand around, what's the point? AJ and I talk off the boards and our discussions are pleasant and friendly but when ya get down to it, we ARE competitors so its only natural to get into the occasional "my stick is bigger than your stick" bickering and Ted is just sitting back smiling as the referee thinking that his stick is bigger than the both of ours ;D

 

[ameyer]

Harlow can vouch for this one:

I am sure there might be video somewhere that does show his stick is bigger than ours


;D

 

[ratingsgeek]

shilton says "The market has gotten stagnant and it shows, For "B" and "G", we may be the last real piece of true competition going on in Centre County so if we can't play every once in a while by kicking a little sand around, what's the point?"

After 3 or 4 years of massive ownership changes, format changes & frequency changes, a few months of stability hardly equates to "stagnant."

And though "B" and "G" may have locked in the same format, #10 versus #11 draws more yawns than raves. It's not nearly as interesting as, say, Froggy versus Joe.

It may not be too much of a stretch to suggest that the stations at the top are the ones who are really competitive--they've figured out how to win.

But, no, there's probably no harm in having #10 & #11 kicking sand in each other's face, if that's what amuses you.

 

[shilton]

shilton says "The market has gotten stagnant and it shows, For "B" and "G", we may be the last real piece of true competition going on in Centre County so if we can't play every once in a while by kicking a little sand around, what's the point?"

After 3 or 4 years of massive ownership changes, format changes & frequency changes, a few months of stability hardly equates to "stagnant."

And though "B" and "G" may have locked in the same format, #10 versus #11 draws more yawns than raves. It's not nearly as interesting as, say, Froggy versus Joe.

It may not be too much of a stretch to suggest that the stations at the top are the ones who are really competitive--they've figured out how to win.

But, no, there's probably no harm in having #10 & #11 kicking sand in each other's face, if that's what amuses you.

I find it really ausing how everyone agrees that the ratings are flawed and don't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things until someone wants to say "oh...its #10 knocking up against #11 so who cares?" Either the ratings are meaningful to us or they aren't. May I point out that the largest radio chain in the area is dropping its affiliation with the Arbs so who knows if State College will even continue to be a ranked market in the future? Besides, being #10 and #11 now does not mean that you will always be #10 and #11. Could go up....could go down...could stay right at the same spot. All of us who have been in the business more than a day in this market knows that 1 or 2 diaries swung any which way can upset the whole applecart. Just look what Hot 107.9 did a few years back? Same story for Lite not so long ago.

When I speak of us "competing", I mean that we each have a common knowlege and understanding that the other exists and we are smart enough to realize that we are more or less vying for pretty much the same listeners and that can make for some fun radio. You best bet the folks at Joe and Froggy are feeling a bit the same way these days. Who wants to be #1 when you realize you only won cause there was no team playing against you on the field? Ask the professional athletes how they'd feel about winning through forfeit. Same concept as far as I am concerned.

 

[Becker]

Wow! I go away for a while on vacation and nothing changes. You two (shilton and ameyer) are still going at it and shilton still doesn't know how to sum it up in a few simple sentences.

Although the "boy wonder" shilton makes a good point and raises a good question.

If that large radio chain decides they are not going to be affiliated with Arbitron anymore, doesn't that mean they can create their own ratings system to bring to potential clients? Would it actually have more weight with the locals? It seems to me if that large radio chain already owns most of the market, they can also own the way it's surveyed.

 

[shilton]

Wow! I go away for a while on vacation and nothing changes. You two (shilton and ameyer) are still going at it and shilton still doesn't know how to sum it up in a few simple sentences.

Although the "boy wonder" shilton makes a good point and raises a good question.

If that large radio chain decides they are not going to be affiliated with Arbitron anymore, doesn't that mean they can create their own ratings system to bring to potential clients? Would it actually have more weight with the locals? It seems to me if that large radio chain already owns most of the market, they can also own the way it's surveyed.

Beck...I think you may wanna re-read. Nowhere in my recent postings have AJ and I been going at it. I merely brought up the idea of good spirited competition and someone wanted to bash the fact that #10 and #11 should not be worried about competing when the top dogs already have a stronghold on the #1 spot. But thanks for the "boy wonder" comment even thought it was tongue in cheek. Got to sit in the batmobile myself once and I go look at it in the window at quaker steak anytime I am there too LOL

But I would like to know, if State College gets delisted as an official Arbitron market, what happens to the small amount of national ad dollars that trickle into the marketplace? Seems to me that the national agencies can't buy in a market that doesn't exist.

 

[ameyer]

Ok I have to make a couple of comments here...Steve pointed out that the biggest chain in Happy Valley is pulling out of the Arbs...What does that mean for local radio? There are so many other informal surveys that go on around State College that could be used. Ever been at Wal-Mart and been stopped and asked what your favorite radio station is? (By the way anybody know who this group of people are?) I personally and strongly believe that any good sales person can sell around the Arbs...I mean some stations not just in the State College market have been doing it for years...The AMN owns a station in St. Mary's, not a rated market and they still get tons of agency (National) dollars. We have all said before that the ratings are flawed, so if we aren't rated and did an informal survey, we might actually see who people like more:

QWK or the Bus
G or the B
Joe or Froggy
Lite or 3wz...

Who would come out on top?

Just my thoughts

 

[Spackler1]

Arbitron already does an informal survey, don't they?


Ok, seriously, as flawed as the Arbitron methodology may be, as small as the sample sizes may be, as goofy as diary keeping may be compared to some kind of actual metering, Arbitron's survey is more statistically valid than an informal survey would ever be. This is why we don't like clients who say "I asked all my customers what they listen to and none of them said your station".

 

[Becker]

QWK or the Bus
G or the B
Joe or Froggy
Lite or 3wz...

Who would come out on top?

Just my thoughts

Who? The ones that are in your face all day and all night long. If you want people to listen to and recognize your station, you get in the faces of the listeners. You drive to your business lunches in the station vans and you never let them forget your name.