Gainesville-Ocala Spring 2011 ratings

[amfmxm]

From a thread below, Jeff started the conversation yesterday...

"The 12+ Spring ratings for G-O were kind to MARC. Magic, 'KZY, and The Buzz were all up nicely from Winter.

But country…all four local country stations were down in the ratings???"

And ThatGuyOnTheRadio observed: "You can only slice the country pie so thin..."

Here's my take. Actually, Spring to Spring (the only legitimate way to compare), WOGK picked up a share (+1.2)... WTRS lost a share (-1.0)... and WDVH-AM/FM essentially stayed even (-0.2). So the established Country audience was steady. K-Country gained 1.2, the other two lost 1.2.

WRUF went from a 4.9 to a 3.0. But, Spring to Spring, that's the Rock 104 audience disappearing completely and 3 shares of Country materializing from nowhere. So the Country format actually gained 3 shares, overall.

Which is nice, I suppose, but still 'RUF drops from #4 to #9 (12+), Spring to Spring--a 40 percent drop. And with all due respect to Winter '11--which no one pays any attention to--this was really their first big test. Looks like they got their work cut out for them.

Where did the 4.9 shares of rock listening go? WNDD picked up 2.3 shares and shot from #5 to #2, and WHHZ picks up 1.9 shares and rockets from Taxi Calls to #10. That's 4.2 shares, right there. Although both TMG and KZY went up from last Spring, I tend to think it's a stretch to think that Rock 104 listeners suddenly converted from rock to pop radio...

 

[jmtillery]

That is an excellent overall synopsis. Dix owned WOGK is still market ranked number one with double digits, while sister station Wind-FM has picked up quite a few more ratings points, so I would say country and classic rock are doing quite well in the Ocala / Gainesville MSA and TSA.

As for where did the former Rock 104 listeners go, I surmise they have turned to a combination of other rock sources including ipods, ipads, mp3, internet, satellite and out of market terrestrial FM radio such as Rock 104.5 Jacksonville for the Gainesville listeners and WJRR Orlando and 98 Rock Tampa for the Ocala listeners in addition to turning to local Wind FM and WHHZ.

 

[Jeff2]

Fun with numbers…

14.7 Total for three local country stations SP10

17.7 Total for four local country stations SP11

3.0 Increase from SP10 to SP11 (Gator Country = 3.0 in SP11)

It makes you wonder where Gator Country's listeners came from?

 

[Jeff2]

Ooops! I just reread amfmxm's post and see he said exactly what I just did about the extra 3.0. Great minds...

 

[amfmxm]

It makes you wonder where Gator Country's listeners came from?

Well, Arbitron's formula for calculating Average Quarter Hour listening isn't a direct head-count, as it factors in both cume (the head-count) and Time Spent Listening (TSL) divided by the number of quarter hours in a given daypart. And then shares--the percentage of the total audience in a given daypart--always reflect a station's split of 100 percent, whether the total radio audience is larger or smaller than previous books.

So with no disrespect to Arbitron, it's Fuzzy Math.

Gator Country's 3 percent could reflect a poor performance by one, two, three, four or five other stations in other formats--maybe the barely-listenable signals from afar--leaving 3 percentage points in G-O unclaimed. Remember, the total market share always adds up to 100--so those shares have to land somewhere.

This is going to make things especially difficult on the WRUF sales staff. Aside from having little or nothing to crow about this deep into the new format, the sales crews from the other 5 outfits on the street in Gainesville are going to be pounding them. It doesn't take much. A roll of the eyes... a derisive laugh... or just having account execs from 5 other radio stations/clusters showing the local client the same information... evidence that Gator Country is DOA.

Hope those UF sellers have their charm turned up to High.

 

[vadar]

Doubt that Jacksonville's Rock 1045 got a lift from former Gainesville Rock 104 followers. Have you seen the dismal ratings of WFYV?

 

[amfmxm]

Doubt that Jacksonville's Rock 1045 got a lift from former Gainesville Rock 104 followers. Have you seen the dismal ratings of WFYV?

No, Rock 104.5 didn't show in G-O, and in fairness FYV is a rimshot in Gainesville and doesn't come anywhere close to Ocala. And, frankly, if you're in market #46 you really don't give a shit about market #82--so they couldn't care less about Gainesville-Ocala.

As to their Jax ratings, they're doing about as well as most rockers in most markets--still a player in M25-54/M35-64 but back in the pack, overall. It should be noted though that Cox ain't doing them any favors with both Eagle and X in the same damn cluster. As WFYV's audience continues to age--essentially handing-off the younger demos to clustermate X102.9--don't be shocked to see a format change, maybe to Sports...

 

[jmtillery]

Although Cox has no interest in targeting Gainesville, that doesn't stop anyone in Gainesville from listening to Rock 104.5, and I have witnessed a few occasions where listeners in Gainesville are listening to WFYV while in Gainesville although I'm sure the listening is on a limited basis. Some former Gainesville Rock 104 listeners may have also migrated to WXXJ. The point is the former Rock 104 listeners had to go somewhere and Rock 104.5 is an option although WFYV is classic rock as opposed to WRUF-FM’s former active rock. Using myself as an example, I happen to enjoy most rock genres including classic rock, alternative and active rock.

Regarding a WFYV format change, I will not rule that out. In fact it is highly plausible. And although sports on FM will fill an existing Jacksonville format void, I believe we will see sports emerging on another Jacksonville FM frequency with something else surfacing on 104.5 in the not so distant future.