Galaxy M.I.A.

[hmmm]

If you go to the Radio and Records site and pull up the ratings for Syracuse you'll notice something very interesting, no Galaxy! Oops!

 

[Jaques Cousteau]

ARB Humor

What is worse than getting a 0 12+?

.....not being mentioned AT ALL!!!!!!!!!

Get it? Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

 

[SirRoxalot]

With a Song In His Heart

THAT should help business. How long will it take to lose the $250K that Ed was paying Arbitron? Assuming, of course, is that Eastlan is free.

Sung to the tune of "American Pie":

"Bye, Bye to my National Buys..."

 

[syrlist]

OK, I am not an insider, just someone interested in local radio. So let me ask, how can Arbitron do this? Do you really want a rating service that refuses to report the results of a company that refuses to pay its fees? Has Arbitron always refused to list stations that don't pay up? Doesn't this make a mockery of the ratings book? How can anyone see it as a valid measurement of local radio if several of the major stations are ignored?

I realize many of you don't like Galaxy and Ed, but it seems to me there is a much bigger issue here.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Pay for Play

Arbitron is a private company. It provides ratings services for subscribers. It can do pretty much anything it wants as long as it outlines those practices in its "terms of service", and doesn't break any other laws.

If you don't pay Arbitron, they don't report your results. It's that simple.

Arbitron does have a stranglehold on the radio ratings game at the moment. Until enough stations in a market, or enough stations overall, stop paying Arbitron and start paying another service, they're in the driver's seat.

The only way that I can see to challenge this would be for the majority of stations and agencies in a market to dump Arbitron and sign up with an alternate ratings service. Either that, or several of the major owners - CC, Entercom, Cox, CBS, Citadel - to dump Arbitron simultaneously in favor of a different ratings provider.

In either scenario, I'm sure that Arbitron would sue for "collusion" and "restraint of trade".

 

[RADIOJAM]

Arbitron is still rating non subscribers. And Non-subscribers are still showing up in the book. But the ratings given to all forms of media (Print, Web, TV and etc) DO NOT list Non-Subscribers. My understanding is that Media Buyers (who pay for the Arbitron service) will still see the Numbers of all stations. ANd that is what really matters.
Note: The New company Eastlin will list all stations.

 

[BobRoss]

Arbitron is still rating non subscribers. And Non-subscribers are still showing up in the book. But the ratings given to all forms of media (Print, Web, TV and etc) DO NOT list Non-Subscribers.

This sounds correct. After all, if Galaxy isn't paying Arbitron, then this move prevents Galaxy from using even the "free" 12+ numbers. Even though Galaxy's reps would probably rely more on male demos than P12+, they'd still find some way to use P12+, if they had access to them. The ratings numbers aren't public information... Arbitron can pick and choose which numbers it releases for "free," however it wants to.

 

[HomestarRunner]

I wonder, in retrospect, if part of the withdrawl from Arbitron at that point in time was to hide the abysmal showing in the ratings of the Albany properties in the next report and towards the future.

I don't know that, if when you withdraw from Arbitron service, your "footprint" or history for the last four surveys is taken out of the next ratings publication... Curious indeed.

I'm probably giving the HJIC too much credit here in even mentioning this, but I believe "The Snake" to be quite intelligent in his dealings. Just look at all the hubbub recently with the Million Dollar DJ's, J.R. Gach and Shawn "Pi" Bolts. Levine definately knows what's up...

 

[BobRoss]

Note: The New company Eastlan will list all stations.

Of course they'll list everyone... they're playing second-fiddle to the Arbs. They've got everything to gain as they attempt to sign up even more stations. But nearly everything else in the market is owned by the big-time corporations. You'll never see Citadel, CC or Buckley leave Arbitron as long as the national agencies still use the Arbs to place their buys.

As RADIOJAM mentioned, Galaxy's stations will still appear in the Arbs. Even though Ed can't see that data, and neither will the general public... the other stations in town can see it, and the national buyers can still see it. So, in a sense, leaving Arbitron doesn't really hurt Ed's chances of getting national buys. If he still ranks high enough in the right demos, the agencies will still come. Now, there's a chance those agencies could lowball Galaxy, by offering rates below what they "should" be getting -- since Galaxy can't see their own Arb ratings. But even if they did, most stations will not turn down national sales, considering the spot-rate is usually still higher than they'd get for the same number of local spots.

The only thing Eastlan is needed for, in this case, is for the local reps selling to local clients. And how many clients really "know" the difference between Arbitron and Eastlan? They'll still be presented with ratings and shares for various demos. Except for major clients like car dealers, I doubt many would question Eastlan's numbers or ask for a comparison with Arbitron.

Still, I've yet to see Eastlan numbers anywhere. Haven't they been in use for awhile now? Anyone know where these public numbers are posted? I've been interested in seeing if the rankings come out to be the same as the Arbs, or if Eastlan's methodology comes out with some big discrepancies.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Number Please

I've checked out the Eastlan site, and I can't find anyplace that they post any public ratings. It looks like you have to subscribe to get even the 12+ numbers.

Numbers were posted on this board after the first Eastlan book, but there haven't been any since. Since that first book was quite favorable for Galaxy properties (what a surprise), and there haven't been any numbers posted since then, one must wonder if even the Eastlan numbers are less favorable than Ed would like.

I'm sure that any client Ed approaches with Eastlan ratings will be "informed" of their value by the other radio groups in town. I'm sure that anybody who airs on one station in Syracuse is approached by all the other stations in short order. It's not like there's an overabundance of clients out there.

 

[ThePickleReport]

Re: Number Please

Numbers were posted on this board after the first Eastlan book, but there haven't been any since. Since that first book was quite favorable for Galaxy properties (what a surprise), and there haven't been any numbers posted since then, one must wonder if even the Eastlan numbers are less favorable than Ed would like.

There's an infomercial on the Eastlan site where Ed quotes some numbers. I don't know when this was filmed. Click the picture on the right:

http://www.eastlanratings.com/

 

[SirRoxalot]

Info?-mercial

Gee, what are the odds that national buyers are using the Eastlan numbers to determine their buys? Since they have access to Arbitron, the Eastlan numbers mean nothing. Nice try, Ed.

The other guy, from Horizon Broadcasting Group, has five stations around Bend, OR - market #217. His stations show up on R&R's ratings as of Spring '07.

 

[BobRoss]

If you go to the Radio and Records site and pull up the ratings for Syracuse you'll notice something very interesting, no Galaxy! Oops!

I just went to R&R's website... in addition to no Galaxy stations, there hasn't been an update since Fall '06! I guess it's partly my fault for assuming this sudden interested in numbers meant they had finally released new P12+ numbers (just minus Galaxy). Either way, it's still a shame that Arbitron won't provide that. There are still many people who'd be interested in seeing the P12+'s even if they excluded Galaxy. Grrrr. We hate you, Ed.

 

[slickkicker]

Ed looks pretty slick as usual. And he's quoted on the video as being a job saver when we all know that he's a pretty cheap guy who can wield the axe in a heartbeat.

I found it pretty interesting that the guy asking the questions is none other then Kent Phillips, who's the longtime morning guy at KPLZ/FM Seattle and does a TV gig at KOMO in Seattle. These stations, among others, are part of the Fisher group and, like Galaxy, are a smaller, more regional type of broadcaster. The Fisher stations, as far as I can tell, subscribe to Arbitron and yet Phillips, and by extension his employer, are brandishing the finger.

My guess is that Fisher in Seattle is a major backer of Eastlan and having Ed Levine on board, a former ARB board member, is a coup. It all sounds like an Ed-thing to me.

 

[SirRoxalot]

His Lips Are Moving

Watch the video, listen to Ed talk, and tell me that you'd trust him. I dare you.

 

[slickkicker]

Levine has had his ups and downs, with Albany, Mason and J.R being a major downer. Working with Eastlan and Fisher is somewhat logical for him. For example Seattle is a market that Clear Channel, and others, havn't cornered. And there's local broadcasters in that market that not only thrive against the big boys but kick ass. Ed loves that. There's also 200,000 millionaire households in Sea-Tac. Tempting.

Walton is nice but Fisher Plaza in Seattle had to make an impression on Levine. Who knows maybe Ed will sell it all and try to compete or invest.

 

[WaldoWarren]

I think that Arbitron and the others are really screwing things up for you guys, actually. Its my opinion and thats all, but Give me a good DJ or PM with some sorta "sense" over that Arb dictated crap.

And that old adage about sticking to familiarity is keeping things stale. If Rock 107 played AC~DC... 90% of the time it was Highway to hell. This went on for YEARS. Do you have any idea how repeticious that is to begin with let alone making it just about the only AC~DC tune you play? Some holds true for many of the bands the Arbitron beholden play. I can think of DOZENS of great classic rock songs I never EVER heard on WRCK or WOUR and its not an attack its just true. I can also tell you about quite a few songs that those two shows beat me with so bad I refuse to sit thru them anymore. No joke.

Fine do the Arb dance but when you get that stale where you're essentially pushing soft fishfood like "In your eyes" peter Gabriel as progressive or classic rock you're going to start losing people.

I can't tell you how many times I have literally stopped working on "whatever" to walk over and just shut the radio off when they start in with the one most repeticious Styx song ever like 2x a day! Over time I began to sense and resent that it seemed the PM had "favorites" from these good bands but just keep beating the same one or two tracks like a dead really REALLY dead horse.

Classic Rock format isn't getting any fresher gang, its much better mixed up. I know "conventional wisdom" says people will tune from an "unfamiliar" mix, fine, but I'll tune off a stale one long before I get tired of groovin' a little change.

 

[slickkicker]

They know Classic Rock at Galaxy. It almost worked in Albany!

Ed has to get back to the basics. 95-X and K-ROCK were Ed-creations and he has a record of milking passion, starving talent, squeezing vendors and creating hunger. These days, meanwhile, it's defeat at Walton. Levine couldn't figure out a game plan for a monster signal at 107.1, which has been bought by Jesus and won't compete with WOUR. And yet his company started years ago by putting WKLL on as the last Class B outlet in New York.

So what's up with WOUR anyway! Frankly I'm not sure I'd like to know...