Houston-Galveston Radio Ratings: January 2015

[pjc1961]

The January 2015 survey period covers Thu. 1/1/15 - Wed. 1/28/15 -
publicly released data for subscribing stations age 6+ overall:

Houston-Galveston: http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb033

Next report will be for the February 2015 survey period covering Thu. 1/29/15 - Wed. 2/25/15.
The data release date will be Mon. 3/16/2015.

 

[93QClassic.com]

I don't recall what News 92's ratings were, but it doesn't look like the Classic Hip Hop format is doing very well...

 

[b-turner]

I noticed the substantial drop of Boom as well. If I recall, a 2 is still double what the station had with an All News Format, not to mention the monthly operating cost of the news format. I wonder about the breakdown and how they are doing in the target demographics. It will be interesting to see how all the other stations around the country that jumped on the format are doing!

 

[93QClassic.com]

Game, set, match.

Winner, schmave!

The general concensus seemingly is that this won't last, but I'll play the devil's advocate here. Boom! will likely bury what momentum 93-7 had built, and inside of 12 months we'll be talking about the imminent flip of that station again.

Purple, based on these ratings, I don't think it will be 93.7 that flips.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't recall what News 92's ratings were, but it doesn't look like the Classic Hip Hop format is doing very well...

It's getting about 5 times the 25-54 ratings that the news format got.

 

[b-turner]

That's good to know. I wish them success and I suspect the format is doing well elsewhere.

 

[purpledevil]

Purple, based on these ratings, I don't think it will be 93.7 that flips.

I wouldn't throw the towel in on KROI just yet. It's down, but certainly not out. Still a huge improvement over News 92 money wise. I mean, at least it's not hemorrhaging money like it was, and what else do you do with 92-1 that would be more successful than it's current incarnation as a flanker to Majic and The Box? 93-7 isn't blazing any trails either. If David will confirm, I'd imagine 97-9 still beats (pun unintended) 93-7 in every daypart and likely age group.

Regardless, Boom isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Look how long RO stuck it out with La Mera on 92-1, and that format never made much more than a blip on the radar. What Boom needs, and likely won't get, is a translator. Until it can cover the north side on par with KQBT and KBXX, it will never be able to compete on a level playing field. However, and I think we can all agree on this, nothing else has even come close to the success of Boom on the 92-1 signal so far, and if changed likely wouldn't match what Boom has already accomplished in its short time on the air.

 

[radiodj22]

I wouldn't throw the towel in on KROI just yet. It's down, but certainly not out. Still a huge improvement over News 92 money wise. I mean, at least it's not hemorrhaging money like it was, and what else do you do with 92-1 that would be more successful than it's current incarnation as a flanker to Majic and The Box? 93-7 isn't blazing any trails either. If David will confirm, I'd imagine 97-9 still beats (pun unintended) 93-7 in every daypart and likely age group.

Regardless, Boom isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Look how long RO stuck it out with La Mera on 92-1, and that format never made much more than a blip on the radar. What Boom needs, and likely won't get, is a translator. Until it can cover the north side on par with KQBT and KBXX, it will never be able to compete on a level playing field. However, and I think we can all agree on this, nothing else has even come close to the success of Boom on the 92-1 signal so far, and if changed likely wouldn't match what Boom has already accomplished in its short time on the air.

Not True, in terms of nothing else coming close. The gospel format on 92.1 did quite well in the ratings pulling in at 3.4 in it's last book before the format flip to news. It just wasn't billing well due to no creative sales tactics and programming. It was stale and old, if they had added a little CCM and updated the songs to more appealing contemporary urban gospel music they would have billed a lot better. But even with stale programming, ratings wise, they did well.

Unfortnately, Boom is suffering from the same unimaginative programming. It is to repetitive and doesn't focus nearly enough on the golden age of Hip Hop (from 1985-1994). That era is going to have the most univeral appealing music for all demos, races and genders. They are focusing too much on the mid 90's when gangster rap took over and that music still is heard on current radio stations such as the box. So it doesn't feel special or classic. It's the same songs they have heard over and over.

That is why, when the format first debuted, it took off! They were playing a lot of 80's and early 90's with the Beastie Boys, Run-Dmc and the like!. Songs the supposed target demo of Gen-Xer's had not heard since High School. Then the "Research" took over and they started focusing on the Mid 90's and Early 2000's to go after the Millennials and they started loosing the Gen-X audience quickly.... Gen-xer's get over looked and shafted yet again! The Millennials don't listen to traditional radio as much, they are smartphone listeners for the most part. But anyway that is my two cents as a new poster to the board!

 

[mr.ric]

Last I checked, last month KBXX and KQBT were #1 & #3 in 18-34 respectively. Better than lets say, Hot and KRBE. Id doubt The Beat is going anywhere anytime soon, otherwise KODA wouldn't be #1 overall in the market and KBXX wouldn't be that deep in the 4's for the first time in YEARS! They are doing something for iheart...

 

[radiodj22]

Last I checked, last month KBXX and KQBT were #1 & #3 in 18-34 respectively. Better than lets say, Hot and KRBE. Id doubt The Beat is going anywhere anytime soon, otherwise KODA wouldn't be #1 overall in the market and KBXX wouldn't be that deep in the 4's for the first time in YEARS! They are doing something for iheart...

I agree totally!

 

[pjc1961]

It's getting about 5 times the 25-54 ratings that the news format got.

AllAccess.com January 2015 PPM Analysis by Research Director Inc. includes
demo breakouts for the top 5 overall, top 5 in 25-54, top 5 in 18-34 and top 5 in 18-49
(Houston-Galveston is discussed first):

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...rch-director-inc-presents-exclusive-january-p

 

[Mediafrog+]

The dips in the numbers for KBXX, KQBT and KROI might also mean that Univision holds off on any (of the rumored) plans to launch Yo! on KAMA. In fact KAMA's numbers were up a bit.

Don't think the Classic Hip-Hop on 92.1 is in any danger unless the audience completely evaporates. They'll tweak the playlist and presentation before that happens. And it is cheaper than the 47 employees the previous format was paying.

 

[purpledevil]

Not True, in terms of nothing else coming close. The gospel format on 92.1 did quite well in the ratings pulling in at 3.4 in it's last book before the format flip to news. It just wasn't billing well due to no creative sales tactics and programming. It was stale and old, if they had added a little CCM and updated the songs to more appealing contemporary urban gospel music they would have billed a lot better. But even with stale programming, ratings wise, they did well.

Unfortnately, Boom is suffering from the same unimaginative programming. It is to repetitive and doesn't focus nearly enough on the golden age of Hip Hop (from 1985-1994). That era is going to have the most univeral appealing music for all demos, races and genders. They are focusing too much on the mid 90's when gangster rap took over and that music still is heard on current radio stations such as the box. So it doesn't feel special or classic. It's the same songs they have heard over and over.

That is why, when the format first debuted, it took off! They were playing a lot of 80's and early 90's with the Beastie Boys, Run-Dmc and the like!. Songs the supposed target demo of Gen-Xer's had not heard since High School. Then the "Research" took over and they started focusing on the Mid 90's and Early 2000's to go after the Millennials and they started loosing the Gen-X audience quickly.... Gen-xer's get over looked and shafted yet again! The Millennials don't listen to traditional radio as much, they are smartphone listeners for the most part. But anyway that is my two cents as a new poster to the board!

Gospel 92-1 was so successful (how successful was it?), that its frequency was flipped to all news, and the format relegated to the HD 2 of Majic. That's a success?

Other than that, you've hit the nail on the head. Started out alright playing the original Rap hits from the 80s and 90s, and already it has apparently given up on that to focus on late 90s and 21st century "joints".

Shame, really. They actually had the beginnings of something special in Houston and are apparently giving up on what they launched with already. Eh, whatever. Let it fail so the Villarreals can pick it up for a song and add 92-1 to the ever growing arsenal originating from Pasadena Boulevard.

 

[davideduardo]

Not True, in terms of nothing else coming close. The gospel format on 92.1 did quite well in the ratings pulling in at 3.4 in it's last book before the format flip to news. It just wasn't billing well due to no creative sales tactics and programming. !

The real issue is that much of the audience was 50+. For both Hispanic and African American buys, 18-49 tends to be more significant than 25-54 because the average age of those communities is lower. KORO averaged about a 1.7 for the pre-all-news books of 2011. Given that gospel was not a format many buyers were comfortable with, I rather suspect that some of the issue was "let's use age as an excuse" for not buying when it was really a lack of understanding of the format.

Let me clarify that this is not a race issue. It's just not knowing how to deal with a less common format. Even with the big numbers stations like KLTY in Dallas started getting back in the 90's, those stations had trouble getting agency buyers in New York or Chicago or San Francisco to "buy into" a faith-based format.

Houston is a market where you gotta' get the agency buys if you want to make money. And where many of the local direct buyers are sophisticated and sales do not go down based on pure relationships any more. So a format that was unfamiliar to many buyers, and which leaned old was a challenge. No amount of "creative sales tactics" can sell an out of demo station or one that can't meet the buy's CPP goals.

 

[radiodj22]

The real issue is that much of the audience was 50+. For both Hispanic and African American buys, 18-49 tends to be more significant than 25-54 because the average age of those communities is lower. KORO averaged about a 1.7 for the pre-all-news books of 2011. Given that gospel was not a format many buyers were comfortable with, I rather suspect that some of the issue was "let's use age as an excuse" for not buying when it was really a lack of understanding of the format.

Let me clarify that this is not a race issue. It's just not knowing how to deal with a less common format. Even with the big numbers stations like KLTY in Dallas started getting back in the 90's, those stations had trouble getting agency buyers in New York or Chicago or San Francisco to "buy into" a faith-based format.

Houston is a market where you gotta' get the agency buys if you want to make money. And where many of the local direct buyers are sophisticated and sales do not go down based on pure relationships any more. So a format that was unfamiliar to many buyers, and which leaned old was a challenge. No amount of "creative sales tactics" can sell an out of demo station or one that can't meet the buy's CPP goals.

I agree with much of what you have to say here, with one exception. The gospel format has a perception problem, it is "perceived" to be only a 50+ audience when if fact if you attend any "mega" church or any gospel music concert today you will find the average age to be in the 18-49 demo, this goes for African-American churches as well as mainstream churches alike.

If you take a successful TV show, for instance, on BET called "Sunday's Best" which is like "American Idol" for gospel singers, it is highly successful and is in it's 7th season. So if they had somehow marketed the station to show those trends and became more imaginative in the music programming, it would have erased the "old" perception and would have billed better. Most 50+ listeners think today's gospel music is too watered down, so if you were to do a poll at these mega churches you will find the gospel music listener of today to be much younger than what is commonly thought. That is why, in the previous post, I stated that if the music had been tweaked to reflect more on the younger audience, the format could have done a lot better.

If you take The Yolanda Adams Syndicated show (which is still running), for example, it has numerous national ad buys from Walmart, JC Penny's, Lowes, Mcdonalds and others. So, it can be sold on a local level with agency buys as well, if the sales team knew how to package it. They could have leveraged the national buys on the morning show and parlayed that to the rest of the daypart. Go figure....?

That is what I meant by "non-creative" sales tactics.. By the way, the gospel format pre-news averaged a 2.7 in it's life span from (2007-2011) if you go back and check the numbers.

 

[davideduardo]

That is what I mean by "non-creative" sales team.. By the way, the gospel format pre-news averaged at 2.7 not 1.7 if you go back and check the numbers.

The 1.7 average I gave was for 18-49, which as I said in the post is the broad demo for almost all African American and Hispanic buys.

I ran the PPM data up to the October format flip, and, while the last couple of months were a bit above average, that could have been due to a single household. That would be something the folks at Radio One would have seen and discounted.

In general, from April to September of 2011 the audience was 65% over 45 and about half over 55.

The fact that 45% of the listening was non-Hispanic white made the station a rather hard sales proposition as it did not rank well against African Americans and it also did not rank particularly well in the general market.

 

[radiodj22]

In general, from April to September of 2011 the audience was 65% over 45 and about half over 55.

The fact that 45% of the listening was non-Hispanic white made the station a rather hard sales proposition as it did not rank well against African Americans and it also did not rank particularly well in the general market.

I see your position from a hard numbers standpoint, which is what advertisers use to determine a buy. But, in my opinion, (even though this is mute since the format is now gone from the market) for the sake of discussion, I still believe the audience for contemporary gospel is younger than what is commonly thought. If you go to the churches and concerts, and i have attended various around the city both of mixed ethnicity and predominately african-american, you don't see 50+ seniors. When praise had concert events, it was the younger demo that showed up.

I think the format could have and still can work if the programming was updated and blended with a little crossover CCM. Maybe that is my wishful thinking but, I believe it is another viable format, that is not programmed correctly, thus left to die in the landfill of dead formats. But, I appreciate your insight.

 

[johndavis]

I still believe the audience for contemporary gospel is younger than what is commonly thought. If you go to the churches and concerts, and i have attended various around the city both of mixed ethnicity and predominately african-american, you don't see 50+ seniors. When praise had concert events, it was the younger demo that showed up.

So at an event that attracts the most passionate of listeners, you draw maybe 500-700 people under 50. Sounds like a 1.7 to me.

I think the format could have and still can work if the programming was updated and blended with a little crossover CCM. Maybe that is my wishful thinking but, I believe it is another viable format, that is not programmed correctly, thus left to die in the landfill of dead formats. But, I appreciate your insight.

Define what flavor of CCM you'd want to cross over. Now ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it texturally compatible? In other words, could you segue from one genre to another without a train wreck?
2. Would Gospel partisans be offended by CCM on their radio station because they think it's too secular?
3. Would CCM partisans be offended by Gospel on their radio station because they think it's too traditional?

I'm not sure I'd bet on that format with real money, but you could launch it online on the cheap and see if it gets an audience.