How Did Other LA Stations Fare in Income Last Year?

[Gregg]

We know the five top-earning LA stations from last year, according to BIA, as reported by Radio & Records...


1) KIIS....Los Angeles....Clear Channel....Top 40....$66.3 million

2) KROQ....Los Angeles....CBS....Alternative Rock....$56.1 million

3) KFI....Los Angeles....Clear Channel....Talk....$54.4 million

4) KPWR....Los Angeles....Emmis....Rhythmic....$46.3 million

5) KOST....Los Angeles....Clear Channel....Soft AC....$45.7 million



So how did the other stations do? It wasn't too long ago that KTWV would have been on this list, maybe ahead of KPWR and KOST. But I guess Smooth Jazz's aging demos have cost The Wave some revenue.

And if you go back a dozen years or more, KABC would have been on this list, often at the top.

Does anyone have the remaining list to share?



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[davideduardo]

So how did the other stations do?

The next 5 would be Jack, KSCA, K-Love, The Wave and K-Earth.

 

[Gregg]

Thanks for the info David.

Interesting list. Spanish-language stations are only represented at the 7th and 8th positions, even though about half the top 10 rated stations broadcast in Spanish.

Oldies KRTH is in 10th place... so much for the theory that the Oldies audience has so fallen out of the 25-54 demo that an Oldies station can't make money, even with decent ratings.

The Wave makes 9th place. So at least for now, a Smooth Jazz station is still quite profitable in LA, even though the format has virtually disappeared from the East Coast. Smooth Jazz was dropped in the last year by stations in NYC, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Miami and Baltimore, even though it's still doing well in Western markets.

NYC's two all-news stations are the second and third biggest money-makers in that market... while KNX and KFWB are not on LA's top 10 list of revenue-generators. And one-time leader KABC is also a no-show in the top 10. KFI is the only AM station generating big money in LA.

Makes me wonder. In a market like LA where nearly everyone commutes by car and traffic is a big problem, why don't the two all-news stations with their every-10-minute traffic reports do better, if not ratings than at least revenue?




Gregg
[email protected]

 

[davideduardo]

Interesting list. Spanish-language stations are only represented at the 7th and 8th positions, even though about half the top 10 rated stations broadcast in Spanish.

In the last book, only 2 Spanish language stations are in the top 10.

Oldies KRTH is in 10th place... so much for the theory that the Oldies audience has so fallen out of the 25-54 demo that an Oldies station can't make money, even with decent ratings.

Of course, the credit for this goes to Jhanni Kay of KRTH who has moved the ratings up and the demos younger by going into the 70s and becoming a classic hits station. It's working, as you note.

NYC's two all-news stations are the second and third biggest money-makers in that market... while KNX and KFWB are not on LA's top 10 list of revenue-generators. And one-time leader KABC is also a no-show in the top 10. KFI is the only AM station generating big money in LA.

LA is a TV news market, and not a sports market... some of this, of course, comes from the ethnic makekup of the metro, very different from NYC.

Makes me wonder. In a market like LA where nearly everyone commutes by car and traffic is a big problem, why don't the two all-news stations with their every-10-minute traffic reports do better, if not ratings than at least revenue?

Most people I have surveyed think KFI has the best news and traffic, and the FMs all have lots of traffic reports... the problem is that even the Caltrans data is often late, wrong or deceptive so most of us just stay on our regular routes. But, again, I think that the real issue is the ethnic characteristic of the market and the fact that rush hour runs for 12 hours of the day here.

 

[Zeb Norris]

One should never forget the skills and connections of a station's management and sales force.

Winning in programming requires a lot of elements to be strong AND work well together. Same thing in sales.

Just having numbers is no guarantee of good cash flow. Nothing can replace people who know where the money is and how to get it.

 

[davideduardo]

One should never forget the skills and connections of a station's management and sales force.

Winning in programming requires a lot of elements to be strong AND work well together. Same thing in sales.

Just having numbers is no guarantee of good cash flow. Nothing can replace people who know where the money is and how to get it.

Good point. In this market, if a station does not sell, it is probably because it is not salable.

 

[elchupacabras]

I'd be curious to see how The Sound does after a full year on the air, dollar-wise. I doubt that it will be a powerhouse money wise, due to the socio-ethno demographic complexities in the LA MSA, but if its sales force is worth its salt, they should be able to pull in some of the high money Anglo accounts (although rapidly aging and off the radar agency wise) out of Orange County with the "niche" format.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I'd be curious to see how The Sound does after a full year on the air, dollar-wise. I doubt that it will be a powerhouse money wise, due to the socio-ethno demographic complexities in the LA MSA, but if its sales force is worth its salt, they should be able to pull in some of the high money Anglo accounts (although rapidly aging and off the radar agency wise) out of Orange County with the "niche" format.

There nothing niche about what they play anymore unless you consider niche to be Heart (which they just played a little while ago), the Stones, The Who, Led Zep, Santana, Talking Heads, Police, The Cars, etc etc etc IOW another KLOS-Lite.

I bought some air time from them back in August, rates were higher then of course, but they were NOT competitive with other stations (format was NOT important to me) that had similar Arbitron ratings. Let me just say besides the rates the experience with them was wayyy less than satisfactory. (Just the sales end of it)

This past week Bonneville hooked up with TargetSpot for their St Louis and LA (The Sound) properties for spots on the Internet. I guess that means they are optomizing avail air time $$$. Full story at the link below.

http://textpattern.kurthanson.com/articles/657/rain-422-targetspot-widens-reach-with-ten-new-deals

 

[radioresearcher]

I'd like to see a list of how each Spanish station did to figure out their power ratio...

I think Exitos will have trouble making any kind of real money even if they get the 2.5-3.0 25-54 Movin' had

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

I'd be curious to see how The Sound does after a full year on the air, dollar-wise. I doubt that it will be a powerhouse money wise, due to the socio-ethno demographic complexities in the LA MSA, but if its sales force is worth its salt, they should be able to pull in some of the high money Anglo accounts (although rapidly aging and off the radar agency wise) out of Orange County with the "niche" format.

There nothing niche about what they play anymore unless you consider niche to be Heart (which they just played a little while ago), the Stones, The Who, Led Zep, Santana, Talking Heads, Police, The Cars, etc etc etc IOW another KLOS-Lite.

I bought some air time from them back in August, rates were higher then of course, but they were NOT competitive with other stations (format was NOT important to me) that had similar Arbitron ratings. Let me just say besides the rates the experience with them was wayyy less than satisfactory. (Just the sales end of it)

This past week Bonneville hooked up with TargetSpot for their St Louis and LA (The Sound) properties for spots on the Internet. I guess that means they are optomizing avail air time $$$. Full story at the link below.

http://textpattern.kurthanson.com/articles/657/rain-422-targetspot-widens-reach-with-ten-new-deals

For that entire ad campaign they did in Feb/March all they got was a .1+ 25-54 and still ranked #28 in that demo. They need to get a clue. It's a total failure and never will amount to anything.

I did see their digital billboards with song title back again today. I had not seen them for a few weeks. I also saw their remade digital billboard at the South Bay curve. The color doens't match the orange they use in their other advertising. It's like a burnt orange and it's quite different.

 

[socalguy]

The Sound continues to be a complete sales failure. Those who see market billing figures might be able to confirm what I'm hearing but let's put it this way...they'd love to have the level of sales achieved by Indie...and we know how that turned out.

I'd venture to say their monthly advertising/outdoor expenditures exceed their monthly revenue...and that's before they start making payroll. In short they are losing money hand over ther proverbial fist.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

The Sound continues to be a complete sales failure. Those who see market billing figures might be able to confirm what I'm hearing but let's put it this way...they'd love to have the level of sales achieved by Indie...and we know how that turned out.

I'd venture to say their monthly advertising/outdoor expenditures exceed their monthly revenue...and that's before they start making payroll. In short they are losing money hand over ther proverbial fist.

They can crow about one thing at The Sound. They beat KABC which landed in 34th place 25-54. Go Dodgers! That's about all that can help them.

 

[davideduardo]

I'd like to see a list of how each Spanish station did to figure out their power ratio...

In 2009, KSCA had the 10th highest ratio, KLVE 13th, 16th for KBUE, 22nd for KSSE and 25th for KLAX.

 

[radioresearcher]

I'd like to see a list of how each Spanish station did to figure out their power ratio...

In 2009, KSCA had the 10th highest ratio, KLVE 13th, 16th for KBUE, 22nd for KSSE and 25th for KLAX.

I'm guessing KSCA will probably take a hit now with PPM and the decrease in numbers.

I've heard from sources that the Univision FM's billed about $70 million last year. With about a 10 share or more of the marketplace - that's not very good considering KIIS billed $66 million on a 6 share.

I would think the great success of KRCD should generate $20-$25 mil/year - considering KRTH is right around $30 million.

My point is KMVN had a 2.8 this week 25-54. Exitos will need a 4.0-5.0 share 25-54 to bill the same. There aren't enough shares for that to happen.