If Gainesville were it's own market again...

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

Assuming the market consisted of Alachua, Dixie, Gilchrist and Levy counties the market rank would sit around 155 or so...

Any chance we will see a separation again?

Also, I'm curious to know how many NATIONAL buys have come in to the market since the merger (now sitting as Market 81)

Thoughts?

Predictions on how large the current GVille/Ocala market will be in 5 years?

Love to hear it!!! Let the input begin!

 

[jmtillery]

I doubt we will see a seperation as this would create a smaller market for Arbitron ranking purposes. This would also create a situation where the bigger stations such as WKTK, WSKY, WOGK, WIND-FM, and the Asterisk group, would garner smalller agency buys considering now these stations can charge higher rates and get more national business as a top 100 market then it will ever get as a 155th ranked market. The smaller stations are not benefiting from the combined Ocala/Gainesville market. However, if Gainesville were to once again become independent, the smaller Gainesville stations would most likely benefit because the smaller stations numbers would be much higher becuase the Ocala stations would no longer be measured in the TSA; Hence the additional county-by-county TSA would no longer delute the numbers while at the same time the larger stations would see a reduction in agency buys due to the smaller numbers as a result of fewer counties in the ranking...

Mark Tillery
General Manager
WELE-AM 1380
Daytona Beach, Florida
[email protected]

 

[Kmagrill]

It requires unanimous consent of all Arbitron subscribers in a market to make such a change. I've been in two markets that had that type of change made. In the case of Gainesville/Ocala, WKTK was the only Arbitron subscriber at the time and so Gary Grainger, alone, made the decision. I'm certain that people like Doug Gillen at WYKS probably wish that they could undo that decision. I haven't asked him about that, but I think I'd rather have an 7 share in smaller market than to have a 3 share in a slightly bigger one.

Since Marion county is now more populated than Alachua county and growing much faster, splitting the two markets would result in the Ocala market being added at a higher rank than Gainesville. Obviously, this would not be much of a benefit to Alachua county broadcasters either. Anyway, it's never going to happen. Despite the major dissimilarity between Gainesville and Ocala as cities, it has been shown that covering both can result in significant ratings and revenues. Thus, the stations that have invested in covering both communities are never going to let the market split.

 

[MN Maniac]

I was working in Ocala radio back in 1992 when the markets were combined. Gary Granger at WKTK started the ball rolling by petitioning Arbitron to combine the markets. He was joined by Reynold Hawk (GM of WMMZ-93.7) and whomever was calling the shots at WRUF-FM 103.7 at that time.

Basically, the 100kW FM sticks scored a huge win, the 3-6kW sticks suffered a huge defeat, and the 50kW sticks broke even. The AMs also lost ground because none of them cover the other half of the market effectively.

A textbook example of the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. Geographically, politically, and especially demographically, Gainesville and Ocala have very little in common.

 

[Kmagrill]

It's all true that the big stations won out and that there are major dissimilarities between Ocala and Gainesville. Still, if even one of the smaller stations in Ocala or Gainesville had been an ARB subscriber, the merger could not have happened. Mergers have to be unanimous among current subscribers.

So, there was a power vaccuum and someone filled it. Those that didn't participate can only blame themselves.

 

[MN Maniac]

Wasn't WYKS a subscriber? KISS 105 was arguably the biggest casualty of the merket merger. When Gainesville was a separate market, they always ranked at or near the top of the pile. Z-93 was never even close in Gainesville. When the market combined, they dropped out of the Top 5 since their 3kW on 105.5 did not cover Marion Co. adequately. The "upgrade" to 6kW on 105.3 actually made reception worse in much of Ocala, due to first-adjacent interference from WOMX-105.1-Orlando.

The other big loser was WYGC-100.9. This station was a class act under Nancy Keeney and her crew. A much better-sounding radio station than WTRS in those days. Which is a hell of a complement since I *worked* at WTRS during 1991. But again, the market merger dropped GC-101 into the 3-share range since they could not cover the Ocala half of the market.

When the change happened, I was with WOCA/WMFQ. We considered it a wash for us. Remember, the Gainesville stations had more to lose because Gainesville was dropping it's status as an exclusive market. Ocala never was an exclusive market. Prior to the merger, Arbitron listed it as a "supplemental market" to Orlando. Which meant all the Orlando Class C FMs competed in Ocala.

It's all true that the big stations won out and that there are major dissimilarities between Ocala and Gainesville. Still, if even one of the smaller stations in Ocala or Gainesville had been an ARB subscriber, the merger could not have happened. Mergers have to be unanimous among current subscribers.

So, there was a power vaccuum and someone filled it. Those that didn't participate can only blame themselves.

 

[Kmagrill]

WYKS was not an ARB subscriber. I was assisting with some contract engineering at WYKS when the realization of what had happened came to them. One reason that I know what happened is because I heard it first hand while working at WYKS. As it turned out, my roommate at the time, happened to be the CE for WKTK, so I heard the story from two angles. WYKS was not especially happy about it, but, to quote Mark Twain, "the deed was done!" There was nothing that they could do about it.

The change in frequencies and subsequent "upgrade" to 6kW was the result of WSOS in St. Augustine wanting to upgrade, not some plan to gain coverage by WYKS. WYKS blocked the WSOS upgrade by being on the same channel (105.5) which created a short-spacing for the upgrade. So, WSOS forced (yes, you can really do that) WYKS to change frequencies, thus clearing the way for them to upgrade to a C2. Eventually, WYKS spent a fortune on a new tower and specialized antenna system to try to project as much RF into Marion county as they legally could. It helped, but is still not really a major competitor there.