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Jackson will soon be an Arbitron Top 100 market

C

Casual_Observer

Hey all -

A man from Arbitron called our station today and said that they are about to redefine the Jackson metro area and that it will have major implications vis-a-vis our standing compared to the rest of the country.

Presently, the 12+ population (400,400 persons) of the Jackson market is defined solely by Hinds, Madison, and Rankin counties. Arbitron is considering adding Warren, Yazoo, Copiah, and a few others to expand the market to more closely match the Jackson TV market definition. He said that Jackson's 12+ pop count would then go up to 577,000, placing the metro at #78, much better than the current position of #122. A total of 12 markets are subject to redefinition, so a few others could sneak in ahead of Jackson, but it will still place the metro inside the top 90.

This should all begin with the Fall 2011 survey, so long as all of the Arbitron subscribers in the market agree.

--- Casual Observer
 
Wow! What will be the most interesting is how this would affect stations in the ratings. For instance, the three new counties mentioned by name all have very significant black populations (above 50% in Copiah and Yazoo). Will WJMI, WKXI and WHLH do even better? Also, it will be quite interesting to see if Vicksburg stations like Smooth 100.5 and River 101 show up, though none of the stations have a strong signal over the immediate Jackson area.
 
Zach said:
Interesting. I know some of the Jackson stations serve that area and points beyond, but won't an expanded area affect the smaller stations adversely?
Click to expand...

Good question. Stations like Rock 93.9 and 97.7 WRBJ don't get as far out like Jack, Miss 103 or even Y101 (which is 50K watts). But even then, those stations' priority will be the tri-county area.

Another question: could the Vicksburg stations charge higher ad prices for being part of a larger radio market?
 
Another question: could the Vicksburg stations charge higher ad prices for being part of a larger radio market?
[/quote]
Here's how it works,G.B. Stations charge what the market allows,based on demand on inventory,usually. Just because a station is in a particular market doesn't mean anything if they don't have enough listeners to drive customers to the product. It would be great if buyers just paid what you asked,but that's not how the business goes. It would be wonderful if all stations held high rates. Advertising on radio is an exceptionally proven way to insure the success of a business, but doesn't get the share it deserves of the ad pie. There's a reason one station in the market has a $75 rate and another has $10. Demand. You generally get what you pay for. Putting Jackson in the top 100 should lead to more national dollars in the market,however,which only helps the market as a whole. In other words,Vicksburg or Pearl or Flora can always charge more,if they deliver,regardless of market size.
 
Hey all -

I would agree with the above post about it being a good thing for the market as a whole. I came from Atlanta, and it was a big deal when the market entered the top 10 - national agencies that just bought the top 10 markets would sometimes leave Atlanta out until somewhat recently. I believe that a similar phenomenon is happening here - it's better to be a top 100 market than not.

Tim has more experience than I, but I would tend to think that rates will continue to be most affected by local forces, and only slightly with a few new/extra national accounts coming to Jackson.

I would also imagine that mid-sized companies under the current FCC ownership cap in Jackson may also try to max out their "Jackson is now a Top 100 Market" clusters (not selling here). I'm not running Backyard, ICBC, or the Radio People, of course, but there may be enough new business to justify adding a signal in the more prominent Top 100 market.

--- Casual Observer
 
It's an understatement to say that "things have changed" when the statement comes from someone (me) who has been out of radio for 19 years, and was last in Jackson radio in 1978. Allow an old geezer to ramble on about how it was back in the 1970s decade...

Back then, Arbitron did not define its metro area: that was set by the US government census bureau. The feds defined a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) and that coincided with Arbitron's Metro Survey Area (MSA). The Total Survey Area (TSA) included those outlying counties where stations that were home to the MSA enjoyed a certain level of audience. Arbitron defined (by inclusion or exclusion) the TSA counties according to diary returns (it changed by a county or two from year to year), but followed the government definition of SMSA.

Jackson's SMSA, incredibly, was HINDS & RANKIN. Madison was not part of the Jackson Metro! Rankin was a heavily white county; back then, Madison was well over 50% black. Conventional wisdom was that the Powers That Be wanted the SMSA definition to remain that way, because inclusion of Madison would adversely affect such statistics as Per Capita Income. Inclusion of Madison would have raised Jackson's ranking in terms of total population, but I didn't hear the Chamber of Commerce campaigning for Madison's inclusion.

As operator of a black station (WKXI FM 94.7), we would have had better MSA numbers in comparison to the general market stations, if our Madison County audience were factored in. I wrote several letters to Arbitron. Their reply, essentially, was that I had to take it up with the US Government (lotsa luck!) and have THEM change their definition of the SMSA. Many ad agencies would look at the TSA ratings, but made the final buying decision based on the Metro ratings. Those numbers, incredibly, included Pearl, Brandon, and Clinton - but NOT MADISON, RIDGELAND, or GLUCKSTADT!

Never mind that the Jackson city limits went all the way to the Madison County line (County Line Road): Madison County was not then part of the Jackson Metro. I don't know at what point the Census Bureau finally included Madison in the metro, but the growth of the Madison/Ridgeland area couldn't be overlooked forever.

Wikipedia says Madison County is now 60% white, and its 95,000 population is more than 3 times the 1970 population of 29,000. Moreover, it sez this county has the highest per capita income in the state.

Yep, we've come a long way.
 
Re: WRTM. I can't speak for Carl exactly, but I do know that he was trying to build an alternate tower site (different than the tower specified in the application) just south of Gluckstadt along Highway 51. The proposal was denied 3-2 by the Madison County Board of Supervisors this month.

--- Casual Observer
 
WRTM moving to the Canton area will also displace the WWCV-LP "Convention and Visitors" station on 100.5.

Anyone know what's up with that? Every time I passed through Canton and tuned in, it was oldies or R&B music with no liners, sponsors or IDs other than ToH stuff. The antenna is atop the building (street view) at the corner of Liberty and Peace in downtown. Google lists it as the Breeland Funeral Home but it always seemed empty to me. I think it's also an address associated with WMGO (AM) in the city. The WWCV-LP ran RDS at one time mentioning the WMGO calls and may have given out a request line.

Just seems kinda strange to have an LPFM licensed to the city convention and visitor bureau run by a commercial radio operation.
 
WWCV is in the same building (same studio for that matter) as WMGO. It sat in the corner and played oldies off an old automation system for a long time. I haven't heard anything but dead carrier (RDS text is still up) the last few times I have been thru Canton.

RFB
 
Has Arbitron started PPM in Jackson yet? If not, will they now that Jackson is about to be a larger market? The diary method is unreliable and all around a joke.
 
I do not believe that PPM is in use outside of the top 50 markets, but someone who knows more about it that I can feel free to correct.

--- Casual Observer
 
Casual_Observer said:
I do not believe that PPM is in use outside of the top 50 markets, but someone who knows more about it that I can feel free to correct.

--- Casual Observer
Click to expand...

You are correct... PPM is rolling out in top 50 markets for now. I'm not sure what the timetable is for top 100 and down.

RFB
 
Hey all -

The Top 100 market deal is off. One of the Arbitron subscribers didn't want Jackson to be a top 100 market, so when the markets are repositioned in Fall of 2011, Jackson will be #121 or worse... oh well.

--- Casual Observer
 
ARB just cut Meridian from the list. Could it be because CC sold their cluster.
 
Casual_Observer said:
Hey all -

The Top 100 market deal is off. One of the Arbitron subscribers didn't want Jackson to be a top 100 market, so when the markets are repositioned in Fall of 2011, Jackson will be #121 or worse... oh well.

--- Casual Observer
Click to expand...

What the freak for?
 
musiconradio.com said:
ARB just cut Meridian from the list. Could it be because CC sold their cluster.
Click to expand...

My understanding is because no one bought the book. No subscribers=non-rated market. Arbitron is not reliable anyway. Why the agencies still use them is beyond me.
 
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