Re: STILL whining about Indie?
> I agree completely. The I-know-more-than-you's on this board
> were correct in initially shooting down unrealistic
> expectations for ratings and format growth, however those
> same people seem to be unfair in not giving the station its
> well-deserved props when they are legitimately earned. The
> station has shown tremendous growth in a niche format on one
> of the weakest signals in town. No small feat. It is beating
> all of the sports stations, KDAY, and the much ballyhooed
> (on this board anyways) KTLK. And this is all being done
> with almost no promotion whatsoever.
>
> For the rating/stat guys, nothing this station does will
> ever consititute more than a wobble simply because the
> station does not have enough power - unless it goes down, in
> which case they will say they told you so.
>
> Here's props to Indie - like em or not, they are what radio
> should be all about - taking a chance, not playing it safe
> and serving their listeners.
>
>
>
> >
> > KDLD/KDLE are up for the fourth consecutive book 12+ (up
> 67%
> > from summer of last year), 18-49 (where they are up 75%
> from
> > last summer), and 25-54 (up 86% from last summer). That's
> a
> > four-book trend with consistent growth. The numbers are
> not
> > big by any means - but definitely good enough to sell and
> > make a profit. If they can keep the station around a 1.0
> > share consistently - they could bill $10-$12 million a
> year
> > and make the station very profitable.
> >
> > I still think people need to ease up on the Indie
> criticism.
> > I'm not necessarily a fan (I happen to enjoy KROQ more) -
> > however, I applaud them for taking a chance, sticking with
>
> > it, and doing well with a fringe signal.
> >
>
I agree about some things - but Indie did a MAJOR marketing campaign - mostly in Orange County in the spring book - that fueled that 25% gain in cume.
KDAY, on the other hand, has done some marketing - but mostly last fall. KTLK has done some. Indie has been around 18 months - where KDAY and KTLK are less than a year old .
Most agencies buy on multiple book (a lot four book) average and none of them buy 12+ (many of them fall, winter, spring, summer) and they buy in the fall. The three-book on KDAY 18-34 is 38% higher than Indie, KDAY's 18-49 is a tenth higher, while Indie's 25-54 was 20% higher than KDAY's (so it's six of this, half dozen of another).
I am a ratings/stat guy - so I take offense to the ratings/stat guy comment

The difference is - I don't look at a 12+ number on R&R and then go a make a general statement like so many people do on this board. I try and look at target demos over multiple books and trends.