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[jabba17]

Some observations:

1) B98.5 continues to pick up share.
2) Kicks is holding steady--is the country market in ATL shrinking, with Kicks not picking up that much more share the last 2 books after the demise of one country station and the other on a death watch?
3) River continues to creep downward. I have noticed that their playlist seems to be skewing older lately--I assume to fend off True Oldies, which seems to be their closest competition.
4) Q100 continues to pick up share.
5) Project got a big bump. Haven't listened to them much lately, so I wouldn't know what's going on there. Ideas?
6) Star 94, WJZZ, and Dave all got little bumps. It may be premature to write any of these guys off.
7) Bull got a bump, but still a horrible share for a 100k station.
8) Rock 100.5 lost share. Uh-oh...but it doesn't help that they're only 10k. I have noticed more new rock from them--possibly trying to aim at Project?

 

[Uriah]

Thanks Jabba,

At first glance the WKLS/WWWQ numbers look suspect. The power issue didn't keep Bert from beating S&V.
I'd call up a diary review and see if any TRG listeners are writing in WKLS for am drive.

Just seen too many diaries written in Crayon to take them at face value!

 

[atlsportsnut]

A certain 50,000 watt AM powerhouse continues to dominate.
Neil, Clark and Sean all do well.
Plus, 680 puts a beat down on 790 in mid-days and afternoon drive.
Looks like Brandon and Woolvy can't draw flies compared to Cowherd and the Stews even sit behind Tirico.
The Saloon is almost being tripled by B&K.

 

[jabba17]

A certain 50,000 watt AM powerhouse continues to dominate.
Neil, Clark and Sean all do well.
Plus, 680 puts a beat down on 790 in mid-days and afternoon drive.
Looks like Brandon and Woolvy can't draw flies compared to Cowherd and the Stews even sit behind Tirico.
The Saloon is almost being tripled by B&K.

WSB is going to continue to dominate news/talk as long as CC keeps mailing it in with WGST (and don't get me started again about WGST's night signal, etc.).

Over the years, WGST has beaten WSB at times by anticipating trends and being out in front--e.g., going all news while WSB was still doing the Morning Merry-Go-Round, going news/talk while WSB was still just doing news and full service, leaving WSB to catch up. Of course, once WSB caught up, they generally stomped WGST.

What would be interesting is if Salem could make a run at WGST with WGKA (more than they have been). I bet they could if they put in more news and local talk, but that doesn't seem to be Salem's model for the station (and I can't blame them due to the cost).

I'd like to know how well Rush does against WSB from noon-3. I'd also like to know how many Rush listeners in WGST's listening area tune in to WDUN instead (like moi), for a better signal (both in terms of strength and processing).

 

[winreader]

Some observations:

1) B98.5 continues to pick up share.
2) Kicks is holding steady--is the country market in ATL shrinking, with Kicks not picking up that much more share the last 2 books after the demise of one country station and the other on a death watch?
3) River continues to creep downward. I have noticed that their playlist seems to be skewing older lately--I assume to fend off True Oldies, which seems to be their closest competition.
4) Q100 continues to pick up share.
5) Project got a big bump. Haven't listened to them much lately, so I wouldn't know what's going on there. Ideas?
6) Star 94, WJZZ, and Dave all got little bumps. It may be premature to write any of these guys off.
7) Bull got a bump, but still a horrible share for a 100k station.
8) Rock 100.5 lost share. Uh-oh...but it doesn't help that they're only 10k. I have noticed more new rock from them--possibly trying to aim at Project?

Since it's a monthly, and NOT a book, none of these observations are valid. In other news...Hey, Obama leads McCain in July! Celebrate Democrats!

No.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

Some observations:

1) B98.5 continues to pick up share.
2) Kicks is holding steady--is the country market in ATL shrinking, with Kicks not picking up that much more share the last 2 books after the demise of one country station and the other on a death watch?
3) River continues to creep downward. I have noticed that their playlist seems to be skewing older lately--I assume to fend off True Oldies, which seems to be their closest competition.
4) Q100 continues to pick up share.
5) Project got a big bump. Haven't listened to them much lately, so I wouldn't know what's going on there. Ideas?
6) Star 94, WJZZ, and Dave all got little bumps. It may be premature to write any of these guys off.
7) Bull got a bump, but still a horrible share for a 100k station.
8) Rock 100.5 lost share. Uh-oh...but it doesn't help that they're only 10k. I have noticed more new rock from them--possibly trying to aim at Project?

Since it's a monthly, and NOT a book, none of these observations are valid. In other news...Hey, Obama leads McCain in July! Celebrate Democrats!

No.

I got a good feeling about Obama leading in July. Remember in 1988, Dukakis lead Bush by 20 in July. That turned out okay didn't it?

 

[RTibbs]

Yes I hear TRG is even money to make it through the year if their ratings don't pick-up.

 

[Biz Listener]

WSB is going to continue to dominate news/talk as long as CC keeps mailing it in with WGST (and don't get me started again about WGST's night signal, etc.).

I think WGST would get a boost if they'd add Jim Quinn in morning drive and promote. I know the conventional wisdom is that you have to have a live and local morning show. But with almost every station on the air running someone live and local, offering something different might be a help. Considering how many people in Atlanta moved here from somewhere else, an entertaining conservative talk show might be the change of pace that would attract listeners who don't much care all that much about local talk.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

WSB is going to continue to dominate news/talk as long as CC keeps mailing it in with WGST (and don't get me started again about WGST's night signal, etc.).

I think WGST would get a boost if they'd add Jim Quinn in morning drive and promote. I know the conventional wisdom is that you have to have a live and local morning show. But with almost every station on the air running someone live and local, offering something different might be a help. Considering how many people in Atlanta moved here from somewhere else, an entertaining conservative talk show might be the change of pace that would attract listeners who don't much care all that much about local talk.

1) CC doesn't promote WGST.
2) For 3-4 months, AM drive on WGST starts at 7:15am - 7:45am. I can't see CC promoting a show that will be heard OTP for a whopping 1.25 hrs.
3) WGST ran WSJ radio before Randy and Spiff, how did that work out for them?
4) WGST is a non-entity on Atlanta. They could air tone from 3pm - noon and have the exact same ratings and revenue.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Since it's a monthly, and NOT a book, none of these observations are valid.

You're correct that it's not a book. It's a trend, which comes out monthly (except in the months when a book comes out), but it's a rolling 3-month average. It's also not weighted, which makes it not as reliable as a book. But, I wouldn't say it's not valid. It's a pretty good indicator of where things shook out over the past 3 months.

 

[littlejohn]

Given the lack of weighting, and the unavailability of placement by demo, trends hgave value as exactly that - trends which can be identified. But probably shouldn't be used to make money decisions over. Compare to the book, and look for large variations in the trends. Larger the variation, (assuming no changes in the market) the less reliable the unweighted data is.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Given the lack of weighting, and the unavailability of placement by demo, trends hgave value as exactly that - trends which can be identified. But probably shouldn't be used to make money decisions over. Compare to the book, and look for large variations in the trends. Larger the variation, (assuming no changes in the market) the less reliable the unweighted data is.

And we don't use them for money decisions. In fact, the trends are not available to ad agencies, just to stations. Nevertheless, if you go to the Radio & Records website and look at the ratings history in Atlanta for the past year, you'll see that the trend numbers are very, very close to what the actual books have been showing.

 

[littlejohn]

Yes. And there are few wild skews in the trends.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Yes. And there are few wild skews in the trends.

Examples?

 

[jabba17]

Yes. And there are few wild skews in the trends.

Examples?

I first thought that it was odd that Rock 100.5 showed a drop, but if it's a 3 month average, that would explain it. OTOH, you can see B98.5 and Q100 continue to build share over the past couple months, and River lose it (probably to Rock 100.5 on one end and True Oldies on the other).

 

[littlejohn]

"few" means noy many. "A few" means looky, there's one oif several but not many. On a quick scan, none there currently.

 

[BIGSTICK]

It really is very sad to see what has happened to WGST. This is a legacy station that has been run in to the ground, and it will never recover. Either they need to change frequencies, or somehow keep the power up more at night.
I remember the premier of Sharkey's Machine was broadcast on GST when it was on 920. I lived near Northlake Mall at the time, and the signal, even at night, was fine.

 

[jabba17]

It really is very sad to see what has happened to WGST. This is a legacy station that has been run in to the ground, and it will never recover. Either they need to change frequencies, or somehow keep the power up more at night.
I remember the premier of Sharkey's Machine was broadcast on GST when it was on 920. I lived near Northlake Mall at the time, and the signal, even at night, was fine.

640 isn't a bad frequency. I'm sure there's others on this board who would know more about what I am about to describe, but here goes:

1) It's at the low end of the dial, which carries farther, all else being equal. That's why WDUN has such good coverage without full power.
2) There's no eastern clear channel station on 640. If WGST could get a 50kW clear channel, they could outreach WSB.

However, to do #2, they would have to persuade the FCC to open up an eastern clear channel on 640. This would also entail CC getting other eastern stations on 640 to power down or off at night. This could be done with enough money--but it would be a lot. Another alternative would be to relocate the transmitter to the NW side of ATL, and go directional to the SE at night (similar to what WBT does in principle), which would reduce the number of stations that would have to be paid to power down.

There's also the issue of adjacent-frequency stations to consider, like clear channel WSM on 650. I'm not sure what comes in to play with that.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

You're correct, Jeff, that the lower the frequency on AM, the farther the station theoretically travels, wattage being equal. But there are other factors, such as a directional antenna, which makes the station more powerful than its overall wattage in the direction it goes.

The FCC classifies any station that's on a clear channel--and as you said, 640 is a clear channel--as a clear channel station, even if the station is a daytimer with 250 watts. There are different classes of stations on clear channels. Years ago, each clear channel had only one full-time station, and that station was classified as 1A. On 640, it was KFI. But the FCC has broken down the clear channels, allowing other stations on at night and reducing the interference-free areas of the former 1A's.

I'm sure (the company) Clear Channel has done everything imaginable--everything that could possibly be done--to try to increase WGST's night power. But there was just no way to do it without interference to the protected areas of other stations on 640 and adjacent frequencies. And yes, one way to solve the problem would be to buy the stations in the way. But that's probably financially impossible and also unlikely from the standpoint that certain communities would lose service.

There's a station on 640 in south Florida with 25,000 watts at night, but the signal is beamed straight into the ocean.

The only realistic plan for WGST is to simulcast with an FM, which of course was previously done. But Clear Channel saw 105.7 as an opportunity for an additional profit center, not realizing that killing the simulcast would hurt 640 as a profit center.

 

[amlover]

What in my opinion what 640 should do is put the talk programing on 94.9 (The ctry. format is not working) and simulcast with 640 for a period as to merge the listeners over then put the "Legends Ctry. format on 640 am. People who like and crew up with that music will listen to am for music. If they didn't want to put the "Legends" on 640 then MOYL would be a good fit. ;D I don't think 640 am as a talk formated station will ever really work for them any longer. It's over!