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Looking at The Washington Ratings....

G

Gregg

Things have really changed in a few short years in Washington...

--The biggest change is the dramatic drop at WPGC. For a while they were consistantly DC's top station. Now they're #15! Aren't young African-American listeners supporting WPGC anymore? Kiss, a one time Top 5 station, isn't doing so well, either. Where did hip-hop and rap fans go?
--How did Mainstream Top 40 WIHT get the upper hand? Why is a Mainstream CHR doing so well in a market like Washington?
--What happened to the Urban AC stations? WHUR and WMMJ had always been in the Top 5. They're doing better than WPGC and Kiss but not by much.
--How did WMAL fall to #14? This is the nation's capital. Isn't political talk of interest to so many people who earn their living working for Uncle Sam? WMAL used to be much stronger. And it doesn't have any serious competition in the Talk format with WJFK and AM 980 going All-Sports. I wonder if adding an FM frequency will help WMAL?
--Could anyone be thinking of challenging WTOP? I can remember when WAVA-AM-FM was also All-News some years ago. If WTOP is the nation's biggest earning radio station, surely others might want a piece of that action, even if it would be an expensive format to try. I know WTOP and CBS have a warm relationship but CBS has underperforming stations in 94.7 and 1580. They know something about programming All-News formats. Maybe they'd simulcast All-News on 1580 and 94.7?



Gregg
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Gregg said:
--The biggest change is the dramatic drop at WPGC. For a while they were consistantly DC's top station. Now they're #15! Aren't young African-American listeners supporting WPGC anymore?
Click to expand...

Two words: Donnie Simpson. Once he left, so did the listeners.

To me what stands out is the return of WMZQ to the Top 5. This station had fallen on hard times, and was seriously underperforming. Something revived the DC area country audience. Part of it is a strong crop of country stars, with Kenny Chesney playing FedEx Field in June and Taylor Swift packin' em in during her shows. Congrats should be given to the folks at CC who seem to have gotten their act together.

Over at CBS, they need to regroup, and apparently have, by transfering a top exec to the DC area. Will they flip an FM station to all-news? I think they're watching Chicago very carefully first before doing anything in DC.
 
Gregg you are kinda late the biggest blow to WPGC and Kiss has been the PPM(introduced to the DC market in 2008) not Donnie Simpson`s loss that is why he is not their because of falling PPM ratings and very little to no appeal to the 18-34 and 18-49 demo`s. What you are talking about is the old diary method not used since 2008. You are also just seeing them 15th in one demo which is 12 plus. WPGC`s target demo is 18-34 and 18-49 which is where the station now makes its cash not 12 plus where yes they are or were 15th. PPM has hurt the younger skewing Hip-Hop urban format all around the country its not just DC but WPGC still makes money and is doing well. PS this is really a continued topic covered in another thread on this board(format flip for WPGC)not happning however.
 
A few miles up I-95, WERQ is #3 in Baltimore. So WPGC's fall isn't just due to People Meters. And I'd bet you a steak dinner that any station that is #15 in the 6+ ratings isn't one of the top stations 18-34.
 
No not true in NY Hot 97 and POWER 1051 do not do well in the 12 plus demo just like WPGC they both usually place 12th and lower but both are usually ALWAYS top 3 in the 18-34 demo so what you are saying is not true WPGC and WKYS do much better in 18-34 than 12 plus. I live in Baltimore the WERQ example is a bad one they have no direct format rival (Baltimore lost two major FM hip hop stations in a six year span) that market SUCKS for hip hop radio in my opinion. If PGC or KYS were by themselves in DC like 92Q is in Baltimore with no direct format competition either one would be top 3 in DC all of the time. If Baltimore still had V103 or X1057 WERQ would have much lower ratings trust me.
 
I thought I had read on DCRTV recently that overall, WPGC had finished 6th place after various playlist tweaks; it was Big Tigger's morning show, however, that ranked 15th. Ugh!
 
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