Lowest KUBE ratings ever, in December PPM

[davideduardo]

Is language a problem in reggaeton? Does the FCC care if naughty language airs on its licensed stations if the profanities aren't in English?

Language in reggaetón is stronger than in much hip hop. The language is also quite sexist as well. It has parallel young adult and teen responses to modern society, and that is pretty much universal.

The FCC has always treated Spanish language stations with some kind of benign neglect. Some of the things heard in Puerto Rico in morning shows and personality shows would never get on the air in English on the mainland.

I do think that as we get more Hispanic legislators that understand the culture and language (not Ocasio Cortéz, who is a Newyorican) we will see some attention placed there. It's unfortunate that we don't have an Hispanic on the Commission, but the current movement to appoint members of the Black community everywhere has resulted in a far less proportional representation of Hispanics.

 

[amfmdj]

For a group that poo poos any allegiance to old call letters, some on these threads put heavy significance on KUBE. It's only a set of call letters. As the song says, Let It Go.

 

[The New Chico]

You joined this board and immediately start lecturing others on what they should find interesting, while also making a wild generalization about what "this group" feels about call letters. Well, will give you points for a hot take, if nothing else. Welcome to the board.

 

[amfmdj]

You joined this board and immediately start lecturing others on what they should find interesting, while also making a wild generalization about what "this group" feels about call letters. Well, will give you points for a hot take, if nothing else. Welcome to the board.

You would have a valid complaint if I was wrong.
Sorry, I guess I touched a nerve.

 

[Kelly A]

You joined this board and immediately start lecturing others on what they should find interesting, while also making a wild generalization about what "this group" feels about call letters. Well, will give you points for a hot take, if nothing else. Welcome to the board.

They're just speaking the truth. Call letters are more of a formality than a make-or-break element. In the case of the call letters KJR, that's a long standing brand for sports talk that iHeart wants to keep. They could call every one of their Seattle stations KJR if they wanted to. The Commission only requires the actual station ID to be somewhere near the TOH, as "programming allows".

 

[Kelly A]

You would have a valid complaint if I was wrong.
Sorry, I guess I touched a nerve.

Don't take it personally, and welcome! There are two things that get some on this site worked up about:
1. Telling them that published 6+ ratings are worthless as any sort of success gauge for stations. (May as well insult their mother's.)
2. The importance of call letters in modern radio.

 

[K.M. Richards]

For a group that poo poos any allegiance to old call letters, some on these threads put heavy significance on KUBE. It's only a set of call letters. As the song says, Let It Go.

As Kelly says, that's one of the two topics very few here will let go of, even when pointed out by the professionals here. If it bothers you that much, do what I did ... post a diatribe on whichever board is your local one, phrase it as "why does everyone ...?" let the discussion happen, and then let it go.

Unless, of course, you're David (Eduardo) Gleason, in which case bring out the demographic rankings to counter the "proclamation" based on the 6+ numbers. It doesn't prevent the same people doing the same thing, but it does make the pros feel better for a few seconds that the amateurs' conclusions were invalid.

As to the call letter question: iHeart has a long history -- going back to the days when they were Clear Channel -- of keeping "useful" calls in the family, and I will bet that if they don't reuse KUBE in Seattle, they'll move them to another market and create a new "cube" brand with them. They might move the KJR-FM calls to 93.3 and give new calls to 95.7 that fit the "Jet" branding, or use KKJR on the former KUBE (they're available). But there is no urgency to do so until they need to.

 

[Kelly A]

As Kelly says, that's one of the two topics very few here will let go of, even when pointed out by the professionals here. If it bothers you that much, do what I did ... post a diatribe on whichever board is your local one, phrase it as "why does everyone ...?" let the discussion happen, and then let it go.

Form of discussion grenade! I like it!

Unless, of course, you're David (Eduardo) Gleason, in which case bring out the demographic rankings to counter the "proclamation" based on the 6+ numbers. It doesn't prevent the same people doing the same thing, but it does make the pros feel better for a few seconds that the amateurs' conclusions were invalid.

What amazes me after all these years of the groundhog day arguments; is how hobbyists, or those fond of radio's past, just don't want to learn more about how the business works. If I visited some site that interests me, and professionals are present to provide information which might contradict my interpretation of the way things work, I'd welcome the education. Instead, we get scorn, hostility, and being told that we don't know what we're talking about.

 

[TheBigA]

What amazes me after all these years of the groundhog day arguments; is how hobbyists, or those fond of radio's past, just don't want to learn more about how the business works.

The sad part about the ones I see who are "fond of radio's past" is that their fondness doesn't extend beyond their own lifetime. When you look at radio broadcasting from the 100 year view, things can be very different.

 

[bobdavcav]

I know at least for me, the reason 6+ numbers are used so often here is because they're what we have access to, whether or not they mean anything. If I had access to the 25-54 numbers, I'd use them. The thing is, it was based on 6+ numbers that speculation began of KUBE being in trouble. Now, look what's happened? Same with the demise of Click 98.9. When 106.1 went Hot AC, I knew that was going to be the end of Click, and look what happened two months later. I know of very few stations that were doing reasonably well then dropped off, but kept their format. There is on the other hand, the station that hovers in the 1 share range and is satisfied, most notably sports stations. Then again, sports talk is a weird animal when it comes to radio formats anyway.

 

[Kelly A]

I know at least for me, the reason 6+ numbers are used so often here is because they're what we have access to, whether or not they mean anything.

Sure, I think we get that. But when we tell you that praise or criticism for a station or format can't be determined by 6+, it's usually refuted or brushed off because the 6+ numbers fit a narrative already tied to a personal opinion about the station/format. Has nothing to do with the actual success or challenges the station or format operates under.

The thing is, it was based on 6+ numbers that speculation began of KUBE being in trouble. Now, look what's happened?

You could say that with any rhythmic CHR. The entire format has been under pressure for very clear reasons. A few years ago you could say that with formats like Smooth Jazz. What you don't see behind simple 6+ numbers, are things like demographic reach, or how that fits into a group of stations, or how profitable the format is. To show up here and start railing against some station without adequate data or knowledge is plainly unfair. Not liking the format/host/music is one thing. But claiming that the station is a failure by using incomplete information, just makes you look uninformed.

There is on the other hand, the station that hovers in the 1 share range and is satisfied, most notably sports stations. Then again, sports talk is a weird animal when it comes to radio formats anyway.

Sports talk is a great example. I can't count the number of times poster's to this board have sworn that ST stations aren't long for this world, and that nobody listens. What do they commonly base their opinion on? 6+ ratings.

 

[bobdavcav]

All of this is true. What I don't understand is why sports talk seems to be such an outlier. Does the format do well in men 25-54 even when the 6+ ratings are in the 1 range? What gets me is how a lot of owners think sports is the solution to their problems. Take 1090 a few years ago. It was doing progressive talk, a nich nobody else was filling at the time and nobody has picked up since. When CBS Sports launched, they threw that on, despite there being two other full market sports stations, and two rimshots also doing the format. Conservative talk might be the only other format where such a move might happen, and even that seems to be a stretch. I've never seen a market where there are two full market country stations and two rimshots where a fifth station decides to go to the format. Replace country with any other format and my point still stands. Why is sports talk so different in that respect? The other related question is why does there not seem to be as much money in male-targeted music formats as in female-targeted ones? An example of this would be 98.9 again. When they got new direct Hot AC competition, they waited a couple months, then stunted for almost a week before flipping to rock. When KMPS went Soft AC, the rock format was yanked off the air mid-song 45 minutes after the flip at 94.1 and replaced with country. Why?

 

[TheBigA]

All of this is true. What I don't understand is why sports talk seems to be such an outlier. Does the format do well in men 25-54 even when the 6+ ratings are in the 1 range?

It depends...if KJR had the Seahawks, maybe. But there are a lot of intangibles that come into play with sports that aren't available with music formats. Most importantly access to team branding, a suite in the arena, tickets for clients, co-sponsorship and marketing opportunities that a station can't do with music. Of course that exclusivity comes with a price. But it gives the sales team an edge that the music folks don't have.

Plus with any talk format, there's the benefit of being able to cram in more spots without people noticing. Talk is talk, whether it's content or a commercial. So the typical sports station airs more spots than the music stations. People seem to feel music formats should be commercial free.

 

[The New Chico]

Ultimately radio ownership/management are rational folks running businesses and trying to get maximum ROI. Sports radio may not get huge numbers but it seems to deliver in a very specific manner folks that certain advertisers REALLY covet. If I can get a 29 YO guy into my dealership for a new Honda as he finally sees a decent paycheck, I might be able to turn that guy into a five or ten car lifetime client, along with selling him service. THAT guy is worth a lot to me as a car dealer.

Format moves that seem irrational or illogical from our outside perspective make total "dollars and sense." Just wait until the sports book networks take off, then you might get another couple of "sports" stations in the market- maybe one on 570, 880, 1090 or 1150? I dunno.

The 6+ are fun to talk about and can give us some macro trends, but in the end it's all about billings vs. cost, and there is no way for most of us to have access to that data.

 

[bobdavcav]

It depends...if KJR had the Seahawks, maybe. But there are a lot of intangibles that come into play with sports that aren't available with music formats. Most importantly access to team branding, a suite in the arena, tickets for clients, co-sponsorship and marketing opportunities that a station can't do with music. Of course that exclusivity comes with a price. But it gives the sales team an edge that the music folks don't have.

Plus with any talk format, there's the benefit of being able to cram in more spots without people noticing. Talk is talk, whether it's content or a commercial. So the typical sports station airs more spots than the music stations. People seem to feel music formats should be commercial free.

That would make sense to me if it actually appeared that way in a lot of situations. In the case of KJR, the play is clearly to try and lure away at least one of the major sports steams from KIRO while at the same time bring in a new audience to their existing product. I do not though understand how three, four, or in the case of Las Vegas six, sports stations does anyone any good though. True, 620 here has content agreements with the Blazers that probably bring in a bit for the station, and 750 might have something with the Timbers, but that still leaves Audacy's two stations in the market. If one decides to flip to BetQL, that's a third angle, but one that has only been a thing in the last couple of years. Getting back to Seattle, it seemed pretty clear that the only reason CBS flipped 1090 is to clear their new network, but why do that for that purpose when there's already a saturation in the market? Also, please explain the strategy of having one station local during the day with network programming at night, while another station in your cluster runs that same network 24/7. That seems like a lot of duplication to me.

 

[notalent]

Duplication doesn't much matter when it is in a daypart where nobody listens.

 

[davideduardo]

Duplication doesn't much matter when it is in a daypart where nobody listens.

There is no daypart when nobody listens.

Even evenings start as strong as the last hours of PM drive, and gradually fall off so that by the 11 PM hour the listening is very small. But if a buy in a major market is 5 AM to 10 PM, that gets the greatest reach compared to only buying drives. It also likely gets a better CPP rate as stations love to sell broader schedules.

 

[CTListener]

1. Telling them that published 6+ ratings are worthless as any sort of success gauge for stations. (May as well insult their mother's.)

Nielsen is rating our mothers? (Watch those apostrophes...)

 

[Kelly A]

Nielsen is rating our mothers? (Watch those apostrophes...)

From Thesaurus.com:
"Parentheses can also be used as interrupters in sentences to create a more informal, casual style of writing."

"Parentheses offset text that isn’t important to the meaning of a sentence. Things like extra information, clarifications, asides, or citations. The information inside the parentheses can be as short as a number or a word, or it can be as long as a few sentences. Parentheses always appear in pairs. They’re often used where commas would also be appropriate."

 

[K.M. Richards]

(scratching my head)

Trying to figure out why pointing out the improper use of an apostrophe leads to a sidebar on parentheses ...