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Markets where news/talk stations overperform

Of course I say "overperform" as a play on the other thread, but what I am really referring to, is;

What Top 100 markets have extremely dominant news/talk stations---I'm talk number ONE with ratings in the double(or almost double) digits?
 
KGO, of course.

My alma mater, WBZ.

WBEN in Buffalo, and often WHAM here in Rochester as well.

WTMJ in Milwaukee?
 
Mr. Fybush is right about WBEN and WHAM--they're huge! This past winter book WBEN got an 11.2 rating, while WHAM had a 10.1. Both are great heritage stations which remain very devoted to local news and talk.

Other huge performers I know of are:

WTAM Cleveland
WLW Cincinnati
KDKA Pittsburgh
WHAS Louisville
KOA Denver
KKOB Albuquerque

All dominating forces with large numbers across the board.
 
dustintv said:
Mr. Fybush is right about WBEN and WHAM--they're huge! This past winter book WBEN got an 11.2 rating, while WHAM had a 10.1. Both are great heritage stations which remain very devoted to local news and talk.

Other huge performers I know of are:

WTAM Cleveland
WLW Cincinnati
KDKA Pittsburgh
WHAS Louisville
KOA Denver
KKOB Albuquerque

All dominating forces with large numbers across the board.

And thanks to media ownership and the heritage signal, WLW will never have any real competition in Cincinnati on the AM band since the three most powerful signals in the city are all owned by Clear Channel.
 
Scott Fybush said:
WTMJ in Milwaukee?

...ESPECIALLY WTMJ. Jonathan Green and Bob Uecker were the only reasons I'd ever tune that one in before I moved to PHX. The crap they put on the schedule around J.G. and Uke would repel flies from a garbage heap, it's so bad...

...and WTMJ has *always* considered itself a WGN Junior. Tho they don't overperform like they used to, WGN Chicago should probably be added to the list...
 
LivingFruitVirus (?!) wrote:

"And thanks to media ownership and the heritage signal, WLW will never have any real competition in Cincinnati on the AM band since the three most powerful signals in the city are all owned by Clear Channel."

And in Cleveland, Clear Channel operated WTAM is the only AM signal in the region that does not lose literally half the market at night.
Nearly impossible to mount any news operation against them and be heard in PM drive in Winter. WTAM also has virtually every major league sports play-by-play (Indians, Browns, and Cavs). A lot of their ratings are by default, not through great programming.
 
If N/T overperforms it's usually with sports

WTAM depends on the Cavaliers and Indians. WTMJ wouldn't be #1 without the Packers and Brewers. KOA needs the Broncos, Rockies and Univ. of Colorado.

KDKA is #2 behind Steelers flagship WDVE. Ironically KDKA tried to get the Steelers but lost out.

WHAS is an anomaly -- until recently it was #2 behind country giant WAMZ. The recent #1 book is due to Univ. of Louisville basketball.

KKOB and WHAM are right-wing radio, period, stop.

One area where N/T overperforms? Arbitron market 38. New Jersey 101.5 was #1 in the winter Arbitron and #1 in the spring trend. This is a station that can zero in on the great Garden State and not be encumbered by any network commitments. Thanks to New Jersey 101.5 there won't be any 800 percent toll hike on the New Jersey Turnpike (which Corzine wanted to do).
 
Re: If N/T overperforms it's usually with sports

chuckydoll said:
WHAS is an anomaly -- until recently it was #2 behind country giant WAMZ. The recent #1 book is due to Univ. of Louisville basketball.

I'm not sure why you would call WHAS at #1 an anomaly--even at #2 they were still above and beyond the competition pulling in 9's. Sure sports are a major factor, but you can't deny the fact people want their local news and traffic as well as listening to local hosts dealing with local issues--whether they be left or right(and I loathe right winger hosts too).
 
JoeyK said:
How about WCCO Minneapolis,KMOX St.Louis


'CCO, while a legendary station, isn't even #1 in the market and isn't anywhere close to double digits.

In my original post, I was referring to the monsters in the format in the Top 100 markets.
 
Re: If N/T overperforms it's usually with sports

chuckydoll said:
WTAM depends on the Cavaliers and Indians. WTMJ wouldn't be #1 without the Packers and Brewers. KOA needs the Broncos, Rockies and Univ. of Colorado.

KDKA is #2 behind Steelers flagship WDVE. Ironically KDKA tried to get the Steelers but lost out.

WHAS is an anomaly -- until recently it was #2 behind country giant WAMZ. The recent #1 book is due to Univ. of Louisville basketball.

KKOB and WHAM are right-wing radio, period, stop.

One area where N/T overperforms? Arbitron market 38. New Jersey 101.5 was #1 in the winter Arbitron and #1 in the spring trend. This is a station that can zero in on the great Garden State and not be encumbered by any network commitments. Thanks to New Jersey 101.5 there won't be any 800 percent toll hike on the New Jersey Turnpike (which Corzine wanted to do).

WHAS airs University of Kentucky games priority. If UofL is playing at the same time they air on WKRD.
 
dustintv said:
Mr. Fybush is right about WBEN and WHAM--they're huge! This past winter book WBEN got an 11.2 rating, while WHAM had a 10.1. Both are great heritage stations which remain very devoted to local news and talk.

It should be noted that WBEN/Buffalo is not just devoted to local news and talk, but is live and local, with the exception of Limbaugh, from 5AM-10PM. Have you got that? That's live and local from 5AM-10PM. And they have an 11.2 share, and that's without carrying ANY sports or devoting their *playlist* to all things conservative.

There may be hope for the future of this format. That is, if programmers (and the money guys) get a clue.
 
HHH said:
LivingFruitVirus (?!) wrote:

"And thanks to media ownership and the heritage signal, WLW will never have any real competition in Cincinnati on the AM band since the three most powerful signals in the city are all owned by Clear Channel."

And in Cleveland, Clear Channel operated WTAM is the only AM signal in the region that does not lose literally half the market at night.
Nearly impossible to mount any news operation against them and be heard in PM drive in Winter. WTAM also has virtually every major league sports play-by-play (Indians, Browns, and Cavs). A lot of their ratings are by default, not through great programming.

Having grown up at and around WTAM, I'd say it's a pretty good station considering the market and it's lack of competition. Yes, it basically a sports talker after 3pm, but if that's what the market wants, then that's what a good station will deliver. The morning show may not be exciting but it is well done; despite double digit shares from Glenn Beck, they are now at least doing live midmorning talk, and outside of overnights, Rush is the only syndicated product they have. The news team is in-house 24/7... they farm it out to other stations which makes those stations crap, not WTAM.

Also, I would say 1420 does a good job of covering a large part of the metro, save western Lorain county and the scantly populated areas of Medina county. 1220 nulls in parts of western Cuyahoga and into Lorain county but covers most of the rest of the market at night IIRC.
 
KJCB said:
HHH said:
LivingFruitVirus (?!) wrote:

"And thanks to media ownership and the heritage signal, WLW will never have any real competition in Cincinnati on the AM band since the three most powerful signals in the city are all owned by Clear Channel."

And in Cleveland, Clear Channel operated WTAM is the only AM signal in the region that does not lose literally half the market at night.
Nearly impossible to mount any news operation against them and be heard in PM drive in Winter. WTAM also has virtually every major league sports play-by-play (Indians, Browns, and Cavs). A lot of their ratings are by default, not through great programming.

Having grown up at and around WTAM, I'd say it's a pretty good station considering the market and it's lack of competition. Yes, it basically a sports talker after 3pm, but if that's what the market wants, then that's what a good station will deliver.

Don't get started on Mike Trivisonno here :)

He now actually has some in-house competition for the first time in over six years with WMMS' Maxwell (who made a complete conversion to a talk show host last September). Important to note that OM Kevin Methany and Triv have often been accused for firing his prior in-house competition (WMJI's Scott Howitt and WGAR's Danny Wright) back in 2001 due to "budget cuts." Shortly after that happened, Triv went to #1 in those specific demos.

KJCB said:
The morning show may not be exciting but it is well done; despite double digit shares from Glenn Beck, they are now at least doing live midmorning talk,

No thanks to the Jerry Springer disaster. In his quest to be syndicated statewide, Jerry cut WTAM's ratings in that timeslot by 66% - so much so that they HAD to bring in a local host (in this case, Bob Frantz).

The only victors from that fiasco were WHLO/Akron and WEOL/Elyria, both of which have done quite well.

KJCB said:
and outside of overnights, Rush is the only syndicated product they have. The news team is in-house 24/7... they farm it out to other stations which makes those stations crap, not WTAM.

WTAM cut their overnight newscasts last August, and recently had to slap on Fox News into the first two minutes of the TOH newscasts. They also decimated their Total Traffic output, so now WTAM's newscasters feed traffic reports for all the other CC/Cleveland stations (except for WTAM and WMMS, who still have seperate reporters).

KJCB said:
Also, I would say 1420 does a good job of covering a large part of the metro, save western Lorain county and the scantly populated areas of Medina county. 1220 nulls in parts of western Cuyahoga and into Lorain county but covers most of the rest of the market at night IIRC.

True. But consider that Radio One recently gave up on urban talk on WERE/1300, which was a talk station under one form or another since... when? 1972?!? They swapped call signs and formats with gospel WJMO/1490. While 1300 is a signal so constrained and directional that you couldn't recieve it anywhere to the west, the south, or the south-east of the Cleveland metro (but does reach WJMO's target audience just fine), the 1490 signal is far more diminuative, tiny, and forgettable at night.

WKNR/850 is 50kW during the day, but must got to a horrific 4.7kW night pattern that avoids Lorain County and other significant areas of sprawl. One of the biggest mistakes ever made in Cleveland radio was WKNR's eviction from 1220 to 850 back in 2001 (of course, Salem made the call... go figure).

WHK/1420 only has a decent night signal thanks to its' previous owners, WCLV/Radio Seaway, who had to rebuild the entire ground system over the course of two years. Sadly, Salem has made virtually NO effort whatsoever into programming WHK. While their other conservatalkers try to add other syndicated shows such as Dennis Miller and Hannity, ol' 1420 is just content with carrying Medved and Hugh Hewitt and the standard SRN sched.

A good signal, with crappy programming, get you nowhere.

-nate81 aka Myron-
 
Here's my list of overperforming news/talk stations to get this thread back on track...

KGO (San Francisco)
WGN (Chicago)
WSB (Atlanta)
WJR (Detriot) Has been #1 in Detriot, but also appears over a two-share in mutliple other markets
WCCO (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
KMOX (St. Louis)
KEX (Portland, OR)
KDKA (Pitsburgh)
WTAM (Cleaveland)
WLW (Cincinnati)
WBEN (Buffalo)
WHAM (Rochester)
WNIR-FM (Akron)
KFOR (Omaha)
WINK/WNOG (Fort Myers/Naples, FL)
WIBC-FM (Indianapolis)
WOWO (Ft. Wayne)
WWL (New Orleans)
KSL AM/FM (Salt Lake City)
WXTK-FM (Cape Cod, MA)
WHYN (Springfield, MA)
WHO (Des Moines)
 
newhampshiredude said:
Here's my list of overperforming news/talk stations to get this thread back on track...

KGO (San Francisco)
WGN (Chicago)
WSB (Atlanta)
WJR (Detriot) Has been #1 in Detriot, but also appears over a two-share in mutliple other markets
WCCO (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
KMOX (St. Louis)
KEX (Portland, OR)
KDKA (Pitsburgh)
WTAM (Cleaveland)
WLW (Cincinnati)
WBEN (Buffalo)
WHAM (Rochester)
WNIR-FM (Akron)
KFOR (Omaha)
WINK/WNOG (Fort Myers/Naples, FL)
WIBC-FM (Indianapolis)
WOWO (Ft. Wayne)
WWL (New Orleans)
KSL AM/FM (Salt Lake City)
WXTK-FM (Cape Cod, MA)
WHYN (Springfield, MA)
WHO (Des Moines)

now take all of these stations and see how many air Rush Limbaugh and/or Sean Hannity or other syndicated conservative talkers

KGO (San Francisco) neither
WGN (Chicago) neither
WSB (Atlanta) Hannity (flagship of Neal Boortz; also airs Michael Savage tape delayed 10PM-1AM)
WJR (Detriot) Has been #1 in Detriot, but also appears over a two-share in mutliple other markets Both
WCCO (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Neither
KMOX (St. Louis) Rush
KEX (Portland, OR) Rush
KDKA (Pitsburgh) Neither (former Rush station; airs Bill O-reilly and Dennis Miller tape delayed)
WTAM (Cleaveland) Rush
WLW (Cincinnati) Neither
WBEN (Buffalo) Rush
WHAM (Rochester) Both (Hannity tape delayed 11PM-1AM; also airs Glenn Beck and Michael Savage)
WNIR-FM (Akron) neither
KFOR (Omaha) Rush (also airs Glenn Beck and Michael Savage)
WINK/WNOG (Fort Myers/Naples, FL) Both (also airs Laura Ingraham)
WIBC-FM (Indianapolis) Rush
WOWO (Ft. Wayne) Both (Hannity tape delayed 6PM-9PM; also airs Glenn Beck and Micheal Savage)
WWL (New Orleans) neither (Rush just moved to 99.5 WRNO)
KSL AM/FM (Salt Lake City) Hannity
WXTK-FM (Cape Cod, MA) Both (Hannity taped deplayed 7PM-10PM; also airs Laura Ingraham)
WHYN (Springfield, MA) Rush (also airs Glenn Beck and Michael Savage)
WHO (Des Moines) Rush (also airs Micheal Medved and Michael Reagan)
 
WINK/WNOG??!?! Huh?

Nathan, you are correct; I did recently hear WTAM and it appears they are now teasing a local story, then tossing to the FNR 2-min TOH cast. I did overlook that they dumped overnight casts; it seems vaguely familiar that I heard that somewhere before. Not good for maintaining great station status, but I would argue that it probably doesn't effect too many people.
 
KJCB said:
WINK/WNOG??!?! Huh?

Nathan, you are correct; I did recently hear WTAM and it appears they are now teasing a local story, then tossing to the FNR 2-min TOH cast. I did overlook that they dumped overnight casts; it seems vaguely familiar that I heard that somewhere before. Not good for maintaining great station status, but I would argue that it probably doesn't effect too many people.

I put those two stations on the list because they "overperform." I have been to SW Florida on numerous occassions and it seems like these stations are very well known and their ratings are high for their signals' small coverage areas.
 
newhampshiredude said:
KJCB said:
WINK/WNOG??!?! Huh?

I put those two stations on the list because they "overperform." I have been to SW Florida on numerous occassions and it seems like these stations are very well known and their ratings are high for their signals' small coverage areas.


The premise of the thread is "stations that OVERPERFORM". This means stations that aren't actually 3rd with a 7 share, but often numero uno with near double digit (or actually double digit) ratings.

If this list is expanded to include stations that just do really well, then that expands the list to the point where the thread is, well, uninteresting.
 
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