More Arbitrons: AAR, Salem mostly hold at the back of the pack

[mwebster]

More on talk radio in the Fall Arbitrons

In San Francisco, Clear Channel's progressive talk outlet KQKE holds steady just into whole numbers at 24th in the market and fourth among talk stations. ABC's KGO continues to rule talk radio in the Bay Area. CC cluster-mate KNEW (despite Bill O'Reilly's comments about terrorists attacking Coit Tower) has moved up and created some distance between itself and KQKE. Salem talk outlet KNTS does not show.

In Boston, Clear Channel's simulcast of progressive talk WKOK and WXKS continued to hold with fractional 12+ AQH numbers at 29th place in the market and in the 4th place among talkers - well behind the rest. Salem's WTTT is off the radar and not listed.

In Sacramento, Salem's KTKZ AM AND FM is back down to fractional numbers and is 25th overall. Locally owned progressive talk KSAC, in its last book with some AAR programs, drops more than a full point into fractional numbers and places at number 30. The two stations are third and fourth, respectively, among talk stations. Clear Channel's KFBK continues to dominate and even out-of-towner KGO does better. New AAR "affiliate" KCTC is down in its last Adult Standards book with a high-end acey-ducey share.

In Monterey, maverick AAR station KOMY ends up in the cellar with a small fractional share. Five talk stations place higher - three of them out of market (and the other is co-owned with KOMY). Non-AAR progressive talker (local plus Jones-Hartmann-Schultz-Lionel-Press-Basham-Newcomb) did not make the list.

In Providence, CC's WHJJ drops below a two share after discontinuing most AAR programming in favor of local hosts (two of whom are progressive). Talk radio takes time to build an audience. They did not give the AAR hosts much time; maybe they will allow the new local hosts time to build (or maybe not). WHJJ is at number 15 and is the number three talker behind their local competitor and out of market WBZ.

In Concord, New Hampshire, WTPL holds in the acey-ducey range and places at number 19 in their last book with Arnie Arnesen. Apparently this is not a talk market because TPL is the number one talker in the market.

In Philly, Inner City Broadasting's WHAT - which fell off the grid in the Spring and dropped the two shows it cleared from AAR (Franken and Rhodes) - is back in fractional numbers, pretty much where it was last Fall and Winter with Al and Randi. The station now airs local Urban talk hosts weekdays.

 

[Oldbones]

>
> In Concord, New Hampshire, WTPL holds in the acey-ducey
> range and places at number 19 in their last book with Arnie
> Arnesen. Apparently this is not a talk market because TPL
> is the number one talker in the market.
>

Very few talk stations in that market. The only "competitors" WTPL has are WKXL (which to their credit tries to be local, but the execution is horrible...no one's listened to this station in years) and WEMJ which ran a tourist info format for most of the book (they've since switched back to talk). Both are graveyard channel AMs which cover their COL & not much more. None of the aforementioned stations market themselves at all.

WGIR from Manchester comes in, but not really that well.

 

[robbbc]

> In Boston, Clear Channel's simulcast of progressive talk
> WKOK and WXKS continued to hold with fractional 12+ AQH
> numbers at 29th place in the market and in the 4th place
> among talkers - well behind the rest. Salem's WTTT is off
> the radar and not listed.
>
Mostly numbers from WXKS (which does pretty good for a 5/1 kW) not WKOX which pulls in next to nothing for ratings. The short days in Boston (basically killing PM drive) starting after daylight savings ended and reception problems due to a Canadian station's interference have also hurt.

Dead horse beating follows: It goes without saying that CC has programmed Ed Schultz in the afternoon after Franken to serve the underserved midwestern US democrat living in Boston. They tape delay Rhodes and bring Springer back in the wee hours. The station has not been programmed correctly to serve Boston and they are paying the price for it.

> In Providence, CC's WHJJ drops below a two share after
> discontinuing most AAR programming in favor of local hosts
> (two of whom are progressive). Talk radio takes time to
> build an audience. They did not give the AAR hosts much
> time; maybe they will allow the new local hosts time to
> build (or maybe not). WHJJ is at number 15 and is the
> number three talker behind their local competitor and out of
> market WBZ.

WKOX should be listenable in the Providence market on a decent Car stereo during the day. Why play AAR there when you can already hear the Boston station? If CC keeps AAR on WKOX after the upgrade I doubt there would be any need for an affiliate in Providence. I wonder if they can pick up WLIB after dark. All that being said, I was shocked that they considered their AAR numbers bad, they looked pretty good to me. Still, this could have more to do with losing PM drive due to standard time.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by robbbc on 01/16/06 03:02 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[doc9464]

> WKOX should be listenable in the Providence market on a
> decent Car stereo during the day. Why play AAR there when
> you can already hear the Boston station? If CC keeps AAR on
> WKOX after the upgrade I doubt there would be any need for
> an affiliate in Providence. I wonder if they can pick up
> WLIB after dark. All that being said, I was shocked that
> they considered their AAR numbers bad, they looked pretty
> good to me. Still, this could have more to do with losing PM
> drive due to standard time.
>

Its not my friend and I live between boston and providence....the reception is atrocious.....expert Dan Strassburg says the new pattern after the upgrade might make things worst south of 128.....i bought an XM radio because AAR has a pretty damn good promotion...but i don't like XM.....this is my stop gap. Neither Boston or Providence has Randi Rhodes live. WLIB 1190 can't quite reach Providence. Providence needs AAR. There are several stations....some in bad financial/management like WALE 990 - would be a huge effort to turn this station into something decent, and Boston U still would like to get rid of 1290 (simulcast of WBUR boston). Before I bought my xm radio, i was listening to a static filled WCKY 1530 but i could get some of Randi when WKOX went to nighttime wattage. I hope someone will bring progressive radio to PVD and stay with it.

WHJJ is a very confused station and I don't know why it was necessary to bail earlier. They never did do much to embrace liberal radio nor were they receptive to several suggestions from myself and many other liberals in the area...keeping Imus and airing Jerry Springer at his normal time were painful (Blue states don't need springer or shultz). They also failed to make adjustments to keep all 4 hours of Randi on...they played a 2 hour Randi Show...which they still keep to this day...and then air this very awful local host for 2 hours. There current schedule is confusing and lacking in direction. On the providence board, we had verification that there was no change in ad revenue...so it wasn't $$$.

 

[dampier]

> In San Francisco, Clear Channel's progressive talk outlet
> KQKE holds steady just into whole numbers at 24th in the
> market and fourth among talk stations. ABC's KGO continues
> to rule talk radio in the Bay Area. CC cluster-mate KNEW
> (despite Bill O'Reilly's comments about terrorists attacking
> Coit Tower) has moved up and created some distance between
> itself and KQKE. Salem talk outlet KNTS does not show.

I wonder what O'Reilly's specific ratings are on the station. Did he pay a price for his remarks in the market, is his show dwindling in listeners as it has been in several markets where he's been dropped, or has it held its own?

> In Providence, CC's WHJJ drops below a two share after
> discontinuing most AAR programming in favor of local hosts
> (two of whom are progressive).

And the nutty former Survivor contestant Helen Glover who someone thought would make a good talk show host.

 

[mwebster]

Excuse me. Have you ever actually heard this person whom you "attack" do her talk show? You're in Rochester and the station in Providence does not stream.

It seems Survivor contestant is no worse a qualification for the job than ...
Stand up comedian.
Writer for Saturday Night Live.
Political activist in rural Massachusetts.
Game show host, and daughter of a congressman and former American Express spokesperson.
Trash TV host.
Small market TV sportscaster.
Political campaign operative.




>
> And the nutty former Survivor contestant Helen Glover who
> someone thought would make a good talk show host.
>

 

[robbbc]

> > WKOX should be listenable in the Providence market on a
> > decent Car stereo during the day. Why play AAR there when
> > you can already hear the Boston station? If CC keeps AAR
> on
> > WKOX after the upgrade I doubt there would be any need for
>
> > an affiliate in Providence. I wonder if they can pick up
> > WLIB after dark. All that being said, I was shocked that
> > they considered their AAR numbers bad, they looked pretty
> > good to me. Still, this could have more to do with losing
> PM
> > drive due to standard time.
> >
>
> Its not my friend and I live between boston and
> providence....the reception is atrocious.....expert Dan
> Strassburg says the new pattern after the upgrade might make
> things worst south of 128.....i bought an XM radio because
> AAR has a pretty damn good promotion...but i don't like
> XM.....this is my stop gap. Neither Boston or Providence has
> Randi Rhodes live. WLIB 1190 can't quite reach Providence.
> Providence needs AAR. There are several stations....some in
> bad financial/management like WALE 990 - would be a huge
> effort to turn this station into something decent, and
> Boston U still would like to get rid of 1290 (simulcast of
> WBUR boston). Before I bought my xm radio, i was listening
> to a static filled WCKY 1530 but i could get some of Randi
> when WKOX went to nighttime wattage. I hope someone will
> bring progressive radio to PVD and stay with it.
>
> WHJJ is a very confused station and I don't know why it was
> necessary to bail earlier. They never did do much to embrace
> liberal radio nor were they receptive to several suggestions
> from myself and many other liberals in the area...keeping
> Imus and airing Jerry Springer at his normal time were
> painful (Blue states don't need springer or shultz). They
> also failed to make adjustments to keep all 4 hours of Randi
> on...they played a 2 hour Randi Show...which they still keep
> to this day...and then air this very awful local host for 2
> hours. There current schedule is confusing and lacking in
> direction. On the providence board, we had verification that
> there was no change in ad revenue...so it wasn't $$$.
>
I wonder if the reception problem can be blamed on the canadian station that has blown a fuse.

Anyway- You can pick up WKOX well into southeastern NH so I just figured that it should get into Providence (Radio-locator, for entertainment only of course, shows a pretty good signal into RI).

 

[dampier]

> Excuse me. Have you ever actually heard this person whom
> you "attack" do her talk show? You're in Rochester and the
> station in Providence does not stream.

If I hadn't heard her before, I wouldn't have called her nutty. She's sort of a low rent "populist" a-la O'Reilly. She says outrageous things to get the phones ringing, but a lot of it backfires, such as this charmer:

"If terrorists can say they are acting in the name of their God, why can’t the Pledge of Allegiance be used in our schools, which my children attend and my tax dollars fund?"

What?!?!

 

[The RadioFan]

More Arbitrons: Louisville's WKJK-AM hold at the back of the pack

Clear Channel's WKJK-AM 1080 in Louisville has been at the bottom since it switched to Talk about five years ago. It normally receives a fractional of a point. However, at times, it doesn't hit the radar screen. They carry Glenn Beck from 9am-12pm, Sean Hannity from 3pm-6pm, Phil Hendrie 10pm-1am and John and Jeff from 1am-5am. However, the remainder times are filled with paid programs, with the exception Bloomberg radio from 5am-7am.

On the weekends, their lineup consists of paid programs on Saturday and Sunday mornings, Gary Sullivan on Sundays 12pm-3pm and the remainder with Bloomberg radio. Bob Brinker's weekend financial show seems to be growing and he does not have an affiliate in Louisville.

I have a hard time believing that the paid programs are bringing greater revenue to this station compared to other national talk shows not aired in Louisville like Mike Savage, Bob Brinker, Bill O'Reilly, Larry Elder or Mike Reagan. I understand the live feed of Bill O'reilly would go up against Rush Limbaugh on their 50 KW sister station WHAS-AM 840. However, I don't understand the reason for not placing Mike Savage on the 7pm-10pm slot since WHAS-AM is normally in local sports talk programming during most of that time. Also, Savage could be a good competitor to Hugh Hewitt on Salem's WGTK-AM 970. For a 10KW/1KW station, it seems WKJK is a huge waste with these low quality paid programs.