Nash FM Does Not Seem to be Gaining Much Traction

[Barry]

Back in March of this year, when WNSH had been on the air for about two months, it had an overall PPM rating of 1.8.
The latest monthlies show it at 1.9 for August. According to AllAccess, that is #20 among the local stations, down from #18 in July.
AllAccess also reports that in the past month, Nash drifted down slightly from #17 in the 25-54 demo, to a tie at #18.
The one (slightly) bright spot was 18-34, where they have done best. The article reports that they moved up there from #18 to #15. AllAccess states they have been #17 in 18-49 for five months straight.
WNSH had a cume of about 860,000 in March. In August it was 1,020,000.
The country format in general apparently remains strong, as indicated by country stations remaining #1 in Boston and Baltimore.
I realize that Nash has only been on the air for a bit over seven months. But shouldn't its ratings be moving up, at least slowly?

 

[TheBigA]

I think if you look back at the ratings for WYNY, that's about where they averaged. The population make-up in Boston is different from NYC.

 

[Jeffrey]

I was just going to say that. WYNY ended up with about a 1.7 when they signed off and before the tri-cast which did even worse.
Since the days of WHN-AM country has not done well in NYC or Long Island. The metro area is more ethnic than ever. Whether country would work or not in NYC was discussed on these boards for years prior to WNSH but now that it has been tried again it would appear that little has changed despite the popularity of country music nation wide.
Obviously Nash is different however in that it is a brand or what is intended to be a nationwide brand with WNSH being the anchor.
While I'm sure Cumulus hopes WNSH will do better, my guess is that it's more about selling Nash as a brand nationwide and to have a presence in market no. 1, despite the lack of stellar ratings, will earn you more money nonetheless. That was the only way country was going to come back to NY...certainly not as a stand alone station.

 

[ansky212]

The other thing to consider is that Nash has had very little promotion. Aside from a few billboards in the city when the station first launched, there has been absolutely no promotion of the station on TV, and I have not seen a single advertisement for Nash anywhere in NJ (where the station would likely gain the most listeners).

 

[thataveragejoe]

The other thing to consider is that Nash has had very little promotion. Aside from a few billboards in the city when the station first launched, there has been absolutely no promotion of the station on TV, and I have not seen a single advertisement for Nash anywhere in NJ (where the station would likely gain the most listeners).

Not a very good excuse 8 months later. There have been billboards, they ran that Nash Bash concert, they were featured on TV...they aren't exactly invisible here.

The morning show is not helping in my opinion. Summer is also a funny read for ratings, but the plateau is pretty apparent now. Where did all the people go who defended the likelihood of a 3 by summer for 10s of pages for months on end...? The station will be fine for what it's supposed to be, if Cumulus ever gets around to building the brand elsewhere.

 

[Barry]

Perhaps there are a few programming issues that may be contributing to Nash's stagnant ratings.
I think it still has the feel of a station under construction-There are no personalities on during the evening hours (when its ratings are supposedly the highest). The only show during weekends is American Country Countdown, which is aired twice on Sundays. Saturdays are totally automated.
And the playlist remains very tight. Even though I do not listen very much , I have heard some of the songs from a few years back played many times, sometimes twice in a day. Yet many big songs and artists from the recent past have been ignored.
The new morning show may be too chatty for people that tune in primarily to hear country music. And listeners that enjoy morning zoo type chat can choose between several shows on other stations, that have been around for many years. But if the intent is to eventually syndicate the program, it may do alright in smaller markets that do not have as many shows of that type.
And the many country music fans that reside along the NJ shore area have quite an alternative with Thunder Country 106.3/106.5. It is very different from Nash. Thunder has a very broad playlist, and a morning show that is focused on country music.

 

[TheBigA]

From what I've seen, both Thunder and WJVC seem to have lost listeners to NASH.

If you look at WKLB in Boston, it runs with a very tight playlist, is largely automated on weekends, and has a chatty morning show, and the station is #1.

The fact is that country has a limited audience in NYC. That's why Clear Channel and CBS didn't go to country. Cumulus doesn't care about local ratings, because it's not only selling it to local advertisers.

 

[MTNProductions]

I guess that WNSH's "Nash" is doing okay, but I listened to a little bit right before heading to Kennedy Airport back in late June. "Nash" has been with the country format during the first 9 months since it hit the airwaves at 94.7. Outside of NYC, they have two stations in the Hudson Valley area that plays country music including WRWD which has been with the station since 1989, but next year will be 25 years, and WRWD is owned by CC, and on the other hand, there's WKXP/WZAD's "The Wolf" at 94.3 and 97.3, the home of CJ and Beth Christy, and they still plays the same music except they carried New York Yankees baseball when it is simulcasting it on WCBS-FM's HD2 channel, but I thought CJ mentioned this morning when I started rolling that aircheck that he "The Yanks will play the Red Sox and can be heard loud and clear" and it's in "FM clarity" according to what Beth Christy was saying in the promos. "The Wolf" at both 94.3 and 97.3 are still owned by Cumulus, the same company that owns WNSH's "Nash", and so does WABC and WPLJ. Cumulus in the Hudson Valley outside of NYC still owns 6 of the remaining stations like WPDH, WCZX, WRRV/WRRB, WEOK/WALL's "True Oldies" and WKNY. But I hope that maybe soon, I read the announcement that a new ownership will be taking over the 6 Cumulus stations in the Hudson Valley, and the new owner will be Townsquare Media. Townsquare owns most of the Albany stations such as WGNA, WQSH's "Pop Crush" and a few stations in Albany which is about 130 miles north of New York City, and they're going to take over all of the Cumulus outlets in the Poughkeepsie outlet for the next few months, and I hope there's going to be some speculation on what's going to happen. Will keep you posted in the Hudson Valley board ASAP.

And let's not forget that the only station in Westchester that is not taking over by Townsquare is Cumulus, and it still remains as a company that only owns WFAS and WFAS-AM.

As of right now "Nash" is doing okay in the ratings.

 

[Jeffrey]

I agree that country has a limited audience in New York and also that Cumulus isn't too concerned with it's ratings in NY since it's a national brand but looking at the PPM's over the last 8 or so months I don't see that WKMK has lost any traction since WNSH went on the air.

 

[The Spy]

Think of it as..not really an NYC station..Cumulus does. Country doesn't work in NYC!

 

[TheBigA]

I don't see that WKMK has lost any traction since WNSH went on the air.

One year ago, the station had a 5 share. When Nash signed on, it dropped to a 3.5. Now, it's risen to a 4. Still not back to where it was, at a time when country shares nationally are very healthy. One might ask why Thunder isn't doing better, given its local focus.

 

[Jeffrey]

As we know WKMK is a Monmouth-Ocean County New Jersey focused station. Basically distant suburbs to the south of the city. WKMK does very well there and is in fact number 1. They lost traction in winter of 2012 but for the most part have remained steady since then as we can all see in the PPM's.
You'd originally stated that WNSH took away listeners from WKMK and they may have but it could also be the other way around. WNSH would typically do well in an area with a demographic make up like Monmouth and Ocean but since WKMK was already there, it hasn't helped them.
Before WNSH signed on, I remember thinking, why would a media company take a chance now with country when there is a suburban station, that was also relatively new, already pulling in many of the listeners in the demos and area they would be after? There just aren't that many country fans in this area but alas we all know now that Cumulus' only objective was to get country on in market number 1 despite the ratings so as to sell the brand and music on a national level. It may have been a smart move as I know the CMA was head over heals with the fact that they could now promote concerts and potentially sell more music and have a presence in market 1. It seems like however that Cumulus may have dropped the ball. They were supposed to create some sort of country life style, whatever that means, with a magazine, more Nash stations nationwide, etc. There are some more Nash stations nationwide now but I'm not sure how much this whole creation has actually earned them but then again I don't work for Cumulus so it may already be working despite WNSH's poor showing locally.

 

[mbatchelor]

Here is what I am thinking - 1)WNSH is a B Grade signal in a lot of NYC because of the tower being in NJ 2)94.7 FM is a frequency that doesn't even exist in the minds of most people because of the religious stuff that aired on that station for so many years 3)It sounds as though promotion has been fairly limited. What they are getting right now is the hard core Country fans; not a lot of crossover. I have to wonder if Country would do much better on an established NYC frequency.

 

[TheBigA]

I have to wonder if Country would do much better on an established NYC frequency.

That's simply not going to happen. The reality is that the primary audience for a country station is not going to come from Manhattan or Brooklyn. No one is going to use a more powerful signal with a format that isn't supported by local advertisers.

As I said, this format is performing as well as it did when it was on 103.5. Placing higher expectations on the format is unrealistic, and I'm sure Cumulus isn't planning on this station getting more than a 2 share.

 

[Barry]

WNSH started with quite a splash, as the Nash Bash they held shortly after sign-on had performances from most of the current country stars. They have been relatively low-key since that event.
Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey recently stated in an interview that Cumulus will not be implementing most of the plans they have for the Nash brand, including such cross-promotion as the lifestyle magazine and online videocasts of the morning show, until next year. Perhaps that may have to do with the current lack of promotion for WNSH. As Nash may still be considered a product under development, Cumulus may feel they will have more to promote when more has been added to the brand.
With regard to programming, even if corporate wants to go with a morning zoo show, does it make sense to keep the chitchat going between 9 and 10 am? Many of the music stations in the area go commercial free during that hour so that they can run a lot of music to encourage people to listen at work. Country station WKLB, #1 in Boston (mentioned in earlier posts) has hardly any talk during that time slot, and offers a 30 minute music sweep.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Perhaps there are a few programming issues that may be contributing to Nash's stagnant ratings.
I think it still has the feel of a station under construction-There are no personalities on during the evening hours (when its ratings are supposedly the highest). The only show during weekends is American Country Countdown, which is aired twice on Sundays. Saturdays are totally automated.
And the playlist remains very tight. Even though I do not listen very much , I have heard some of the songs from a few years back played many times, sometimes twice in a day. Yet many big songs and artists from the recent past have been ignored.
The new morning show may be too chatty for people that tune in primarily to hear country music. And listeners that enjoy morning zoo type chat can choose between several shows on other stations, that have been around for many years. But if the intent is to eventually syndicate the program, it may do alright in smaller markets that do not have as many shows of that type.
And the many country music fans that reside along the NJ shore area have quite an alternative with Thunder Country 106.3/106.5. It is very different from Nash. Thunder has a very broad playlist, and a morning show that is focused on country music.

Barry: I don't know how to tell you this, but country is a current based format. It rotates it's current hits generally around every 3 to 5 hours, depending upon category. Hearing a song twice a day is not unusual, and would not be the reason why people would not listen. People listen to Z-100, don't they? They rotate their songs, I would suspect, a lot faster than Nash.

 

[dcowboy7]

Barry: I don't know how to tell you this, but country is a current based format. It rotates it's current hits generally around every 3 to 5 hours, depending upon category. Hearing a song twice a day is not unusual, and would not be the reason why people would not listen. People listen to Z-100, don't they? They rotate their songs, I would suspect, a lot faster than Nash.

No hes saying that some older songs he hears 2x a day yet other older songs never at all.

So basically if they are gonna play an older song 2x a day at least mix in some other older songs instead.

 

[Tina Delgado]

A big part of Nash's ratings stagnation is they didn't hire a great PD with a strong track record of programming today's Country music.

They hired a Hot AC guy who was convenient. He is overseen by hasbeens and neverweres. I'm not trying to be mean, but why not hire the best for NYC?

Big radio companies are lazy and the guys who run it, and their henchmen have big egos and no talent.

Name a big station success story for the Dickey Brothers? Or Jan Jeffries, or Mike McVay, where they actually do the work?

 

[TheBigA]

A big part of Nash's ratings stagnation is they didn't hire a great PD with a strong track record of programming today's Country music.

WYNY 103.5 had some of the best programmers with strong track records in other markets, and they got the same numbers this guy is getting. Were they really that bad back then?

 

[Jeffrey]

No hes saying that some older songs he hears 2x a day yet other older songs never at all.

So basically if they are gonna play an older song 2x a day at least mix in some other older songs instead.

All stations do that. WNOW will play a 7 year old song 2-3 times in a day for maybe several days until it drops out of rotation. I don't think current country is probably any different. Most commercial stations in the US have very tight playlists.