New 12 plus numbers due today

[raccoonradio]

My guess is they'll probably post them just before 5 pm, as before (go to radioandrecords.com and click
Ratings then look for, or enter in, Boston...radio-info is also relaying the numbers I guess, from the front
page)

Boston, MA (#11)
Updated: Apr 04, 2007

Next Update: May 01, 2007
maybe talk it over here? just a monthly update but whatever

 

[rapking]

WBZ at the Top , Jamn is the Number One Music station, And Boston radio market still sucks !

 

[Eli Polonsky]

WMJX and WODS essentially swapped places again in their ongoing tag-team battle for top adult music station. Maybe the Christmas music boost for Oldies finally wore off?

WCRB is up a little bit despite the signal that so many people complain about.

The best showing yet for WJIB!

WHRB, Harvard's (technically) commercial college station, made it's occasional showing over the threshold!

Rumba still bubbling under the .04 threshold somewhere, but WNNW 800 still has a showing.

Otherwise, nothing special. Some stations a little bit up, some stations a little bit down. Yawn.

 

[TowerBuzz]

Wbcn .2 above WBOS, .6 above wfnx, that's ugly. Jack said it best in "Batman";

" This town needs an enima"

 

[Varulven]

RKO down but you will see the Red Sox pick that up right quick no fault of Todd Carr and Howie Feinburger.

What's great to see is WJIB and WPLM pretty much outscoring WBCN and WBOS when you factor in their
weaker signals in the greater Boston area. It just goes to show you that playing great music always wins out.

WBOS needs to COPY the River's playlist, not just hire their staff. The River is SO MUCH more listenable
than WBOS, WJIB is so much more listenable than WBCN - despite the difference in format one can hear
great songs on JIB, you just hear the same old same old on WBCN with annoying jocks in between.

Opie & Anthony? HA! Too Bad and Rich? PLEASE! The vacuum in the mid-day. Of course pedestrian
is better than AWFUL which is what we had with Oedi in power (except for Stern), but once Oedipus poisoned the tree all the fruit thereafter was going to be tainted. Look at what we are left with.

You need a truly creative P.D. to clean up the mess left by the former regime. Wellington is too much of a
cookie cutter corporate follower. His predecessor was like George W. Bush, ruin the great thing that was
created by those who came before. There is absolutely no creativity at WBCN (not that there is at
WRKO).

lis·ten·a·ble (lĭs'ə-nə-bəl) Pronunciation Key
adj. Being such that listening is pleasurable: an undistinguished but listenable soundtrack.


I told you so.

p.s. Eli, how did WHRB get into the Arbitrons? Is it a commercial station? Is WUMB for that matter?

With all of WUMB's signals, why isn't WUMB showing up?

Also - perhaps the WJIB fund raising drive got a lot more attention than..."The WROR Fugitive" ?

 

[brightonboris]

Also - perhaps the WJIB fund raising drive got a lot more attention than..."The WROR Fugitive" ?

Yea, Joe...that really happened.
Go blog it out.

 

[raccoonradio]

OK I'm getting a looksee at the ratings myself (had to go to work just as they were being released I guess)

TALK
WBZ, talk at night, still #1. WRKO slightly down but good for seventh place overall. WTKK drops by just a twinge more than 'RKO did and is in 11th place. WILD-AM (urban talk) --they're down in the bottom half...
no showing as usual for WTTT
'BCN drops again...is Free or Guy Talk on tap?

Mike about the same...And yes listener supported WJIB perhaps its best showing ever!
'RKO and 'EEI will improve as Sox season continues.

Brian Maloney, SaveWRKO.com: "according to one trusted Boston radio insider, convicted felon Tom Finneran turned in poor results, while Howie Carr's ratings were very strong. Meanwhile, one sneaky shoe building regular tells me the spin campaign is already underway! According to the insider, WRKO's party line is that Finneran was hurt by the poor performance of his predecessor, Scott Allen Miller. In addition, Carr's upward move is being credited to the Red Sox preseason games that were inserted into his timeslot."

 

[raccoonradio]

>>With all of WUMB's signals, why isn't WUMB showing up?

is WHRB considered a commercial station? It's in the commercial band...If this counts non-comm/public
where's WGBH and WBUR (supposedly powerhouse ratings for latter?_

 

[Varulven]

Methinks that the WHRB listing is a mistake.

Howie Carr is stale beyond belief. Watch him spin those Red Sox numbers in his favor.

 

[TSBench]

Methinks that the WHRB listing is a mistake.

WHRB has been a commercial station for as long as I can remember, probably going back 50 years. It has an unusual 'arms length' relationship with the university which may be unique in the industry.

Howie Carr is stale beyond belief. Watch him spin those Red Sox numbers in his favor.

He may be 'stale' but he is still the station tentpole. The numbers are what they are. Interestingly, some folks were positing that the addition of the Sox was an 'in house' attempt
to destroy his show. I guess that theory is now, as they say, no longer operative. But, the Sox numbers for weekday afternoons couldn't account for Carr's strength, since most of the pre-emptions were for pre-season games which don't count and may have actually hurt his ratings, and the two real ratings-draw games, the home and away openers, were similcast on WEEI. Any bump that Carr is going to get from the Sox will show in the next two books, not this one.

The station which should be scratching its head is 'TTK, which brought Severin back for big bucks mostly to beat Carr, and got thumped


Regards.
TSB

 

[argytunes]

I'm still laughing at Tower Buzz's remark:
THIS TOWN NEEDS AN ENEMA!

Come to think of it...what radio market doesn't? ???

argytunes

 

[webcastboy]

>>With all of WUMB's signals, why isn't WUMB showing up?
is WHRB considered a commercial station? It's in the commercial band...If this counts non-comm/public
where's WGBH and WBUR (supposedly powerhouse ratings for latter?)

Stations that broadcast between 92.1 and 107.9 (or the AM band) are inherently commercial unless they file with the FCC to operate as a non-commercial station. A few stations do so, I think WBUR 1240AM on the Cape is, for example. But many do not...the benefits of reduced filing fees and whatnot are outweighed by the programming restrictions.

Anyways, WHRB is indeed a commercial radio station, even though they are run out of a college and owned by (AFAIK) a non-profit organization (the Harvard Radio Broadcasting Corp). That's why they enjoy that "hands off" relationship from Harvard. WMBR has a similar deal in that they're owned by the Technology Broadcasting Service, not by MIT...although WMBR is, of course, a non-comm broadcasting in the non-comm band.

There are also a handful of grandfathered Class D FM stations that got bumped to the commercial band back in the 1980's. Even though they're in the commercial band, they are required to be non-commercial licensees. Locally, WBRS, WRBB, WHHB and WYAJ are all examples.

Stations that broadcast between 87.9 and 91.9 cannot operate as a commercial station; they must be non-commercial. That's why WUMB (and WGBH and WBUR) do not show up in the normal Arbitrons, although Arbitron is planning on ending that distinction due in large part to consistent strong showings by stations like WBUR. If you look at WBUR's ratings (via RRConline.org) they absolutely cream most other stations in the market in the key 25-54 demo. Only WBZ, WMJX and WRKO/WEEI (Red Sox) are serious competition to WBUR these days.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Howie Carr is stale beyond belief. Watch him spin those Red Sox numbers in his favor.

There are no Red Sox numbers in the Winter book.

 

[Varulven]

Dumber! Don't spoil our fun! Most people don't know that! Gotta keep the anti-Carr factions happy.

 

[raccoonradio]

Fybush noted this on boston-radio-interest: little WJIB has higher ratings 12 plus than WFNX or WXRV!
Isn't JIB a one person operation? Classified as commercial but doesn't run any ads...managed to raise
$88K in 6 weeks (mostly $20-25 donations)...dedicated listeners...

 

[Eli Polonsky]

p.s. Eli, how did WHRB get into the Arbitrons? Is it a commercial station? Is WUMB for that matter?

As posted by various people above, WHRB does have a commercial license, and is technically a commercial station. That's why it shows up in the published 12+ ratings when it occasionally achieves an .04 or better. There are very few advertisments during their regular music programming, and the few they do air are mainly low-key spots for local establishments. However, listen when they air a Harvard sports game sometime... that's when they have sponsors up the wazoo!

The one time I did some programming there, as a guest producer/host on one of their "orgies" back in 1992, we had two local sponsors with commercials aired on the show.

With all of WUMB's signals, why isn't WUMB showing up?

As mentioned in posts above, WUMB is a non-commercial professional public radio station, like WBUR and WGBH. I haven't seen the non-comm ratings for the latest book, but in the previous one, WUMB was not above the threshold that would have shown up if non-comms were included in the published 12+ ratings. It has been at some times in past years, but not for the past few books anyway. The audience they do still have is very dedicated and (financially) supportive though, and they have a high TSL (average time spent listening) for their numbers. Many of their listeners put it on in the background for their entire workday.

WBUR would have shown up within the top ten 12+ (and much higher when isolated to the 25-54 age group, especially for certain dayparts), and WGBH would have shown up within the top fifteen overall. The only student college station that would have shown up if non-comms were published is WERS, which would have placed within the top twenty. The two eclectic non-comm college/community stations with decent signals within most of the market, WMBR and WZBC, do have numbers, but well below the published .04 threshold.

 

[cjf68]

Fybush noted this on boston-radio-interest: little WJIB has higher ratings 12 plus than WFNX or WXRV!
Isn't JIB a one person operation? Classified as commercial but doesn't run any ads...managed to raise
$88K in 6 weeks (mostly $20-25 donations)...dedicated listeners...


I can`t get the station down my way, ( I can get WJTO if the weather is clear.) But I did send in a check anyway.
How `bout we send in a little more money, so Bob can take over WPLM and put it out of it`s own misery??
I know----I`m banging the one note drum again. I will retreat now.