Ocean County needs a Talk station

[JerseyShor]

Out of market stations WKXW and WABC are # 1 & 2 in the ratings. WOR is #6.

WKXW is a Trenton/Millville station and WOR & WABC are New York stations.

WABC and WOR have no content at all geared twoards Ocean County, yet they pull great numbers. These are stations licenced to serve cities 75 miles away!

If talk radio was availible locally it would clean up ratings-wise and most likely also revenue wise.

 

[tom]

NJ 101.5 isn't "out of market" ... it gets ratings in Monmouth/Ocean because it serves them well.
A local "Ocean County" talk station couldn't afford to do what NJ 101.5 does, and couldn't make
enough money to stay on the air. There is only so much you can say about a small area,
there will be the same 12 callers on the air over and over, and it will be boring. People are
listening to WABC and WOR and WKXW because they want "the bigger picture" ...
The only way local talk ever kind of works is on limited signal AM stations, where the
hosts sell their own shows, or BUY the time - and no one listens, and they barely get by.

 

[JerseyShor]

WKXW is a Trenton station just like everyone keeps saying that WPUR is an "Atlantic City" station.

How does WOND do it in Atlantic City?

 

[BRUSSTAR]

Out of market stations WKXW and WABC are # 1 & 2 in the ratings.

Vague phrases like "in the ratings" are usually meaningless (since they more often than not indicate a reference only to largely useless 12+ numbers).

Large chunks of WABC's lineup feature national syndication. Good programming, but there's nothing about Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. tailored to New York. And morning show Curtis & Kuby (along with much of the other WABC in-house programming) relies heavily on national topics, from what I've heard.

NJ 101.5 has done a phenomenal job over the years of positioning itself as a statewide giant. Few, if any advertisers or listeners (in that order of importance, of course) think of the station as a "Trenton" outlet. In fact, I'd argue NJ 101.5 is no more a "Trenton station" than Z-100 is a Newark station. I'd be surprised if more than 10-15% of NJ 101.5's business comes from Trenton.

WKXW is a Trenton station just like everyone keeps saying that WPUR is an "Atlantic City" station.

101.5 already has a huge presence (in the eyes of advertisers) in Monmouth-Ocean. While I don't doubt Cat Country has some clients there, the market for country (again, advertisers) is wide open and ready for the taking. As Tom pointed out, nobody anytime soon will be in a position to start "another 101.5" due to the astronomical cost and commitment involved. These days though, as you know, a music format can be launched with relative ease in a matter of hours.

How does WOND do it in Atlantic City?

Please re-read Tom's post, particularly the part about having the same twelve callers over and over.

 

[amfmsw]

Tom's mostly right on this. However in much of South Jersey (not all, not everyone), 101.5 is seen as a North Jersey station. Albeit a very good one.

As far as WOND, its' success has been localism. Some of the programming is seen as "old fashioned" by some, but it's always been there to help someone in the community. There's a lot of goodwill with those calls, and that keeps it going, financially and ratings wise.

 

[Starscream]

Tom's mostly right on this. However in much of South Jersey (not all, not everyone), 101.5 is seen as a North Jersey station. Albeit a very good one.

How do you figure? WKXW shows up in the Philly book, and the 97.3 simulcast has been growing steadily in the A.C. ratings. They actually do more live broadcasts down the shore (MonOc AND AC) during the summer than the rest of the year across the state.

Point stands, and Tom is 100 percent correct - there is no way an Ocean County only talk station would work.

 

[SoulCrusher]

You know something? It wouldn't surprise me to hear if one of the top formats in consideration for Press at 98.5 was NeoCon Talk. Think about it - Ocean County is staunchly Republican, The Breeze is known for featuring a couple of O'Reillys-in-training (Tim Downs, Captain Jack), and G Rock Radio has shown heavy support for bands with Conservative political viewpoints (3 Doors Down, Fuel, Nickelback, etc.). But they went for another format that's big with the same audience instead: Country. It's another chance to hear that anthem so near and dear to the hearts of Conservatives, Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA". Don't get the wrong idea: I'm not anti-Conservative - actually, I'm Independent. I'm just making an observation. Wouldn't have been a bad move, taking the market into consideration.

 

[chuckydoll]

You know something?It wouldn't surprise me to hear if one of the top formats in consideration for Press at 98.5 was NeoCon Talk.

That type of format is not without its pitfalls. Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage have political views that scare off major advertisers.

Any station that carries Limbaugh has to pay cash to air his show. When WBAL-1090 in Baltimore dropped Limbaugh earlier this year I read that WBAL had been paying around $10K-$15K a month as a rights fee. Crosstown WCBM-680 picked up Limbaugh but had to lay off employees in order to afford the rights fee.

As for Savage? At least one major company will not advertise on stations that carry his show.

 

[SoulCrusher]

You know something?It wouldn't surprise me to hear if one of the top formats in consideration for Press at 98.5 was NeoCon Talk.

That type of format is not without its pitfalls. Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage have political views that scare off major advertisers.

Any station that carries Limbaugh has to pay cash to air his show. When WBAL-1090 in Baltimore dropped Limbaugh earlier this year I read that WBAL had been paying around $10K-$15K a month as a rights fee. Crosstown WCBM-680 picked up Limbaugh but had to lay off employees in order to afford the rights fee.

As for Savage? At least one major company will not advertise on stations that carry his show.

Maybe it would work on an AM, but I can see it succeeding in this market. Even liberal New York City posts strong ratings for WABC, home of Curtis Sliwa, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and formerly Bob Grant. The only difference is a parent company with really deep pockets. But look at it this way - you've got Downs and The Captain to do two of your shows, so you could seek out lesser-known personalities or opt to pick up syndicated programming. Taking the political leanings of Monmouth/Ocean (and if the station were strong enough, Philly) into account, why wouldn't a station like this work so long as the overhead wasn't too high?

I agree that adding Savage wouldn't be the best idea - the guy's a loose cannon. He's not even Conservative in the true sense of the word, because when I've listened to him, he almost seemed to take an "anti-everything" stance. Wouldn't exactly translate to ratings gold out here, but in a lily-white area like this where everything is so clean cut, it would be a nice change of pace. Heck, I probably would even listen.

 

[damian542]

I have to side with Tom on this one.... NJ101.5 is just what it says... New Jersey.... I'm not saying that a local talk could not focus more on Ocean County... but you're talking about competing with BIG names (NJ101.5 and the NYC stations)... then you're boxing yourself into 100% local ads, and really... there's not enough money locally to spread between NJ1015 and the NYC stations AND a local talker.... so, you'd wind up with a local signal doing sat. programming, which is not local...

 

[chuckydoll]

Maybe it would work on an AM, but I can see it succeeding in this market.Even liberal New York City posts strong ratings for WABC, home of Curtis Sliwa, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and formerly Bob Grant.

WABC gets its biggest numbers in the lily-white exurbs -- Monmouth/Ocean, Morris County, Sussex County. NYC is majority black/brown.

I agree that adding Savage wouldn't be the best idea - the guy's a loose cannon.He's not even Conservative in the true sense of the word ...

Michael Savage has publicly called for putting Bush's opponents in concentration camps. There is a word for such a political philosophy -- fascism.