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Official and complete

Re: Official and complete..almost

> WDVE is the #1 station overall.
>

It's not really official. Sam, er, Radio Realist
hasn't turned in his book yet.

And how in the world could a Renda station get
close to 3-WS???

...<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by tibbs on 01/18/06 02:32 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> > WDVE is the #1 station overall.
> >
>
> It's not really official. Sam, er, Radio Realist
> hasn't turned in his book yet.
>
> And how in the world could a Renda station get
> close to 3-WS???

Wish has always been a very strong performer, in demo and otherwise.

What really struck me was that the overall numbers for the top three were even and rounded nicely. Results in this fact:

26% of the overall audience in Pittsburgh listens to just 3 stations.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Johnny Morgan on 01/18/06 03:15 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> > > WDVE is the #1 station overall.
> > >
> >
> > It's not really official. Sam, er, Radio Realist
> > hasn't turned in his book yet.
> >
> > And how in the world could a Renda station get
> > close to 3-WS???
>
> Wish has always been a very strong performer, in demo and
> otherwise.
>
> What really struck me was that the overall numbers for the
> top three were even and rounded nicely. Results in this
> fact:
>
> 26% of the overall audience in Pittsburgh listens to just 3
> stations.
>
And was all of that advertising worth it for BOB? I'd like to see the 25-54 on that....doesn't seem it was worth it. 'DVE's probably going to have a great Phase 1 of the Winter Arbitrend given the success of the Steelers, and that they are the 800-pound classic rock gorilla. Since Allegheny County has the 2nd oldest population in the US, 2 long-time favs, classic rock & the Steelers will reign. And with heritage stations rounding out that 26%, I don't see a big change in the top 3 coming for sometime unless Arbitron gets diaries out to the surrounding counties.
 
Here's what struck me- ESPN & WPTT

WEAE- Is Junker and Crowe catching on? Mark Madden learning new tricks? I'm verrrrry surprised!

Oh, sure, you expected a bump for football season, just as WBGG had. But I had basically thought that the "angry and dumb sports schtick" had been played- I mean what else can Mark Madden say that will "shock" us and the stations ratings had been stagnant for awhile.

Could some of the TV exposure the station has been getting on WTAE-TV have benefitted?

2.4 is the best they've ever done- it's double what they were doing before. They were not as popular during football season in 2004 when the Steelers were 15-1. Could the Arena issue be gathering listeners?

WBGG also got the bump for the Steelers to get to within 0.1 of their all-time high but you know they'd like to do better. I still believe if Clear Channel wanted to put some money into that station they'd do better than WEAE but that won't happen.

But going over here- remember when everyone on here was saying "WBGG should go Air America" and I pointed out I thought that was foolish with all the sports contacts they had?

What about WPTT? I've said how played Hoerth and Cullen are. They dropped to WBGG ratings- but are trying to reach a much larger audience. They are just awful.

We don't want to say it- because there is a sense of what those two did in the 80s in this town- but somebody get them an investment portfolio and cut them back or SOMETHING because they are sooooooo past their prime.

Granted, Air America isn't doing much, either, but if you were going to have a station that was to pick up the format I would say right now it would be much more beneficial for WPTT.
 
Re: Here's what struck me- ESPN & WPTT

> 2.4 is the best they've ever done- it's double what they
> were doing before. They were not as popular during football
> season in 2004 when the Steelers were 15-1. Could the Arena
> issue be gathering listeners?

The arena issue is gathering no listeners and Madden is killing himself by banging it as much as he does. Every two days he has a new conspiracy theory that's been spoon-fed to him by the Pens. It's an issue, it should be discussed...but not as much as he hits it. Especially not in a week when the Steelers are headed to the AFC Championship game. He accuses the rest of the media of shilling for the Steelers, but the audience can't get enough Steeler talk. In the meantime, the Pens PR office is virtually writing his script.

>
> WBGG also got the bump for the Steelers to get to within 0.1
> of their all-time high but you know they'd like to do
> better. I still believe if Clear Channel wanted to put some
> money into that station they'd do better than WEAE but that
> won't happen.

We've been over this before -- WBGG serves its purpose in the CC empire just as it is.

> Granted, Air America isn't doing much, either, but if you
> were going to have a station that was to pick up the format
> I would say right now it would be much more beneficial for
> WPTT.

If/when WPTT changes frequencies, they'll probably make an effort to be more competitive. As it is now, they don't have a chance for about 14 hours a day because of their signal. So they sell what they can -- Cullen and Hoerth. As long as those shows are cost-effective, they're fine. The rest is off the satellite or brokered, so that's not a concern. You don't even have to pay a part-timer minimum wage to run the board these days. It's classic Renda -- find a niche that nobody wants and serve it while keeping costs as low as possible. WPTT isn't geared to compete with the big stations. It's supposed to make profitable use of an absolutely crappy AM signal. That's what it does.
 
almost

'cuz it's pretty much alone in the format- that's a huge advantage.
>
> And how in the world could a Renda station get
> close to 3-WS???
>
> ...
>
> > WDVE is the #1 station overall.
> >
>
> It's not really official. Sam, er, Radio Realist
> hasn't turned in his book yet.
 
Re: Here's what struck me- ESPN & WPTT

> He accuses
> the rest of the media of shilling for the Steelers, but the
> audience can't get enough Steeler talk.

One only has to look at the mighty 'DVE to see the effect of that team.

OK, so the games only run on Sundays. But though I can't pick up 'DVE here, I'm sure they recycle TONS of listeners into weekday drive time dayparts. If they're like every other FM NFL flagship, they sprinkle healthy doses of a very popular team into their important dayparts.

(Sorry...I'm in Northeast Ohio, so it's difficult for me to type the "S" word. :D)

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Re: Here's what struck me- ESPN & WPTT

Boy you called that right.

F you ESPN Radio!! I NEVER listen. Why?? Because you seemingly pretend the Steelers don't exist and it really pisses me off. So you don't have the rights. So what. Nobody else has them either except CC. But ESPN stands for SPORTS. As in, ALL sports. Especially your hometown football team. I think you really owe it to sports fans to do a better job covering them if you want to pretend to be a sports station.

The on-air attitude I feel from ESPN is palpable, its like because they don't have the rights, they just don't give them any airtime. Well fine, you guys keep on doing that. And I'll keep on giving my TSL to Clear Channel.


>
> It's an issue, it should be discussed...but
> not as much as he hits it. Especially not in a week when the
> Steelers are headed to the AFC Championship game. He accuses
> the rest of the media of shilling for the Steelers, but the
> audience can't get enough Steeler talk. In the meantime, the
> Pens PR office is virtually writing his script.
>
>
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> > > > WDVE is the #1 station overall.
> > > >
> > >
> > > It's not really official. Sam, er, Radio Realist
> > > hasn't turned in his book yet.
> > >
> > > And how in the world could a Renda station get
> > > close to 3-WS???
> >
> > Wish has always been a very strong performer, in demo and
> > otherwise.
> >
> > What really struck me was that the overall numbers for the
>
> > top three were even and rounded nicely. Results in this
> > fact:
> >
> > 26% of the overall audience in Pittsburgh listens to just
> 3
> > stations.
> >
> And was all of that advertising worth it for BOB? I'd like
> to see the 25-54 on that....doesn't seem it was worth it.
> 'DVE's probably going to have a great Phase 1 of the Winter
> Arbitrend given the success of the Steelers, and that they
> are the 800-pound classic rock gorilla. Since Allegheny
> County has the 2nd oldest population in the US, 2 long-time
> favs, classic rock & the Steelers will reign. And with
> heritage stations rounding out that 26%, I don't see a big
> change in the top 3 coming for sometime unless Arbitron gets
> diaries out to the surrounding counties.

The Bob adveritising did get them some of 3WS' listeners.
 
Re: Here's what struck me- ESPN & WPTT

> Boy you called that right.
>
> F you ESPN Radio!! I NEVER listen. Why?? Because you
> seemingly pretend the Steelers don't exist and it really
> pisses me off. So you don't have the rights. So what. Nobody
> else has them either except CC. But ESPN stands for SPORTS.
> As in, ALL sports. Especially your hometown football team. I
> think you really owe it to sports fans to do a better job
> covering them if you want to pretend to be a sports station.
>
>
> The on-air attitude I feel from ESPN is palpable, its like
> because they don't have the rights, they just don't give
> them any airtime. Well fine, you guys keep on doing that.
> And I'll keep on giving my TSL to Clear Channel.

And what's really strange is that ESPN doesn't have the rights to the Penguins either. Yet, we see what Madden's been doing.

What does ESPN 1250 have the rights to? Minor league, sub-Class A (but good) baseball (Wild Things); some HS football. They don't even have the Pitt Panthers.

We have a station like that in Cleveland. They run foot creme ads after 7pm on a weekday. The station's a laughing-stock. Two live, local shows. Claim to fame: Jim Rome, and Buckeyes' football. Oh, and the CLEVELAND sports station referenced here, just sponsored a Steelers' party at a C-Town bar.
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> > > WDVE is the #1 station overall.
> > >
> >
> > It's not really official. Sam, er, Radio Realist
> > hasn't turned in his book yet.
> >
> > And how in the world could a Renda station get
> > close to 3-WS???
>
> Wish has always been a very strong performer, in demo and
> otherwise.
>
> What really struck me was that the overall numbers for the
> top three were even and rounded nicely. Results in this
> fact:
>
> 26% of the overall audience in Pittsburgh listens to just 3
> stations.
>
I find it interesting with Star dropping in the ratings. Do you think Bob is gaining former Star listeners?
 
> WDVE is the #1 station overall.

Other interesting things from the latest ratings.

1. If the Froggies were treated as one quartette instead of two duos, they'd rank 4th, a few points ahead of 3WS. And, as a quartette, they're up a little, while WDSY is down a lot from the previous quarter. In fact, WDSY has the biggest quarter loss.

2. WDVE has the biggest gain in the past quarter, but WAMO and WEAE tie for second biggest gain.

3. 3WS has the second biggest loss since the last quarter.

4. It's a safe bet that WDVE picked up some of their listeners from the former WRRK. It's also a safe bet that Bob-FM replaced those it lost to the top dog with listeners who abandoned 3WS.

5. Looking at owners overall, ABC Radio, Keymarket of PA/Ohio, Saul Frischling, Sheridan Broadcasting Corp., and Salem were winners. Clear Channel, Renda, and
CBS Radio were overall losers.
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> And was all of that advertising worth it for BOB? I'd like
> to see the 25-54 on that....doesn't seem it was worth it.
> 'DVE's probably going to have a great Phase 1 of the Winter
> Arbitrend given the success of the Steelers, and that they
> are the 800-pound classic rock gorilla. Since Allegheny
> County has the 2nd oldest population in the US, 2 long-time
> favs, classic rock & the Steelers will reign. And with
> heritage stations rounding out that 26%, I don't see a big
> change in the top 3 coming for sometime unless Arbitron gets
> diaries out to the surrounding counties.

Do you really think that aside from better rankings for the stations located in the other counties there would be that much difference in which Pittsburgh stations get listened to? Do you think that folks from Westmoreland County would like different Pittsburgh based stations than the stations that folks from Allegheny County like?
 
Why not add Froggy 95 in J-Town & Froggy 98 in Altoona, Realist???

> 1. If the Froggies were treated as one quartette instead of
> two duos, they'd rank 4th, a few points ahead of 3WS. And,
> as a quartette, they're up a little,

Realist--why don't you just put them with Froggy 95 in Johnstown and Froggy 98 in Altoona while you're at it... Froggy 95 comes in about as well as Froggy 104 in Pittsburgh... why not add that in... I think Johnstown is even closer than Froggy 104's stick.

Adding the frogs together DO NOT MAKE SENSE... especially when they split the commercials.

> 2. WDVE has the biggest gain in the past quarter, but WAMO
> and WEAE tie for second biggest gain.

HMMM Wonder if the Black and Gold broadcast has anything to do with it. DUH!

> 5. Looking at owners overall, ABC Radio, Keymarket of
> PA/Ohio, Saul Frischling, Sheridan Broadcasting Corp., and
> Salem were winners. Clear Channel, Renda, and
> CBS Radio were overall losers.


Yup--the stations with the most sticks in the top 10 are all losers. GOOOOOOD One, Realist. Go back to Dick's Sporting Goods and sell me some golf clubs.
 
Re: Why not add Froggy 95 in J-Town & Froggy 98 in Altoona, Realist???

> > 1. If the Froggies were treated as one quartette instead
> of
> > two duos, they'd rank 4th, a few points ahead of 3WS. And,
>
> > as a quartette, they're up a little,
>
> Realist--why don't you just put them with Froggy 95 in
> Johnstown and Froggy 98 in Altoona while you're at it...
> Froggy 95 comes in about as well as Froggy 104 in
> Pittsburgh... why not add that in... I think Johnstown is
> even closer than Froggy 104's stick.

Maybe because both of the Frog duos get reported in the Pittsburgh Arbitrons, but the Altoona and Johnstown Frogs don't. I didn't say that would be a good thing or a bad thing. I just added the numbers together to see where they'd rank if they were combined. Make of that what you will.

> Adding the frogs together DO NOT MAKE SENSE... especially
> when they split the commercials.
>
> > 2. WDVE has the biggest gain in the past quarter, but WAMO
>
> > and WEAE tie for second biggest gain.
>
> HMMM Wonder if the Black and Gold broadcast has anything to
> do with it. DUH!

What does Steeler broadcasting have to do with WAMO and WEAE getting the second biggest gains? I didn't know that WAMO carried Steeler games.

> > 5. Looking at owners overall, ABC Radio, Keymarket of
> > PA/Ohio, Saul Frischling, Sheridan Broadcasting Corp., and
>
> > Salem were winners. Clear Channel, Renda, and
> > CBS Radio were overall losers.
>
>
> Yup--the stations with the most sticks in the top 10 are all
> losers. GOOOOOOD One, Realist. Go back to Dick's Sporting
> Goods and sell me some golf clubs.

I just added up the numbers to see what popped out. I didn't draw any conclusions. I didn't, for example, point out that if you were thinking about buying a company's stock you might observe that if some of their brands were winners, but most of their brands were losers, and the losers lost more than the winner won, making it a less than ideal investment.

I just added up the numbers to see who posted the biggest gains and who posted the biggest losses. Nothing more. Nothing less. Make of them what you will.
 
Hasn't DVE been the standard most of the time anyway?

> WDVE is the #1 station overall.
>
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> > And was all of that advertising worth it for BOB? I'd
> like
> > to see the 25-54 on that....doesn't seem it was worth it.
>
> > 'DVE's probably going to have a great Phase 1 of the
> Winter
> > Arbitrend given the success of the Steelers, and that they
>
> > are the 800-pound classic rock gorilla. Since Allegheny
> > County has the 2nd oldest population in the US, 2
> long-time
> > favs, classic rock & the Steelers will reign. And with
> > heritage stations rounding out that 26%, I don't see a big
>
> > change in the top 3 coming for sometime unless Arbitron
> gets
> > diaries out to the surrounding counties.
>
> Do you really think that aside from better rankings for the
> stations located in the other counties there would be that
> much difference in which Pittsburgh stations get listened
> to? Do you think that folks from Westmoreland County would
> like different Pittsburgh based stations than the stations
> that folks from Allegheny County like?
>
NO, I DON'T think the ratings would change much as far as the top 5 seeing as though they're heritage stations. But it would seem that Arbitron is concentrating more into counties west & south of Pittsburgh. Look at the stations that came up....WJPA, WLSW and the outlying Froggies for example. If Arbitron distributed more evenly to include Butler, Beaver & possibly Armstrong Counties there'd be a somewhat different representation. It's pretty much known that younger, more professional people have moved from Pittsburgh into outlying communties & counties to escape higher taxation. But Arbitron concentrates its diary distribution to as close to Pittsburgh as they can. So, that's why older-demo and heritage stations seem to perform better over time, because of the older population being closer to the city. And because the younger listeners live further away from the city, and perhaps further from some stations towers, reception could be an issue & a particular station may not get the ratings they want. That's one reason Froggy decided to simulcast 4 frequencies, to try to grab as much of the surrounding counties as they could.
Take this in mind....if you were to live in Cranberry, you could pick up Pittsburgh-licensed stations, as well as stations as far away as Youngstown. But why don't Youngstown stations register on all Arbitron diaries in Pittsburgh, but yet Pittsburgh stations come up in not just Youngstown but Wheeling & Johnstown just to name 2? It's about the distribution of the diaries. If Arbitron was more consistent then perhaps there'd be a more accurate representation.
 
WDVE has been #1 in all of the important demographics for what seems like a long, long time. KDKA's possession of the top spot has been based on their near-total saturation of the AARP segment. Hence the title "Official and complete", as finally WDVE has the "official" number one spot instead of just the de facto #1 spot.

Even worse for KDKA's parent company, all of their stations combined dropped a total of 1.9 points since the last quarter, while the parent of WDVE dropped only .5 points.

You have to wonder what the corporate suits at Clear Channel are thinking about the performance of their people in Pittsburgh. They did an outstanding job of building up WDVE, but at the same time half of their stations decreased in ratings, and one of them remained unchanged.

Since ratings points are not directly convertible to billing dollars, I can't know if Clear Channel's management is celebrating over WDVE's success, or lamenting over the group's overall loss. Maybe they're doing both.

Wouldn't it be ironic if someone in charge at Clear Channel got the axe because the entire group lost ground even while their flagship hit #1?

> Hasn't DVE been the standard most of the time anyway?
>
> > WDVE is the #1 station overall.
> >
>
 
Re: Official and complete..almost

> Take this in mind....if you were to live in Cranberry, you
> could pick up Pittsburgh-licensed stations, as well as
> stations as far away as Youngstown. But why don't
> Youngstown stations register on all Arbitron diaries in
> Pittsburgh, but yet Pittsburgh stations come up in not just
> Youngstown but Wheeling & Johnstown just to name 2? It's
> about the distribution of the diaries. If Arbitron was more
> consistent then perhaps there'd be a more accurate
> representation.

My personal opinion is that people who moved from Allegeny County across the border to the adjacent counties to escape taxes (and I used to be one of those people) stil think of themselves as Pittsburghers, and would still choose a Pittsburgh based station over an out-of-town station if the programming were similar. Those who live in the outlying counties still tend to work in Alleghney County and commute back in. So even if someone could pick up a Youngstown station in their own driveway, why would they tune it in for their ride to work if they'd lose the signal long before they got to their destination?

I suspect that the few outlying stations who crept over the radar screen in this book simply pulled in a few more listeners because they had more compelling programming. When you're down at the bottom, even a very small change can move you on or off of the listings.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Arbitron simply ignore the stations below a certain threshold? All of the shares reported only total 86.6. Doesn't that mean that there are lots of smaller stations (like WEDO, WWCS, WURP, and others) who make up the missing 13.4? Wouldn't the stations in outlying counties also be part of that 13.4?
 
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