The Audacy purge is beginning and it's just the beginning of March
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One Audacy host left
- Thread starter DarrenVision
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WSHEs rebranding did tank worse after a reformat.
Her contract was up and left on her own. Had nothing to do with the ratings.
Although it is one of the lowest rated FMs in town.
It's low rated because there is nothing local sounding about it, and the music on CHR now is plain bad. It has an out of town morning show, syndicating back to the town it came from. The other jocks are piped in from other markets. It was doing fine a few years back. They have been having trouble keeping a morning show, one right after another. I can hear the same jocks on B96 that I can hear on their Milwaukee sister. It sounds like satellite. The jocks drop in a station name before their generic VTs. It sounds way off. The only thing keeping 103.7 in Milwaukee going is their morning show, which has a huge following, especially among people in their 30s and 40s, which is way out of the target demo for CHR. They also no longer have any competition since iHeart gave up a few years back. B96 still has competition.
The direct competition (103.5 KISS FM) on the other hand has an established local morning show, and has live and local talent during the day until 7PM. They present themselves better. Chicago is not one to put up with programming that is not specific to Chicago.
Ironically, the morning show’s prior home station is posting quite solid ratings for the first time in a while while B96 is flatlining.
I disagree with the “not sounding local” being a central issue. As demonstrated elsewhere, local doesn’t always necessarily mean better. The most important thing, in my mind, is how well do the audience connect to the personalities and the music; i say this a lot but personality is the real strength of radio in 2023 and their is value to the connection with the listener…. Streaming and AI can’t do that, even though some in the corporate world wish it would. If the personalities and the music aren’t working, such as the case ostensibly at B96, something needs to change.
Chicago likes it's local. It's always been this way. They need to be local and they need to connect with the city. Look at the highest rated stations. All of them have that in common. Some do it better than others.
And yet two of the top five morning shows in the market are syndicated: Morning Edition and Steve Harvey (at least as of early 2022 when Robert Feder was still posting rankers each month)
They are, but other programming on those stations contribute to the overall success, WVAZ in specific, is very well programmed toward Chicago locally in most dayparts. WBEZ is one of several NPR stations across the country that have been getting high ratings.
Steve Harvey also had connections to Chicago for awhile. His TV show was based in Chicago for several years
The morning show is an import but it's local. Kenzie K was local, Julia Lepidi's show has customization for Chicago since it originated there. Josh Brubaker and the syndicated Carson Daly show are the only ones not tailored for the station.
The issue is not how local they are, but rather as you mention: the personalities are not connecting with the listeners. The personalities being local could help make those connections but obviously that's not always the case, as evidenced by B96 right now.
It's a very familiar situation for Audacy, that is currently running a low rated CHR in Philadelphia, and they show no signs of changing it in any way.
And one of the highest cume numbers in the city (over 867k Top 10). Even though it is a former shell of it's glory days, can't deny its making money.
That sort of thing matters to me, as well. This feels like trying to be "hip" and "modern" but in the style of a house that a flipper bought and tried to facelift with cheap but "modern" finishes.
The color scheme befits an invitation to a gender-reveal party. (For a pregnant woman's child, that is, not a change in someone's gender preference/identity, not that there's anything wrong with that.)
that explains the significant Black population
Kiss FM just did a big nose dive the last ratings (4.3 to 2.7) that came out this week. They can't hold an audience consistently either. I think those who listen to them just settle cause there is no other choice. A station with a better presentation, knowledge of the market, and jocks who involve the listeners would give them a run for their money.
Which brought them back to where they had been before last month.
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