PHILADELPHIA ARBITRON PPM RATINGS RELEASED: APRIL 2010

[pjc1961]

For the period Thu. 4/1/10 - Wed. 4/28/10, the publicly released overall PPM data for persons age 6+ can be found on the Radio-Info.com Philadelphia Ratings Grid.

The next ratings period is May 2010 (Thu. 4/29/10 - Wed. 5/26/10), with the publicly released overall PPM data for persons age 6+ available on Wed. 6/16/10.

An addition to the grid:

WBBR-AM 0.1 28,200 News Bloomberg

 

[oasisrulz]

It continues to amaze me how OGL continues to show fantastic numbers, non-stop for years, what is more amazing is, why no one wants to challenge them??

 

[aindik]

Big gains for WIP (3.3-4.2) and WPHT (2.6-3.6), corresponding with the beginning of baseball season, and possibly for WIP, the Flyers.

WPEN-FM-AM simulcast up two tenths to a combined 2.0 (1.5 on FM, 0.5 on AM). Combined, would still rank as the lowest full market FM station.

WYSP keeps its improvement from last month, up a tenth to 2.3.

WYSP, WBEN and WISX continue to have low share to cume ratios compared to other stations in the market, indicating that they are lots of people's second or third favorite station and suffer in the TSL department, perhaps because the music on all three is (somewhat by design) not focused.

OGL is up, but for them demos are a big question. If their listening is 55+, it essentially doesn't count.

 

[imhomerjay]

More likely upper end of 25-54 for WOGL for the most part, which very much count.

 

[orange434]

Big gains for WIP (3.3-4.2) and WPHT (2.6-3.6), corresponding with the beginning of baseball season, and possibly for WIP, the Flyers.

i'd say for WIP the gain is more than anything based on the two weeks straight of donovan mcnabb trade talk at the beginning of the month, since it's pulling teeth to get a host on there outside of gargano to talk phillies for more than 3 minutes.

 

[waymar]

Why doesn't 106.1 challenge 98.1? CLassic Hits would work for them and also it won't take ratings away from other CC stations. Ben already plays music that OGL plays so in a sense they are competing with OGL now but not doing too well.

 

[imhomerjay]

First, it's 12+ numbers, which are somewhere south of meaningless. But that aside, Ben is cheap as all get out, which narrows that "better" gap.

 

[Jay F]

It continues to amaze me how OGL continues to show fantastic numbers, non-stop for years, what is more amazing is, why no one wants to challenge them??

I can't think of a market with two Oldies/Greatest Hits stations. The only possible exception is Minneapolis which has a mainstream and a soft oldies similar to the old SUNNY in Philly. There are still some markets with no oldies.

 

[andreajesus]

[I can't think of a market with two Oldies/Greatest Hits stations. The only possible exception is Minneapolis which has a mainstream and a soft oldies similar to the old SUNNY in Philly. There are still some markets with no oldies.

IIRC, and NOT to get off-topic, I thought I read somewhere that NASHVILLE is one of those markets that DOES NOT have an oldies/classic hits/greatest hits station....

 

[oasisrulz]

It continues to amaze me how OGL continues to show fantastic numbers, non-stop for years, what is more amazing is, why no one wants to challenge them??

I can't think of a market with two Oldies/Greatest Hits stations. The only possible exception is Minneapolis which has a mainstream and a soft oldies similar to the old SUNNY in Philly. There are still some markets with no oldies.

But in those markets the oldies station is not exploding like OGL...if OGL was hovering around a 3.5 or so I would say enough but with their great numbers a Classic Oldies format would fit nicely and take some of the pie...

 

[waymar]

Then why don't more stations challenge 101?

 

[MikefromDelaware]

B-101 does have one similar station from Wilmington with a solid signal into Philly, 99.5 WJBR. Those PPM's seem to show that neither Wilmington FM's (WJBR or WSTW) have made much of a dent in the Philly ratings scene. Philly listeners may be more parochial in their listening habits where as Wilmingtonians will more readily listen to out of town stations (of course we have far fewer local choices which might contribute to this willingness to tune to out of town stations).

However, there isn't any other station similar to WOGL in Philly or Wilmington. It would be interesting to see how a Greatest Hits station like WSOX from York, PA ( I believe) would compete against WOGL. For my ear, WSOX has a better mix of music (when I can get it clear enough, in my car, I'll listen to it for pop music) and might pull in both the upper and lower part of the 39-54 demo.

My guess is that as that 39-54 demo still is an "older" less desirable demo as it goes past the 49 age demo, the other FM's in Philly and Wilmington too, would rather have a smaller piece of the prized demo (12-49) than a large piece of the less desirable demo.

 

[doowopvault]

It continues to amaze me how OGL continues to show fantastic numbers, non-stop for years, what is more amazing is, why no one wants to challenge them??

That's because they're the only game in town. But let another station change their format to 50's early 60's Doo wop, r&b vocal groups, and at certain time slots the crap that OGL plays which they call "oldies" they won't be showing those numbers for long.

 

[imhomerjay]

And yet there must be a reason no one puts on that format.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

It continues to amaze me how OGL continues to show fantastic numbers, non-stop for years, what is more amazing is, why no one wants to challenge them??

That's because they're the only game in town. But let another station change their format to 50's early 60's Doo wop, r&b vocal groups, and at certain time slots the crap that OGL plays which they call "oldies" they won't be showing those numbers for long.

Sidebar note, PPM measures 6+ rather than the diary 12+ that we've come to know and love. Oldies/Classic Hits skews heavily 45+ and 50-64. If those demos are salable, it's a home run. Much like Buffalo (which gave you Daniel Briere) Philly folks loves their Classic Hits. As to playing the 50s, sorry to say, great as the music may be, it doesn't do anything to drive ratings, because it delivers primarily 65+ demos. (e.g., a person who was 13 in '57, is now 66.) Successful Classic Hits stations already are projecting five years down the road, realizing there's a lot of work to be done to maintain their position. Classic Hits is a great format with great music, but the clock is tickin' and a considerable amount of the ratings success comes from bulging 50-54s.

 

[doowopvault]

And yet there must be a reason no one puts on that format.

No one? there are independently owned stations that have a 50's and 60's format. So the reason is younger listeners=more desposable spending money+advertizers whose products are geared toward a younger audience+charge advertizers huge advertizing rates=big profits for the station.

 

[imhomerjay]

Being a Philadelphia board, it's about Philadelphia.

That aside...gee, who ever heard of a business taking the most profitable approach? Makes sense to target the audience members advertisers, and those who can spell that word, would spend the most money to reach.

 

[doowopvault]

And that's why radio sucks. companies gobbling up stations, playing the shit music in the same rotation. There is nothing unique about any of them. All pandering to the lowest common denominator. playing shit music to people with bad taste,gutting the station of radio personalities, replacing them with button pushers and destroying radio all in the name of profit.GOOD CHOICE LOL LOL and by the way genius, if you would read your dictionary it is spelled with either a "z" or an "s".

 

[radiophiler]

Smaller and medium markets have stations that concentrate on the 60s with some late 50s because they can get enough advertisers locally. In a large market like Philly, there's a lot of dependence on agencies for ads. Those agencies aren't interested in anyone who is older than 54.
So, someone who turns 54 in 2010 turned 13 in 1969 and 18 in 1974. That's why Classic Hits or Greatest Hits stations are concentrating on music from the 70s and very early 80s with just a bit of late 60s music.
In my opinion, Philly's station that concentrates on the 80s, Ben 95.7, is weak. If someone put on a station with jocks, energy and fun that concentrated on the late 70s, 80s and early 90s, you'd get solid 35-54 demos.
Best bet for a 50s-60s station: Get an also-ran AM station to pick up the format.

 

[doowopvault]

And that's why radio sucks. companies gobbling up stations, playing the shit music in the same rotation. There is nothing unique about any of them. All pandering to the lowest common denominator. playing shit music to people with bad taste,gutting the station of radio personalities, replacing them with button pushers and destroying radio all in the name of profit.GOOD CHOICE LOL LOL and by the way genius, if you would read your dictionary it is spelled with either a "z" or an "s".

"cookie-cutter" programing are what people are use to. And that is the problem. When you do not give people a choice of genres, a variety of programs, what do you think they'll prefer? people listen to and buy this crap not because it's good but because it's all they are fed by corporate radio.