PITTSBURGH ARBITRON PPM RATINGS RELEASED: JUNE 2010

[pjc1961]

For the period Thu. 5/27/10 - Wed. 6/23/10, the publicly released PPM data for persons overall age 6+ can be found on the Radio-Info.com Pittsburgh Ratings Grid.

The next ratings period is July 2010 (Thu. 6/24/10 - Wed. 7/24/10), with the publicly released PPM data for persons overall age 6+ available on Thu. 8/12/10.

 

[Parttimer]

Is June really the middle column or is the sheet labeled incorrectly?

If the months are labeled correctly sports radio had a terrible month, with LeBron being the only topic in a market that hates the NBA... and again, assuming the months aren't reversed, Kiss has almost caught KD for #2 12+.

 

[musicman3355]

Well, KDKA-FM seems to be doing terrible. B94 Part III anyone?

 

[Jkf]

My first reaction is to laugh at the misfortunes of KDKA-FM.

However, note the slide of WEAE and the large ratings drop for 105.9 The X.

No, KDKA-FM doesn't seem to be picking up that many listeners as those have lost. Are we sports-talked out as a market? Yes.

Pitt should NOT take pride in the fact they will have 24/7 opportunity to discuss Pitt. This won't happen even if CBS keeps the format alive. Steelers take priority over EVERYTHING.

And before we have the usual chorus of "CBS is in this format for the long haul" singing their tune, we should remind ourselves this market is the lowest rated of their new sports talkers. It doesn't take a genius to realize that when you have non city grade signals and public radio beating you in the ratings - changes will be made. Even CBS realizes this is a business. And, people just aren't buying 93.7 The Fan.

B94 Part III will NOT return. Look for a CHURBAN format a la Wild 93.7, or like Kiss was a few years ago - very heavy on rhythmic product.

Mark my words, 93.7 will be spinning Christmas tunes 24/7 by Halloween if the Steelers talk doesn't save them.

 

[pjc1961]

Is June really the middle column or is the sheet labeled incorrectly?

Unfortunately this problem occurred (temporarily) with the 1st set of Radio-Info.com PPM Market releases on Thu. 7/15/10. Hopefully it'll be cleared up soon.

As of this posting, the middle column is indeed the June 2010 data. To see the stations properly ranked, underneath the "June 2010" column click on the phrase "Est %" to see the share rankings & click on the phrase "Cume" to see the cume rankings. When clicking twice or more you can see the rankings highest-to-lowest and then lowest-to-highest. Currently (without clicking on any of the columns) the stations are ranked according to the "Est %" share data for May 2010.

An addition to the Pittsburgh ratings grid:

Station Est % Cume Format Owner

WGBN-AM 0.0 12,600 Gospel Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation

 

[Parttimer]

The Fan's cume has dropped by 20% over the last two months. They had a window with all the LeBron talk on 1250 in the morning, and Madden not having the Pens to talk about. They missed it.

I tried to sample the morning show the other day. They were talking about the fact that the band in the "freecreditreport.com" got fired. Scintillating topic. I went back to Radio LeBron.

 

[toddjammin]

The Fan's cume has dropped by 20% over the last two months. They had a window with all the LeBron talk on 1250 in the morning, and Madden not having the Pens to talk about. They missed it.

I tried to sample the morning show the other day. They were talking about the fact that the band in the "freecreditreport.com" got fired. Scintillating topic. I went back to Radio LeBron.

Hopefully, the ratings will pick up with the Pitt games coming to the Fan.

 

[pman44]

Although it's quite possible that I'm reading it wrong, the Fan's *** is still higher the 1250 and their overall number is much more consistent, whereas 1250's really nose-dived due to the Pen's early exit and forced Wold Cup coverage.

Probably if you looked closer are the numbers you'd find the drop in all of the sports talk reflects the Pirates stinking so badly for so long that only a few diehards can bear to hear them discussed.

The real test will come in September when the Steelers start their season.

Pitt will no doubt help the Fan and I still expect them to start shuffling their on-air people, including, hopefully, their morning show.

 

[Parttimer]

Although it's quite possible that I'm reading it wrong, the Fan's *** is still higher the 1250 and their overall number is much more consistent, whereas 1250's really nose-dived due to the Pen's early exit and forced Wold Cup coverage.

Probably if you looked closer are the numbers you'd find the drop in all of the sports talk reflects the Pirates stinking so badly for so long that only a few diehards can bear to hear them discussed.

The real test will come in September when the Steelers start their season.

Pitt will no doubt help the Fan and I still expect them to start shuffling their on-air people, including, hopefully, their morning show.

The Fan being a new station, any backward movement is a bad sign. the 12+ numbers also mean EAE still has longer time spent listening.

I'd attribute ESPN's drop largely to the all-NBA month on the morning show.

Pitt will help the Fan more with revenue than with ratings.

 

[pman44]

Actually, and I think the pgh TV ratings for "The Decision" bore this out, there was a fair amount of interest in Pittsburgh regarding whether LeBron would stick it to Cleveland. There was little interest in the World Cup and even less after the US was eliminated. I turned the dial any time it was discussed and I always avoided 1250 like a plague when they were broadcasting the matches.

I think 1250 losing almost half of their rating is more disturbing than the FAN not gaining.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

The Fan's cume has dropped by 20% over the last two months. They had a window with all the LeBron talk on 1250 in the morning, and Madden not having the Pens to talk about. They missed it.

I tried to sample the morning show the other day. They were talking about the fact that the band in the "freecreditreport.com" got fired. Scintillating topic. I went back to Radio LeBron.

True, but over the same time span ESPN's cume dropped by roughly a third, and by a full ratings point. KDKA FM has been CUME-ing better than ESPN pretty much since day 1, so what I would argue we are seeing is that while numbers across the board are down in the sports talk format, as can be expected in Pittsburgh this time of year, especially with nothing but the Pirates to talk about on the local front and how many ways can you ressurrect the "How bad are they argument?", KDKA FM has done a better job holding on to its core audience. Maybe this has to do with the personnel changes at ESPN, maybe it is programming, maybe a little of both, but I will go way out on a limb here and say neither station is going anywhere for the forseeable future. In ESPN's case even if they continue to suffer losses, they can always contiue to just cut costs and if all else fails, just run ESPN national programming all day long. It wouldn't be great, but it would be cheap. As for KDKA FM, as long as they contiune to get the most unique views in web parlance of the sports stations in this market, they aren't going anywhere either, that is their selling point in approaching new clinets. And realistically, where else are they going that is going to generate any semblance of revenue? B-94 Version 3.0, because they got their backside kicked twice before obviously the third time would be the charm? Urban, which did so well in this market from a revenue standpoint that the only provider of it opted to sell instead? AC, talk or country, so they can spend more time and money chasing demos they are already chasing on other signals?

 

[radiogeek07]

Will The Fan be picking up the NFL on Westwood 1?
If nothing else to make sure WTAE doesn't get it?
I realize they probably will not be carrying a lot of games because they'd either be doing pre/post for the Steelers, but, I figured I'd ask.

 

[Parttimer]

Will The Fan be picking up the NFL on Westwood 1?
If nothing else to make sure WTAE doesn't get it?
I realize they probably will not be carrying a lot of games because they'd either be doing pre/post for the Steelers, but, I figured I'd ask.

Uhh... the Steelers have been on DVE for what, 10 years now? And although I use Sirius/XM for out of market NFL games, I think they are still carried locally on KQV (where thay have also been for years...).

 

[fromtheinsideout]

Will The Fan be picking up the NFL on Westwood 1?
If nothing else to make sure WTAE doesn't get it?
I realize they probably will not be carrying a lot of games because they'd either be doing pre/post for the Steelers, but, I figured I'd ask.

Unless it has changed recently, there are a couple of radio syndicators for NFL Football, Westwood One and Jones Radio. I may be off on my particulars here, but I think Jones does at least some of the Sunday afternoon games (1pm and 4pm) and Westwood One has the Sunday night, Monday night gig during the season. 1360 had the Jones package briefly, maybe a year or two, but it eventually was also picked up by KQV.


It would be interesting if they tried for one or the other, I know that DVE and to a lesser extent EAE tend to do pre and post game shows, but I myself tend to tire of them pretty quickly and wouldn't mind another NFL game on a relatively clear signal (obviously they can't broadcast a game opposite a Steeler broadcast), but usually the Pittsburgh sports audience tends to want to just talk about the game that was just played rather than tune into another one, which is why your typical Steeler broadcast runs about 7 hours on DVE.

 

[radiomayor2]

looks like the months are screwey...

 

[jbo]

Jim Quinn #1, 12+!

 

[Snafu]

Remember that sports on KDKA-FM is, and will continue to be, an exercise in saving money. As long as they are not losing the $3 million or so a year CBS was paying for music royalties they will keep at it.

On the other hand don't look for CBS to just sit there and wait for this to get better. The statute of limitations on this talent group has about expired. Changes are coming and I suspect this time they will start at the top.

 

[garnet]

There was a station in Orlando that was talk during the day and rock 7pm-5am and on weekends...could that save The Fan? It seems there may just not be enough of an audience. The Orlando station was not sports talk, but it was very male-leaning talk.

 

[Boss Radio]

There was a station in Orlando that was talk during the day and rock 7pm-5am and on weekends...could that save The Fan? It seems there may just not be enough of an audience. The Orlando station was not sports talk, but it was very male-leaning talk.

No. And it would be premature to make judgments on the audience potential for 24/7 local sports talk until they've actually been through a Steelers season.

 

[Parttimer]

There was a station in Orlando that was talk during the day and rock 7pm-5am and on weekends...could that save The Fan? It seems there may just not be enough of an audience. The Orlando station was not sports talk, but it was very male-leaning talk.

It's still on in Orlando, it's WTKS, Real Radio 104.1. I'm not sure they do the music on the weekends now, definitely not on weeknights...

Eventually the Fan needs play-by-play on the weekends. But I still contend that if they couldn't grow when they were competing against NBA talk and soccer, I'm not sure people are going to go looking for another alternative when 1250 is talking football.