PRETTY BIG NEWS (if you ask me): B101 taking quite a hit with all-Christmas?

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Did anyone read Tom Taylor's piece today? There's a bit in there where the title implies that all-Christmas isn't working in Philadelphia...but what actually appears to be happening is that all-Christmas isn't working for B101. With all the competition, maybe something right is finally happening in the world and B101 is getting what they deserve for doing such a sucky job with the format.

Taylor sites some "weeklies" he got his hands on which start with the week of November 13 (the day B101 flipped) and lead up to "week 1" of December. B101's week-to-week 12+ numbers trend 7.6-6.9-5.4! Meanwhile, WNUW's trend 2.2-4.0-4.6! As he astutely notes, this puts Now 97.5 within one point of B101!

B101 might be feeling the sting a little more in the 25-54 demo being targeted by both stations. B101 trends 6.9-6.9-4.4, which Taylor says is a tie for 7th place! At the same time, WNUW trended 1.9-3.5-3.5, making it appear that they haven't lost any of their holiday uptick while B101's listeners have apparently just gone elsewhere!

I can't wait to see the actual December numbers. And January's shaping up to be a very interesting month as well. Could B101's long-term dominance have tricked all of us into thinking it'd take forever to really knock 'em down a few pegs?

BTW, you can sign up to receive Taylor's column for free right here at radio-info.com.

 

[kentuckymedia]

Don is a great programmer, so is Chuck. Its a battle of the mid-west boys in Philadelphia!

 

[aindik]

Re: PRETTY BIG NEWS (if you ask me): B101 taking quite a hit with all-Christmas

Just for everyone's information:

The "December" PPM report actually measures ratings from November 13 through December 10. (This is probably why B101 started the format on 11/13). There is a thirteenth PPM report, called "Holiday," which measures ratings from December 11 through January 7. The "January" report goes from 1/8 through 2/4.

http://arbitron.com/home/surveysched.asp

The "December" report will be released on 12/31 (but, again, will only include data for listening through today).

I think the data shows how smart a move it was for WNUW to beat B101 to the Christmas punch this year. It also shows how interchangeable Christmas formats are for listeners. Finally, it shows that 3 is the magic number for how many Christmas formats can be on in Philadelphia at the same time and still get decent ratings. Or, maybe it's 2.

 

[wprt949]

i find it funny that clear channel is not doing all christmas in philly
mabye in 2009 wait what am i talking about

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

i find it funny that clear channel is not doing all christmas in philly
mabye in 2009 wait what am i talking about

I somehow don't expect there to be four all-Christmas stations in 2009. I'd love for us to have four of them every year for the rest of time but I'm just not sure I see it being feasible. But I can't see why everyone would ever again leave it all to B101...so I'm thinking there will always be at least two stations who do it.

If B101 really wants to be "Philadelphia's Christmas Station," they're gonna have to start flipping in reaction to the stations who beat them to it. This year seems to be shaping up as proof of that. If they pick November 13 again next year (it's a Friday), what will they do if WNUW flips on October 31 (it's a Saturday)? Surely they're not going to allow a repeat of this year. What if WOGL flips on November 6? And what if Clear Channel flips something during the first two weeks of November? (If WISX doesn't see an uptick from everyone else doing all-Christmas this year, why would Clear Channel not flip it for Christmas 2009?)

Would B101 move their flip up like they did two years ago in reaction to WJBR (of all stations)? Or would they concede defeat and go back to the 36 Hours of Christmas like they used to do in the way-back?

 

[Electro960]

i find it funny that clear channel is not doing all christmas in philly
mabye in 2009 wait what am i talking about

I somehow don't expect there to be four all-Christmas stations in 2009. I'd love for us to have four of them every year for the rest of time but I'm just not sure I see it being feasible. But I can't see why everyone would ever again leave it all to B101...so I'm thinking there will always be at least two stations who do it.

If B101 really wants to be "Philadelphia's Christmas Station," they're gonna have to start flipping in reaction to the stations who beat them to it. This year seems to be shaping up as proof of that. If they pick November 13 again next year (it's a Friday), what will they do if WNUW flips on October 31 (it's a Saturday)? Surely they're not going to allow a repeat of this year. What if WOGL flips on November 6? And what if Clear Channel flips something during the first two weeks of November? (If WISX doesn't see an uptick from everyone else doing all-Christmas this year, why would Clear Channel not flip it for Christmas 2009?)

Would B101 move their flip up like they did two years ago in reaction to WJBR (of all stations)? Or would they concede defeat and go back to the 36 Hours of Christmas like they used to do in the way-back?

There will be more than 3 christmas stations this year...... starting Dec 24th!

 

[Fakeem]

It was posted that one could "sign up to receive Taylor's column for free right here at radio-info.com".

Well, sign me up.

 

[wprt949]

b101 is doing a christmas music countdown

i wonder who they got that idea from ?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I guess it's just me, but when a station flips to all xmas, it might as well go dark. I haven't listened one time to the two in my market. I would take hardcore rap or punk /grunge over xmas music and I never listen to that stuff either. Just give me Thorogood singing " I Drink Alone" instead of "White Christmas" "Born in the USA " by Bruce and Billy Joel's "Allentown" is really music for this xmas.

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Hmm. Last week, when I posted about B101's disastrous weekly PPM figures, yes.com's list of the station's top 100 songs revealed that the Jimmy Eat World song was #54, Jewel's "Silent Night" was #60, Jewel's "Winter Wonderland" was #73, Restless Heart's "Little Drummer Boy" was #82, and Clay Aiken's "The First Noel" was #99. I looked at again today and oddly, all of them appear to have been dropped right out of the top 100. How weird! I don't know whether they're playing them at all anymore...which is so strange because they were clearly Christmas staples that needed to be played. I wonder what prompted the change.

Also, they seem to be increasing spins on the classics quite a bit too. The top 10 consists of Nat King Cole, Brenda Lee, John Lennon, Burl Ives, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Gene Autry, and Paul McCartney. Mariah Carey is now all the way down there at #9. And nothing even remotely recent shows up again until "The Christmas Shoes" at #22. Yessiree, this is some mystery!

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

BTW... You have to take my last posting with the whole tongue-in-cheek thing. I'm sure they're still playing those awesomely important songs. Today's yes.com top 100, if I remember correctly, is based on B101 playing the same 101 songs over and over and over all weekend because of that countdown of songs that was decided by, ahem, the listeners.

 

[doc14]

ENOUGH SOON YI CIV V!!!! Please, you are sooo obsessed with putting B101 down!! Did you not say a short while ago that you really don't care about radio. You said you are sick of terrest radio and you listen to your sirius sat radio?! Yeah hello!! You are going on websites so you can show that B101 is doing this and that. You are being sarcastic. Please enough already. Let me guess you sent a tape to B101 for a job and did not get a response? You are like those people who said they would never listen to Howard Stern, yet surveys showed they listened twice as much as regular listeners! lol WOGL, Now 97.5 and B101 basically play the same Christmas songs. GIVE IT A REST!! I go on sites to read interesting things. I am not here to read you beef against B101.

Another thing for all the radio geeks. Yes, everyone has an opinion like they have... well you know. Enough of this yearning for Sunny. It is just as sad when you pine for your 8th grade girlfriend. Both Sunny and she did not work out. MOVE ON!!! They make buttons on radios. If you don't like a station... don't listen to it. We all do not need your breakdown on why this or that will not work there. DON'T LISTEN TO IT!

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

I think I'll let that idiocy (and the fact that it's his/her second posting) speak for itself. LOL.

 

[650AM]

Does WIlmington's WJBR 99.5 show up on the Philly Christmas ratings list anywhere?

 

[DToTheJ]

I think I'll let that idiocy (and the fact that it's his/her second posting) speak for itself. LOL.

And considering how "doc's" only other post is regarding B101's "music test" - of which "he knows" the inner workings - methinks we might have a B-bird in our midst...

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Plus, he/she/it is confusing me with someone else who is obviously none-too-pleased with his little station. I don't think I've ever said I'm sick of "terrest" radio and I don't even own a Sirius satellite radio!

One of my favorite things about these boards is how people accuse others of "sending a tape" and not being called whenever someone dislikes a station. If I wanted to leave the safe, secure, comfortable job I have (and like), I can guarantee you it wouldn't be to occasionally read liner cards on a background music station that only does well because it's the only game in town. Or...was the only game in town.

I also like how people complain to others about how they don't want to read what's been written. As if someone is holding a gun to peoples' heads and forcing them to read every single post on the board! There are a ton of topics and people on this board who I 100% ignore. I think it's called self-control or some other highly technical and supremely difficult psychological mind trick. (I can teach you, but I'll have to charge.)

A word of advice, Doc: If you want any credibility around here at all, you might want to create another user name and try again. These people will eat you alive!

FAIL.

 

[HGN2001]

Looks like the "bee" people might not be taking too kindly to being swatted...

 

[aindik]

Re: PRETTY BIG NEWS (if you ask me): B101 taking quite a hit with all-Christmas

They make buttons on radios. If you don't like a station... don't listen to it. We all do not need your breakdown on why this or that will not work there. DON'T LISTEN TO IT!

All due respect, you just described the entire purpose of the board. You basically just said they should shut down the board because you don't like to read it.

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Hmm. Last week, when I posted about B101's disastrous weekly PPM figures, yes.com's list of the station's top 100 songs revealed that the Jimmy Eat World song was #54, Jewel's "Silent Night" was #60, Jewel's "Winter Wonderland" was #73, Restless Heart's "Little Drummer Boy" was #82, and Clay Aiken's "The First Noel" was #99. I looked at again today and oddly, all of them appear to have been dropped right out of the top 100. How weird! I don't know whether they're playing them at all anymore...which is so strange because they were clearly Christmas staples that needed to be played. I wonder what prompted the change.

Also, they seem to be increasing spins on the classics quite a bit too. The top 10 consists of Nat King Cole, Brenda Lee, John Lennon, Burl Ives, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Gene Autry, and Paul McCartney. Mariah Carey is now all the way down there at #9. And nothing even remotely recent shows up again until "The Christmas Shoes" at #22. Yessiree, this is some mystery!

You know, I was posting that sorta tongue-in-cheek because B101 had just done their alleged Top 101 Christmas songs countdown over and over all weekend. I thought that would be the real reason so many songs dropped out of their Top 100. But now it's Thursday and the songs still haven't come back. I guess B101 really is reacting to their shitty weeklies.

 

[imhomerjay]

Looks like the "bee" people might not be taking too kindly to being swatted...

It is one of the oldest--and lamest--bits in the book, though, to accuse someone of being from "station X" because they disagree with a theme that puts said station in a bad light. It's a bit like the old Barsky threads, or Kidd Chris, or whomever. When it was pile-on-Barsky time, anyone who said they liked him just "had to be" a member of the staff it seemed. It may be true in any individual case, but where's the proof?