Q100 Beats Star for First Time Ever

[RoddyFreeman]

Just slightly...in both 12+ and 25-54. I'm guessing Q wins big in the morning, and then Star goes ahead, but I haven't seen the dayparts.

If there's any good news for Star, it's that the station was basically flat for the last month, since the second trend. So maybe the erosion has been stemmed.

How does this affect Q100? The staff is sitting there wishing Cumulus had a party budget.

 

[jal41]

Re: Star 94's future

For the staff at Star 94...get those resumes polished up for the debut of Lite 94.1...Atlanta's True Lite Rock Station!

Seriously...the effects of the events of the past few months will not be felt for a year or two. Unless Cindy and Ray or Tripp West bolt quickly like Nudge did last month, it will be a while before anything happens.

Then there is pending issue of when (not if) Lincoln Financial will sell the station. Had they not had been greedy, the station would have been sold off already, Mike Kanov would have been given the pink slip, and this discussion would probably not be occuring. Now that the economy has gone south, it may be a year or so before LF attempts to put the station up for sale again.

In the meanwhile, Star 94 will continue to go downhill. Here is how I see it:
-----------------------
The sound quality is going downhill (one day the station sounds like it is broadcasting from the bottom of a metal barrel, the next it sounds fine, and the day after that the sound of the music will be so soft that you have to crank up the radio, this is after the commericals are at normal volume), so the bad engineering will send people to Q100. In a few months, the station sounds like they are broadcasting the sounds of power tools over the music. The engineers have quit caring.

Then, the Morning Mess will do a stunt involving cold cuts, transmitter components, and interns that will get them in trouble. Women's groups will protest outside the studios, and media coverage will be intese. Local TV news will have live shots outside the Star 94 for a couple of days (WSB-TV will be there for a whole week).

Then, Cindy and Ray will have a medical procedure done on-air. The equipment the doctors bring in will short out the building's electrical system, and the damage will knock the station off the air for a week (since the engineers don't care, they won't come in for a few days, and when they do, they drag their feet). While 790 The Zone is affected as well. Several tenants of the building Star is in sue the station because of lost business. The worst news of all is that Q100 will be the only top 40 in town during that time, and Star 94 will never recover.

Advertisers pull all of their business from Star. The tenants win their case against Star. LFM sends in an executive VP to deal with the matter. Kanov and everyone else is fired, and the station flips to soft rock.
---------------------------

While it will not happen that way, Star 94's days are numbered. It may be a year or two before they flip, but I don't see them around for much longer (unless something drastic happens).

 

[jabba17]

I think that if anyone's going to flip, it will be Dave, Viva, and/or Project before Star.

 

[TheMusicMan]

Star isn't going anywhere yet. Talk about jumping the gun.

WSTR's performance this time around shouldn't come as a big surprise given the upheaval at Star and Q100's signal upgrade. That having been said, not only is Q100 pummeling Star in the 18-34's, but they're now a bit ahead in the 25-54 demo and that should probably be some cause for concern at LF.

Thing is, Star's music actually sounds more Top 40 than Q's at this point. I can't believe that Cumulus management is letting Star get away with beating Q100 - whose M.O. for years has been to be the "real Top 40" relative to Star - to hit records, and I'm not even just talking strictly about rhythmic records anymore. I never thought I'd see the day where I heard Flo Rida and Kanye in middays on 94.1, but the times are a'changin' indeed and I wish Q100 would get it together in this respect. Q is a very solid station in most other regard, but they might as well change their "10 in a row" tag to "10 recurrents in a row." It's ridiculous.

It's too soon to call what will happen with The Morning Mess, but I would think Cumulus is thrilled with The Bert Show's showing, and deservedly so. I still can't imagine that the AM Drive ratings at Star won't go up somewhat next book, but they've got a long road ahead.

 

[burksy]

Thing is, Star's music actually sounds more Top 40 than Q's at this point. I can't believe that Cumulus management is letting Star get away with beating Q100 - whose M.O. for years has been to be the "real Top 40" relative to Star - to hit records, and I'm not even just talking strictly about rhythmic records anymore. I never thought I'd see the day where I heard Flo Rida and Kanye in middays on 94.1, but the times are a'changin' indeed and I wish Q100 would get it together in this respect. Q is a very solid station in most other regard, but they might as well change their "10 in a row" tag to "10 recurrents in a row." It's ridiculous.

Two words. Jan Jeffries

 

[TheMusicMan]

I'm well aware. Combine that with Star's newfound Top 40 lean, and you've got Star sounding more like the old Q100, with Q nearly assuming the role of the old Star (musically, anyway). Is that WHY the ratings are shaking down the way they are?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

You guys who say Lincoln Financial was greedy by not selling Star 94 must never have been in the business world. The idea is to maximize your profits. Companies for sale pull themselves off the market all the time if they feel they can't get the price that the company is worth. And it's no different than pulling a house off the market when values are down.

Lincoln Financial has said it wants to sell the stations in a package to one company. And while Star's numbers are down, other LF stations are up in the ratings. I noticed that in Denver, the #1 and #2 stations in the ratings belong to Lincoln Financial.

And to The Music Man: You have such an incredible CHR mind and feeling for the format, as well as an amazing store of knowledge for your age. If I were the GM of a CHR, I'd hire you as PD.

 

[Uriah]

You guys who say Lincoln Financial was greedy by not selling Star 94 must never have been in the business world. The idea is to maximize your profits. Companies for sale pull themselves off the market all the time if they feel they can't get the price that the company is worth. And it's no different than pulling a house off the market when values are down.

Lincoln Financial has said it wants to sell the stations in a package to one company. And while Star's numbers are down, other LF stations are up in the ratings. I noticed that in Denver, the #1 and #2 stations in the ratings belong to Lincoln Financial.

And to The Music Man: You have such an incredible CHR mind and feeling for the format, as well as an amazing store of knowledge for your age. If I were the GM of a CHR, I'd hire you as PD.

Note that Star's ratings were falling long before TMM. Mark Kanov's sales team and his genius of generating major coin to the bottom line sent a message to corporate that all was well with their golden goose. Star 94 programming chased Q100 because Top 40 was their only game. Even with falling ratings/share, few corporations will update a brand before there's nothing left but bones.

 

[Tibbs4]

All the comments above actually have some merit. What is NOT acceptable is by blinking, Star opened the door to
the Q-100 upgrade. I am not saying 99X would have lasted, but the timing was perfect and Crumulus actually made
a good decision. The fact that anyone at LF (Star) did not see the possibility of Q jumping at to many changes at once
amid the McCoy PR disaster and rather just skewing and evolving slowly and quietly to include new younger listeners
was one of the most blatant bad radio decisions I have seen. To kill off the most known household radio morning host
and leave TMM to hang themselves is a huge gamble that FAILED. Q-100 certainly needs to open up the music a bit more,
but it'll not increase their ratings that much more. Look for a huge Q-100 surge by fall. And, I have not looked at the research closely,
but, if I were Star, I think I'd be considering moving Cindy and Ray to mornings by June 25th in a huge advertising blitz
since they are the only chance Star has to keep any 25+ listeners in the morning when S & V go to B.

Has anyone noticed all the negative comments to the MM on Rodney's AJC radio page after announcing the change?
I'd feel pretty deflated if I was/were Marco and others. Maybe it is deserved, but the blood bath is brutal. And it's coming from real
listeners who actually took time to slam the changes. The power of McCoy is amazing after all these years.


Anyone wanna guess how much the Star revenues will be down in 2008? That'll fire up a buyer. If it is true that LF
pulled the stations off the market just to get more $$$ --- they deserve what comes to them --- anyone knew the truth on
CC and Citadel was in the water ready to go over the waterfall and times ahead, economically, were unstable. Wow!
I tend to guess they just did not get offers near their asking price and pulled them. I'd be all over the decision
makers in the radio division if I was CEO of LF. Truly the series of blunders have cost them uncounted millions of
dollars. Next thing you know, LF will again flinch and sell well below cost assuming the sky is falling. Should be
interesting to watch.

 

[caller10]

I think LF would have been smarter to have kept S&V and steer Star to Hot AC. And if Vikki truly needed to take disability, then it would have been a plus since they'd had the PR for the return of Vikki. 94.1 could have keep the 25-54 with S&V as a Hot AC.

 

[burksy]

All the comments above actually have some merit. What is NOT acceptable is by blinking, Star opened the door to
the Q-100 upgrade. I am not saying 99X would have lasted, but the timing was perfect and Crumulus actually made
a good decision. The fact that anyone at LF (Star) did not see the possibility of Q jumping at to many changes at once
amid the McCoy PR disaster and rather just skewing and evolving slowly and quietly to include new younger listeners
was one of the most blatant bad radio decisions I have seen. To kill off the most known household radio morning host
and leave TMM to hang themselves is a huge gamble that FAILED. Q-100 certainly needs to open up the music a bit more,
but it'll not increase their ratings that much more. Look for a huge Q-100 surge by fall. And, I have not looked at the research closely,
but, if I were Star, I think I'd be considering moving Cindy and Ray to mornings by June 25th in a huge advertising blitz
since they are the only chance Star has to keep any 25+ listeners in the morning when S & V go to B.

I'm friends with a few guys at Q, so they were talking about the ratings and the specific dayparts. From what they said Johnny O (I'm assuming they were referring to Q's demographic, women 18-34) had passed Cindy and Ray. That isn't their best demographic, but regardless, Q beat Star in almost every aspect of this book. Even Cindy and Ray lost to them

 

[RTibbs]

Isn't a little early to deem TMM a disaster. They were never going to be as big as S & V off the bat nor were they going to beat Bert, even if there wasn't a signal change but they put themselves in position to grab a piece of the pie. S & V is an Atlanta morning show institution. One of the classics. Now I agree Star was stupid for letting them go but don't have such high expectations for TMM.

Also Cumulus is sitting pretty for 18-34 advertising with Bert 3 and The Regular Guys 4. One skewing female and the other male. tha is an awesome combination. What was 99x morning show 18-34 in the fall book?

 

[whit979]

Re: Star 94's future

The sound quality is going downhill (one day the station sounds like it is broadcasting from the bottom of a metal barrel, the next it sounds fine, and the day after that the sound of the music will be so soft that you have to crank up the radio, this is after the commericals are at normal volume), so the bad engineering will send people to Q100. In a few months, the station sounds like they are broadcasting the sounds of power tools over the music. The engineers have quit caring.

Agreed. Star vs. Q100 audio is like night and day. Perhaps now that Star is the underdog, they can play around with it and get it right without losing too much ground.

I think LF would have been smarter to have kept S&V and steer Star to Hot AC. 94.1 could have keep the 25-54 with S&V as a Hot AC.

Very true. Perhaps they missed the chance to flip to Hot AC and preserve some dignity in this battle. Star is a station that's been around for a long, long time! Q100 has not been around very long at all in the big scheme of things (they were still country "Alabama 100" just 10 years ago). Now the good folks at Star end up looking like posers because they are clearly chasing after Q100's momentum. Q starts calling themselves the #1 Top 40 station, and here comes Star with the same thing (and a new voice to boot). Q moves to a larger signal, Star follows suit with squashed audio and a revamped playlist. Even the contests are similar. There is a right way to market your station and a wrong way to market it when you're competing with a station of the same format. I don't know what it is but it sure isn't this. LOL.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I'm friends with a few guys at Q, so they were talking about the ratings and the specific dayparts. From what they said Johnny O (I'm assuming they were referring to Q's demographic, women 18-34) had passed Cindy and Ray. That isn't their best demographic, but regardless, Q beat Star in almost every aspect of this book. Even Cindy and Ray lost to them

I'm looking at the Arbitron numbers.

M-F, 3-7PM:

Persons 18-34
WSTR - #3
WWWQ - #5

Persons 25-54
WSTR - #5
WWWQ - #10

 

[burksy]

I'm friends with a few guys at Q, so they were talking about the ratings and the specific dayparts. From what they said Johnny O (I'm assuming they were referring to Q's demographic, women 18-34) had passed Cindy and Ray. That isn't their best demographic, but regardless, Q beat Star in almost every aspect of this book. Even Cindy and Ray lost to them

I'm looking at the Arbitron numbers.

M-F, 3-7PM:

Persons 18-34
WSTR - #3
WWWQ - #5

Persons 25-54
WSTR - #5
WWWQ - #10

I was referring to women 18-34, Q's target demographic, not persons.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I don't have the female numbers; might be able to get them tomorrow.

But both Star and Q target females, so it's probably a good bet that the rankings are about the same.

 

[bgwilde1]

Ya know, the more I think about the 32 years that Footy spent at Y100 in Miami, the more I think that cutting S&V loose was a mistake that will come back to haunt Star by the end of the year.

The implosion is starting for Star...

 

[RoddyFreeman]

M-F, 3-7PM

W18-34
Q - #2
Star - #3

Both have the same rating when just carried out to 1 digit. Q is ahead by 200 listeners.

 

[caller10]

Re: Star 94's future

Very true. Perhaps they missed the chance to flip to Hot AC and preserve some dignity in this battle. Star is a station that's been around for a long, long time!

94.1 wouldn't have even needed to "flip" other than tilting away from CHR and towards Adult CHR/Hot AC direction in music and presentation. In fact that is Star 94's roots, no? Star 94 could be marketed as such, if anything this CHR youngish direction is out of line with the "Star" branding IMHO, before long they'll be relaunching 94.1 as "Power 941" .

 

[jabba17]

Re: Star 94's future

Very true. Perhaps they missed the chance to flip to Hot AC and preserve some dignity in this battle. Star is a station that's been around for a long, long time!

94.1 wouldn't have even needed to "flip" other than tilting away from CHR and towards Adult CHR/Hot AC direction in music and presentation. In fact that is Star 94's roots, no? Star 94 could be marketed as such, if anything this CHR youngish direction is out of line with the "Star" branding IMHO, before long they'll be relaunching 94.1 as "Power 941" .

Yes, Star 94 started out as a freshening of 94Q, which had gone from AOR to top 40 to a very stale AC (getting pummeled by Peach and B98.5). Star 94 started out as hot AC until Power 99 flipped to 99X, upon which Star claimed the CHR market all to themselves.

If Star becomes "Power 94", does that mean that 7 years later they will become 94X? Inside would be happy to see that. But how would that affect Q100?