Ratings For Non-Commercial Stations in Rochester Are Out

[Mark_Giardina]

Adhering to the policy of not providing exact figures, I can just say that WXXI-AM’s 12+ numbers are up slightly from the previous book. But nothing close to the over 3 share they once had. As for WXXI-FM, their numbers are almost the same as the previous book; indicating at least to me that there is no growth in classical music listener ship.
What was interesting in this book is that WGMC, a high school radio station, beat out WRUR, which carries some of WXXI’s morning and afternoon programming.

The book is also out for Buffalo, but I will let someone in that market post that information.

<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Does WXXI-AM or FM have the most listeners??

If WXXI-AM has more listeners than the FM (despite the FM likely having a better signal and larger signal area), the days of classical on WXXI-FM may be numbered. It may become a 24/7 news/information station.

 

[Mark_Giardina]

> Does WXXI-AM or FM have the most listeners??
>
> If WXXI-AM has more listeners than the FM (despite the FM
> likely having a better signal and larger signal area), the
> days of classical on WXXI-FM may be numbered. It may become
> a 24/7 news/information station.
>
According to the 2005 Spring book, FM has more listeners than the AM station in the 12+ category. But even if AM’s audience was larger, there is no way that the management of WXXI will abandon its classical format on 91.5 FM. That’s because, despite the older demographics, FM still gets a substantial amount of money during pledge drives from their classical music listeners. It should be noted however that in past fundraising drives I’ve participated in recent years the AM station did collect more money than FM in some pledge drives.

If WXXI wanted a 24/7 FM operation they could use WRUR IF an agreement could be reached between the University of Rochester and WXXI. For the past few years WRUR only carries Morning Edition and All Things Considered, along with a few other NPR programs. To be honest I have no idea what plans WXXI has for WRUR or even if this current agreement between both stations will continue in the near future.



<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>

 

[Muskratt]

> What was interesting in this book is that WGMC, a high
> school radio station, beat out WRUR, which carries some of
> WXXI’s morning and afternoon programming.
>

Great to see WGMC doing well. Having a fulltime jazz station that's live & local is something most major markets can't boast about.

 

[fybush]

> What was interesting in this book is that WGMC, a high
> school radio station, beat out WRUR, which carries some of
> WXXI’s morning and afternoon programming.

To call WGMC a "high school radio station" is a bit misleading, just as it would be to call WBFO a "college station." The license is held by the Greece schools, which provide studio and transmitter space and utilities, but the station's not operated by high school students at all. I'm not sure if any are involved even as interns, and they're certainly not making the programming decisions. The only "high school" programming on WGMC is the broadcast of the Greece school board meetings that's part of the agreement to keep the licensee happy.

As for WRUR, I would seriously question the diary attribution during the WRUR/WXXI simulcasts. I suspect at least some of the listeners writing down "WXXI 1370" have their dials tuned to 88.5, and vice versa. The branding's never been very clear there.<P ID="signature">______________
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[Mark_Giardina]

Re: WGMC

> To call WGMC a "high school radio station" is a bit
> misleading, just as it would be to call WBFO a "college
> station." The license is held by the Greece schools, which
> provide studio and transmitter space and utilities, but the
> station's not operated by high school students at all. I'm
> not sure if any are involved even as interns, and they're
> certainly not making the programming decisions. The only
> "high school" programming on WGMC is the broadcast of the
> Greece school board meetings that's part of the agreement to
> keep the licensee happy.

I should have reworded my sentence to read that WGMC is headquartered at a high school in Greece. I never meant to suggest that the station is run by students, but professional and veteran announcers.

It will be interesting to see in the next book how WGMC does considering the success of the recent Jazz Festival, and WGMC's involvement in that festival.

You have to give WGMC a lot of credit for doing as well as they do considering they have no underwriting or government funding, just listener support. On top of that WGMC airs more local programming than WXXI.
>
> As for WRUR, I would seriously question the diary
> attribution during the WRUR/WXXI simulcasts. I suspect at
> least some of the listeners writing down "WXXI 1370" have
> their dials tuned to 88.5, and vice versa. The branding's
> never been very clear there.

You know from personal conversations my thoughts about this WXXI-WRUR deal.

<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>

 

[Bob1370]

> Adhering to the policy of not providing exact figures, I can
> just say that WXXI-AM’s 12+ numbers are up slightly from the
> previous book. But nothing close to the over 3 share they
> once had.

WXXI-AM is back comfortably in the 2s, and back within its recent historic range which has bounced between a 2.2 and a 2.7 over the last couple of years. That 3 share may have been a bit of a fluke a year ago, at a time when WHAM's partisanship was going down especially poorly in the market and Air America wasn't on the scene yet. The 1.8 in the winter book was also a fluke, probably attributable to people sampling Air America (which has since fallen back). What you see now is more normal, and will probably build a little further. In the long run there's more room for growth, but one thing both network and local production will have to do to bring in new listeners is adopt a friendlier, more conversational and less formal style on the air. CBC would be a good model to emulate in that regard.

> As for WXXI-FM, their numbers are almost the same
> as the previous book; indicating at least to me that there
> is no growth in classical music listener ship.

But no shrinkage either, which tells me the station and the RPO are doing a better job of marketing classical music as an entertainment option here than their counterparts in other cities, where radio ratings and concert attendance are slipping.

> What was interesting in this book is that WGMC, a high
> school radio station, beat out WRUR, which carries some of
> WXXI’s morning and afternoon programming.

Actually the book was pretty decent for both stations, which are showing better than they have in the past. And WGMC, though it may be physically located on a high school campus, is an adult professionally run operation which just happens to have a school district as licensee...it's not a high school station in the sense we usually know them. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by BobSmith on 08/04/05 02:51 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[TheREALJM1]

>
>
> And WGMC,
> though it may be physically located on a high school campus,
> is an adult professionally run operation which just happens
> to have a school district as licensee...it's not a high
> school station in the sense we usually know them.
>
You are right Bob, unless Jack Mindy is back in high school!

 

[Bob1370]

> Does WXXI-AM or FM have the most listeners??
>
> If WXXI-AM has more listeners than the FM (despite the FM
> likely having a better signal and larger signal area), the
> days of classical on WXXI-FM may be numbered. It may become
> a 24/7 news/information station.

It's actually pretty close, with FM a little ahead of AM in AQH and cume, but the AM audience demos skew younger than FM's. The two stations do about equally well in terms of fundraising and underwriting, and both are profit centers for the entire organization, doing what they're now doing.

So there's really no reason to change either station's format, or flip them. And there are no plans to do so in the foreseeable future.

A number of strategies are being looked at to fill in the nulls in AM's pre-sunrise and post-sunset coverage, maybe including trying to build or buy another FM to the west of Rochester to expand coverage the same way WTOP in Washington uses an FM simulcast transmitter located in the western Washington 'burbs for null fill-in within its market, and WBT does in the western part of the Charlotte, NC market area. But as long as AM 1370 keeps delivering a healthy audience (which it once again is doing after what now appears to have been a fluky winter book) it'll continue to be pretty much what it is.

And FM is going to continue to be what it is, as well.