Ratings?

[Rob]

Are the ratings out yet for the 3rd and 4th quarter here in Pensacola/Ft Walton? I'm curious to see how WHWY is doing, at last glance, 102.1 the wave was #1.

The move for DLT should at least put it in competition with BLT. The Big station seems to be focusing more on soft core rap & RnB.

with 106.1 pretty much simulcasting 104.1 - I can imagine Cumulus will be planning to switch 106.1 to a new format.

-Rob

 

[dwightnight]

pcola/fwb are 2 book markets. fall 2012 comes usually near the end of jan. Arbs website sez 2/1.

 

[Tibbs4]

Yeah and how many stations will be reporting? 4?

 

[radioboy]

Tibbs,

Now that was funny!

When I saw DLT and BLT I started craving sandwiches..

 

[Poledo]

When I saw DLT and BLT I started craving sandwiches..

Dang, ya beat me to it. I was a about to post that it sure would be sad if WDLT couldn't get more listeners than my lunch.

 

[Groove1670]

With Cumulus back on board with the rating giant.You might see some numbers posted in the next book.

 

[Rob]

OK, thanks I thought we were one since FT Walton was sooo small.

-Rob

 

[stonecold49]

Rob,

I am curious about the market ratings as musiconradio mentioned, Cumulus
has recently carved another deal with Arbitron to reopen ratings in markets
smaller that 100 which means FWB/Pensacola, ARB will favor Cumulus because they "bought the book". It would be nice to see some new competition in the market, like WHWY or even WAAZ (Jimmy's Good Country
has changed their music rotation in recent months playing more classic
country gold and bluegrass...could make a difference if most of the diaries go
to north Okaloosa county addresses rather than south county or older demos
as opposed to households where teens respond instead of their parents!

 

[Tibbs4]

Those books have always seemed to fall in specific areas. The FWB/Destin market was a live by and die by where the books landed market. PC was similar, but the CC stations have stayed on top forever. I can remember seeing swings of 4-6 points on FWB/Destin stations between two books and swing exactly back around on the third book. There are just so few books that surveyed that one quickly filled out book favoring one station would push it up the charts. It will be nice to see the real figures now that Crums is back on the plan. Arbitron must have caved in these markets and virtually surveyed for free. I can remember WBLX pulling 5 and 6 shares in the FWB book. WILN, WTBB (the old Pirate radio) and even WPFM would show up in the low 2's, etc.

 

[Rob]

Jimmy needs to go full stereo at least, what a waste of a stereo carrier. Some of the music he plays has very full range it's a shame we don't hear the full fidelity.

I'm curious too about that. If Cumulus DID buy out Arbitron why is 102.1 #1? They have a crappy signal but it's a great station.

-Rob

 

[amfmxm]

Y'all are a riot. I've never worked for Cumulus--in fact, I've gone out of my way not to work for Cumulus--but here's reality.

Cumulus wrestled with Arbitron for years about their pricing policies, especially in the smaller markets--even enlisting Nielsen to jump into the radio ratings biz for a few years to serve those markets. When Nielsen bailed-out of radio ratings, Cumulus slowly started to make amends. The funny twist to this story is that now--pending approval of the feds due to monopoly issues--Nielsen is buying Arbitron.

Anyway, Cumulus is not "buying out" Arbitron. And merely subscribing to Arbitron's ratings service does not mean that their stations will do any better (or worse) than before. The entire ratings (audience research) industry is built on integrity. Screw with that and a billion dollar business goes down the drain.

But they probably will dominate these markets... because they own a bunch of great stations...

 

[Dr voicetrack]

amfmxm,

Thank you! After reading thru that 1st page, I was going to post something similar. But you beat me to the punch. Thanks for saving me the aggravation. ;D

 

[Rob]

Hence my reply "102.1 is #1" the only decent station down here. The rest are crap and trying to target a demographic audience, not as a whole, bad decision.

I find myself listening to 100.1 at times out of panama city. I'm not a woman. But, I do enjoy the music.

93.3 gets too bleh and boring, I wish Cumulus would take my suggestion, kill Zzzzzzzzzz (TM) and put Bob with the former Z morning crew and rebrand to Mix 96 and focus on the current stuff minus the rap, what Mix 103 did. 93.3 can become Country 93.3 and let them have a station to compete with 98.1. 105.5 can be whatever they decide.

-Rob

 

[Dr voicetrack]

I think it's NOW a question of when, not if, for 107.3 HMN. Everything I heard about the Mobile ratings is that HMN was near the flat bottom everywhere. Don't know so much about Pcola, but the number I saw on All Access doesn't fair well.

 

[Rob]

HMN is getting better, playing older songs but it sounds 100 percent voicetracked. Probably coming from Clear Channel Central.

I wish they fix their crappy signal, even down in Pensacola it sucks. Bring the power back up to 98,000 watts.

-Rob

 

[tomservo]

Every time I tune in to HMN it's the exact same songs/voices as SL-100 in Hat-ties-burg, only delayed six seconds.

I guess the cookie cutter approach works for them.

 

[Tibbs4]

AMFM --- "Me thinks you are a Crumplant! No one says great stations about them boys."

Haha. Happy New Year!!!

 

[EricaKay]

Rob---Good luck waiting on that Z morning crew return..that will be a one MAN show unless Cumulus takes off

 

[amfmxm]

AMFM --- "Me thinks you are a Crumplant! No one says great stations about them boys."

Haha. Happy New Year!!!

Whoa, you're right. "Great stations" and "Cumulus" is a trainwreck, ain't it. But, hey, their really just trying to emulate Clear Channel, in buying great stations--not creating or building great stations. I suppose it's all fading into the foggy, distant past, but CC didn't go out and snap up a bunch of dogs--a bunch of bare sticks with no audience--and do "turnarounds." They went out and snapped up a shitload of #1 stations--and other top performers. Granted, in some of the deals, some dogs got tossed-in, and some have been developed... but generally, they bought Big Guns. Likewise, Cumulus didn't build WBLX into a killer... they just haven't screwed it up, too much, yet...

 

[Dr voicetrack]

The thing about BLX is, it's a rare "bulletproof" station. As long as it's "The Big Station" and playing the format to the audience it will score. No matter what Cumulus or Mother Nature has thrown at it or taken away in the past 10+ years, it still ranks 1 or 2 by a landslide in all daypart/demos.

Rob- HMN is sounding good? Musically, they're trying to mirror WABD. They're problem is...well...they're trying to mirror WABD clockwise, and generally playlist wise. The powers are getting more spins. They're more aggressive with new music. But presentation is terrible. There's nothing there for the listener to feel attached to it. That's the problem with a station that has been constantly tweeking since dropping the AC format.

CC's problem with it NOW, is they can't even spin anything to potential advertisers. NOW that Cumulus and Arbitron are friends again, Cumulus can show numbers to advertisers. CC can't go into propaganda mode. 107.3 cannot be sold on it's own merits. It's nothing more now than a "added value" outlet with no real impact. It's beyond saving at this point. Maybe try and take a couple shares away from BLX and go urban. A maybe 3 or 4 share urban will make more than a 1 share CHR. Maybe some sort of hot AC or 80s/90s pop heavy AC. Anything would have more potential than 107.3 has at the moment.