Rochester's Summer Book

[Mark Giardina]

Keeping with the rules of not providing exact numbers, here is a brief rundown of the summer book here in Rochester-land. Please remember these numbers are 12 +

The "News Leader" ranks number 1 followed in second place by Entercom's country station. The Urban station remains in third place. ( So nothing has really changed with the top three)

WRMM went up a full percentage point apparently at the expense of the "Buzz" which saw their 12+ numbers drop by the same amount.

Legends audience continues to grow, which indicates to me that eventually some other station is going to air a similar format.

PXY, CMF and Fox's numbers went up slightly. It will be interesting to see how Fox does after Wease returns sometime this fall/winter.

There were a number of stations that didn't register in the summer book. But what took me by surprise is while the Batavia station showed an audience, the 20kw station in Avon did not.

Sorry if I sound bias ( I work there Saturday mornings) but something is truly wrong when a station can not be heard in Rochester shows an audience and one that has the second most powerful AM signal in the region can't.

 

[Element9]

The Legends 12+ number is rather impressive. Imagine what Legends might have scored if it had a morsel of formatic consistency. WLGZ out-performed Fickle... which means the new owners of Fickle could easily morph 93.3 into Classic Hits, add the elements of promotion and production and steal Legend's thunder. That WLGZ is within striking distance of The Fox, Kiss and The Drive should be of concern to those three stations, especially considering Legend's disjointed presentation. It would be interesting to see what the 25-54s look like.

And then there's the disclaimer: It's 12+ and a Summer book. No wagering, please. Void where probited, not valid in Kansas, Florida and Montana. See dealer for details and restrictions. May cause dizziness and upset stomach, if symptoms persist after three days consult a physician. And lastly: This is not an offering which can be made by prospectus only.

 

[cee]

Yeah, a 3.5 for Legends is pretty impressive and shows there's was a gap in the market for Oldies ever since Entercom abandoned that format when they dropped BBF-FM at their last location on the dial - 93.3. Fickle has never done much and yes, one can only speculate that Fickle's new owners would be wise to bring back Oldies, or "Classic Hits" as the format's now known. Get Mike Vickers to do daily voicetracking.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Legends has come a long way from the Fall 07 book when the station didn't even register on Arbitron.
I have to agree with the other posters that Legends could have done much better in the overall book (12+) if the station improved its playlist. I'm sure the staff and management at Legends are celebrating over there at Browncroft Blvd, which they should. But as other posters have mentioned, it would come as no surprise if another station saw the potential of changing formats and going after Legends.
With regards to WYSL and WBTA, I too find it strange that a station (WBTA) whose signal doesn't reach a large portion of metro Rochester shows up in the book yet WYSL does not.

 

[ThePickleReport]

Legends has come a long way from the Fall 07 book when the station didn't even register on Arbitron.
I have to agree with the other posters that Legends could have done much better in the overall book (12+) if the station improved its playlist.

I've been listening on the web and it sounds like they have improved the playlist/music scheduling. I don't hear many odd segues anymore.

 

[scooterodell]

Legends has come a long way from the Fall 07 book when the station didn't even register on Arbitron.

In fall of 07, Legends was on 990 AM and 102.7 FM was WRCI "The Light." They're both there, though fairly low.

 

[scooterodell]

I've been listening on the web and it sounds like they have improved the playlist/music scheduling. I don't hear many odd segues anymore.

Pickle, you're right. I work for WDCX-AM, so I'm in the same building as WLGZ. Both from what I've heard on the air and what I've heard in the office, there has been quite a bit of work done on the music and the segs. It is definitely a better sounding station now than it was when it launched, or even a couple of months ago.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I've been listening on the web and it sounds like they have improved the playlist/music scheduling. I don't hear many odd segues anymore.

I heard the Dean Martin Song "Volare" repeated three times in one five day period.
Now if that's not repetition I don't know what is.
This is a station that has four decades of music to select from, versus a station that plays the current hits for example. You can't tell me that Legends music library is that limited that one song has to be repeated so many times. If that's the case then Legends needs to expand it's music library.

 

[audio4tv]

With regards to WYSL and WBTA, I too find it strange that a station (WBTA) whose signal doesn't reach a large portion of metro Rochester shows up in the book yet WYSL does not.

Chalk this up to the method. WYSL and WBTA have low enough listeners, that the right number of diaries falling into the right area, may make the difference on having a "number" vs. a "*". To be honest, WBTA "showing up" is so low, it really does not make much of a difference. The real concern to me would be WROC having a similar fate. It will be interesting to see if the format change makes a difference.

 

[Savage]

If you look at the cover of any given Arbitron book, you will see the title: "Listening Estimates for (market, survey period)." Then, open your Webster and look up the meaning of the word "estimate" and you'll find that a synonym is "guess." (Kind of like how Groucho Marx once explained the derivation of the word "kinescope" as: "kin" means "family," while "escope" means "impossible to recognize." Thus: it's impossible to recognize your own family on a kinescope film.) And therefore: Arbitron's surveys are guesses by their own admission.

Now: there is no guesswork in learning the actual listenership to WYSL's internet audio stream. Our streaming portal company provides a client page on their website, and the streaming company simply logs each unique IP address and how long that computer is logged on. There is no "estimating." It's a simple automatic process consisting of arithmetic.

A casual check at warpradio.com reveals that for October 2008, through the 20th of the month, WYSL had a total of 16,835 listeners who spent a total of 27812.6 hours listening, with the peak listenership hours in morning drive. TSL was an average of 99.12 minutes per listener.

A fair extrapolation to the end of the month would predict that WYSL will have well over 20,000 internet listeners. Yet Arbitron's "guess" insists the 20kw terrestrial service has essentially no listeners.

Ummm.....rrright. Guess that's one reason why so many hard-bitten ad agencies spend so much money on a station with "no audience."

 

[Bob1370]

Some things don't seem, on the surface, to make sense. WYSL clearly should be listed in any accurate sampling, since the online audience that Bob Savage is getting would be enough to get it listed in the book all by itself and should clearly be accompanied by an over-the-air cume that's at least as large and likely much larger.

It's also surprising that WROC didn't show in the summer book at all. We know they were not doing well in previous books (in the range of 0.7 to 1.0 over the previous year, IIRC) but would they have disappeared COMPLETELY off the radar in the last two months of sampling in their issue-talk format, while the other main news-talkers in the market were performing well during this election year? Could the format change in the last month of the book have created such a complete black hole? Or did something strange happen to the sampling that had a disproportionate impact on it and other struggling stations finishing toward the bottom of the queue?

I'm also a little puzzled by a few other things in the book...a higher than normal listenership for Buffalo-based FMs which don't usually get into the market all that well, a sudden expanded gap developing between WPXY and its principal format competition, Kiss 106.7, and a few other odd numbers. Could some stations in the middle or back of the pack have fallen victim to fluky sampling and diary placement, even though the 12+ AQH numbers generated by the top tier of stations don't look crazy? And does anyone know if the demo breakdowns of all the stations, which normally rely on smaller samples, look a little strange and give additional indication of survey skew?

 

[Play Freebird]

Now: there is no guesswork in learning the actual listenership to WYSL's internet audio stream. Our streaming portal company provides a client page on their website, and the streaming company simply logs each unique IP address and how long that computer is logged on. There is no "estimating." It's a simple automatic process consisting of arithmetic.

This must be the Media-Pulse Instant Feedback Board envisioned in "Tomorrow Radio". It just became reality 25 years later than those guys thought.

Here's the MP3 link:

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2007/04/111_1_TM_Productions_-_Tomorrow_Radio_Drama.mp3

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Used to be this thing in the back of the Arbitron books called a "nomograph" which Arbitron provided to allow programming types to calculate the margin of error in each cell. For those unfamiliar, the nomograph was a bit like a slide rule (and delivered the same type of headache when trying to make calculations.)

Using the nomograph, it was sometimes unsettling to find that shares could swing as much as a share and a half to two shares within certain cells. I haven't seen an Arbitron book with a nomograph in a few years, mostly because we no longer get books. What comes down the pike is data delivered.

Regarding the WYSL-WBTA ratings flap, would it be a surprise to discover the diary placement in Livingston county was lower than the placement in Genesee county? I don't know that it is/was, but it's certainly a possibility which lead Buffalo stations to get larger shares than might be expected.

I'll add my vote to the "Summer book" theory and also suggest that given the station's approach to the format, WLGZ may have scored a healthy 12+ number by virtue of a good showing with listeners 50+ (and I'm not being age-biased by that assessment) while Fickle's 12+ number might actually be healthier when 35-49 Women are referenced.

Just my perspective from this side of the Thruway.

 

[Paul Jason]

Legend's has indeed found their place in the market, and I can tell you that the music is getting better daily. I've had stuff come up on my music playlist lately that has really captured my attention and make me smile. The format is getting tighter all the time. Also, one of the big factors as well is that Legends really has a GOOD air-staff on board. Some real seasoned veterans of this and other markets, including those of us who were a big part of the WKLX Days. I did mornings at WKLX, Mike Vickers did midday's. You would not believe the volume of calls I get while on the air from listeners who remember us well from those days, and are thrilled that we are back doing oldies. The station is going to continue doing very well, and I would be shocked if someone like Fickle did not make a play for our new (old) found audience. My hats off to all of my WLGZ Co-Workers for a job well done in the last book. ;D

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Legend's has indeed found their place in the market, and I can tell you that the music is getting better daily. I've had stuff come up on my music playlist lately that has really captured my attention and make me smile. The format is getting tighter all the time. Also, one of the big factors as well is that Legends really has a GOOD air-staff on board. Some real seasoned veterans of this and other markets, including those of us who were a big part of the WKLX Days. I did mornings at WKLX, Mike Vickers did midday's. You would not believe the volume of calls I get while on the air from listeners who remember us well from those days, and are thrilled that we are back doing oldies. The station is going to continue doing very well, and I would be shocked if someone like Fickle did not make a play for our new (old) found audience. My hats off to all of my WLGZ Co-Workers for a job well done in the last book. ;D

May I be among those congratulating you and the staff at WLGZ for the latest 12+ book. However may I add that regarding the music rotation, I still hear a lot of repetition, which needs to be addressed if WLGZ wishes to increase its audience and ward off any possible future competition; be it from Fickle or another local radio station.
It's almost a certainty that if your station continues to grow, there will be competition; most likely from one of the two media giants that owns most radio stations in the Rochester market. And despite the pitiful price of their stock, or current economic times, these two organizations can outspend Crawford like Obama is outspending McCain. So a bit of advise. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security.

 

[Cashman]

Wasn't Fickle an Oldies station before it changed to Fickle? I think the right format and good signal coverage makes a good oldies station
and Fickle doesn't have one of those elements.

 

[candy_kisses69]

And have you noticed that with Legends some of the songs sound different from the ones that people are used to. Meaning that the song they have of Bill Haley and the comets Rock Around the Clock sounds kind of different than what everyone is used to. There is another one I think it's Twist Again by Chubby Checker.

 

[umtrr-author]

"The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again" are in fact two different songs by Mr. Checker.

According to "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", "The Twist" hit #1 in 1960, fell off the Hot 100, re-entered in 1961 and hit #1 again, the only single other than Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" to do so. In between these two chart appearances was "Let's Twist Again."

And that's today's useless trivia, brought to you by...

 

[candy_kisses69]

"The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again" are in fact two different songs by Mr. Checker.

According to "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", "The Twist" hit #1 in 1960, fell off the Hot 100, re-entered in 1961 and hit #1 again, the only single other than Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" to do so. In between these two chart appearances was "Let's Twist Again."

And that's today's useless trivia, brought to you by...

I know they are 2 different songs but the song Lets Twist Again sounds different on WLGZ than other radio stations

 

[OttoM]

Re: Chubby's song versions

"The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again" are in fact two different songs by Mr. Checker.

According to "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", "The Twist" hit #1 in 1960, fell off the Hot 100, re-entered in 1961 and hit #1 again, the only single other than Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" to do so. In between these two chart appearances was "Let's Twist Again."

And that's today's useless trivia, brought to you by...

I know they are 2 different songs but the song Lets Twist Again sounds different on WLGZ than other radio stations

Chubby (and other Cameo-Parkway Records artists) re-recorded the original hits because in the mid '70s the label owner (ABKCO Records) wouldn't re-release the originals. As of 2005 that's been rectified, so there's no reason for any station to play those re-recorded versions.

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameo-Parkway_Records