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Rush did it! FM talkers way up, AM former Rush stations way down

AM 1200 in Boston needs time. It's an AM signal in a market which is known to be to the left of things...
 
"Rush Did It!" is a good title for only one market... Raleigh. Clear Channel's new FM Talk station, WRDU, is #7 in the latest ratings. And Rush's previous home, 50,000 watt AM talk station WPTF is down to #11.

In Greensboro, the new Rush FM talk station, WPTI, is #12. The AM station that used to have Rush, WSJS, is #13. But the company that owns WSJS also has an FM talk station in the market, WZTK and that station is #10.

Other markets where Clear Channel set up their own FM talker and removed Rush from the big AM talk station have not done as well:

Pittsburgh: KDKA #2, WPGB #4.
Minneapolis: WCCO #6, WTLK #16.
New Orleans: WWL #3, WRNO #8

And in Boston where Clear Channel set up an AM station to oppose Rush's old home, WRKO, the market's only FM talk station WTKK is the winner: WTKK #12, WRKO #15 (a big tumble for a station that used to be in the top 5) and Clear Channel's new WXKS Rush Radio is #24. WXKS didn't even get a full one-share.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
Check the PPM for the Boston market. The move from WRKO to WXKS. XKS is less than a 1 share.
 
Gregg said:
"Rush Did It!" is a good title for only one market... Raleigh. Clear Channel's new FM Talk station, WRDU, is #7 in the latest ratings. And Rush's previous home, 50,000 watt AM talk station WPTF is down to #11.
Click to expand...
I must have missed something, then.
 
Gregg, even though WPGB isn't beating KDKA in Pittsburgh, you must admit that Top 5 is still pretty favorable.
 
Gregg said:
Pittsburgh: KDKA #2, WPGB #4.
Minneapolis: WCCO #6, WTLK #16.
New Orleans: WWL #3, WRNO #8
Click to expand...

You're missing the point.

Clear Channel brought Rush to an O&O and boosted the O&O's ratings. Is the O&O still behind the former EIB affiliate? Yes. Is the new affiliate now a much bigger money maker for Clear Channel? Yes.

In the cases of the FM's, CCU killed a failing music station (like WRNO) and breathed new life into the station wth a news/talk format branded by Rush. WRNO may be in 8th place overall compared to WWL's 3rd place standing... but that's a hell of a lot better than where WRNO used to show up in the books.

(Not to mention, nobody at CCU ever thought they'd quickly topple a legendary, long time news/talk market leader. Not in New Orleans with WWL, not in Pittsburgh with KDKA, not in Minneapolis with WCCO... and not even in Orlando with WDBO, where CCU's WFLF trails horribly but does far better than it did before it's news/talk format... and that's on AM. We're talking about radio stations that have held the market image for news and information for DECADES.)

I'd love to be able to see some breakouts on the new "Rush Radio" markets. We're probably only hearing 12+. How were the key demos?
 
NewsStud said:
I'd love to be able to see some breakouts on the new "Rush Radio" markets. We're probably only hearing 12+. How were the key demos?
Click to expand...

KDKA's listeners are mostly senior citizens who have old Atwater-Kent radios that only get the AM band.

That's only a semi-joke. There's a big grain of truth behind the exaggeration.

It should also be noted that 104.7 in Pittsburgh pre-empts Rush for Pirates baseball in a town where Steeler football comes first, Penguin hockey second, and the Pirates are a joke.
 
Well, maybe the Pirates aren't as big as the Steelers but having a baseball franchise is still a big money maker. Advertisers still line up for commercial time, even if the ratings aren't great.

As for whether an FM station makes more money running Rush and other Premiere syndicated talk shows, instead of music, I'm not sure the evidence is there. If the station is poorly rated and Clear Channel can't figure out what to do with it, OK. But the reason most markets still have only music on FM and only talk on AM is that you can make more money with fewer expenses if you've got a music FM that does well.

Talk skews fairly old. A talk station has more commercial minutes to sell but most of those minutes sell cheaper than on a highly rated music station, because the audience is older.

(By the way, there really is no E.I.B. network. It's something Rush made up. He's been syndicated over the years by several companies, currently Premiere, owned by Clear Channel. But none really has the name E.I.B.)



Gregg
[email protected]
 
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