Seattle-Tacoma PPM ratings November 2024

[The New Chico]

Thanks for sharing that. Even though KISW looked a little weak in this book, I figured they were doing a bit better. They seem to consistently be one of the top performers regardless of what the 6+ numbers indicate. Good to see KJEB doing well too.

I’m not sure how I would explain KZOK leaning 55+ still. A huge chunk of the playlist is 90’s centric rock (but usually Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.). Those groups are often heard on 107.7.

Those bands all had their biggest hits and influence 30 or more years ago. They are the "soundtrack of my life" and I am now 60. My son is 35 and he considers songs for 2005-2015 as the "oldies." Time marches on! Classic rock doesn't have more than a decade left of relevance...the splintering of music in this century just doesn't give enough of a base of guitar driven "rock" to work with going forward.

 

[fordranger797]

Those bands all had their biggest hits and influence 30 or more years ago. They are the "soundtrack of my life" and I am now 60. My son is 35 and he considers songs for 2005-2015 as the "oldies." Time marches on! Classic rock doesn't have more than a decade left of relevance...the splintering of music in this century just doesn't give enough of a base of guitar driven "rock" to work with going forward.

You’re right about that, sadly. I’m 29, but I’d probably classify rock from the 70’s and 80’s as being my preferred decade of music. KZOK has marched on from a lot of that music, and now has to focus on the 90’s. But even then, it feels like they play the biggest rock hits of the 90’s on rotation and never touch anything else.

At least KJEB is heavily 80’s focused for now. It’s going to be very hard to really nail down what “classic hits” is or isn’t when music from 2005 to 2015 is considered classic. Fortunately, 80’s hits seem to test well, and therefore stations like KJEB, KOSF, KRTH (and many more) seem to keep doing well.

It seems like classic rock is at much more of a crossroads.

 

[bobdavcav]

You’re right about that, sadly. I’m 29, but I’d probably classify rock from the 70’s and 80’s as being my preferred decade of music. KZOK has marched on from a lot of that music, and now has to focus on the 90’s. But even then, it feels like they play the biggest rock hits of the 90’s on rotation and never touch anything else.

At least KJEB is heavily 80’s focused for now. It’s going to be very hard to really nail down what “classic hits” is or isn’t when music from 2005 to 2015 is considered classic. Fortunately, 80’s hits seem to test well, and therefore stations like KJEB, KOSF, KRTH (and many more) seem to keep doing well.

It seems like classic rock is at much more of a crossroads.

I think Throwback 2K is probably a good representation of what a standard major-market classic hits station will sound like in 20 years. My question is the next 10, when music really splintered. There are at least a few markets that didn't even have a CHR in the 90s, including Seattle. How is now classic hits going to handle that?

 

[bobdavcav]

It's my understanding that the decline in cume is happening everywhere. It's a reflection of the declining number of people listening to AM/FM radio. Its like a shrinking pie, and everyone's slice keeps getting smaller.

Unfortunately, that's what I expected someone to say, but it seems like the decline has been sharper the last couple of months.

 

[KilowattKat]

Unfortunately, that's what I expected someone to say, but it seems like the decline has been sharper the last couple of months.

It would be interesting to see what the cume was a year ago compared to today. Unfortunately, on another thread it was posted by Lance Venta that there are no archived ratings that are available from that far back.

 

[bobdavcav]

If I were really curious enough I could probably create an archive of this going forward, but I don't think those numbers are archived at all.

 

[CarAgencyGuy]

I think KING moving up and down in SHARE (not withstanding the covid period) shows the degree of error in sampling. Research in general is getting more difficult to conduct (look at the political data as an example)

 

[CarAgencyGuy]

It would be interesting to see what the cume was a year ago compared to today. Unfortunately, on another thread it was posted by Lance Venta that there are no archived ratings that are available from that far back.

here is some information

Share of Ear Archives - Edison Research

www.edisonresearch.com

and
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.westwoodone.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Share-of-Ear_WWO.pdf

2014, radio account for 50% of all audio, 2024 Q1, it's 37%

 

[Bongwater]

Unfortunately, that's what I expected someone to say, but it seems like the decline has been sharper the last couple of months.

Truthfully, what the industry only sees now was nakedly visible 10 years ago. Probably moving at a slower pace than was perceptible from the radio industry board rooms at the time. But it was in your face everywhere at the listener end. Radio isn't the hardy survivor it used to be. And if any piece of tech looks like it can eat into cume, it probably will

Between fentanyl and denial, I don't know what's more addicting and deadlier.

 

[bobdavcav]

I do wonder if this is also why we're seeing a lack of political advertising on radio lately? On the news/talk station here, political ads existed this last election cycle, but they were most definitely in the minority, as in listen for an hour and you might hear two. Meanwhile, you turn on the TV the week before the election and you are watching to see which one spot in the break isn't political.

 

[DMK]

I do wonder if this is also why we're seeing a lack of political advertising on radio lately? On the news/talk station here, political ads existed this last election cycle, but they were most definitely in the minority, as in listen for an hour and you might hear two. Meanwhile, you turn on the TV the week before the election and you are watching to see which one spot in the break isn't political.

I read a couple of articles suggesting the Gen Z and Millennials got their political info from influencers and the internet. The right didn't need to advertise on radio as they had an endless array of mouthpieces. Also a lot of people are visual learners and that's where television beats radio.

 

[CarAgencyGuy]

I do wonder if this is also why we're seeing a lack of political advertising on radio lately? On the news/talk station here, political ads existed this last election cycle, but they were most definitely in the minority, as in listen for an hour and you might hear two. Meanwhile, you turn on the TV the week before the election and you are watching to see which one spot in the break isn't political.

Audio streaming - as in podcasts- certainly reported to have been a factor in Trump win (Joe Rogan). Many podcast are radio owned and locally sold- IHeart for one.

 

[bobdavcav]

That's what I've heard too, but I don't know how that influenced local races. Granted, I don't have any political podcasts in my feed, but I never heard ads in the podcasts I do have that appear to do some form of targeted advertising for any local races. In fact, the only local ads I've ever heard in podcasts were a couple for Less Schwab. Outside of that, all I get is American Express on one particular show, Better Help, Zocdoc, and the other usual podcast advertisers. The only real differences in advertisers I hear on podcasts are the ones from NPR and a couple of automotive companies that appear on a podcast about, you guessed it, cars. ABC sometimes does targeted ads.

 

[Huff]

It would be interesting to see what the cume was a year ago compared to today. Unfortunately, on another thread it was posted by Lance Venta that there are no archived ratings that are available from that far back.

Which is why I started archiving them years ago.
You won't see dramatic drops from year to year with cume, you have to look back over several years to see the seepage, and also the dramatic hit covid leveled on it in 2020, from which radio has never really recovered. Here are the cumes of the current top six stations over the past five years:

 

[David1960]

You’re right about that, sadly. I’m 29, but I’d probably classify rock from the 70’s and 80’s as being my preferred decade of music. KZOK has marched on from a lot of that music, and now has to focus on the 90’s. But even then, it feels like they play the biggest rock hits of the 90’s on rotation and never touch anything else.

At least KJEB is heavily 80’s focused for now. It’s going to be very hard to really nail down what “classic hits” is or isn’t when music from 2005 to 2015 is considered classic. Fortunately, 80’s hits seem to test well, and therefore stations like KJEB, KOSF, KRTH (and many more) seem to keep doing well.

It seems like classic rock is at much more of a crossroads.

I admit this may not be completely scientifically reliable as an average but on this Tuesday afternoon, December 10th, I ran an analysis of the last 40 songs played on KZOK and what year they're from.

They played:
1960s -- 2 songs (The Doors "People Are Strange" being the oldest at 1967)
1970s -- 11 songs
1980s -- 16 songs
1990s -- 10 songs (mainly early 1990s, the only post-1994 song being "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters)
2000s -- 1 song (Linkin Park's "In The End" from 2000)

Average Year: 1983
Median Year: 1981

So I think it's safe to say that the 1980s still dominate but I bet there's far more from 1990s than, say, 5 years ago.

 

[DMK]

David 1960. Very interesting analysis and not necessarily surprising. Yes from my experience pre-covid the 90s were half what you survey showed. I'm willing to bet that five years from now the numbers shrink for the 1970s and expand for the 90s.

 

[fordranger797]

I admit this may not be completely scientifically reliable as an average but on this Tuesday afternoon, December 10th, I ran an analysis of the last 40 songs played on KZOK and what year they're from.

They played:
1960s -- 2 songs (The Doors "People Are Strange" being the oldest at 1967)
1970s -- 11 songs
1980s -- 16 songs
1990s -- 10 songs (mainly early 1990s, the only post-1994 song being "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters)
2000s -- 1 song (Linkin Park's "In The End" from 2000)

Average Year: 1983
Median Year: 1981

So I think it's safe to say that the 1980s still dominate but I bet there's far more from 1990s than, say, 5 years ago.

There's nothing wrong with 90's rock. I'm a big fan of 90's rock. But as far as I can tell, the selection of rock music from the 1990's is extremely limited. I actually find that I no longer like the band Nirvana after hearing the same songs over and over again on KZOK. In short, I really don't have an issue with the decades of music that KZOK wants to target, but it does feel like I hear the same songs over and over agian.

I usually end up listening to KISM in my neck of the woods. They focus on the same decades, but the music selection feels a lot more diverse and broad. They hit the big hits, but mix in the songs KZOK used to play. KISM may not be targeting the market of Seattle, but they are easily listenable in a big portion of the market. I'd pick 92.9 over 102.5 whenever possible.

 

[David1960]

There's nothing wrong with 90's rock. I'm a big fan of 90's rock. But as far as I can tell, the selection of rock music from the 1990's is extremely limited. I actually find that I no longer like the band Nirvana after hearing the same songs over and over again on KZOK. In short, I really don't have an issue with the decades of music that KZOK wants to target, but it does feel like I hear the same songs over and over agian.

I usually end up listening to KISM in my neck of the woods. They focus on the same decades, but the music selection feels a lot more diverse and broad. They hit the big hits, but mix in the songs KZOK used to play. KISM may not be targeting the market of Seattle, but they are easily listenable in a big portion of the market. I'd pick 92.9 over 102.5 whenever possible.

Oh I completely agree. As people can probably deduce from my user name, I'm a 60s child. But I love tons of 90s rock and wish they'd be more diverse with the selections. But then again, they should also be more diverse with the 70s songs. In that 40 song span, they played Free Bird, Stairway To Heaven and Hotel California. And technically, that all happened in the span of 15 songs. (From the time I started tracking: 17-Free Bird, 26-Stairway To Heaven, 31-Hotel California).

But I know. Can't argue with ratings. I just don't understand why listeners can't accept even slightly more variety. Ultimately it's their fault.

I live in south Seattle but I'll see if I can snag their signal in my car.

 

[fordranger797]

Oh I completely agree. As people can probably deduce from my user name, I'm a 60s child. But I love tons of 90s rock and wish they'd be more diverse with the selections. But then again, they should also be more diverse with the 70s songs. In that 40 song span, they played Free Bird, Stairway To Heaven and Hotel California. And technically, that all happened in the span of 15 songs. (From the time I started tracking: 17-Free Bird, 26-Stairway To Heaven, 31-Hotel California).

But I know. Can't argue with ratings. I just don't understand why listeners can't accept even slightly more variety. Ultimately it's their fault.

I live in south Seattle but I'll see if I can snag their signal in my car.

I've found KISM to be quite listenable, even in my old stomping grounds of Pierce County. There are some rough spots, but it's one of the few distant stations that you could reasonably listen to if you wanted to.

I'm 29, but I'm a fan of all rock music. I love 60's rock, but I completely understand that it's not entirely marketable to the larger audience in 2024 (which is what we'd all expect). I'm also a fan of rock music from the 80's and 90's, but hearing the same songs over and over again gets old. That's not controversial, and most would probably agree.

In the last hour, KZOK played the following

Hey You - Pink Flord
Dream On - Aerosmith
Separate Ways - Journey
Somebody to Love - Queen
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
Good Riddance - Green Day
No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne
Free Fallin - Tom Petty
My Hero - Foo Fighters
Every Breath you Take - The Police

These are all good songs (and they certainly all fit the format), but I'd venture the bet that you'd probably hear them all tomorrow too. KISM absolutely does a better job of mixing in other songs from the same artist, to keep things fresh. I can't recall everything they played on my drive too and from work this week, but a few notable tracks go as follows:

Hush - Deep Purple
Woman in Love - Tom Petty
Rock and Roll Fantasy - Bad Company
Billy Squire - In the Dark

There are many others, but you get the point. I recall KZOK playing many (if not most) of these songs in recent years, but they've stopped. They play the most common classic rock songs that you'd probably list if prompted. I get why they do it, but it's pretty stale. The argument about classic rock radio stations should play (or should not play) has been rehashed over and over again. I'm not getting into that, but I definitely think that the KISM approach is reasonable. Nothing too "out there," play all the big hits that people expect to hear, and mix in some songs that were also big to keep the playlist fresh.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the morning show situation. Are/were the listeners there because of the morning show? I fell into that camp. I am curious to see if the numbers start to drop at all. We talk a lot on Radio Discussions about the importance of radio programming that targets men. Personalities are a part of that. KZOK has been very lucky with their morning on-air talent.

 

[semoochie]

I've found KISM to be quite listenable, even in my old stomping grounds of Pierce County. There are some rough spots, but it's one of the few distant stations that you could reasonably listen to if you wanted to.

I'm 29, but I'm a fan of all rock music. I love 60's rock, but I completely understand that it's not entirely marketable to the larger audience in 2024 (which is what we'd all expect). I'm also a fan of rock music from the 80's and 90's, but hearing the same songs over and over again gets old. That's not controversial, and most would probably agree.

In the last hour, KZOK played the following

Hey You - Pink Flord
Dream On - Aerosmith
Separate Ways - Journey
Somebody to Love - Queen
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
Good Riddance - Green Day
No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne
Free Fallin - Tom Petty
My Hero - Foo Fighters
Every Breath you Take - The Police

These are all good songs (and they certainly all fit the format), but I'd venture the bet that you'd probably hear them all tomorrow too. KISM absolutely does a better job of mixing in other songs from the same artist, to keep things fresh. I can't recall everything they played on my drive too and from work this week, but a few notable tracks go as follows:

Hush - Deep Purple
Woman in Love - Tom Petty
Rock and Roll Fantasy - Bad Company
Billy Squire - In the Dark

There are many others, but you get the point. I recall KZOK playing many (if not most) of these songs in recent years, but they've stopped. They play the most common classic rock songs that you'd probably list if prompted. I get why they do it, but it's pretty stale. The argument about classic rock radio stations should play (or should not play) has been rehashed over and over again. I'm not getting into that, but I definitely think that the KISM approach is reasonable. Nothing too "out there," play all the big hits that people expect to hear, and mix in some songs that were also big to keep the playlist fresh.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the morning show situation. Are/were the listeners there because of the morning show? I fell into that camp. I am curious to see if the numbers start to drop at all. We talk a lot on Radio Discussions about the importance of radio programming that targets men. Personalities are a part of that. KZOK has been very lucky with their morning on-air talent.

This sounds more like Rock leaning Classic Hits than Classic Rock.