September 2020 PPM 6+ Mon-Sun, 6a-12mid

[TheBigA]

Seattle COULD survive without country radio. San Francisco (our closest comparable city) hasn't had a country station in ages.

But what format would do better? There are only so many ways to cut the pie.

 

[Bongwater]

It has country FMs both in the northern part of the market and in the southern segment. Santa Rosa and San Jose both have good country stations. In fact, Sonoma County has two of them.

But none of these stations put a full market signal into San Francisco proper. High rise reception should be excellent. At ground level (unless you're on top of one of those crazy hills), not so much.

Country is a suburban format (there's nothing rural about it these days.) Which probably explains why the full market San Francisco stations gave up on it. As cities get bigger and more diverse, there's less of a need for it. I see Seattle evolving the same way.

 

[TheBigA]

Country is a suburban format (there's nothing rural about it these days.) Which probably explains why the full market San Francisco stations gave up on it. As cities get bigger and more diverse, there's less of a need for it. I see Seattle evolving the same way.

The most recent San Francisco country was doing well until they changed PDs and it took an unpopular turn. There's nothing about it that makes it either suburban or rural. People get drunk in the city too. Country does very well in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Hartford, Detroit, and Denver. A lot of places that might not seem country.

The main thing is it makes money. The audience is primarily 25-54 women, and that's a very sellable demographic.

 

[davideduardo]

Country is a suburban format (there's nothing rural about it these days.) Which probably explains why the full market San Francisco stations gave up on it. As cities get bigger and more diverse, there's less of a need for it. I see Seattle evolving the same way.

Radio markets consist of an entire metro area. It does not matter if a station is mostly listened to in inner-city minority group areas or neighborhoods or whether the listeners are in outlying counties and areas. They all get mixed, in at lest theoretical proportion, in the book.

San Francisco goes from Santa Rosa to the north down to Campbell at the south. For radio listening, it is all "San Francisco" which is 9 counties surrounding the Bay Area.

Most Hispanic and Black listening is concentrated in HDBA and HDHA zones in markets with DST, and even though there are some Blacks and Hispanics measured outside those zones, there is a very strict focus on the High Density areas. There is no High Density Boots & Hats Area (BAHA) so there may be country listeners in any part of any county in a radio metro.

In some cases, a signal is matched with a format because the signal is not a full market competitor. But there are just as many full signals that get most listening in the very central areas as there are ones that depend on the suburbs more than the central zone. It's just that in ratings, that does not matter. There are no "suburban" or "central city" breaks that are standard in the ratings.