Spring 2005 Book To Be Released Tuesday

[Mark_Giardina]

Here in Rochester it will be interesting to see what the spring 2005 book brings.

1. Will WHAM overtake WBEE as the number #1 rated radio station in Rochester, or will country music beat out conservative talk radio and local news?
2. Will all the money Entercom poured into TV commercials for Kimberly and Beck result in higher ratings at the “Buzz”.
3. Will Air America’s audience in Rochester grow at the expense of NPR affiliate WXXI?
4. (Speaking of WXXI) will that station continue to experience audience erosion or will their numbers bounce back? (Just in time before their October pledge drive)
5. Will the return of Stan Main and Brother Wease help WCMF?
6. And finally, will WYSL finally show up in the book, or be ignored once again?

These and other exciting developments should be known later today when the ratings are released.
<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>

 

[Bob1370]

> Here in Rochester it will be interesting to see what the
> spring 2005 book brings.
>
> 1. Will WHAM overtake WBEE as the number #1 rated radio
> station in Rochester, or will country music beat out
> conservative talk radio and local news?

In the money demos that count, country is already a clear winner. Winning the 12+ is gravy that gets WBEE some extra national spot business, so I'm sure they want to win it, and they might.

> 2. Will all the money Entercom poured into TV commercials
> for Kimberly and Beck result in higher ratings at the
> “Buzz”.

Problem with those spots is that they've been airing for a long time; they could use some fresh ones. As it is, the Buzz does OK, about as well as it can in every daypart, so Entercom's probably satisfied with what they're getting out of it. They should be, since they're probably getting as much as they can out of the 70s-80s format.

> 3. Will Air America’s audience in Rochester grow at the
> expense of NPR affiliate WXXI?

It may have in the winter book, out of novelty and the fact that the successors to Bob Edwards are beginning to lose some traction. But the spring book may be a different story, if only because Air America in a lot of markets seems to have hit a plateau, at least for now. As the novelty wears off, people drift back to old habits.
Of course, ALL news/talk programming, commercial and noncommercial, is in a slump right now in most of the big markets, now that elections are long past.

> 4. (Speaking of WXXI) will that station continue to
> experience audience erosion or will their numbers bounce
> back? (Just in time before their October pledge drive)

That's going to depend on how much effort is put into marketing the station and its schedule.

> 5. Will the return of Stan Main and Brother Wease help WCMF?

The return of a manager is something that's hard to measure in the short term. It depends on what he brings to the table in terms of promotion and programming concepts this time, and how those work can only be judged over the course of a number of books. You know what they say in those lawyer commercials about past performance not necessarily being a guarantee of future results...

Wease's return WILL be an immediate shot in the arm. The morning show's more focused and listenable again, and the whole station's morale and energy level seems perceptibly stronger now.

> 6. And finally, will WYSL finally show up in the book, or be
> ignored once again?

We may not know this time. Here's where the upcoming power boost, which will probably take effect some time during the summer book, will have an impact,

> These and other exciting developments should be known later
> today when the ratings are released.
>
Actually all these things will be playing out over the next three or four books. We'll be watching them over the next nine to twelve months.

Incidentally, the Buffalo book should also be coming out. There's a battle between WBEN and WYRK that's very similar to the WBEE/WHAM struggle. Further down the line, WHTT was holding steady with a modernized personality oldies format; how will the retirement of Tommy Shannon affect them? (Not much, IMHO, simply because Jim Pastrick and Harv Moore should be able to hold the daytime audience quite well.) Will 'KB, which moved significantly in a positive direction in the winter book, continue to grow, and is it growing at the expense of WECK? How will WGR show---will it finally make something out of its format monopoly, or will the growth we were all expecting after the death of WNSA wait for the resumption of Sabres hockey broadcasts in the fall book? Will the crowded AC battle further sort itself out? Will the battle between Kiss 98.5 and Wild 101 take a different direction, and will WBLK continue to outdistance them both? What will 97 Rock and The Lake do? Can't see Jack as much of a threat but will those stations need to tweak their formats just to avoid intertia and drift? Stay tuned...

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Buffalo Question (Was: Re: Spring 2005 Book To Be Released Tuesday)

Could the Buffalo book be embargoed because of the payola scandal at WKSE, or at the very least, that station get listed "below the line"??

I know that, as far as I know, ratings weren't used improperly, but could Arbitron decide that the payola allegations may have affected the station's format enough to either place it "below the line" or embargo the entire book??