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Spring Arbitrons in Birmingham

C

Charles1

Top 10:

1. 98.7 Kiss
2. WZZK
3. 102.5 the Bull
4. 103.7 the Q
5. 95.7 Jamz
6. Hot 107-7
7. 106.9 the Eagle
8. Magic 96.5
9. WJOX
10. WAGG

Other rankings of note, both good and bad:
13. 103-1 the Vulcan
14. Rock 99
15. 97-7 the Peach (I think that's their highest ranking---only 0.3 behind WZRR)
22. WYDE---only ahead of Oneonta's WCRL

Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
Putting The Vulcan on 103.1 looks like a great move for Clear Channel. They're already beating Rock 99 with just a translator and it probably requires minimal effort or cost on the part of Clear Channel Birmingham.

Kind of surprised to see Jamz rounding out the top five instead of being in its usual first, second or third position. I really don't know that much about rhythmic formats to comment on it, but it's certainly interesting.

Poor WYDE. Bless 'em.
 
The head-scratcher for me is Magic. One would think that they would have better ratings, given they're the only AC station in the market. Then again, they seem to be all over the road musically. Are they AC? Oldies/Classic hits? A musical train wreck?

Other question: Wonder how much of ZZK's audience departs after Rick and Bubba sign off for the day?
 
I've been hearing "Jamz is so tired" for what seems like years, yet this is the first real slip in the ratings I can remember.

As for Magic, it was a great station to listen to when I was a younger man, with what seemed like a solid idea of what they were, musically, great processing and personality. Although I'm not in the market anymore, it still sounds like they have some personality, but the processing has taken a sharp nosedive and the music is indeed all over the place.

The question for Rock 99 is, when will they do something about it? That's pretty poor performance overall. If it's that bad in the demos that matter, they need to do something new and soon.
 
I remember when Magic broke away from the old WQEZ, just about the time I started going to college in Tuscaloosa. Besides the occasional listen to WUOA (when 95.7 was in Tuscaloosa), that's about all I cared for on FM (although WHKW soon filled that bill)>

Guess it wasn't a good report for Crawford all around. Where's WDJC? Haven't they always or usually been in the 6-10 range?

And when are they gonna give up on WYDE? Do they justify remaining talk because Huntsville doesn't have FM Talk? Well, no, WVNN fills that role. Again, what a waste of a power stick.
 
I haven't seen the morning breakout, but apparently Ace & TJ on WQEN did so well this period that they made a special point this morning to thank their Birmingham listeners. "I almost cried when I saw the Birmingham numbers," Ace said.
 
whitfm said:
I haven't seen the morning breakout, but apparently Ace & TJ on WQEN did so well this period that they made a special point this morning to thank their Birmingham listeners. "I almost cried when I saw the Birmingham numbers," Ace said.
Click to expand...

Some of the other stations in town were probably "crying" too when they say the Bham numbers...but for different reasons. ;)
 
JerryKatz said:
You may find this interesting reading: http://radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2242201&spid=24698
Click to expand...

The spring numbers to me don't look that different, at least based on what's on Radio-Info. They must be seeing something anomalous in the breakdowns. Anybody have an idea of what the 25-54 ratings look like?

I'm not sure that canceling the whole book is necessary here, as Arbitron did during Katrina. The entire greater New Orleans area was uninhabitable for weeks on end and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Not trying whatsoever to downplay the tragedy of 4/27, but Katrina was a totally different situation in terms of compiling ratings data.

Pardon the baseball fan in me, but what if Arbitron did something like add an asterisk to the numbers this period?
 
Jamz was the only urban station to see a significant drop, so it must be the fault of diary placement? Um, I'm no radio insider but that's a bunch of malarkey.

Tornadoes do not discriminate against one race. Even though the B'ham tornado did tear through some majority-black parts of town, in the grand scheme of things it only affected directly a small percentage of the population. I would find it hard to believe a bunch of diaries were scattered along that exact path through Pleasant Grove (only about half black I think) and Smithfield (mostly black).

Frankly, I find the allegation a little distasteful. Not that Arbitron isn't voodoo or may screw up in the wake of a disaster, but the evidence just seems like weak sauce. To wit, WTUG, Tuscaloosa? Up. Kiss FM? Up in B'ham and Tuscaloosa. Hot 107, WAGG? Steady. Not exactly damning evidence of diary manipulation, there.

Branch out a little: ZZK, Magic, Jox, all down, too. Not exactly urban stalwarts, these.

The truth is the stations that engaged the audience the most in the recovery effort probably saw a bump. WAPI-FM doubled its previous book in Tuscaloosa. WERC was up in Birmingham. Kiss FM, The Q, WJRD-AM, all saw big bumps and I bet they all worked the recovery effort more than Jamz. Maybe I'm wrong, though — I did not listen to Jamz after the tornadoes. I streamed WAPI and their totally live and local day coverage was very good.

Finally, if Birmingham's book is wrong because of its tornadoes, surely someone should be calling for a cancellation of Tuscaloosa's book as well? T-town was hit MUCH harder overall than Birmingham. And yet, urban did fine there.
 
Zach makes some good points but Mr. Dubose has access to the specific data he is talking about. He may be seeing a very real gap in the young black feedback. If so he should have a valid case against Arbitron. I know in the Anniston and Gadsden areas there have been times when the ratings were based on listeners almost exclusively over the age of 55. That makes it hard for a station like mine (Rock) to get a fair shake. Because we aren't a "rated" market nobody cares but it's easy to see how a market like Birmingham could also be heavily affected, even when nearby areas aren't.
 
Rock gets a "fair shake". From an advertising view, the station that performed poorly in this market has added a morning format that is unappealing to the listener. The station's overall sound is not an easy sell to the advertiser or the listener (or the agency).

Magic's continued defensive mode is reflected in its ratings results. The playlist borrowed from the station south of town doesn't include the competition's flow and programming style, and the polished style of presentation, especially in morning drive. Magic's smattering of country and alternative in the mix implies no clear direction.

Birmingham is an interesting market, but the ratings seem to reflect changes that are similar to other markets at present, which has not always been the case.
 
I was referring to the Rock station in Anniston/Gadsden. 3 diaries in a whole county from people under the age of 55 gives a Rock station a significant challenge. I won't comment on the Birmingham Rock station.
 
musicfan11 said:
From an advertising view, the station that performed poorly in this market has added a morning format that is unappealing to the listener. The station's overall sound is not an easy sell to the advertiser or the listener (or the agency).
Click to expand...

Morning format or morning show? There's a difference.
 
From the perspective of a listener, advertiser, or agency, at this time, an attempt to make a distinction between the two is a mojo-oops, -moot - point. This topic is not the forum for debate over the definition of a "morning show". Rather, the ratings reflect that the perception of the station appears less than positive, which is unfortunate.
 
I only asked because "Morning Format" would mean the type or amount of music/talking/commercials are the problem. "Morning show" would indicate the content or players. Guessing from your answer, it's the show. Having only seen the 12+ numbers is it the morning show pulling down the rest of the station? Going back to a previous post on this thread, that the latest GM claim against Jamz (according to yesterday's Radio Ink article).
 
Your list is not complete, I notice you failed to mentioned WJLD.

1. WBHK-FM Urban AC Cox Radio 12.9
2. WZZK-FM Country Cox Radio 7.7
3. WDXB-FM Country Clear Channel 7.0
4. WQEN-FM Top 40/M Clear Channel 6.6
5. WBHJ-FM Top 40/R Cox Radio 6.5
6. WUHT-FM Urban AC Citadel 5.4
7. WBPT-FM Classic Hits Cox Radio 5.2
8. WJOX-FM Sports Citadel 4.6
9. WMJJ-FM AC Clear Channel 4.6
10. WAGG-AM Religious Cox Radio 4.1
11. WDJC-FM Christian Cont. Crawford 3.6
13. WERC-FM Talk Clear Channel 3.2
14. WVVB-AM Active Rock Clear Channel 2.4
15. WZRR-FM Classic Rock Citadel 2.2
16. WHPH-FM Oldies Great South 1.9
17. WAPI-FM Talk Citadel 1.7
18. WJLD-AM Urban AC Richardson 1.5
19. WNCB-FM Country Cox Radio 1.3
20. WATV-AM Urban Oldies Sheridan 1.1
21. WAPI-AM Talk Citadel 0.7
22. WENN-AM Urban AC Cox Radio 0.6
23. WYDE-FM Talk Crawford 0.5
24. WCRL-AM Adult Standards Blount 0.4
 
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