It is A way.
I remember back in the mid-80s when classic rock was the newest hottest format, WWCT/Peoria was often said to be the top classic rock in the country---due to share, definitely not factoring market size.
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Spring Ratings -- 2019
- Thread starter tbolt909
- Start date
It is A way.
I remember back in the mid-80s when classic rock was the newest hottest format, WWCT/Peoria was often said to be the top classic rock in the country---due to share, definitely not factoring market size.
K
kw1025
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Top rated Oldies Station in America can mean 100 different things. It’s all marketing.
Exactly my point. There is no practical means to determine actual fact in this context. It is (apparently) accepted opinion and interpretation based on a sample. Whether, or not, that sample is statistically valid, doesn't change the fact that it is still a sample. Not actual fact. And for someone to call all of that fact is disingenuous. Why call it something that it is not?
But it wouldn't if it were actual fact. The point is, the claim that someone (you, in this case) are dealing with facts is, IMO, hogwash! It is interpretation and opinion of a sample... not fact.
Depending on who you're marketing. Someone outside of Buffalo knows the truth. The top rated oldies station is in Chicago.
This thread has taken a typically convoluted turn, dominated by flotsam and jetsam. Back to the Spring 2019 book as it applies to the overall market in the Money Demo. Friends at a prominent Buffalo ad agency have confirmed: Townsquare's WYRK and WBLK breathe the rarefied air, tied with double digits (the only stations to do so) for Number One, Persons 25-54. Again. WGRF ranks #2 (technically #3) followed by Kiss, Star and the Edge.
The “money demo” really only applies to transactional business via agencies. In markets the size of Buffalo, that is only about 20% to 25% of market revenue. The rest is local direct business. And local direct is much less focused on demographics and results. That is where WECK can find fertile sales ground.
But in the world of ad agencies, which deal with ratings, market surveys, brand studies, and many other types of consumer research, such data is considered to be “the facts”.
Whether you believe the data or not, all kinds of research are used with total confidence by large advertisers.
The interesting part about this is that classic rock attracts a younger audience than classic hits, even though they draw from the same era. Those Zepplin and AC/DC songs that boomers consider "tired" are core to millennials, while the vast majority of the music on classic hits or oldies are ignored by millennials. The classic rock station in Philly actually showed up #1 in 18-34 one book. The audience is younger and more plentiful than active rock, alternative, or mainstream rock. Those formats have sought to improve their status by playing classic rock.
The Edge has added some of those Classic Rock cuts, too. The distinction between Classic Hits and Classic Rock is most interesting. I've read more than a few analyses that cited Classic Rock as a "group/band brand," and labeling Classic Hits as a "hit single" brand.
What do you mean by Classic Rock cuts? Have you looked at the Edge playlist? It's current Alternative with a lot of 90s artists.(Green Day, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc..). The mid 1990s was 25 years ago, so those are Classic artists(just not usually called Classic Rock). It's all very convoluted in the stale programming of the Radio world. People have diverse tastes that includes Rock artists from many eras.
Cumulus has 3 Rock based formats(2 of which lean old). Maybe that's why they are #3 in revenue. Maybe the sales staff is inept or the advertisers aren't interested in those formats...
Again, "...considered to be..". And, on a lighter note, the day that "large advertisers" are given verification authority over 'facts' will be the day they reveal Johnny Carson was a large black woman! LOL
All excellent points, except, how much does it cost to be number one these days?
How much does it cost to run WYRK vs the cost to run WBUF/Jack FM?
Isn't Jack FM a Jockless station? (digital storage, as some like to call it...)
Remember that there is a lot more to radio than the on-air talent or lack of same.
For example, a "Jack" station pays a franchise fee to the rights holder / consulting firm that manages the brand.
And beyond that, stations still have equipment to maintain, management, office expense, utilities, insurance, sales staffers, commissions to their rep firm and agencies, business licenses, accounting, traffic, music license fees, etc., etc.
Again, "...considered to be..". And, on a lighter note, the day that "large advertisers" are given verification authority over 'facts' will be the day they reveal Johnny Carson was a large black woman! LOL
Advertisers spending their own money accept as "factual" plenty of statistics based on random probability samples and polling. To them, that kind of data is accurate enough to commit tens of billions of dollars in radio and TV advertising based on ratings.
Remember, today's consumer research as a science (a subset of "statistics") grew out of the work of Proctor and Gamble and others that soon followed... nearly 100 years ago.
When you can not afford to do a census, or the process takes so much time as to be too late to be useful, sampling is used. The science of statistics allows us to determine the margin of error and to not spend any more money than needed to achieve the degree of accuracy required for business decisions.
Remember that political polls of about 1000 persons can predict national results within a few percent. In politics, that may be the difference in winning and losing, but in business that's a very secure confidence level.
And that is a fact.
Except in a certain presidential race...
The polls predicted the voting within a couple of percent. They were accurate within their margin of error.
As I said, polling can not predict narrow wins or losses when the real margins are tight and are within the margin of error.
In ratings, a percent or two difference in overall results does not affect sales, because transactional ad buys are bought on ratings, not even on share, and ratings are rounded by as much as 0.4 to 0.5 shares, up or down.
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