Star 102.5 flips the switch....

[Buddy Shula]

Who's listening? Those who don't pay for satellite radio or a streaming service. And Christmas music listeners don't give a whit about perfect segues based on mood, tempo, sound code and other parameters.

Show Star how it should be done, Buddy!

That's why you should never be in programming.

Who cares about the perfect segues, tempo's , era clumping, etc? Are you serious??????.

The attitude you have is insanely lazy. Imaging and packaging is Radio 101. A fast jingle going into a slow downer song matters. The presentation matters.

When you work with programmers like Ken Johnson at WYRK for 10 years, as I did, as he took the station to #1 for the first time ever, and it has stayed that way ever since, you realize what taking pride in crafting a great product can do.

I was on the air at YRK when it was the 7th ranked station in 1985. I was there for it's rise to #1. I spent 10 years on air overnights watching the best program director I have ever worked for work 24 hours a day packaging the 36 hours of Continuous Country Christmas, when no other radio station played xmas music

Ken was like a surgeon using a scalpel. Every song was handpicked. Every jingle was coded for tempo, and mood. It was the best presentation ever, and it was worked on almost overnight by Ken. I was doing overnights on air and Ken would still be there at 5 in the morning making sure everything was perfect sounding, and an incredible listening experience for Christmas, only to return at 9am.

That is the kind of radio guy I want to hang out with. Not someone who just throws willy nilly the same imaging, jingles, music, like a mosh pit of everything and anything.

I was on air at STAR when they played Xmas. So were you. There was not ONE thought given to the presentation for the listeners from the program director. Just a nothing burger. Lazy programming. No vision on how it could sound better. Just throw anything in, whenever you want.

I'm sorry, but when you work with people who work their whole life crafting a listening experience, you will know the difference between how it should be done and how it should not.

You're assumption that listeners don't care is so off base, it's laughable. Only a very lazy person would say that. Someone who just does not believe putting any effort in matters.

There is a reason WECK just beat STAR 12 plus. A 1KW AM vs. a 110,000 KW FM And it does not come from the thinking you have.

 

[Buddy Shula]

Bolded by me. So is that to say that there is no material accepted means to measure the effect(s) of the Christmas music shenanigans?

There are no ratings being measured in Dec. That begun last year when monthly ratings came out. Radio stations are doing this for the wrong reasons now. People actually hate that the music begins so early, so Nov is a bust, then when it gets hot in Dec, there are no ratings.

Take a look at STARS ratings last winter. I can provide them if you would like.

 

[Buddy Shula]

If Buffalo was a PPM (it's not, and probably won't be for the foreseeable future) programmers and managers could see the pros and cons of Christmas music within a week and determine when listeners are leaving, arriving ... and where listeners go when they leave that particular radio station.

There are some good points made here about the alternative sources for All Christmas music formats, but one consideration as it relates to broadcast OTA radio, diary measurement and Star in particular: the actually span of the rating period, which concludes in early December, relatively the same time as 2020, whereas PPM markets get a full "Christmas month."

As such, if Star's target listeners think it's too early for All Christmas, the advantages may be negligible because the station doesn't get the full "benefit of the book" as would stations in PPM markets.

Poor planning? Bad programming? It's said local programmers don't make these programming decisions, they come from above.

As it has been explained to me by knowledgeable programming people, it's better to flip early rather than later, because the "first to flip" usually gets a better return in the book. Another explanation runs along the lines of "you either is or you isn't, there's no halfway," which is why stations that play Christmas songs every third song, or go All Christmas on December 1st don't do as well as the "first in" station, which comes to own the All Christmas brand.

But these are indeed different times. So much has changed. So much for conventional wisdom, eh?

It could very well be that stations sharing listeners with Star actually benefit from Star's early flip to All Christmas, in which case it would be no surprise if The Breeze, WECK, WHTT and WYRK gained a half share Persons 12+ as a result, and maybe a point in their target demos.

Yet, OTOH, years ago, there was a national media publication that featured a story about how much older women love Christmas music because it puts them "in a better place," describing the music as a "magnet" to them. So maybe Star picks up a bunch of 50+ Women.

A toss of the Magic 8 Ball again reads, "Cannot Predict Now."

The list of WHTT competitors, WBEN competitors and BIG WECK competitors

 

[Buddy Shula]

FYI, we received the trends for this weeks ratings. If it was based on RAW QUARTER HOUR LISTENING, the real number of listening hours recorded in the diary (The popular vote)

Here is how it would be when Oct ratings come out this week (without being weighted)

Breeze: 5.0
WECK: 3.8
BFO: 2.9
EDGE: 2.3
BUF: 1.8
STAR 4.0
KISS 3.5
WOLF 1.1

The other typical A players stations are above these....

 

[Rusty Bridges]

The P1 sharing in Post #23 is revealing, particularly as relates to the number of diaries in which the P1 station is mentioned, the percentage of diaries, and most pertinent to the discussion of "sharing listeners" in this thread: The percent of diaries in which P1 stations' listeners move to the P2 station.

The last frame, in which WECK is represented as the P1 is most revealing as to which stations share listeners. Relative to the last frame, although WECK appears in ("only") 99 diaries in which it is the P1 station, it has a relatively high (in context with the frames representing WHTT and WBEN) percent of P1 listeners. That appears to indicate brand awareness and to some extent, loyalty.

Recalls the observation (which may or may not still hold true in the era of PPM) of a noted national programmer/consultant, "20% of the cume generates 80% of the share."

 

[Buddy Shula]

The P1 sharing in Post #23 is revealing, particularly as relates to the number of diaries in which the P1 station is mentioned, the percentage of diaries, and most pertinent to the discussion of "sharing listeners" in this thread: The percent of diaries in which P1 stations' listeners move to the P2 station.

The last frame, in which WECK is represented as the P1 is most revealing as to which stations share listeners. Relative to the last frame, although WECK appears in ("only") 99 diaries in which it is the P1 station, it has a relatively high (in context with the frames representing WHTT and WBEN) percent of P1 listeners. That appears to indicate brand awareness and to some extent, loyalty.

Recalls the observation (which may or may not still hold true in the era of PPM) of a noted national programmer/consultant, "20% of the cume generates 80% of the share."

These are the real facts, not conjecture as so many like to spew on this site. This is Sept Nielsen. It is very telling

 

[davideduardo]

Recalls the observation (which may or may not still hold true in the era of PPM) of a noted national programmer/consultant, "20% of the cume generates 80% of the share."

50% of the cume represents 90% of the quarter hours of listening.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

50% of the cume represents 90% of the quarter hours of listening.

Thanks for (a) refreshing my memory, and (b) correcting the numbers.

 

[davideduardo]

Thanks for (a) refreshing my memory, and (b) correcting the numbers.

That the "new math" of PPM. In the diary, where lots of "phantom cume" never got written down, there was much less credit given to occasional listening to others than one's favorite stations.

Of course, the figure differs by station and format. Some formats did not increase cume much when the PPM began; Smooth Jazz didn't grow and that is the main reason why that format is gone today.

 

[ckg279]

Small update: The Breeze DID, in fact, flip to all Christmas a day or two after Star did. HOWEVER, CHFI in Toronto still hasn't. As far
as I'm aware, CHRE(Move 105.7)in St. Catharines hasn't nor has CKLH(Bounce Radio 102.9)in Hamilton.

 

[DN14224]

And this is why stations flip so early:

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/people-who-decorate-for-christmas-early-are-happier-study-says/

 

[ckg279]

Further update: CHFI flipped to Christmas music last Friday(11/12)at 7am. Likewise, CHRE(Move 105.7)did the same(as did all of the stations branded as Move).