Summer Ratings

[tbolt909]

Looks like people continue to avoid 107.7 as they would the
Ebola virus. Maybe "Alternative" means exactly that.
They seek out alternatives to bad radio.

I suspect that former Lake listeners have gone to NPR or left radio altogether.
Country and Urban have the younger demos locked up and
WBEN continues its death march...

 

[Element9]

http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb037

Once again, WYRK owns the market 12+ and most likely every salable demo as well.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It's a summer book. Sports and talk are down, music formats are up. "Alternative" is on hold. "Mix" is stagnant. Kiss and Star should be concerned if only because they're down a little during a book when they be up a little. Overall, no major changes. Considering the lack of promotion in the market, I'm not sure anything is going create a major ripple in The Force.

 

[SirRoxalot]

How about the Rochester market?

http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb079

Pretty ugly for WCMF. They've dropped into 95.1 territory rating-wise. Yeah, it might be an aberration - or it might be time to take a hard look at the programming. Kimberly and Beck on 95.1 could make a little noise - as a curiousity if nothing else. OTOH, if they do 12-minute bits as awful as the transgender bit, they could help WCMF.

 

[dand5780]

WBEN continues its death march...

Are you suggesting if they air Randi Rhodes instead of Rush, all of KB's old listeners will flock to WBEN? All what, 2 of them?

 

[flybynight]

Are you suggesting if they air Randi Rhodes instead of Rush, all of KB's old listeners will flock to WBEN? All what, 2 of them?

Huh? Whose advocating for Randi Rhodes?

Fact is, WBEN continually gives normal people less and less of a reason to listen as they've become nothing but a shrill screech of far right wing propaganda.

The entire conservative talk format is performing abominably across the nation these days, not just this book. People are tired of the one-sided, politically oriented monotony.

 

[tbolt909]

News Talk formats built their own coffin.
You're right that the demographics of the country are changing.
The formats audience is dwindling as time ticks away.

Corporate hoped that FM simulcasts would buy some time, but that
was just gallows humour...

 

[Element9]

Some might objectively argue that 7.8 is far from "performing abominably." True, most of 930's listeners qualify for Medicare and are on Social Security and couldn't find "WBEN on FM" if their lives depended on it, but they're still tuning in the station. There will come a time when WBFO overtakes WBEN, but it may not be soon, even with newly appointed news director Brian Meyer calling the shots at WBFO. That was a great hire, but how long before Meyer returns to a happy retirement, having had his fill of the suck-ups at WNYPB who bow to Donald K. Boswell each day.

 

[flybynight]

Some might objectively argue that 7.8 is far from "performing abominably." True, most of 930's listeners qualify for Medicare and are on Social Security and couldn't find "WBEN on FM" if their lives depended on it, but they're still tuning in the station.

While I was referring to the format nationwide, particularly in large and major markets, it will be interesting to see how WBEN does once ppm arrives.

 

[mimo]

A lot of talk stations found their number decrease quite a bit when PPM hit their respective markets. On the other hand a few saw their numbers actually increase (like 640 in Toronto, who suddenly had twice the amount of people listening). Chances are, if and when PPM comes, you'll see WBEN's numbers drop. Some will say "see I told you no one was listening" and others will say "it's the correction of an actual device that records the encoded signal rather than faulty human memory." The numbers will still be ok, though. As always, it depends on where they rank in their targeted demos, and where they rank in the money demos...the kinds that advertisers want. It won't just be WBEN that sees a change like that, other stations will too. Some will rise, and others will fall, and it's not always the stations you think will rise and fall.

 

[davideduardo]

While I was referring to the format nationwide, particularly in large and major markets, it will be interesting to see how WBEN does once ppm arrives.

There are no plans for PPM in markets outside the top 50. It's a cost issue. If the station owners in Buffalo wanted PPM, they could request Nielsen to change to that method, but Nielsen would want enough subscribers to agree to the significantly higher cost... about 70% more in smaller markets... to implement.

At some future point were the Arbitron technology used for radio, TV and new media, it might become more affordable in smaller market as the same panel could do all electronic media.

Only 56 markets even have television meters even though the scale is different in that TV DMA's are much larger than radio MSA's and TV as a medium bills much more.

 

[John C]

Rox,

What of 95.1? Am I missing something or are they not listed? It's hard to keep up with all their changes over the last few years. It is sad what WCMF has become. They keep it up and they'll be the Rochester FM version of the once great 1520.

 

[dand5780]

Huh? Whose advocating for Randi Rhodes?

I don't think anyone is. I'm just trying to grasp what some of your concepts of success would be, considering that this station already has four of the most listened to radio shows in the country.

Fact is, WBEN continually gives normal people less and less of a reason to listen as they've become nothing but a shrill screech of far right wing propaganda.

Fact is, more people would listen to Rush than her. I listened to Randi on 1520; I don't listen to Rush currently.

The two local weekday hosts discuss other things than far right wing propaganda.

It's a news station, and the fact is they can't always have a Happy Hour on the radio when there is news that needs to be discussed, and that's the only station you can tune in to for that information.

At the same time, if we wanted to hear Artvoice or Buffalo s'News take, we'd pick up those papers.

So the point of my question was, who or what do you folks need to hear for the station to reverse its "death spiral?"

 

[SirRoxalot]

Rox,

What of 95.1? Am I missing something or are they not listed? It's hard to keep up with all their changes over the last few years. It is sad what WCMF has become. They keep it up and they'll be the Rochester FM version of the once great 1520.

They're listed under WQBW-FM. They've recently rebranded - as has Clear Channel (now iHeart Media). I hope they're happy with their investment in Wease. My guess is that they didn't overpay for Kimberly and Beck.

 

[Element9]

As noted earlier in this thread, we're commenting on Persons 12+ in a Summer book. WBEN isn't in a death spiral as much as it's driving along a demographic dead end street. Despite the comments of posters here, WBEN is not going to reverse course. Doing so would accomplish nothing. WBEN P1 listeners know what they want and the station gives it to them. Posters and listeners who don't care for Rush and company can always listen to WBFO, which features NPR and local news programing. WBFO has a younger audience than WBEN, but this is a matter of context. WBFO's "younger" listeners probably don't much listen to Kiss or Edge, but at least they know how to find the FM band and tune their radios to 88.7.

 

[tbolt909]

The point is that WBEN is never going to attract people under 55 with
their current content. The bulk of their audience is older white men.
If corporate is fine with that then all is well.
If not, the outlook is bleak...

 

[SirRoxalot]

WBEN continues to survive on its reputation as the only local news source with local programming on during drive time. If you want local news/talk, you want WBEN. WBFO may have superior content much of the time, but it's local component is so limited in scope that it's not competitive. WBEN may be a shadow of its former self, but it's the only game in town. Average listeners don't realize how thin the staff is, or how far from the mainstream they've been led by the talk show hosts. If they do realize it, it really isn't that hard to find 8% of any group who's convinced that conspiracy theories and vitriol don't ring true.

As far as attracting new listeners, most owners of AMs figure that's impossible anyway, so they're ride that pony until it drops.

 

[dand5780]

The point is that WBEN is never going to attract people under 55 with
their current content. The bulk of their audience is older white men.
If corporate is fine with that then all is well.
If not, the outlook is bleak...

Well, you keep thinking that. There's no question about it that most people in that age group, probably under 30, need to know who won American Idol or what the Kartrashian's are doing, and that's what JOY and STAR are for.

All I've been hearing lately is younger and younger callers. Especially in the afternoon.

 

[tbolt909]

Entercom had to abandon the WBEN FM simulcast.
If WBEN is their most important station, that move speaks volumes.
The audience is aging and shrinking...

 

[flybynight]

Well, you keep thinking that. There's no question about it that most people in that age group, probably under 30, need to know who won American Idol or what the Kartrashian's are doing, and that's what JOY and STAR are for.

Believe it or not, all because you don't like one-sided idiot conspiracy right wing propaganda talkradio doesn't mean you give a crap about the Kardashians or America Idol.

Some people like hearing reasonable and passionate conversation---based in REALITY, not what WBEN does. If they weren't the only game in town, they'd be suffering the same fate as many former powerhouse newstalkers around the country.