The Latest Ratings for March 2021

[fordranger797]

Of course, take a lot of this with a grain of salt. With that being said, there does seem to be a pretty consistent pattern unfolding at KUBE and KHTP. Also, it looks like the changing season is giving KNUC a boost.

https://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb039

 

[TheBigA]

Also, it looks like the changing season is giving KNUC a boost.

Nationally the country format is doing better now than 3 months ago. However, for KNUC, it jumped over The Wolf.

KNUC has a syndicated morning show, while The Wolf is local in morning, but national in mid-days.

 

[Delete My Account]

KEXP continues to impress. Not sure exactly what's behind their rise, I've always liked them. Kudos!

 

[fordranger797]

Even with a syndicated morning show, KNUC has one advantage over The Wolf with their more localized content. Times are still tough, but it's really nice to see Hubbard making an effort to keep most of their assets as local as possible. Call me a skeptic, but I'm not really sold on the new Entercom... I mean Audacy... model for streamlining some of their programming. While many people are quick to complain about iHeartmedia streamlining their assets with national content, they do seem to do a pretty good job picking out strong talent that can localize the show. On the other hand at KKWF, some of these celebrity drop-in shows seem a tad bit cheesy. It seems like it would almost be an improvement just to syndicate a personality that can just tailer their voice tracks to the market.

As for the lackluster performance of KUBE and KHTP, I would venture the bet that these two stations are effectively in a stalemate where it makes no sense to make any change, as the other property will simply pick up all of the listeners. Considering that there are no real format holes in Seattle, it will probably stay this way.

 

[bobdavcav]

I've noticed that when the country format has a bad book nationally, KNUC gets hit especially hard, and when the format is doing well, they're going to have a good book. I'm not sure I've seen trends like that before. The only other thing I notice about this book is that I think KOMO will continue to trend down, as the news cycle seems to be slowing finally.

 

[TheBigA]

I've noticed that when the country format has a bad book nationally, KNUC gets hit especially hard, and when the format is doing well, they're going to have a good book.

But KNUC went up by a point and a half, which is the largest increase of any station in Seattle, while The Wolf only picked up 2/10ths of a point. I wonder if Bobby Bones is helping or not.

The only other thing I notice about this book is that I think KOMO will continue to trend down, as the news cycle seems to be slowing finally.

Yet there are still three news/talk stations in the Top 5.

I've been looking at stations that carry Rush, to see if they've been affected by the repeats since his death in mid-Feb. Looking at KTTH, I don't see a big drop.

 

[crainbebo]

KING-FM dumped into the 2's. In fact, KNKX is now beating them.
Small loss for KZOK but not by much, and KEXP continues to impress in the ratings. Only one commercial music format, KISW, is in the top 5. I remember when KSWD was in the top 5, about 25 2 years ago...
COVID has gone on too long!!

 

[bobdavcav]

I'm not sure what you were trying to say there. We've seen this before, KNUC swings really dramatically in either direction, seemingly when the format is up or down nationally, though I can't confirm that. You're right about the news stations, but it seems that KOMO experienced a huge bump last year, and now that things seem to be calming down, I'd suspect they're going to return to pre-Covid levels fairly soon. I don't think Rush has much to do with this at all.

 

[fordranger797]

As some of the experts have noted, the country music format tends to take a dive during the colder season. Once Spring and Summer hit, the format starts to perform much better. KNUC was in a bit of a unique position, as they switched to a syndicated morning show during a time when the ratings typically fall. This summer could provide a much better indication of how they are performing.

 

[semoochie]

As some of the experts have noted, the country music format tends to take a dive during the colder season. Once Spring and Summer hit, the format starts to perform much better. KNUC was in a bit of a unique position, as they switched to a syndicated morning show during a time when the ratings typically fall. This summer could provide a much better indication of how they are performing.

From what I understand, Country tends to perform better when the economy is down and worse when it's up, pretty much the opposite of CHR!

 

[Gregg.]

Crainbo wrote <<< Only one commercial music format, KISW, is in the top 5. I remember when KSWD was in the top 5, about 25 2 years ago...>>>

Actually KSWD is tied for 5th place, along with KOMO-AM-FM.

And even though KOMO has dropped from the ratings it was getting in the middle of the pandemic, it is still in the Top 5. I can remember when it was around 12 or lower. Maybe folks are now in the habit of "hitting the news button" occasionally in the car or at home.

I just wish KOMO hadn't decided to go with an overnight talk show. Just my opinion, but I think a news station should do all-news around the clock, which is what KOMO had been doing until putting Jim Bohannon on the schedule. Even recorded overnight news is still better than a talk show, especially one that sometimes does political opinion talk. KRLD Dallas runs Dave Ramsey and Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb through the night. One is about finances, the other amount interesting people. No political opinions. Bohannon does a lot of celebrity interviews. But when no celebrity is scheduled, he does conservative-leaning talk.

 

[davideduardo]

Only one commercial music format, KISW, is in the top 5. I remember when KSWD was in the top 5, about 25 2 years ago...
COVID has gone on too long!!

In 25-54, using a multi-book average, the stations in order are:

KUOW, KISW, KQMV, KBKS, KIRO-FM, KZOK, KPLZ, KNDD, KJAQ, KHTP, KNUC, KEXP and KJR

In that demo, there is no AM until KOMO shows at 16th.

While listener supported stations don't build a wall at age 55, commercial station have to because there is no ad money against the older demos.

 

[TheBigA]

In 25-54, using a multi-book average, the stations in order are:

KUOW, KISW, KQMV, KBKS, KIRO-FM, KZOK, KPLZ, KNDD, KJAQ, KHTP, KNUC, KEXP and KJR

What's interesting to me is that KNDD is #8 and KEXP is #12. In 6+, KEXP is #4 and KNDD is #19.

That tells me that the vast majority of KEXP listeners are over 55.

 

[Delete My Account]

Not disputing your expertise, but how is that? The music certainly isn't mainstreamed or targeted to that demographic. And I was told older demos are set in their ways and not really "into" new music...

 

[TheBigA]

Not disputing your expertise, but how is that? The music certainly isn't mainstreamed or targeted to that demographic. And I was told older demos are set in their ways and not really "into" new music...

Correction. I misread the post I was replying to. It didn't see where he said "using a multi-book average."

In point of fact, KEXP was #2 in 25-54 demo last month. So the fact that they did better within that demo tells me that the audience is more concentrated in that demo except for KISP, which was #1.

The multi book average took into account when KEXP was #20 6+ and KNDD was much higher than it is now.

 

[davideduardo]

The multi book average took into account when KEXP was #20 6+ and KNDD was much higher than it is now.

And, on the business side, agencies look at more than one month of data. If they do the buy with human intervention, they may also look at trends to see if there is a station growing that may be a good buy or one collapsing that no longer is.

 

[boombox4]

Crainbo wrote <<< Only one commercial music format, KISW, is in the top 5. I remember when KSWD was in the top 5, about 25 2 years ago...>>>

Actually KSWD is tied for 5th place, along with KOMO-AM-FM.

And even though KOMO has dropped from the ratings it was getting in the middle of the pandemic, it is still in the Top 5. I can remember when it was around 12 or lower. Maybe folks are now in the habit of "hitting the news button" occasionally in the car or at home.

I just wish KOMO hadn't decided to go with an overnight talk show. Just my opinion, but I think a news station should do all-news around the clock, which is what KOMO had been doing until putting Jim Bohannon on the schedule. Even recorded overnight news is still better than a talk show, especially one that sometimes does political opinion talk. KRLD Dallas runs Dave Ramsey and Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb through the night. One is about finances, the other amount interesting people. No political opinions. Bohannon does a lot of celebrity interviews. But when no celebrity is scheduled, he does conservative-leaning talk.

There isn't that much news overnights. Most people aren't listening to radio. Having Jimbo on during the overnight hours would be a good move, because those few overnighters would have an alternative to C2C or Redeye... although KUOW runs the BBC.

 

[TheBigA]

And, on the business side, agencies look at more than one month of data. If they do the buy with human intervention, they may also look at trends to see if there is a station growing that may be a good buy or one collapsing that no longer is.

However in this case, using multi-book led me to an incorrect conclusion, because it didn't show a complete flip in position between two stations. So it's useful to look at both.

 

[fordranger797]

Crainbo wrote <<< Only one commercial music format, KISW, is in the top 5. I remember when KSWD was in the top 5, about 25 2 years ago...>>>

Actually KSWD is tied for 5th place, along with KOMO-AM-FM.

And even though KOMO has dropped from the ratings it was getting in the middle of the pandemic, it is still in the Top 5. I can remember when it was around 12 or lower. Maybe folks are now in the habit of "hitting the news button" occasionally in the car or at home.

I just wish KOMO hadn't decided to go with an overnight talk show. Just my opinion, but I think a news station should do all-news around the clock, which is what KOMO had been doing until putting Jim Bohannon on the schedule. Even recorded overnight news is still better than a talk show, especially one that sometimes does political opinion talk. KRLD Dallas runs Dave Ramsey and Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb through the night. One is about finances, the other amount interesting people. No political opinions. Bohannon does a lot of celebrity interviews. But when no celebrity is scheduled, he does conservative-leaning talk.

Dave Ramsey is a bit more polarizing than you might think. There is a discussion on another forum about some of the sketchy practices that he's been involved in, and you'd be surprised what you hear. Still, if you just listen to his show casually you probably wouldn't even notice. News operations are expensive, and running some of these "pay to play" talk shows might be the only way to maintain the integrity of their operation.

I agree, I also think all-news should remain all-news around the clock. Some locations have set up overnight "networks," where stations in somewhat close proximity might share content to save money. I'm not sure how well that actually works in practice, but it doesn't seem like the worst idea in the world. Of course, that would suggest that there are news/talk stations owned by the same company all in a general geographic area.

 

[crainbebo]

Not sure what ratings you are looking at Gregg. 25-54? Because the 6+ shows KSWD at 12th place, well behind Warm. Pre-COVID this was third or fourth place on multiple occasions.