The Rebel in Ft. smith....

[DIZ Guy]

I recently stumbled across their web page....how is this station doing....I am curious, because most people that like classic rock HATE country.......

Strange format....

 

[MDawg33]

Your assumptions would be correct. "The Station With Attitude" was a lousy idea from the start.

No excuses here. We admit we crashed and burned with the Rebel in its first ratings book. Dead last in almost every demographic in the market in almost every time slot. I'm sick to my stomach just thinking about it!

Some say it's because our management has no idea how to program a profitable music station. Others would say it's because our management is just plain clueless.

I'm not at liberty to offer my opinion here (management would get ticked), but I will say that we are working on changes in the format. If at first you don't succeed, well then just flip it again right?

 

[allbritton]

The following was posted January 4, 2008 by TheRebel 95.3

"We're going to turn radio upside down in this market..we are already the best station in the market....In two books, we'll own the listeners..........."

My response to that statement on January 10,2008

That's a pretty bold statement, don't you think? Might want to keep some
Scope on hand to remove the taste of your shoe from your mouth. Time
will tell, but something tells me KTCS & KMAG are not sweating it.....

Good Luck!


I don't know what happened with KTCS, but I see that KMAG continues to dominate. Why is
KTCS not listed?

 

[Kent]

I don't know what happened with KTCS, but I see that KMAG continues to dominate. Why is
KTCS not listed?

Probably a "selective embargo." More than likely, KTCS doesn't buy the book and doesn't sell the numbers. So, Arbitron doesn't release their ratings to the public, though the stations and advertisers who buy the book can still see them. Arbitron has gone to these selective embargoes in a lot of their markets that, like Ft. Smith, had previously been completely embargoed.

 

[DMC0796]

The following was posted January 4, 2008 by TheRebel 95.3

"We're going to turn radio upside down in this market..we are already the best station in the market....In two books, we'll own the listeners..........."

My response to that statement on January 10,2008

That's a pretty bold statement, don't you think? Might want to keep some
Scope on hand to remove the taste of your shoe from your mouth. Time
will tell, but something tells me KTCS & KMAG are not sweating it.....

Good Luck!


I don't know what happened with KTCS, but I see that KMAG continues to dominate. Why is
KTCS not listed?

I was drunk when I wrote that under my old personna......

You're not seeing KTCS because they don't buy the book. And I think it sucks that they're even listed if they don't participate in the program, because they get all the benefits without bearing any of the cost. When we send out rankings, we just leave them in because if you don't you get "where's KTCS" and "you're trying to hide something" but you would think the "best" and most established station in the market would step and bear their part of the ARS costs.......

 

[Kent]

You're not seeing KTCS because they don't buy the book. And I think it sucks that they're even listed if they don't participate in the program, because they get all the benefits without bearing any of the cost.

There are two reasons KTCS is listed even though it doesn't buy the book. The first is that a lot of advertisers buy the book. Advertisers, especially the agencies, want the best bang for their buck. They don't care whether KTCS, or anyone else, buys the book, and, if they choose to buy the numbers, they don't care if other advertisers buy for any other reason. They would also feel ripped off if they bought the book and passed on a station that could have given them the reach they wanted. That would, in turn, lead them to stop buying the book from Arbitron.

The second reason is that competitors to KTCS still need to know how they're doing and where they can improve. That goes back to reason number one. If you're selling the numbers and not getting enough buys, you need to know exactly why. Arbitron would be doing a disservice to its clients by not including KTCS in the numbers they see.

When we send out rankings, we just leave them in because if you don't you get "where's KTCS" and "you're trying to hide something" but you would think the "best" and most established station in the market would step and bear their part of the ARS costs.......

In a sense, KTCS is bearing its part of the Arbitron costs. By not buying the book, they lose the right to sell based on the numbers. Arbitron is a service and nothing more. If they can make money selling their service in Ft. Smith, they will continue to do so. If they can't, they'll no longer rate the market. A classic example of this is Springfield, IL. A few years ago, most everyone in town stopped buying the book. So, Arbitron no longer does the twice-a-year survey for Springfield. Businesses can choose to take advantage of that service, or they can choose not to. It's really no different than deciding whether to change your own oil or take your car to Jiffy Lube.

 

[DMC0796]

That's all well and good, but KTCS does sell by the book. They are out there all the time talking about their number one "in this time slot" and "we dominate this demographic" but they do it with terms that makes it sound like they're not selling "by the book". They have a lot of friends in agencies that just turn the numbers over to them when they come out, and they use the hell out of them for local direct. The agencies already have the numbers, and they can base their buys on any criteria they like. But for KTCS (or any other station) to be out there telling Mom and Pop "we're number one!" is akin to, in my opinion, playing music on your station without paying ASCAP for the right to do so.

Either buy the book or ignore the book. But to benefit from the ratings without supporting the process that produces the ratings, and to consistently thumb your nose at the stations that do spend the money to support that process, is ludicrous.

 

[Kent]

That's all well and good, but KTCS does sell by the book. They are out there all the time talking about their number one "in this time slot" and "we dominate this demographic" but they do it with terms that makes it sound like they're not selling "by the book". They have a lot of friends in agencies that just turn the numbers over to them when they come out, and they use the hell out of them for local direct. The agencies already have the numbers, and they can base their buys on any criteria they like. But for KTCS (or any other station) to be out there telling Mom and Pop "we're number one!" is akin to, in my opinion, playing music on your station without paying ASCAP for the right to do so.

If you have legitimate information that KTCS is using Arbitron's numbers without permission, you can contact Arbitron and let them deal with it. I wouldn't hesitate to make an issue of something like that, especially if I bought the numbers from Arbitron.

 

[Zippy Simpson]

That's all well and good, but KTCS does sell by the book. They are out there all the time talking about their number one "in this time slot" and "we dominate this demographic" but they do it with terms that makes it sound like they're not selling "by the book". They have a lot of friends in agencies that just turn the numbers over to them when they come out, and they use the hell out of them for local direct. The agencies already have the numbers, and they can base their buys on any criteria they like. But for KTCS (or any other station) to be out there telling Mom and Pop "we're number one!" is akin to, in my opinion, playing music on your station without paying ASCAP for the right to do so.

If you have legitimate information that KTCS is using Arbitron's numbers without permission, you can contact Arbitron and let them deal with it. I wouldn't hesitate to make an issue of something like that, especially if I bought the numbers from Arbitron.

How about this, copied and pasted from their website?

Advertising on 99.9 KTCS


Advertising on 99.9 KTCS 99.9 KTCS has been Arklahoma's Favorite radio station for many, many years, and we continue to be number one today!

I'd say that's pretty legit.

 

[fortsmithrock]

Your assumptions would be correct. "The Station With Attitude" was a lousy idea from the start.

No excuses here. We admit we crashed and burned with the Rebel in its first ratings book. Dead last in almost every demographic in the market in almost every time slot. I'm sick to my stomach just thinking about it!

Some say it's because our management has no idea how to program a profitable music station. Others would say it's because our management is just plain clueless.

I'm not at liberty to offer my opinion here (management would get ticked), but I will say that we are working on changes in the format. If at first you don't succeed, well then just flip it again right?

I hate to say I told you so, but, well, actually I love saying it, I told you so.

I predicted from day 1 this would be a huge flop. But even I didn't expect it to be so soon!

Bring back rock, kthxbye

 

[Kent]

How about this, copied and pasted from their website?

Advertising on 99.9 KTCS


Advertising on 99.9 KTCS 99.9 KTCS has been Arklahoma's Favorite radio station for many, many years, and we continue to be number one today!

I'd say that's pretty legit.

Ummm....you're joking, right? I can't imagine Arbitron considering that enough evidence to say a station is using their numbers without permission. After all, every station says it's number one in something, even if it's in cats and dogs listening. However, the appropriate place to address the issue is with Arbitron. Like I said, let them figure it out.

 

[DMC0796]

How about their salespeople telling clients "I'm not supposed to talk about this, but in the latest ratings KTCS was number one in ...blah,blah, blah. blah, blah,,,"

Would that be proof enough? Because I have several of my clients repeat that conversation to me verbatim, saying that they had it with a rep from that station.