• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

THE SPRING BOOK

P

Parttimer

DVE and KD down.... DVE is likely being hurt by Super Genius and Co. down the hall at the X.... they had their best numbers in a long time, probably since the Stern days.

KD on the other hand (for everyone who saw the one weird book as some sign that they were winning because they were local) had the lowest number I can remember, and this may be the beginning of a decline that will take them out of the top ranks eventually. WPGB has had exactly the same 12+ number now for 4 of the last 5 books.

Y108, WAMO, and WSHH were the gainers among the music stations. 3WS fell in the rankings but had no decline in their total audience.
 
Everything I used to listen to KDKA for (Pirates, Rush) I now get on 104.7.


If 104.7 could find a way to be more local, I don't think there would be any doubt they would surpass KD.


As for the X's surge- don't discount the fact the Pens were on the Stanley Cup run. It seems to me last year The X was not getting a big hit from the ex-1250ers until the Pens went on their first Stanley Cup run, and then they went down in the fall.

What I found interesting was that 1250 wasn't able to capitalize on the Cup run. I can see where hockey fans would turn to The X for their analysis, but you'd think WEAE's numbers would be a bit higher than their normal non-Steelers book.


With the success of lame-duck WAMO, anyone want to take odds on another station changing format? Perhaps B94 could go more urban, or what about WRRK? It seems BOB or JACK or whatever has fizzed out.

Are they still owned by the same people that put out The City Paper?
 
wrrk was hot for awhile, but it seems formats with cute names burn fast, some faster than others. bob has been pretty durable from what i see. maybe it's time to change to frank or dom or louise. i think steel city owns the city paper, but i'm not sure it still exists. they had a restaurant too. el stinko.
 
Pratte4Life said:
If 104.7 could find a way to be more local, I don't think there would be any doubt they would surpass KD.
Click to expand...

Local vs national has absolutely, positively nothing to do with why KD is still slightly ahead. Their audience is almost entirly comprised of older listeners who either listen to KD or turn off the radio. KD's 25-54s were abysmal a year ago, middays were down there with KQV, I'm sure that hasn't improved.

Pratte4Life said:
With the success of lame-duck WAMO, anyone want to take odds on another station changing format? Perhaps B94 could go more urban, or what about WRRK? It seems BOB or JACK or whatever has fizzed out.

Are they still owned by the same people that put out The City Paper?
Click to expand...


Ratings do not necessarily equal revenue. If you can tell me that WAMO is now billing more than one of those other stations then maybe a switch would be in order. I'd be stunned if that was the case.

And yes, the Frischlings also own the City Paper.
 
Looking at the 12+ numbers masks how deep KDKA's problems are. The numbers they have outside of morning drive and incredibly hard to sell.
 
Part- Not saying you're totally wrong- you have access to these numbers and I don't. But the morning show is still very local and breaks a lot of news. The interviews they have on are great- cut to the heart of what's going on in the area. I think Larry Richert does a good job with his information-orientated show.

And if, just for the sake of arguement, Richert and Co. were let go for outsourced news and Bill Bennett or somebody like that, that would be it. End of KDKA as we know it.

I was thinking about this today. Why is it that in Philadelphia KYW (News Radio! Ten-Six-Teeeeeee) is still in the top three while KQV struggles?

Are Philadelphians more into the news than Pittsburghers are? Or is it that KYW has this great 50,000 watt signal you can hear throughout the east coast, while KQV is often a tough signal to find even if you're a few blocks away from their studios?

I think, just as you pointed out with the sports stations comparison I made earlier, the signal is the determining factor as to why KYW has such a larger audience.

In this respect, KDKA is Pittsburgh's KYW and not KQV. The signal, the audience, etc. Both are where the respective Pennsylvania cities go to hear their information- and really that's about it.

But the thing about KYW is that it has always done well. So in that respect, while I could see KDKA decline, I am less than convinced it would collapse.

Eventually, everybody gets older and wants to hear their news.
 
KDKA has always been the news source in Pittsburgh. They are heavily news/information in AM drive and all news in PM drive. There is little need for KQV, and it wouldn't exist with its expensive format if Scaife didn't prop it up with money.
 
Okay, Boss, but then again I go back to my point-

Because KD is the news source, while I do believe it will continue to lose audience, I do not think it will totally collapse. If it was going to totally collapse in terms of overall audience it would have happened by now.

And what is the definition of collapsing?
 
Pratte4Life said:
If it was going to totally collapse in terms of overall audience it would have happened by now.
Click to expand...

No... I reiterate that their audience listens to KD or turns off the radio. This is a market with a lot of upper demos and their habits will not change.

However, based on how old their demos are, they are eventually going to have to massively cut back on staff.... look at it this way, WJAS has the same age problem, and about half of KD's 12+ numbers. In WJAS' case, that produces enough revenue to employ two aged air personalities who bring in their own business. And that's it.

CBS is not going to continue to accept high expenses and low margins at KD for much longer. They can't. The model for talk radio now is essentially what 104.7 or WFLA in Tampa does... a local morning show (although Quinn's show isn't about anything local for the most part), maybe a local PM drive or evening sports show, and national programming the rast of the day.
 
Pratte4Life said:
Okay, Boss, but then again I go back to my point-

Because KD is the news source, while I do believe it will continue to lose audience, I do not think it will totally collapse. If it was going to totally collapse in terms of overall audience it would have happened by now.

And what is the definition of collapsing?
Click to expand...

It has happened to some degree. They're around a 7 or 8 share of total audience (12+) now and that number was 25 in 1980. There's been a huge erosion overall, and the demos they still have are mostly undesirable for selling.

I'm surprised they carry as many people as they do, and very surprised that they brought Pintek back for that evening slot. It doesn't make much ecomomic sense for them to be local after 7 p.m.
 
Pratte4Life said:
With the success of lame-duck WAMO, anyone want to take odds on another station changing format? Perhaps B94 could go more urban, or what about WRRK? It seems BOB or JACK or whatever has fizzed out.
Click to expand...

I would think Kiss would go more urban before B 94 would, but who knows. It would also be nice (but highly improbable) if Bob would add more urban a/c & fill the gap that will be left by WAMO-AM's demise.

Bob is so boring now and the concept of Bob as a person was stupid to start with and is even worse now. SAM in Greensburg isn't Sam anymore, it's now classic hits - I am assuming they're not paying for the SAM format anymore? Sorry if this was already discussed on here.
 
1) WJAS could work in more soft R&B.

2) The two aged personalities are Knish and Rodney Hackinflash
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom