Tough times for WSB-AM in ratings

[rodneyho]

The ratings slide continues for WSB-AM

http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/...ly-times-for-wsb-am-in-june-arbitron-ratings/

 

[RoddyFreeman]

WSB-AM does have an intangible going for it that probably will enable it to bill well unless the ratings decline becomes drastic. WSB has a tremendous heritage in this market. A lot of businesses, car dealers and other types, feel they just have to advertise on WSB to get results. And I've worked on accounts where I've been told to buy WSB because that's what the client listens to, even when the target audience was women.

I'm not by any means saying this as a favor to WSB, but I feel that listeners to talk stations are involved and attentive. Commercials are woven into the programming on talk stations while they tend to be more of an interruption on music stations.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

A little off topic, but I remember in the 80's when so many companies refused to advertise on Howard Stern. I realized the reason, and it was certainly valid. But I couldn't help thinking that in terms of listeners being glued to the radio, being involved in the show, being highly attentive to everything, Stern was an absolute great place for a commercial.

 

[amos]

if this trend continues (and i don't know that it will), wsb will need an fm signal. problem is they don't have any dogs to put it on. 97.1 would have worked a few years ago, but the river is pulling numbers now.

how far southwest could they move 106.1? it already has a decent signal over the NE suburbs. they could move the NGC calls and programming to 103.7, and put a wsb simulcast on 106.1.

i guess clearchannel isn't going to roll over and let them move wngc any closer to wsth alex city, al though.

i guess i just shot down my own idea. lol

 

[onetake]

Who's going to compete against WSB? Nobody has so far. People love to assume morale at WSB is low. I don't know if it is or isn't but imagine you're WGST or WGKA and you show up everyday and can't make a real dent or show increases. Talk about a kick in the stomach. What could they possibly be telling themselves, that "things are really ok?" WSB has a long way to fall. WGST / WGKA has no where to go but up.

 

[Bengalsfan]

They have done nothing to the lineup. Look for the numbers to come back....and for the people reporting on it to be "surprised" and "unexpected".

 

[jabba17]

if this trend continues (and i don't know that it will), wsb will need an fm signal. problem is they don't have any dogs to put it on. 97.1 would have worked a few years ago, but the river is pulling numbers now.

how far southwest could they move 106.1? it already has a decent signal over the NE suburbs. they could move the NGC calls and programming to 103.7, and put a wsb simulcast on 106.1.

i guess clearchannel isn't going to roll over and let them move wngc any closer to wsth alex city, al though.

i guess i just shot down my own idea. lol

Just like CC killed the plan to move the WSSL (Spartanburg) tower away from Atlanta so 100.5 could up their signal.

 

[jabba17]

Who's going to compete against WSB? Nobody has so far. People love to assume morale at WSB is low. I don't know if it is or isn't but imagine you're WGST or WGKA and you show up everyday and can't make a real dent or show increases. Talk about a kick in the stomach. What could they possibly be telling themselves, that "things are really ok?" WSB has a long way to fall. WGST / WGKA has no where to go but up.

The solution for WGST is clear...they need a newsroom and an FM signal (unless Santa Claus brings them a class A clear this year). But CC isn't buying.

Salem is probably getting a great ROI on WGKA considering what they aren't spending on the joint.

 

[amos]

remember 1500 WTOP in dc?

i can only see the 6+ published numbers, but 1500 is now pulling 0.6, WMAL is pulling a 2.8 (the #1 AM in the market), WETM (#2 AM) is pulling a 1.8.

and the #1 station, June '10 ARBITRON Monthly PPM 6+ Mon-Sun, 6a-12mid:

WTOP FM. 10.4.

i don't think wsb's days are over, and i certainly don't want AM to fail. but there are places it's happened. wsb has the heritage, they should be thinking about moving that heritage to the fm band. a correctly run n-t competitor on fm would hurt them, but cc atlanta has proven they won't do it. then again they could do a "rush radio" in atlanta.

it would be a different landscape if 98.5 was news-talk. of course that's not going to happen, ever.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

It's not just WSB. It's right-wing talkers in many markets.

The right wins the pro-lifers by default, but those who moved up from the lower to upper middleclass during the last administration (neo-cons) and have since slipped back because of Wall Street BS are becoming incresingly disillusioned with the party and going back to their roots. You can only dangle the carrot so long before the rabbit figures out you're playing him for a fool.

 

[taylorengineer]

I still wonder why the major broadcast outfits aren't pushing HD radio more. WSB AM can be heard on the HD2 of 97.1 - problem is.....I can't hear 97.1's HD2 in Douglasville.(The HD power increase may cure that problem.)
Why not put WSB-AM on the HD2 of WSB-FM? WSB-FM is wasting it's HD2 (Do we really need MORE Elton John on the radio??!!)
I agree with the comments above - WSB is a major "brand name" and should be protected at all costs. Even if that means giving up 95.5 or 97.1.
Too bad no one had the smarts to nail down one of these mega powered translators to use for the AM.....

 

[Knowsnews2]

Rodney, did you mean to leave WSB-AM out of the list of morning show ratings, or were you taught to count 1,2,4,5,6,etc? I find it interesting (and quite curious) that SBA was omitted from that list, despite a 3rd place finish.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

Two factors have contributed to WSB-AM's slow retreat: the message is the same and listener attrition.

Seriously, how many times do we need to hear Obama is a socialist, a racist, fiscally irresponsible, wants to kill your grandparents, is for more government, is taking away all our rights, is born in Kenya, is a Muslim, hates America etc? That drumbeat is old and repetitive. In musical terms it is like hearing Connie Francis singing "Who's Sorry Now?" on auto replay all day long. Sure, it was the greatest song ever recorded but you can't hear it all the time without eventually turning off the channel.

WSB's listeners are dying plain and simple. They have done nothing to lure a new batch of conservatives/teabaggers to listen. To those on this board under 40, do you listen to the talk shows on 'SB? (This is a serious question and not my usual sarcasm.) WSB isn't dead by a long-shot, there glory days are over that is a fact.

 

[jabba17]

For a conservative-to-libertarian take on this, see this thread: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=171998.0

 

[bclark71.]

To those on this board under 40, do you listen to the talk shows on 'SB?

Nope, I sure don't. I used to...15 years ago, when the content was local. (I didn't say I agreed with them, even then, but it was fun to get my blood pressure up over local issues.)

If I happen across Clark Howard I will stop if he's on an interesting topic. And if the weather turns Hellish I depend on Mellish. But that's the extent of my involvement. I lost interest when the top-of-the-hour and half-hour news breaks became rushed to meet the national programming start times. In a 7-minute top of the hour break, 4 minutes of news, traffic and weather and three minutes of ads is a bit silly in my opinion.

 

[fussbudget]

I'm over 40 and don't listen to the talk shows on WSB. I listen to 750 when I wake, for about ten minutes. The rest of the time, I'm listening to Sirius XM, Pandora or the sound of the rain beating down on the roof.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

Two factors have contributed to WSB-AM's slow retreat: the message is the same and listener attrition.

Seriously, how many times do we need to hear Obama is a socialist, a racist, fiscally irresponsible, wants to kill your grandparents, is for more government, is taking away all our rights, is born in Kenya, is a Muslim, hates America etc? That drumbeat is old and repetitive. In musical terms it is like hearing Connie Francis singing "Who's Sorry Now?" on auto replay all day long. Sure, it was the greatest song ever recorded but you can't hear it all the time without eventually turning off the channel.

WSB's listeners are dying plain and simple. They have done nothing to lure a new batch of conservatives/teabaggers to listen. To those on this board under 40, do you listen to the talk shows on 'SB? (This is a serious question and not my usual sarcasm.) WSB isn't dead by a long-shot, there glory days are over that is a fact.

Neil nails it once again. I see a serious effort at all-news in WSB's future.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Two factors have contributed to WSB-AM's slow retreat: the message is the same and listener attrition.

Seriously, how many times do we need to hear Obama is a socialist, a racist, fiscally irresponsible, wants to kill your grandparents, is for more government, is taking away all our rights, is born in Kenya, is a Muslim, hates America etc? That drumbeat is old and repetitive. In musical terms it is like hearing Connie Francis singing "Who's Sorry Now?" on auto replay all day long. Sure, it was the greatest song ever recorded but you can't hear it all the time without eventually turning off the channel.

To fans of that kind of thing, those messages cannot be heard too often. Those messages are the "hits". They are to talk radio what "Freebird", "Layla", and "Stairway to Heaven" are to classic rock stations. Talk radio thrives on the same sort of narrow playlist of "hit" topics as any music format station.

Would you suggest that an oldies station loses listeners by only playing proven, tested, "hit" songs? So why would a talk station fail for only carrying proven, tested, "hit" talk topics?

 

[ck dexter haven]

Two factors have contributed to WSB-AM's slow retreat: the message is the same and listener attrition.

Seriously, how many times do we need to hear Obama is a socialist, a racist, fiscally irresponsible, wants to kill your grandparents, is for more government, is taking away all our rights, is born in Kenya, is a Muslim, hates America etc? That drumbeat is old and repetitive. In musical terms it is like hearing Connie Francis singing "Who's Sorry Now?" on auto replay all day long. Sure, it was the greatest song ever recorded but you can't hear it all the time without eventually turning off the channel.

To fans of that kind of thing, those messages cannot be heard too often. Those messages are the "hits". They are to talk radio what "Freebird", "Layla", and "Stairway to Heaven" are to classic rock stations. Talk radio thrives on the same sort of narrow playlist of "hit" topics as any music format station.

Would you suggest that an oldies station loses listeners by only playing proven, tested, "hit" songs? So why would a talk station fail for only carrying proven, tested, "hit" talk topics?

You are absolutely correct, Talk_Dude. Though on this board, I think many would reject your premise about playing proven, tested "hit" songs. Many of the posts here are from people who believe that playlists should be very broad and deep, despite all ratings evidence that has proven a smaller, focused playlist works best. They're always mystified about the success of B 98.5 or 971 The River or other stations with short lists.

 

[jabba17]

Two factors have contributed to WSB-AM's slow retreat: the message is the same and listener attrition.

Seriously, how many times do we need to hear Obama is a socialist, a racist, fiscally irresponsible, wants to kill your grandparents, is for more government, is taking away all our rights, is born in Kenya, is a Muslim, hates America etc? That drumbeat is old and repetitive. In musical terms it is like hearing Connie Francis singing "Who's Sorry Now?" on auto replay all day long. Sure, it was the greatest song ever recorded but you can't hear it all the time without eventually turning off the channel.

To fans of that kind of thing, those messages cannot be heard too often. Those messages are the "hits". They are to talk radio what "Freebird", "Layla", and "Stairway to Heaven" are to classic rock stations. Talk radio thrives on the same sort of narrow playlist of "hit" topics as any music format station.

Would you suggest that an oldies station loses listeners by only playing proven, tested, "hit" songs? So why would a talk station fail for only carrying proven, tested, "hit" talk topics?

You are absolutely correct, Talk_Dude. Though on this board, I think many would reject your premise about playing proven, tested "hit" songs. Many of the posts here are from people who believe that playlists should be very broad and deep, despite all ratings evidence that has proven a smaller, focused playlist works best. They're always mystified about the success of B 98.5 or 971 The River or other stations with short lists.

Talk radio does have the same issues with "burn", though. Fortunately, the political cycle makes it convenient to bring an old topic back as a "recurrent".

And don't think for a minute that the topics discussed aren't thoroughly researched (see my comment about Cox emailing questionnaires about topics on Boortz). Boortz has been rather candid about this, comparing himself to a DJ playing records. Boring records don't make the playlist. Annoying records don't make the playlist. Broken records get pulled off the air.

I've never heard of a talk radio ballroom study, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone's tried it. With PPM, an entire 3 hour talk show can be dissected to see what works and what doesn't.