Triangle & Triad Ratings...

[XTalker]

One of the reasons WZTK (FM TALK 101.1) remains viable is the relationship selling that takes place in the Triad and Triangle markets. From a sheer ratings perspective, they are an also ran at best. However, because they deliver a good strong cume number when you combine the markets, they can be a great buy.

Talk audiences in general are more responsive to local advertisers and the more conversational type of commercial. It explains why stations like WZTK and WSJS can continue to be business successes without strong ratings.

WSJS has historically out sold its ratings - by a 2-1 margin in some years. Bill Whitley has done a nice job of developing a good, local-direct sales effort.

 

[disgruntled]

as the self-appointed cheerleader for fm talk radio (NPR & WZTK, that is), I will again point out that, from a "sheer ratings perspective," don't believe everything arbitron spews out. Putting aside the entire argument about weighted books, one has to figure that the sampling for FM in general is biased toward a presumption that people turn on FM for music and not much else (which actually IS the case in most markets, I know). That's not to say that a "truer" sampling would catapult any fm talker (and certainly not NPR affiliates) into the lead--we're a long way from being in that kind of universe. Nonetheless, I stubbornly continue to refuse to believe that all these urban stations have anything remotely resembling the audience share being portrayed. As for wztk, I see they now have billboards all over Greensboro. If there's a spike for them in the next book, it will be directly attributable to that kind of outside promotion, I'm sure. I remember somebody mentioning on a previous post that they have signal issues around winston-salem, but any case WSJS would probably continue to beat them by virtue of having a decades-long presence. And since they acquired hannity, they're probably mopping the floor with alan handleman in the male demo (although i don't know that for a fact, so correct me if I'm wrong. does anybody have the breakdown?). Whatever the case may be, i have to wonder if talk in general is reaching a point of diminishing returns in this current election cycle (note the incredible shrinking limbaugh). I mean, lets face it, we've got saturation coverage of the primaries, debates, speeches on cable tv already. Do people REALLY want to turn on their radios to get another overdose of politics?........

 

[disgruntled]

I apologize for taking so long to respond, been on the road for the past week, and I'm stilling reeling from the monumental ignorance of Ape's statement. Look, if you don't understand on some fundamental level the costs and consequences of being a debtor nation, there's probably nothing I can say to enlighten you. Read a book on macroeconomics or something.

Getting back to the subject at hand.......does anyone have breakdowns for guilford metro, or information about the slant and skew of arbitron sampling for the last quarter.....I saw on previous posts that the numbers are often heavily impacted by how many males are sampled in w. forsyth.....is that mainly because of signal issues going east to west? I was traveling up highway 52 and didn't notice any signal dropout until I was well beyond mt. airy......

 

[Board Editor]

MOVED: Re: Triangle & Triad Ratings...

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