WABC..another new low

[benale]

I was curious how the New York stations covered the aftermath of the storm this morning(Sat.) WOR ran Joe Bartlett doing a good job, WCBS and WINS as usual with great coverage and WABC was running infomercials.

It's bad enough the once great WABC is running paid programming on a Saturday morning, but to have them running after the blizzard?. They did break in for weather and traffic,but I can't imagine anyone was listening.

WABC has to be the worst major market talk station in the country. Wall to Wall syndication(save the 5AM hour) during the week and brokered shows and info mercials on the weekend.

I know the paid shows bring in the money, but is it really worth it? A small market talker, possibly,but WABC? They had a 2.2 in the last book. Unless things change, I'm sure they will go below a 2 share and stay there.

I can't believe any body, except for the sponsor, actually listens to info mercials. That has to be the #1 tuneout on talk radio.

WABC has hit a new low. Overall, the station has never sounded this bad..and on a 50,000 watt clear channel frequency in Market #1. Unbelievable.

 

[Kevin TRC]

I was listening too and I have to admit I was surprised they didn't have any talk shows on. While the traffic reports were much better than I expected and loaded with info but I expected to hear them taking phone calls and talking to the talking heads that everyone else had on the radio and TV. As a "news/talk" station they did not step up and provide any talk. If it weren't for the sole news guy doing good traffic reports they would have had no coverage at all.

 

[TheBigA]

Like most radio stations and, for that matter, anything else, they blow off the weekends, and have for a long time. The infomercials pay for themselves, and advertisers don't buy the 6+ Monday-Sunday numbers. It doesn't matter what happens to that number. And if they had pre-empted the infomercials, the coverage would have been unsponsored because the time is normally sold to the long-form shows.

People tune in to WABC for very specific things: Imus, Rush, Hannity, etc. Everything else can be called "sustaining." That includes talking about the storm.

 

[reelyreal]

It's bad form for ANY talk station to rely on certain day parts alone to carry the ship. The best consultants have been saying this for YEARS. Don't hitch your wagon to one pony. You don't want to be the "at work" station or the "Rush" station. You need to be the ALL THE TIME STATION. Weekends shouldn't be throw-aways, and the best major market stations know that. That's why people tune to 880 or 1010 when it really matters, and not 770. Some stations get it, Cumulus doesn't.

 

[TheBigA]

It's bad form for ANY talk station to rely on certain day parts alone to carry the ship. The best consultants have been saying this for YEARS.

The "best consultants" ruined talk radio by hitching their wagon to one ideology. That was a big mistake. So now they're stuck with that. And in a market where you have two actual real news stations that don't force an ideology, the talk station is totally irrelevant when real news happens. So you might as well air the info-mercial and make the money while you can. The talk talent at WABC would want to blame the storm on Obama, like everything else.

 

[FightingIrish]

It's bad form for ANY talk station to rely on certain day parts alone to carry the ship. The best consultants have been saying this for YEARS.

The "best consultants" ruined talk radio by hitching their wagon to one ideology. That was a big mistake. So now they're stuck with that. And in a market where you have two actual real news stations that don't force an ideology, the talk station is totally irrelevant when real news happens. So you might as well air the info-mercial and make the money while you can. The talk talent at WABC would want to blame the storm on Obama, like everything else.

Good point. With WINS and WCBS in town, do people really go to WABC for breaking news alerts?

 

[TheBigA]

Good point. With WINS and WCBS in town, do people really go to WABC for breaking news alerts?

Unless they're already listening, no. And since the station regularly runs infomercials on weekends, the people are probably not listening. If a tree falls in an empty forest, does it make a sound?

 

[TimeIsTight]

The problem with ignoring the listening interests of the regular audience on weekends is that they look for alternatives and change the channel to a spot it may stay tuned to on Monday.

On Saturday mornings people have more time to relax while they are listening, and they are listening while they go about their weekend chores, or lingering over that second cup of coffee. If you want to be their "favorite" station, or at least among them, being there with programming that fits the expected format makes sense, spending an hour trying to sell them something only chases them away.

WABC has seen substantial erosion in its audience in recent years. There are things it is no longer doing right, and running infomercials during Saturday mornings, may be the latest mistake.

 

[reelyreal]

Totally agree with TimeIsTight. Besides, since when does "Well, we can't run with the big dogs so let's settle for being the inferior station" become good business practice?

 

[TheBigA]

The problem with ignoring the listening interests of the regular audience on weekends is that they look for alternatives and change the channel to a spot it may stay tuned to on Monday.

Horse hockey. The people who listen to WABC listen for one reason: Conservative talk by people they agree with. If they tune away on Saturday, they will be back to listen to Rush on Monday because he has commanded them to. It's like church. You won't go there during the week, but that doesn't mean you won't go there Sunday morning.

 

[reelyreal]

What happens when Rush is gone? What's the plan at that point?

 

[TheBigA]

What happens when Rush is gone? What's the plan at that point?

Ask them. But for now, they program for the weekday.

 

[wadio]

And the weekday strategy is working great! Just look at the ratings.

 

[TimeIsTight]

If they tune away on Saturday, they will be back to listen to Rush on Monday because he has commanded them to.

Unfortunately, about a third of WABC's former audience tuned away at some point in recent years and has yet to tune back in.

IIRC, it wasn't "that" long ago when WABC's average weekly cume was in the 1.5-million to 1.7-million range, and in recent months it has dipped below an even million.

Saturday morning brings the opportunity to attract listeners to the cume party who don't have a chance to listen during the week.

I know, individual spot sales are based on key demo ratings during key periods on weekdays, but if you are buying an ad schedule you want to reach as many people as possible, and the larger the cume the better those "point-in-time" ratings are likely to be.

Running infomercials on Saturday mornings just turns a whole lot of regular listeners off, and cheapens the station image. In the long-term cume, ratings, sales, and the goodwill value of the station will all suffer as a result. Probably, the focus is on short-term billing numbers and the resulting long-term value losses aren't in the decision making spreadsheet.

 

[wadio]

IIRC, it wasn't "that" long ago when WABC's average weekly cume was in the 1.5-million to 1.7-million range, and in recent months it has dipped below an even million.

WABC has been headed for this ratings cliff for several years but listeners are creatures of habit and they've stayed the course until now. Suddenly they're dropping over the edge and it won't be easy to get them back. Great long-term strategic planning, Cumulus.

 

[TheBigA]

Unfortunately, about a third of WABC's former audience tuned away at some point in recent years and has yet to tune back in.

So you attribute that to infomercials on Saturday morning?

Take a look at the bigger picture: At one time, there were several AM stations in the Top 10. Now, it's just WINS. AM ratings are dropping like a rock, not just in New York, but everywhere. You think the audience has tuned away, but it's more likely that the audience has PASSED away. They've gone to meet their maker. They've ceased to exist. Get the picture? Replacing infomercials Saturday morning with a live & local talk show isn't going to bring them back, because they're six feet under.

Here's a basic reality, and Lew Dickey confirmed it this week: Conservative talk radio ratings are not growing. That's not going to change by turning down infomercial money. WABC won't be returning to past glories. For that matter, neither will the other AM stations. CBS recognizes that, and is starting the transfer of their expensive content from AM to FM. In a few years, 660AM will be a syndicated sports talker, probably with infomercials on the weekends. That's the future for AM, and it's not pretty.

 

[wadio]

Then how do you explain KFI's numbers not dropping off a cliff? Isn't the death rate in LA similar to NY?

I'd say,

1) enough good local programming

and

2) no infomercials

... might have something to do with it. There's no single answer but going only for the fast bucks is generally a strategy for failure.

 

[TheBigA]

Then how do you explain KFI's numbers not dropping off a cliff? Isn't the death rate in LA similar to NY?

KFI's post-election winter ratings drop was the same as WABC's. And the AM situation in LA is exactly the same as NY's: There is ONE AM station in the Top 10. In NY it's WINS, and in LA it's KFI. That's it. One could bemoan and decry the collapse of KNX, but they're not running infomercials. Percentage wise, the winter ratings drop at WOR was about the same as WABC. All those disgruntled former Joy Browne listeners?

There's no single answer but going only for the fast bucks is generally a strategy for failure.

Fast bucks is better than no bucks. I don't know how much they get for running those infomercials, but my understanding is that it's a lot.

 

[wadio]

KFI has gone from 1st or 2nd to 5th in the LA market, while WABC has dropped from 5th or 6th to 16th in NY.

In recent years I find myself listening to WCBS more and more, not because I like the all-news format, or the endless repetition, but because the programming on WABC (and much of WOR) is so dreadful. In fact, just a few years ago I never listened to WCBS.

You may be correct that news/talk radio is dieing a faster death than AM radio itself -- and Cumulus does seem to have given up on WABC -- but I don't think you can deny that the complete lack of programming integrity isn't hastening the demise.

 

[TheBigA]

KFI has gone from 1st or 2nd to 5th in the LA market, while WABC has dropped from 5th or 6th to 16th in NY.

Oh come on....when was the last time WABC was 5th or 6th? Your comparison isn't fair.

There was a time when there were four AM stations in the Top 10. Not any more.

I don't think you can deny that the complete lack of programming integrity isn't hastening the demise.

AM radio is dying for a number of reasons. The fact that manufacturers aren't including it in new devices doesn't help. The fact that AM has become the Camden of programming doesn't help. The total lack if attention to signal problems and interference doesn't help. There are lots of reasons why AM is in free fall. From my perspective, AM was heading in this direction 20 years ago, and the rise of talk radio postponed it's demise. But it was inevitable, and in other countries, it's already a reality. In most US cities, there are no AM stations in the Top 10. The older cities like NY and LA manage to hold on to one. It'll be interesting to see what happens at WOR, and if improving programming actually results in increased ratings on AM. I'm personally not too hopeful.