After the many posts here about the ratings of a certain AM station and its translators, I asked my radio friends who sell radio advertising at three separate clusters about the latest monthly trend, wondering how other stations in Buffalo performed. They said that 97 Rock and WHTT did quite well, and to a person added that WBLK and WYRK continue to sweep the market in double digits, especially Persons 25-54. Each noted that WBLK reached a high water mark in morning drive and nights. The WBLK morning show features syndicated Steve Harvey and the night show features a local personality-DJ-mixer by the name of DJ Wire who put up nearly a 30 share. Amazing! When was the last time any daypart had a thirty share, especially nights? You'd probably have to go back to the days of the old WBEN, WKBW, beautiful music Joy-FM, the original WPHD or QFM97, or Bills game day broadcasts on WGR, WBEN or 97 Rock to find ratings that large.
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WBLK and WYRK Rule the Roost... Again
- Thread starter Element9
- Start date
That IS incredible. But beware - you're about to be accused by a certain moderator along with a station owner of not supporting local radio since all the stations you named were corporate-owned.
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Buddy Shula
Guest
just FYI - WECK is #8 in the entire market. 12 plus. with a 3.5 . Beating BUF,MSX,EDG, and LKK, just to name a few. Our middays are a 4.2 12 plus. Those are from August trends which I now subscribe too. Think about that. a locally owned 1KW AM in Buffalo. Going for 5 share.
I will tell you this - YRK and BLK did tremendous, BLK, mainly because of time spent listening. WBEN did good but down, GR is right above WECK. STAR and KISS just waned in the 4 and 5 shares.
WECK has moved from 13 to 8 since my purchase, beating major FM's with Wall Street backing. WECK is the story of the August trends. Now that I get the trends every month, I will keep you up to date
You might also want to know that WECK and Townsquare are the only companies that subscribe to the monthly trends.
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When and what was the last 1KW AM in Buffalo that was in the 3.5 - 5 range?
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Buddy Shula
Guest
In the 1980's. It was WECK
The original poster cited Persons 25-54 but how is it that within a few frames the thread is diverted to Persons 12+. "Nearly a 30 share" Persons 25-54 is extraordinary. What may be more extraordinary is that my adult children and I listen to both WYRK and WBLK. WYRK more than WBLK for me, but still. It looks like Townsquare has both ends of the music and format spectrum covered.
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Buddy Shula
Guest
The thread got to 12 plus because the original post was a specific reference to me. If you don’t want me involved, don’t reference me with the first line of the post. Simple
In diary markets, looking at 12+ for general market direction is one of the few instances where using 12+ professionally is a good idea. the 3-month rolling average trends are made up of either 2 months from the "old" book and one from the "new" one or 1 from the old and two from the new. In either case, you are looking at fairly raw data because there is only minimal weighting as "real" weighting only happens at the book level, not the trend level.
As Buddy mentioned already, he entered the thread because the OP jabbed at him. Buddy's target is not 25-54; he has explained that his intention is to sever 55 and over, and he is obviously doing a very good job, even if there are some wobbles in those trend reports.
As to the 30 share: of what value is such a share in a daypart where few people have listened to radio for decades and where nearly no advertising is bought? If we wonder about what the sales can be for a 55+ audience, we find the answer to that question is much easier to answer than the question of what good a high night share in youth demos is useful for.
Thank you, Buddy & David for proving my prediction.
Any time you predict that misinformation will be set straight you are likely to be right.
While I suspect that there are better specific/technical labels for WBLK & WYRK, I consider WYRK to lean heavily to what is categorized as 'today's country', and WBLK to lean heavily to what is generally referred to as 'urban'. If I understand correctly, from what I see above, (ratings-wise) they are the overall predominantly listened to stations in the Buffalo area. My question is, across the continental United States, are 'country' and 'urban' stations typically found to be the highest rated.
I realize that one can slice-n-dice the data a gazillion different ways... so, I should preface by saying I'm talking big picture - or, in corporate jargon-speak, the "30,000 foot view".
I realize that one can slice-n-dice the data a gazillion different ways... so, I should preface by saying I'm talking big picture - or, in corporate jargon-speak, the "30,000 foot view".
Sounds like David is saying that a 30 share at night is worthless. If ten people are using Radio and 3 of them are listening to one station = 30 Share.!!
Buddy & David seem to be fixated on an August trend, which is equally worthless. A one year period is likely a more accurate barometer of a stations position...
Buddy & David seem to be fixated on an August trend, which is equally worthless. A one year period is likely a more accurate barometer of a stations position...
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Buddy Shula
Guest
Of course a year is a more accurate barometer of performance. Nobody said it wasn't.
All I'll say is this: Yes, what WYRK and WBLK did in the summer book is impressive, and I'll give them their due.(For the record, I listen to WBLK most days at work-mostly due to it being on at my specific work area, which I have no problem with. However, I'm not a WYRK listener-though I'm fully aware of how many people like country music. It's just not my cup of tea.)
I'll be more impressed if they can do that long-term, instead of just 1 book.
Here's my guess, knowing the ups and downs of local radio ratings over the years : They. WON'T.
Just one more thing: Would Townsquare PLEASE pull the plug on Mix 96....the sooner the better, please and thank you?
I'll be more impressed if they can do that long-term, instead of just 1 book.
Here's my guess, knowing the ups and downs of local radio ratings over the years : They. WON'T.
Just one more thing: Would Townsquare PLEASE pull the plug on Mix 96....the sooner the better, please and thank you?
We are not t talking about the Summer book, just the trend which is two months of Summer and one of Spring. The Summer book is not out until the 10th of next month.
I am not saying it is worthless. But in the context of the ongoing slams against WECK and its older audience, a younger leaning station with a 30 share at night is going to have an even more difficult time selling that than Buddy is with his solid daytime audience.
Nobody is fixated... but at the end of the day, a trend is a full 3-month period, sans all the weighting, and can be a good predictor of the direction a station is headed. That is why it is called a "trend" and not a "bible".
A year, even in a smaller market, is too long a period. Two and perhaps 3 books are what transactional buyers look at. They take the newest book for directional guidance, and multi-book averages for positional guarantees.
Indeed...and my message should have said as much. My apologies. That said, the general thrust of my point still stands: Just because you get a big rating in a trend doesn't mean the entire book is going to work out in your favor.
But seems to me WYRK and WBLK have been consistently at or near the top for a long time, no?
What "misinformation?" The OP called no one to account. It was neither an ad hominem attack, nor an attempt to discredit. It referenced a clearly identifiable repeated discussion pattern on this particular board.
As to the size of the share at night, there is no argument that audience levels, such as Cume and AQH are lower than those derived in morning or afternoon drive. Nonetheless, "nearly a 30 share," is impressive in context.
Additionally, more than a few program directors and consultants have pointed to a correlation between the performance of one daypart benefitting another within the same 24 hour period. Years ago, both Larry Anderson (WGR, Buffalo Sabres) and Jeff Kaye (WKBW, Jack Armstrong) pointed to the performances of their stations' 7-midnight day part as being a potential benefit to the next day's morning drive day part. Fred Jacobs, on his jacoblog, within the last year pointed to similar patterns, strong weekend performance benefitting a station's performance on Monday.
Having brought into conversation the names Anderson and Kaye, it's sad to realize they're no longer with us. Jacobs is most certainly vital and the Sabres this season exhibit a strong pulse. Or so Buffalo sports fans hope.
That was a generalized statement directed at Rob, who commented specifically on corporate vs. local ownership. That, of course, is not an issue here in this thread, but Rob threw it in gratuitously.
Of course, if we want to nitpick, only in the PPM do we have "monthly" anythings. The diary markets trenders have 3-month rolling averages, not monthly trends.
No argument there. My point is that such a share can not be monetized. Local accounts or agency accounts... except night clubs and shows (get the cash up front)... don't buy night time radio.
When radios were single purpose devices, we went by the saying that "where the radio goes to sleep is where it wakes up". But today most morning radio starts in the car, not in the bedroom and the preferred in-home device is the smartphone or smart speaker so all those hackneyed sayings and pieces of wisdom about recycling and the usefulness of lesser-listened-to dayparts are either wrong or only one of a set of considerations. In the new media world that radio is a part of, "years ago" thinking is often a kiss of death.
Yes, there is a changing of the guard. And the long-time experts who are still with us are aware that traditional thinking just does not fit most situations today. For example, WBLK has generally had over 20 shares in 7 PM-Midnight yet that huge share represents much less than half the number of people they have on average in the morning.
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