Why aren't Sav/Hilton Head combined?

[carolinaradio]

I was through Savannah and Hilton Head today and started thinking....why on earth is HH its own market? For billing/sales or something? Its stations are pretty much Savannah stations, except for a couple. Any chance they would ever be combined?

On a side note, I enjoyed listening to 98.3. Nobody in my neck of the woods plays that kind of stuff, so it was good to hear. Their signal booms almost to FL. Interesting that they barely register in HH, though...it must be the signal.

 

[cscott]

Savannah and HH are under the same umbrella for television but not radio.

Nielsen's short 2 year run at radio ratings DID include a merged Savannah-Hilton Head metro. In fact Savannah/Hilton Head jumped from metro # 157 to well inside the top 100. But with Nielsen's end of their radio ratings initiative, Arbitron was left as the singular source for audience measurement in either market. And then Arbitron made the decision to totally cease measurement at all in HH effective this year. Without subscribers it made no sense to them. Since HH is part of the Savannah TSA (Total Survey Area) Savannah stations that subscribe to Arbitron can create custom HH reports and rankers by using diaries out of the counties that matter in South Carolina. The reason is simple economics. Many of the Savannah stations don't cover HH and vice versa. Without coverage it's tough to get ratings or revenue. So economically no Savannah owner wants to add the expense of HH ratings.

 

[carolinaradio]

Thanks for the explanation.

Some random thoughts I had while listening -

As I've said in the past, I think plugging a simulcast of 98.3 in to 103.1 would be a smart move. The stations cannibalize each other. 'GCO seems like the most viable station overall, isn't that bad sounding, and simulcasting it on 103.1 (as was done in the past) would eliminate the overlap and would help with some of the signal issues they seem to have in the SC area, which has been experiencing some pretty big growth. Except for the last book, 12+, they had been getting around a 4 share in Savannah.

The new 107.9 isn't that bad either. It's way better than "Sunny" at 107.9. Sports on 102.1 is a huge waste.
Country really isn't my thing, but Bob @ 106.9 was less than impressive.

 

[radiostuwright]

It takes a big signal (i.e. 100kw or at least 50) to cover both markets, that being said I was in Beaufort Saturday, and 104.9 the Surf is a good sounding radio station, doing what a greatest
hits or oldies station should do, good variety and being local.

 

[mediadawg]

Triad (aka Adventure) subscribed to Arbitron to create the Hilton Head market, however, it was doomed from the beginning when Arbitron arbitrarily included Allendale County as the third county of the defined Metro. At the time CC wanted to make the markets combined but Arbitron applied their commuting rules and that whole notion was permanently shelved, besides they were collecting a hefty fee from Adventure so why bother? Up until the point of subscribing to Arbitron, Adventure had made quite a bit of money in HH on being very sales driven without much thought about protecting the product, contracts were written up on cocktail napkins and spots were just added to the log whether there were avails or not. If they were going to realize continued revenue growth, it was going to come from targeting the Savannah Metro. They believed that showing SC ratings in Georgia would mean something. Adventure continues to struggle with signal issues and credibility issues across the river; trying to convince Georgia businesses that they need to buy South Carolina radio stations is a winding uphill putt on fast greens. Just because you have a 100kw stick in SC does not make you a player in Georgia and in fact 106.9 continues to struggle with building penetration issues in Bryan County and parts of Chatham County. How does River do it? Old owners spent a huge amount of money on the right antennae system, pre-CC I believe.

Here's the fun part. As of the last Spring Book, there are a few at Adventure who actually believe their format adjustments and re-launch caused KIX and River to fall in the ratings. The sad truth is that "the book" is full of wild fluctuations due to under sampling of Men 18-44 and no doubt KIX and River will bounce back to their original positions next book. It is doubtful growth will continue for 106.9. The fact that they blame their new Morning Show of six months is laughable and unfortunate for the talent that relocated. The real sad part is the amount of money invested in television for 106.9 generated more "older" Men than "any" Women, while their two best properties for growth in Savannah, 98.3 and 106.1, went down in the ratings. Epic fail.

As far as Y107.9? KISS had one it's biggest books ever across the board. 107.9 will need Richmond Hill to succeed and as previously stated in this thread, this frequency is "invisible" to most of the Savannah metro.

Don't expect 102.1 to go away until after Football Season. Cumulus may attempt to bring their Journey format to Savannah provided they can find a GM that will stay in place long enough. As far as RUSH Radio on FM, never gonna happen, too much money in Urban for CC-you have to give credit to Craig Scott, he did a marvelous job during his tenure as MM.

 

[upstate29651]

^^

A lot of good points are made above. One thing I've never understood is the lack of desire for both areas (Savannah metro & Beaufort/HHI) to work together to market the area as one complete package. I know it's a fight about tax dollars & which state keeps the most. The argument extends from the proposed Jasper port, all the way to why 17 isn't repaved on the SC side of the bridge. The same can be said of radio. Why people are fixated by an arbitrary line is beyond me. As for convincing Savannah businesses to buy SC radio, their studios have all but moved to Mall Blvd. A token presence is kept on Orleans Rd.

The signals don't stop at the river. As we know, most radio listening is done in the car or the office (which kills the "must reach Richmond Hill" argument...ALL adventure FM's are car-receivable in RH).

You put your two best stations on your two best frequencies. I'm not a fan of the trainwreck called 98.3, but it does ok, so it's placed well. Rock desperately needs to be moved to 106.9 so it can tap into Hinesville & Stateboro, two sorely underserved rock markets.

Too much money in urban? The homies here don't make much money! The white girls may occasionally land on 93.1 or 94.1 (Never 101.1), but not long enough to listen to the ads. 97.3 rules the roost here.

G

 

[carolinaradio]

All good, and interesting points. I agree that both markets (Savannah/Hilton Head) should be combined - it's done all the time...
Can't help but wonder if "Journey" eventually winds up on 102.1...

Triad should do a switch with 106.9 and 106.1, then. Would not be that big, IMO. Put the only new rock station on the better signal instead of the 2nd country station. I have to say, "Bob" is an odd brand for a country station (their previous "Lucky Dog" is one of the most embarrassing names ever)...

If the HH market is being eliminated, what is the point of Triad keeping 103.1 The Drive (which is apparently targeted towards that market) on the air? All it does is eat in to the more superior/viable BIG 98.3. 98.3's probably one of their highest potential stations, along with Rock.