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Wilmington Fall Ratings

J

jhguthlac

Guest
The new Wilmington ratings are out (Fall). Not much going on.

WJBR slipped an insignificant amount. WDAS-FM slipped almost a full point and local R&B WJKS increased almost a point. At least one audience group is returning local. On the local AM scene, WDEL moved back ahead of WILM. That’s as it should be.

Total AM share dropped .4 and part of that was the listener switch from 610 to 94-WIP. Of course, being the old reactionary that I am, I still tune in 610-WIP when I want sports. WWTX remains dead in the water.

Total country went up with both WXCY and WXTU showing nice gains.

What is going to be done about WSTW? After being number 1 for so many years, they just can’t seem to get their act together. I have always used available music as their excuse, but could it be deeper than that?
 
As I've cautioned before, don't read too much into the 12+ numbers. WSTW's 12+ number, in particular, is very misleading. If you break the numbers down by age and demographic, WSTW's picture improves dramatically.
 
When you combine the ratings for WIP-AM/FM and WPEN-FM (AM doesn't show) you have a higher rating 12+ wise than rating WDEL has. That might imply that a good Wilmington Sports talk station could have a decent rantings here and probably sell well as WDEL has been successful in selling local spots. WWTX just with it's from the bird approach doesn't cut it. Sports talk listeners want to weigh in with their point of view of Andy Reid, Michael Vick, or even Tebow, etc. The problem with WWTX is its syndicated, it's a lot harder to get on those shows and you have to hang on the phone forever. People at work can't do that they need to be able to call and get on and then get back to work. Also the national shows don't talk Philly sports as their main focus, but only occasionally as it is a national show. It seems to work with the two Philly sports talkers here in Wilmington, with WIP-FM getting the lion's share of that rating.

I enjoy NPR on WHYY-FM, WDEL's Al Massetti and Allan Loudell's newsblocks, but I also enjoy both WPEN-FM and WIP-FM as a change of pace (can't get either 610 or 950 at work so prior to those stations going to FM I couldn't listen). Apparently, moving to FM has expanded their listenership in Wilmington. It's a shame 1290 WWTX couldn't have been the WIP of Wilmington. I'll put 1290 on sometimes, but usually end up at WPEN-FM or WIP-FM when in the sports talk mood.
 
The 1290 night signal is a serious hinderance to their success.

They tried afternoon local shows, but that was a failure. There is a market for sports radio in Wilmington, but 1290 just isn't it. ESPN and Fox Sports just isn't working anywhere. If the listener has a choice of local, that's where they will go. Oh, and BTW, when WWTX tried a "local" afternoon drive show, for awhile it was coming from Conn.! The guy finally had to admit he had never been to any Philadelphia sporting event or stadium!
 
Honestly, WJKS isn't a bad station for an Urban - The 101.7 frequency just is the shoddiest FM in Wilmington.

WSTW the past year, has been playing 80's and 90's... On a CHR... That's why it's ratings aren't what they were before. It's almost an AC.
 
The reason WJKS doesn't have a great signal in Wilmington is even though their studios are on King St. Downtown Wilmington, the WJKS transmitter is located in Canton, NJ near Bridgeton. You can see a map of their signal at radio locator, see link below. WJKS only has a signal power of 3300 watts unlike WJBR and WSTW both at 50Kw with the transmitter in the Wilmington area. WJKS main signal doesn't hit Wilmington, it's the secondary signal (see the map at the link below).

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=Wjks&x=0&y=0.
 
How like CC to try to do a local show in Delaware with a guy who's in Conn. and then they wondered why the show didn't work?? As we only have the BlueRocks as our only professional (minor league) team here, the real action is with either the Baltimore and Philly teams. Now I could see a sports talker in Wilmington working doing local where yes they discuss the Blue Rocks and the UofDel, but really focusing on both Balt and Philly teams. That would give Delaware sports talkers a reason to listen to the Wilmington sports talker as neither Philly sportstalker discusses Baltimore or Delaware sports.

I like both the Eagles and the Ravens, so would be interested in hearing about the, just as with the Phillies and the Orioles. I agree the lousy nighttime signal kills 1290 at night, but if CC put real local sports talkers from Delaware on the air covering Balt/Philly sports during the day, they might make a real run of it (most folks are listening during the day anyhow). However, maybe CC would make 94.7 WDSD a sports talker. They don't seem to be setting the world on fire doing country as they get their butt kicked by both WXCY and WXTU. So maybe a statewide signal of 94.7 WDSR (Delaware's Sports Radio) doing live and local sports talk of Balt/Philly/ and occasionally BlueRocks/UofDel would be a real ratings draw. They now air UofDel football and NASCAR. Maybe that would be a ratings and profit winner for CC Delaware.
 
FALL RATINGS ARE IN but..

Arbitron has removed all the non-subscribing stations from their ratings. Stations that don't subscribe should not even submit their data to Arbitron.

I used to enjoy looking at our local area general ratings in Atlantic City but now half of the stations are not even listed. Those include stations owned by Longport (they own 5 stations in the market!), WIBG (2 stations), Coastal (2 Stations) and the very popular, LIFT FM.

The same thing is happening in Wilmington and across the US. Arbitron has cut off all non-subscribers.

It's not going to help Arbitron in the long run.
 
What stations in the Wilmington market are not subscribers. Probably WNWK1260, maybe WJKS101.7 and WFAI 1510, and WXHL 89.1 and WVUD from Uof Del. I'd assume the following are subscribers: Delmarva stations: WDEL/WSTW/WXCY; CC Delaware stations: WILM/WDOV/WWTX/TOM-FM/WDSD; and WJBR. The biggest Wilmington market stations.

So yes the smaller stations wouldn't show at all, even if they had better ratings than the Delmarva, CC stations, or WJBR? That makes the Arbitron info not total. I'd assume the subscribers want that info too. The big stations might not be threatened by the little stations, but I'd think that info would be useful. Is Arbitron doing this in PPM markets too or only diary markets?
 
Steve Hare's station and the UofDel aren't included because they are legally non-commercial. Those aren't include in smaller markets.

I highly doubt Arbitron is "removing" the stations. Like Mike points out, the major players want to know how well the minor league is playing also. Just because few people are reporting listening to your favorite station doesn't mean Arbitron isn't including them. It means no one is reporting listening.
 
goto station ratings:


http://www.******************


As an example go to Atlantic City Market. Then attempt to find WMGM. WMGM is a monster signal (50,000 WATTS) with a likewise monster size audience. Do you see it? This station is owned by Longport which is not a subscriber of Arbitron.

Next try WIBG-FM. At the last ratings cycle WIBG led oldies stations. Do you see it listed?

Next look up WOND-AM. This is a talk station with a long history of being the top AM talker in the market. All of a sudden it has no listeners?

The truth is, Arbitron is trying to make it difficult for non-subscribers, but in the end they will suffer because advertising agencies will realize their rating system is now bogus. At least half of the stations located in Atlantic City aren't even listed and many of the stations now listed are rim shot signals in from Philadelphia.
 
WJKS is listed. It's sister station WFAI is not, but as jhguthlac suggested maybe no one listed WFAI on their diary, same with WNWK.
 
WJKS is listed. It's sister station WFAI is not, but as jhguthlac suggested maybe no one listed WFAI on their diary, same with WNWK.

I find a better listing right here, click on ratings. I checked the Atlantic City ratings here and WMGM-FM is listed. Is there a WMGM-AM?
 
Likewise, Mike. The Arbitron ratings right here on Radio-Info have all of those stations listed. I do find it strange that all of a sudden, stations which previously had a 3.5 are showing zero. But it does not souond like a deep, dark plot by an evil company.
 
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