Winter 2013 - GSP Ratings

[awp69]

The full book is out: http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb191

Not a lot of change, but some interesting ones. Hot continues its weird up and downs -- up more than a share and a half. That may have come at the expensive of its' big brother JAMZ, which fell more than a share and a half.

Magic and Chuck were both down a bit. Not sure where those listeners went since MY stayed status quo.

Perhaps a good sign for X98.5, although only up a bit to 1.1, The Planet dropped .8 of a share. As noted in another thread, X is supposed to get bumped from 200 to 250 Watts. It'll be interesting to see if it can chip away further.

 

[carolinaradio]

I don't understand the AC format in Greenville. For years (even in to 2011, when MY dropped AC), collectively the format had around a 9-10 share between both traditional AC stations. Now Magic, the only traditional AC, can't even crack a 5 share (which they used to do when MY was getting around a 5-6 share also), and we see how MY is doing. Obviously, MY did not retain a lot of their older audience and not much of that audience went to Magic. Why is Greenville suddenly lukewarm to mainstream AC while it continues to be so popular in the rest of the country (especially a lot of southern markets)? Is Clear Channel pleased with how MY is doing?

Did the mainstream AC crowd go to Chuck FM? They're down, but in many markets the AC and Variety Hits formats co-exist and both do well.

X will be a 1-1.5 share format, I think. That's better than "The Road." Rock 101 seems to have slipped a little, I'm guessing mainly from Chuck FM and (maybe?) 96.7 as they went down when 97.7 started gaining traction.

 

[awp69]

I guess if you took Magic, MY and Chuck together you'd be close to the combined ratings when both MY and Magic were doing traditional AC. It wouldn't have been reflected in this book but The Earth could do some damage to those stations as well - particularly Magic and Chuck.

It may be a stretch but once X is at 250W, I'd like to see them pull in a two share (and hopefully bring down The Planet below a 3.0).

It's just one book but you have to think The Planet would be getting concerned that their at least some of their ratings are getting syphoned off by X, which has also just been around for two books. Not that 93.3 has been doing so hot to begin with on it's full powered signal.

 

[jamesh]

25-54 anyone? How is WMYI doing there? Looks like that ship is sinking 12 plus.

 

[awp69]

25-54 anyone? How is WMYI doing there? Looks like that ship is sinking 12 plus.

I'd be curious to know the 25-54 ratings as well for all the stations. There was a rumor back in February about MY possibly flipping again. But Magic seems to be shooting itself in the foot and putting MY within their reach even though their ratings haven't changed.

Surely Magic still has a sizable lead in the money demo, but it would be interesting to know and also whether MY is performing adequately enough in that demo to keep going.

 

[carolinaradio]

Considering it's been nearly two years, I think it's obvious that the "fresh" concept just hasn't worked out (not that we are surprised). They're sticking with it, though, it appears. I listen sometimes, but it's kind of stale so it's usually not for long.

When MY changed, I guess their older listeners went to Magic and some of Magic's younger listeners went to MY, so it was about a wash. Still seems like they would have lost more than gained (they were very old-leaning for an AC), but maybe Chuck FM came on the air before any real effect could be seen. If Chuck-FM weren't on the air, I think we would see Magic getting a 5+ share solidly. I tried to listen to Earth yesterday and I think they may net a little more than a 1 share, but not much better. It's just sounds like they'd have a very niche audience, more so than the traditional "classic hits" station.

I'll be interested in seeing the next book, especially for The Planet, because note they had the same share in the summer (before X). It's still pretty bad, but all I can guess is The Rise Guys keep them afloat (that hurt to type).

 

[awp69]

I'll be interested in seeing the next book, especially for The Planet, because note they had the same share in the summer (before X). It's still pretty bad, but all I can guess is The Rise Guys keep them afloat (that hurt to type).

I'll be interestsed to see that as well. I wish I did have access to things like morning drive ratings. It is kind of sad, but I'd be willing to bet that TRG are what keeps the ratings from diving further. Yes, I know X is at a disadvantage with less coverage, but I wonder outside of the morning drive if there's that big of a gap between them and The Planet.

I really don't think 1.1 is that bad for X98.5 so far when there's some full-powered stations in the market that don't even show up in the ratings. Not sure, but it seems like when this site was posting ratings, it did have some of those other stations (mostly the gospel/Christian stations that dot the radio dial).

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Well,...well,...(wait for it.).....................................................well. Here we all are once again oggling a piss-poor, piddly, yet savage 1-through-5 shares of a GSP Arby. Man, you are a "Sceamin' Demon", if you are anywhere near a six! All in, and all done it's all about as impressive as Will Ferrell movies, Ugly Women, or any random post from Freqdev. As for MY 102, they wouldn't admit defeat, if the PD was allowed to star opposite Kate Upton in a mini feature, entitled "Escaped Convict & The Warden's Wife". Hot AC seems to have the same illness as CHR: Playing all this new/fresh/unknown stuff, and at the mersey of the labels at to what that will continue to be. Both of those formats are polluted with label fodder, trying to satisfy way too many wicker baskets of listeners, and (that way) it can't be done. Both Talk, and Country, as always, seem to know their role.
MAGIC has a real good chance to do something,...if they would only...DO SOMETHING! All three of our Alleged...Rock Stations are still staggering like stoned zombies, fresh from a ride on the tilt-a-whirl. However, CC's THE ROAD is filling its role of shaving Male numbers away from WROQ, to benefit WSSL...while The Planet continues their unemployment assist, by issuing a weekly paycheck to a collection of the worst Air Staff known to Man, Woman, Child, or any variety of vermin. In the words of Dr. Zachery Smith,..."Oh, the pain!".

 

[freqdev]

bartender, i'll have what he's drinkin

 

[clemsonbloke]

How The Planet stays on the air is beyond me. I tuned in the other day and heard whoever was on there ( Im not a regular listener) going apeshit about GWAR playing The Handlebar. Now maybe it's me but when did they ever become popular? I distinctly remember that supposed band playing on Jerry Springer years ago. I don't get it, can someone explain that one? Is the Handlebar going down the same sewer that The Planet is? I mean this guy, whoever he was, was having an on air orgasm over GWAR, I've never heard anything like that. Hmm maybe I'm getting old at almost 40!

 

[carolinaradio]

You know, I'd like to see Magic vs. MY in morning drive. Yes, MY puts more in to having a "morning show" with a duo, but Magic has Greg McKinney who is a very good on-air host and is well known by a lot of the AC audience (having worked afternoons at Magic over a decade ago, then to MY's afternoons in the early-mid 2000s, now back at Magic). Zac and Marne aren't that great and lack a lot of familiarity with the area (something that is important in this market, and most morning shows [including Magic] here have). The chemistry lacks with Z&M and I don't see that they've done anything to improve the ratings.

In response to what you said, awp69, said about the stations not showing, it's now subscriber-only meaning that you have to subscribe in this market to be able to use the ratings/have them publicly seen, to my knowledge. Since most of the smaller stations and out-of-market stations don't, they aren't included. I honestly think the 98.5 signal covers most of what it needs to. It might help if it got somewhere like Clemson, but that's about it. Of course, there are going to be some disgruntled listeners here and there in smaller towns that'll make their opinion known, but I don't know how much audience there is going to be in a lot of the areas outside of Greenville and its immediate suburbs (even a place like Spartanburg, perhaps, and definitely towns like Gray Court, Pelzer, Central, etc.). I don't think you'd see much more on a more powerful signal, but that's JMO.

 

[awp69]

I honestly think the 98.5 signal covers most of what it needs to.  It might help if it got somewhere like Clemson, but that's about it.  Of course, there are going to be some disgruntled listeners here and there in smaller towns that'll make their opinion known, but I don't know how much audience there is going to be in a lot of the areas outside of Greenville and its immediate suburbs (even a place like Spartanburg, perhaps, and definitely towns like Gray Court, Pelzer, Central, etc.).  I don't think you'd see much more on a more powerful signal, but that's JMO.

I agree in general that they may not get that much of a boost from listeners outside of the Greenville area, but the signal still is nowhere near as consistent as even Chuck-FM. As we discussed in another thread, there are areas (like my subdivision for instance that's well within the immediate Greenville area), where I consistently get static. But beyond that they have more issues in the morning drive than any station I've listened to -- whether they are related to atmospheric conditions or not. Today was another day that I got a lot of static in the morning in Greenville from Woodruff Road to Augusta Road. The same issues were not present on Chuck. It doesn't happen every day, but it happens far too often. I want to listen to it enough that I put up with it,  but don't know if others would.

So I do think signal strength could be hampering the station regardless of the area it covers. I hope the bump from 200 to 250W puts them on par with Chuck as far as zero interference in the immediate Greenville area.

Also wanted to say that I completely agree with you on Zac and Marne. They just sound rather blah for a morning show and don't seem to have the kind of witty banter, etc., that really is the only reason for having a morning show. IMO they would have been better off just continuing to play more music in the morning with Marne. Certainly, it's not offputting like The Rise Guys, but it just isn't a show that would want to make me listen to it over another station.

 

[awp69]

^^ Just to add to that. This afternoon going into my subdivision the station actually dropped out completely several times. Not saying it's a widespread issue but no other Greenville station does that, including Chuck. What's surprising is that my car radio gets much better reception than my previous car (which would not pull in Charlotte stations, for instance, very well). I guess I was glad to have X and didn't think about it too much since it does come in good in most of my driving (except the morning when it can be more pervasive). But they've been on long enough that it's a concern that hopefully will be addressed.

 

[carolinaradio]

That's a penetration issue I think. The bump to 250 watts, whenever it happens, should help. The higher the wattage, the better the signal will be able to penetrate inside buildings, etc. and be stronger overall in the immediate area...although that is odd you'd have it drop out there. I hear occasional static blips in Fountain Inn/Simpsonville, but I've never really noticed anything significant in Greenville. The signal gets out a decent amount of distance due to the height, with static of course. Antenna height = distance, power = penetration (from my limited engineering knowledge).

Chuck has a bad area and it's not far from the transmitter. On Hwy 291/N Pleasantburg Dr., it can be really between the E. North St. intersection and 385 interchange. It struggles and loses the RDS sometimes. That might be more of a line of sight blockage, I have no idea, since it's so close to the transmitter.