WJMN has shifted to rhythmic hot AC

[Tomgsinger]

94.5 has now dropped the majority of their currents and widened their gold library, flanking 97.7 and putting them in more direct competition with 96.9. They are now positioned as “Boston’s #1 for Hip Hop and All the Best Throwbacks”.

Their liners are now more directly targeting 96.9, and this is an obvious response to their ratings plummeting below a Worcester market station. Thoughts?

 

[John Gallagher]

The online playlist on their iHeart page doesn't seem to reflect that. Quite a few currents in a row listed.

 

[ksradiogeek]

The online playlist on their iHeart page doesn't seem to reflect that. Quite a few currents in a row listed.

I think they’re having some feed issues (noticed several periods of dropouts). Plus, its still Premium Choice overnights like most i<3 stations through the stream.

 

[Tomgsinger]

I think they’re having some feed issues (noticed several periods of dropouts). Plus, its still Premium Choice overnights like most i<3 stations through the stream.

It may be the power — most Boston stations were off air last night

 

[freqlost]

It sounded to me when I listened as they will add a few stale throwbacks that have done nothing for WBQT & WKAF into the mix.
Ja Rule/Ashanti Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[UrbanTeenager]

94.5 has now dropped the majority of their currents and widened their gold library, flanking 97.7 and putting them in more direct competition with 96.9. They are now positioned as “Boston’s #1 for Hip Hop and All the Best Throwbacks”.

Their liners are now more directly targeting 96.9, and this is an obvious response to their ratings plummeting below a Worcester market station. Thoughts?

They did this in 2014. They had billboards up all over the city with that exact tag line. It will only further decrease their ratings.

Rhythmic is not doing numbers right now.

Again. Until they go urban they will continue to tank. Playing dud songs from stations younger and better than you wont help. This is obvious.

You can’t play the same songs everyday for 20 years and think you’re going to find success-especially in a genre for younger people in a culture that shifts extremely every 3 years. This will bring them down to maybe 1.6 *shrug*

 

[Tomgsinger]

They did this in 2014. They had billboards up all over the city with that exact tag line. It will only further decrease their ratings.

Rhythmic is not doing numbers right now.

Again. Until they go urban they will continue to tank. Playing dud songs from stations younger and better than you wont help. This is obvious.

You can’t play the same songs everyday for 20 years and think you’re going to find success-especially in a genre for younger people in a culture that shifts extremely every 3 years. This will bring them down to maybe 1.6 *shrug*

Exactly. 90 percent of what they’re playing can already be heard on 96.9 or 103.3. The other ten percent is likely stuff that won’t get into power rotation/recurrent rotation. They’re clearly not an urban station — even Hot 106 in Woonsocket is more urban than them! I can’t take a station seriously if they primarily play Recurrent Post Malone, Khalid and Drake but position themselves as “Boston’s #1 for Hip Hop”. You know what Boston’s real number one for hip hop is? Streaming.

They should DROP ASHLEY IMMEDIATELY and replace her with the Breakfast Club. She sounds more like an AMP DJ than anything and she obviously isn’t appealing to the vast majority of 94.5’s listeners. After that, start actually targeting 18-34 minorities instead of being mass appeal.

 

[UrbanTeenager]

I’ve said this for years. Demographically, about 35-38% of people 18-34 in Eastern MA are minorities and very few of them listen to any of these stations. Maybe when census Census 2020 comes out the programmers will wake up-probably not though. The #1 in hip hop outside of that remains is B87 by far and away and then Big City and the WBQT.

If I turn WJMN on in a car with black people (I wouldn’t) im nearly immediately chastised/yelled at like within 5-10 seconds. WBQT and WKAF don’t quite elicit that visceral response and that’s indicated in their ratings

WJMN plays to New Hampshire as well. As long as they’re working to retain New Hampshire listeners it will have pretty terrible stale hip hop. 18-34 year old minorities in the Boston area have little to no money and there’s not many venues and other things catering to them/us so as a result we’re left with podcast and streaming. Low of local hip hop and culture podcasts and artist that get no love from iHeart but have large followings locally from what I can tell via social media.

95% of all social media interaction they get (which is beyond slim given their target audience) is for the Sunday night Launch Pad featuring local artists at 10pm in a Sunday. The other 5% are fake pages/bots and personal friend of asks or programmers at the station. The same 2/3 people interact with their tweets over and over again for months at a time. Namely Andy Borque and Paul Paglia.

 

[radioface]

I’ve said this for years. Demographically, about 35-38% of people 18-34 in Eastern MA are minorities and very few of them listen to any of these stations. Maybe when census Census 2020 comes out the programmers will wake up-probably not though. The #1 in hip hop outside of that remains is B87 by far and away and then Big City and the WBQT.

If I turn WJMN on in a car with black people (I wouldn’t) im nearly immediately chastised/yelled at like within 5-10 seconds. WBQT and WKAF don’t quite elicit that visceral response and that’s indicated in their ratings

WJMN plays to New Hampshire as well. As long as they’re working to retain New Hampshire listeners it will have pretty terrible stale hip hop. 18-34 year old minorities in the Boston area have little to no money and there’s not many venues and other things catering to them/us so as a result we’re left with podcast and streaming. Low of local hip hop and culture podcasts and artist that get no love from iHeart but have large followings locally from what I can tell via social media.

95% of all social media interaction they get (which is beyond slim given their target audience) is for the Sunday night Launch Pad featuring local artists at 10pm in a Sunday. The other 5% are fake pages/bots and personal friend of asks or programmers at the station. The same 2/3 people interact with their tweets over and over again for months at a time. Namely Andy Borque and Paul Paglia.

Remember it's all about $$$. We can sit here and talk all day about ratings. We don't know what the station is billing. iHeart would not keep a station around that wasn't making money.

 

[davideduardo]

I’ve said this for years. Demographically, about 35-38% of people 18-34 in Eastern MA are minorities and very few of them listen to any of these stations. Maybe when census Census 2020 comes out the programmers will wake up-probably not though. The #1 in hip hop outside of that remains is B87 by far and away and then Big City and the WBQT.

The Census will not change anything. Nielsen, and thus the radio industry, updates population data annually based on a combination of the annual American Community Survey (from the Census Bureau) and Claritas (America's foremost demographer).

Overall, the Boston MSA (there is no "Eastern MA" market) is 70% ethnic, with (rounded) 8% African American, 9% Asian and 12% Hispanic. None of those groups behaves monolitically in its radio listening. Asian listeners will be found to be dispersed among many stations of all kinds. Hispanics will listen to everything from Country to r&b to CHR and Classic Hits. Blacks will listen to many things besides Urban stations.

If I turn WJMN on in a car with black people (I wouldn’t) im nearly immediately chastised/yelled at like within 5-10 seconds. WBQT and WKAF don’t quite elicit that visceral response and that’s indicated in their ratings

WJMN is a rhythmic station, not an Urban station. It programs to the market, not to a specific ethnicity. It depends on a coalition audience. While it is true that its 25-54 numbers are lower than ever and revenue is off by about 35% over the last five years assuming that the station is, at present, targeting only African Americans is not a correct assumption. For the moment, they are targeting a coalition audience based on a music style with a roughly 50% current and 50% recurrent mix per my look at the most recent 7 days worth of spins.

WJMN plays to New Hampshire as well. As long as they’re working to retain New Hampshire listeners it will have pretty terrible stale hip hop. 18-34 year old minorities in the Boston area have little to no money and there’s not many venues and other things catering to them/us so as a result we’re left with podcast and streaming. Low of local hip hop and culture podcasts and artist that get no love from iHeart but have large followings locally from what I can tell via social media.

There is only one NH county in the MSA, Hillsborough, and that county is only 5% of the total MSA population. WJMN is not taking that area into account at all.

 

[CTListener]

I’ve said this for years. Demographically, about 35-38% of people 18-34 in Eastern MA are minorities and very few of them listen to any of these stations. Maybe when census Census 2020 comes out the programmers will wake up-probably not though. The #1 in hip hop outside of that remains is B87 by far and away and then Big City and the WBQT.

If I turn WJMN on in a car with black people (I wouldn’t) im nearly immediately chastised/yelled at like within 5-10 seconds. WBQT and WKAF don’t quite elicit that visceral response and that’s indicated in their ratings

WJMN plays to New Hampshire as well. As long as they’re working to retain New Hampshire listeners it will have pretty terrible stale hip hop. 18-34 year old minorities in the Boston area have little to no money and there’s not many venues and other things catering to them/us so as a result we’re left with podcast and streaming. Low of local hip hop and culture podcasts and artist that get no love from iHeart but have large followings locally from what I can tell via social media.

95% of all social media interaction they get (which is beyond slim given their target audience) is for the Sunday night Launch Pad featuring local artists at 10pm in a Sunday. The other 5% are fake pages/bots and personal friend of asks or programmers at the station. The same 2/3 people interact with their tweets over and over again for months at a time. Namely Andy Borque and Paul Paglia.

Hartford is in the same situation. WZMX brags about its hip-hop yet also plays the Post Malone track you cited. In the last songs played I just took a look at is Ariana Grande's "Boyfriend." But as in Boston, there's not much money in the black community so despite the percentage being slightly better than Boston's, there are no pure urban signals (either hip-hop or AC) in the Hartford market. The nearest urban AC is WYBC in New Haven. I have no idea where the nearest pure urban station targeting 18-34 might be. New York?

Also, what's B87? Another pirate, like Big City?

 

[Tomgsinger]

There is only one NH county in the MSA, Hillsborough, and that county is only 5% of the total MSA population. WJMN is not taking that area into account at all.

True... but most Boston stations don’t target NH. They target Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Plymouth Counties first and foremost. Manchester stations typically are the ones doing remotes/advertising/promotions up there.

And, while there may not be an “Eastern MA market” according to Nielsen, Greater Boston can be referred to as Eastern MA. Same with NYC/Tri-State Area, Philly/Delaware Valley, San Francisco/Bay Area, etc.

 

[Tomgsinger]

Hartford is in the same situation. WZMX brags about its hip-hop yet also plays the Post Malone track you cited. In the last songs played I just took a look at is Ariana Grande's "Boyfriend." But as in Boston, there's not much money in the black community so despite the percentage being slightly better than Boston's, there are no pure urban signals (either hip-hop or AC) in the Hartford market. The nearest urban AC is WYBC in New Haven. I have no idea where the nearest pure urban station targeting 18-34 might be. New York?

Also, what's B87? Another pirate, like Big City?

B87.7 is Boston’s urban contemporary pirate that sounds more like a fully fledged, licensed station than Big City did. And NYC is by far the closest city with a current-based urban outlet, followed by Philadelphia, Buffalo, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

 

[Wimmmex]

oston is racist and programmers play to the stereotypes of the Boston area. It’s not much deeper than that. The black folks don’t have much disposable income so they’re disregarded. The white folks in Boston don’t really want to hear black music-even if it was popular when they were young.

Wow, so many assumptions, and so little to back it up!

WJMN plays to New Hampshire as well. As long as they’re working to retain New Hampshire listeners it will have pretty terrible stale hip hop.

Since NH is not part of the metro...I don't think it's true that they "play to New Hampshire as well". Or is "New Hampshire a euphemism for "songs I don't like"?

If I turn WJMN on in a car with black people (I wouldn’t) im nearly immediately chastised/yelled at like within 5-10 seconds. WBQT and WKAF don’t quite elicit that visceral response and that’s indicated in their ratings

Maybe David can put a few facts into all of your feelings and opinions, and tell us

a.) What perecentage of WJMN's cume is minority?

b.) How much of the minority community samples WJMN?

 

[davideduardo]

Since NH is not part of the metro...I don't think it's true that they "play to New Hampshire as well". Or is "New Hampshire a euphemism for "songs I don't like"?

Actually, one county in NH is part of the Nielsen MSA. It is about 5% of the population.

When it comes down to station focus, we always look at the biggest market components first, as no matter what the smaller ones want, we can't ignore to bigger ones.

For example, a hip hop station in Albuquerque is going to look at the Hispanic listener first because the market is over 50% Hispanic. The station will give slight attention to the non-Hispanic white listeners and also to Black listeners. The white listeners are not a big part of the audience, and the Black listeners are such a small part of the market.

In this example, even if we found a bunch of songs Black or white listeners liked, if the Hispanic listeners did not also like them that hypothetical station would not play them.

This consideration goes for ethnicity, geography, out-of-demo age groups, etc.

Maybe David can put a few facts into all of your feelings and opinions, and tell us

a.) What perecentage of WJMN's cume is minority?

b.) How much of the minority community samples WJMN?

I don't have access to the deep Boston numbers but I will give a shout to someone who might know.

But your question is a core issue, and that is about what WJMN is targeting. If they are not targeting African Americans specifically, then it's useless to analyze them in that context.

WJMN is owned by iHeart, which has some of the best Urban and Urban AC stations in the country. To suggest that WJMN is driven by racist considerations is disingenuous.

 

[UrbanTeenager]

Hartford is in the same situation. WZMX brags about its hip-hop yet also plays the Post Malone track you cited. In the last songs played I just took a look at is Ariana Grande's "Boyfriend." But as in Boston, there's not much money in the black community so despite the percentage being slightly better than Boston's, there are no pure urban signals (either hip-hop or AC) in the Hartford market. The nearest urban AC is WYBC in New Haven. I have no idea where the nearest pure urban station targeting 18-34 might be. New York?

Also, what's B87? Another pirate, like Big City?

B87 is a pirate that often has mayoral and city council candidates, out of state DJs and 23k + likes on Facebook(last time I checked). It’s been around since 2007. It promotes a lot of small businesses in Forchester Roxbury and Mattapan and doesn’t concert promotions and giveaways.

 

[UrbanTeenager]

Boston MSA includes 2 counties in NH, Rockingham and Stratford. Many of the event and meet ups WJMN throws are in New Hampshire. As are a large portion of callers.

 

[UrbanTeenager]

The Census will not change anything. Nielsen, and thus the radio industry, updates population data annually based on a combination of the annual American Community Survey (from the Census Bureau) and Claritas (America's foremost demographer).

Overall, the Boston MSA (there is no "Eastern MA" market) is 70% ethnic, with (rounded) 8% African American, 9% Asian and 12% Hispanic. None of those groups behaves monolitically in its radio listening. Asian listeners will be found to be dispersed among many stations of all kinds. Hispanics will listen to everything from Country to r&b to CHR and Classic Hits. Blacks will listen to many things besides Urban stations.



WJMN is a rhythmic station, not an Urban station. It programs to the market, not to a specific ethnicity. It depends on a coalition audience. While it is true that its 25-54 numbers are lower than ever and revenue is off by about 35% over the last five years assuming that the station is, at present, targeting only African Americans is not a correct assumption. For the moment, they are targeting a coalition audience based on a music style with a roughly 50% current and 50% recurrent mix per my look at the most recent 7 days worth of spins.



There is only one NH county in the MSA, Hillsborough, and that county is only 5% of the total MSA population. WJMN is not taking that area into account at all.

Hills borough County is not in the Boston MSA per both ACS and the Census. Stratford and Rockingham are-this is just fact.


Furthermore it’s obvious WJMN doesn’t market to African Americans. My point is that if you exclude NH counties and excludes people over aged 55 the population becomes much more diverse.

Also interesting that the Pittsburgh area and San Francisco area are both as black or less black than the Boston Area and yet they both have urbans.

 

[Wimmmex]

Stratford and Rockingham are-this is just fact.

Since when is Stratford and Rockingham part of the Metro? Last I checked it wasn't.

 

[UrbanTeenager]

Since when is Stratford and Rockingham part of the Metro? Last I checked it wasn't.

Since 1980. Simple google search.