• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Worcester Ratings (Disaster For WCRN)

L

Laurence Glavin

Guest
The Worcester diary ratings for Worcester are available, and the overall rating for WCRN is abysmal, a fraction of last year's number. And one other thing: would Fitchburg be included in the survey, and if so, does the absense of any figure for WPKZ-AM 1280 (105.3 probably wouldn't be counted during the rating period) indicate that D-list right-wingers aren't the answer? (Another station beginning with the call letters WCR also fell off the cliff, but probably because WCRB is a non-commercial outlet, not included in diaries.)
 
Carr, Ingraham, and Savage aren't quite D-list. Ingraham in fact has a pretty successful book out now...btw no more Red Sox on CRN so that could be a factor
 
Carr, Ingraham and Savage aren't on WPKZ, which is what Mr. Glavin meant by the D-list. (Kilmeade, Gibson and Hannity.)

I don't think The Burg factors into the Worcester numbers. WPKZ's original WEIM incarnation had several different formats under three (IIRC) owners in the last dozen years and never showed up in the Worcester book. The Fitchburg-Leominster area's other stations are two God-squad AMs and WXLO, the last of which kicks butt while positioning itself as A Worm City station although licensed to the City of Vacant Paper Mills.

WTAG was down, too, but nowhere near the perpetually underperforming WCRN's level.
 
Don't make fun of us, it isn't our fault Mrs. Blute didn't get a diary this time.
 
Laurence Glavin said:
The Worcester diary ratings for Worcester are available, and the overall rating for WCRN is abysmal, a fraction of last year's number.
Click to expand...

There has not been a new success on the AM band in quite some time. (The only exception would be WEEI when they flipped to 850.)

WCRN is a relative new station....and AM stations are generally 55+ and 65+ audeince. (There are no new listeners coming to the band.)

Older people's habits are hard to change.

Is Worcester doing PPM yet...or is it still diaries?
 
Don Juan said:
There has not been a new success on the AM band in quite some time. (The only exception would be WEEI when they flipped to 850.)

WCRN is a relative new station....and AM stations are generally 55+ and 65+ audeince. (There are no new listeners coming to the band.)

Older people's habits are hard to change.
Click to expand...

As someone who's always had a soft spot in my heart for AM radio, the case of a station like WCRN is really quite sad.

For all the trouble and time and expense they've gone to in changing formats in an attempt to compete.....they might have done just as well by sticking to the original big-band format, and rode with it until the audience all died away. ;)

Sad......sad.

OH!.....By the way.....Is Joel Osteen's ministry still shopping around the country for radio properties?.....just wondering.
 
They have a very strong signal, at least where I live in West Boylston. I always listened to the Sox games when they had them. Also, I remember the Big Band format when they first started. I listened occasionally, but I had a feeling that they wouldn't last long.
 
After the Big Band format, they started broadcasting Scott Shannon's
True Oldies Channel. I still think that format gives them their best
chance to make a profit. It's automated, requires very little personnel
to run, and it has better music content than WORC-FM. With their
signal, I believe WCRN covers more area than 98.9 and could very well
steal a big chunk of the Oldies 989 audience...By the way, does anyone
know how Shannon's True Oldies format performs in other markets? For
instance, I've heard that it does very well in Chicago.
 
WCRiNsider said:
Don't make fun of us, it isn't our fault Mrs. Blute didn't get a diary this time.
Click to expand...
They should have kept " Teter On The Edge" with Rich Teter in 1 to 3 slot at least long enough to see if it would help their numbers. Instead, they go back to repeats of a show ( L I ) that has already played earlier in the day on another station. Meanwhile, is Hank still buffering between the money show and the realtor? Why not let Hank do 11 to 1 and move the realtor to a night slot? Noone listens to CRN because the schedule has no flow. I heard rumors that Teter is coming back to a CRN competitor in the fall. Any word where? And where the hell is Pete Sheppard?
 
Schuyler said:
I don't think The Burg factors into the Worcester numbers. WPKZ's original WEIM incarnation had several different formats under three (IIRC) owners in the last dozen years and never showed up in the Worcester book. The Fitchburg-Leominster area's other stations are two God-squad AMs and WXLO, the last of which kicks butt while positioning itself as A Worm City station although licensed to the City of Vacant Paper Mills.
Click to expand...

Fitchburg/Leominster actually had some interesting radio...way..way back. WFGL-960 and
WLMS-1000 were two decent small town MOR stations. WFMP-104.5 had a successful long running country format, and WEIM-1280 was an outstanding small market Top 40 station.
In fact, some of the DJs of that era used to travel between WEIM and Worcester's two Top 40
stations...WORC-1310 and WAAB-1440.
 
notlob said:
Link to the numbers - http://www.radio-info.com/site/markets/grid/worcester

Notice Worcester's public (WICN) and community (WCUW) stations are not included because they do not participate in the ratings chase, thank goddess.
Click to expand...

Actually, WICN might (most NPR affiliates do), but they are not being published here. It looks like Worcester is one of the smaller markets that has not yet been converted to the new Arbitron "Personal People Meter" ("PPM") ratings system, and is still being rated utilizing the old "diary" method.

Under the old "diary" method, ratings for non-commercial stations, whether public, community or college, were never published to the general public, but they were/are rated, and subscribing non-comm stations themselves are privy to the numbers although the public isn't.

Under the new "PPM" system, which is being used in the Boston market, subscribing non-commercial stations ratings ARE published on public online sites, such as the Boston grid here on Radio-Info.

If the non-comm ratings for Worcester were published, I would imagine that WBUR and WGBH would appear somewhere on the chart, and maybe WICN, and maybe even WBPR (the Worcester repeater of WUMB). WCUW probably doesn't subscribe whatsoever.
 
You can still get selected ratings for non-comms in those areas not using PPMs. Just go to http://www.rrconline.org/arbitron/

It resembles minicomputer programs (I used to work at Wang) in that you have to port search parameters into a field then hit 'RUN' to make it work. Just enter SPRING 2010, all markets all stations and 07/28/10
 
Laurence Glavin said:
You can still get selected ratings for non-comms in those areas not using PPMs. Just go to http://www.rrconline.org/arbitron/
Click to expand...

I forgot about that rrconline.org site. The Worcester non-comm spring ratings are there, but it looks like the site is copyrighted, so I'd better not repost them.

I'll just say that WGBH and WBUR are not there (maybe because they're now on "PPM" and would therefore no longer be rated in a "diary" market). WICN did fairly well, in my opinion, for a small niche-format public station, WFCR in Amherst showed up (decent signal in much of Worcester county), and the WUMB repeater also showed up. WCUW is not there, as I suspect they don't subscribe.
 
Laurence Glavin said:
does the absense of any figure for WPKZ-AM 1280 (105.3 probably wouldn't be counted during the rating period) indicate that D-list right-wingers aren't the answer?
Click to expand...

Oh, you didn't get the right-wing memo.

Listen and repeat: ALL right-wing talk is BY DEFFINITION the answer because all right-wing talk is - by deffinition - "entertaining" (we would NEVER let our political leanings influence our PROFESSIONAL business decisions). Any D-list right-winger will work - guarenteed, by deffinition - period.

Now, if you love America, NEVER DOUBT THIS!
 
'PKZ's daytime AM signal ain't exactly a local in Worcester and at night they might as well be broadcasting from Mars. It will be interesting to see if their new FM translator picks up a few listeners. As for the programming content, when was the last time anyone did a focus group in Fitchburg? Some of the local paper's letters to the editor suggest there may be some folks picking up the station on their tinfoil hats, but as for Worcester, well, we hicks don't get out much.

And careful with that sarcasm, @FPB --- if this thread winds up in Take It Outside, WPKZ will never be heard from again!
 
Sad to see the end of local AM. I think a simulcast on the FM dial similar to WTAG might help WCRN. Like a previous post stated there is no consistency to the lineup. Hank comes on from 5-6am then Blute until 9am, then an infomercial, then Hank for an hour, then another infomercial.......They need to have shows flowing into each other. I'm sure the infomercials are generating revenue, but I would rather hear Ingraham live after Blute, then Hank at lunch time followed by Teeter on the Edge or another local show. At night I would much rather hear Savage(personally I wish they would pick up Mark Levin Live at 6pm. XKS airs him on tape delay @ 9 and their signal is awful at night) than UMASS basketball or I hate to say it, but Tornado games. I still have hope for CRN.
 
wootown said:
XKS airs him on tape delay @ 9 and their signal is awful at night
Click to expand...

You live in or around Woostah and you can actually pick up WXKS (AM) 1200 at night?? That is remarkable! I don't think the signal in the direction of Worcester at night is the equivalent of much more than 100W and between CFGO, WTLA, WOAI, and first-adjacent WPHT, WXKS should just totally disappear.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom