According to an article in today's (6-02-07) Charlotte Observer, Charlotte's radio market is set to grow by 8 places--to #25, when 6 counties are added to the metro market by Arbitron i the fall. Counties added---Iredale, Stanley, Cleveland, and Anson NC, and Lancaster and Chester, SC. Way over due, I'd say, but still cool. The Charlotte TV market is also expected to go up another notch in the fall, also to 25, due solely to growth. I guess we can expect the quality of all our broadcast stations to improve (joke).
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Wow! Charlotte radio market to be ranked #25
- Thread starter fortmill
- Start date
With all the growth from Pineville and south straight down 521 I knew it would be a matter of time before Lancaster CO would be added... CC1
Thanks newsguync for the correction. I'd also like to add a correction to Washburn's figures in Saturday's Observer. He listed the populations for the various area radio markets (and the top 10) in a chart, and represented those figures as the total populations of the markets. He should have noted those figures were 12+ populations only---the actual population of each area is actually significantly larger.
J
Jncaudle
Guest
This may be a dumb question, but I spent most of my career in the small town of Albemarle and didn't deal with ratings. Does this mean that small town stations in those added counties will be able to sign up for Arbitron ratings? If so, I'm sure those stations wouldn't even have enough points to get on the radar.
Johnny Caudle said:
Don't be so sure of that. I remember while working at WSOC-AM in '81-'85 WLON, lincolinton posted some really good numbers!
Does this mean The Observer will actually consider covering news in those new areas as well? :
I agree with the statement that this will hurt WPZS and WQNC. I can't pick up either one.
I was picking up Eagle 92.9 and 96.5 The Drive last night. Uh-oh, I forgot to see what kind of garbage Star 102.5 was doing!
I agree with the statement that this will hurt WPZS and WQNC. I can't pick up either one.
I was picking up Eagle 92.9 and 96.5 The Drive last night. Uh-oh, I forgot to see what kind of garbage Star 102.5 was doing!
It's a real shame Mike that a lot of stations in the Triad and other sections of the state don't follow that advice. There are a lot of AM's and FM's around that try to "Big Dog it" and proclaim "Winston Salem, Greensboro ,Charlotte, Blah Blah Blah...BFE and bury their city of license under all of that crap. When in fact, if they would just keep it local, with local news, personalities, sports, etc, they could do a hellava job and make a lot of money, doing what Radio Stations were supposed to do...SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST, in the CITY OF LICENSE. The framers of the FCC never intended for stations to start moving Main CP's , licenes, transmitters, towers and the like....How this started maybe someone can tell me...Maybe I can blame this on Clear Channel, Entercom, and the rest of the operators who have "raped the Business"...I am glad I had the opportunity to work in the "Good Old Days" and yes someone is gonna come along here and say.."You have to move on" and I'm gonna say..No, I don't..
Hey, this sounded pretty good..Reckon I could get an FCC appointment??
;D ;D
THE BIG APE!!!
Hey, this sounded pretty good..Reckon I could get an FCC appointment??
;D ;D
THE BIG APE!!!
I remember the day when WMFR billed 1.2 million - being a High Point/Thomasville station - super serving those towns and ignoring the rest of the market. There are literally millions of advertising dollars available - $10 and $15 at a time - for the stations that will super serve their community and go after the dollars.
Johnny Caudle said:
I doubt it would be worth it to buy the books, but taking Albemarle in particular, I saw a Stanly County breakdown of the DMA many years ago when I was a student working part time at both WZKY and an unamed Charlotte station. WZKY was ranked third at that point, with mega monster WSOC in first with something like a 40 share, WBCY second. WABZ, which was running an automated oldies format barely showed up with about a 1 share, despite being an FM going up against a daytimer.
I guess it's handy data just for bragging rights. Nothing worth purchasing. The local hardware store already knows they can't afford Charlotte rates, so they still go with Albemarle radio.
M
MaskMan
Guest
X-Talker. You have to take into consideration the dwindling Mom & Pops. Walmart and the big box stores have put a lot of them out of business. There are a lot fewer local direct businesses today. I'm not so sure that you could do what WMFR did in this day and time. That was years ago that WMFR did that.
I realize there are fewer mom and pop stores, but there are still hundreds of locally owned businesses that never get called on by radio sales people. They represent millions of dollars in potential for some small, local operator to cultivate. I never said it would be easy.
Just visit any small strip center in any small or medium sized town in North Carolina - heck, even in the large cities in NC.
Yeah, it was along time ago that WMFR did that kind of business. The decline started when they began pulling local shows and replacing them with syndicated programming. Except for Max Meeks they forgot their heritage. As time went on, even Dennis spent more and more time on national topics instead of local issues.
The main points are this:
* Stations that can't cover the main counties of a metro should NEVER buy the book. There is no way you can recover the cost.
* Those same stations can carve out a nitch for themselves with listeners and advertisers.
* Find a real seller (not an order taker) and give them the phone book as an account list. (It is often the mom and pop station owner, but they can make a damn nice living at it).
Just visit any small strip center in any small or medium sized town in North Carolina - heck, even in the large cities in NC.
Yeah, it was along time ago that WMFR did that kind of business. The decline started when they began pulling local shows and replacing them with syndicated programming. Except for Max Meeks they forgot their heritage. As time went on, even Dennis spent more and more time on national topics instead of local issues.
The main points are this:
* Stations that can't cover the main counties of a metro should NEVER buy the book. There is no way you can recover the cost.
* Those same stations can carve out a nitch for themselves with listeners and advertisers.
* Find a real seller (not an order taker) and give them the phone book as an account list. (It is often the mom and pop station owner, but they can make a damn nice living at it).
I agree that there is a LOT of $$$$ to be made in the smaller towns and rural counties. These kinda folks simply can't afford the rates of the big guys...or simply don't want to pay those rates when 90% of the audience wouldn't consider driving to lil ol' _______ to shop at Auntie May's House of Knicknacks.
You know, there are still a lot of small, locally owned businesses around and they could afford a couple of hundred dollars a month for some advertising. Now, they buy the shopper papers, coupon mailers, etc. They can't afford the big radio rates, but the mom and pop station can bring them some business at a fair and reasonable price.
The station, meanwhile, can make a healthy living for the owner and a couple of employees. Lets just say the mom and pop station can run 18 commercial minutes an hour, 24/7. That is 3,024 minutes a week. Sell only 50% of the inventory at an average rate of $15,00 and gross about $23,000 a week. Do that just 40 weeks a year - that is sell 50% in 40 weeks a year and NOTHING the other weeks - you generate $900,000 gross.
Sell 50% of your inventory 80% of the year and make almost a million!
Keep the overhead down, take advantage of the computer is a positive way. Why not, for example, record 6AM to 6PM and repeat it 6PM to 6AM. Commercials and everything! Hook up with a college sports network and make a few extra bucks at night and on weekends.
You are not going to get the big box but with a good seller, the business is there.
You have to be realistic about your target audience. Make sure your signal is perfect within its limits and identify the mom and pop businesses who will be interested in the people who live within a couple of miles of their store. Build a success story or two and you might even have a shot at some of the bigger business.
It is happening today all over. Is it easy? No. Is it hard work? Yes! Is it worth it? I would say certainly!
The station, meanwhile, can make a healthy living for the owner and a couple of employees. Lets just say the mom and pop station can run 18 commercial minutes an hour, 24/7. That is 3,024 minutes a week. Sell only 50% of the inventory at an average rate of $15,00 and gross about $23,000 a week. Do that just 40 weeks a year - that is sell 50% in 40 weeks a year and NOTHING the other weeks - you generate $900,000 gross.
Sell 50% of your inventory 80% of the year and make almost a million!
Keep the overhead down, take advantage of the computer is a positive way. Why not, for example, record 6AM to 6PM and repeat it 6PM to 6AM. Commercials and everything! Hook up with a college sports network and make a few extra bucks at night and on weekends.
You are not going to get the big box but with a good seller, the business is there.
You have to be realistic about your target audience. Make sure your signal is perfect within its limits and identify the mom and pop businesses who will be interested in the people who live within a couple of miles of their store. Build a success story or two and you might even have a shot at some of the bigger business.
It is happening today all over. Is it easy? No. Is it hard work? Yes! Is it worth it? I would say certainly!
M
MaskMan
Guest
I'm inspired!
;D Exactly, If I was a few years younger, I would travel the US and buy every "Micky Mouse" Mom and Pop, fulltime AM I could and cover every local thing from Deaths to Births to Graduations to local court, police beat and church news..Trading Posts, Birthday Club, American Legion baseball..You name it and I guarantee you I would be one of the richest persons in the nation. I challenge some of you younger people that "Blow Steam " on the boards to do just that....and get back to me..and tell me how big a house ya have now! ;D
BIG APE said:
I assume you are talking about the move ins. It happened way before Clear Channel, Entercom and the rest got big and fat. It started in the '80's. The FCC probably relaxed the rule about where you studio could be located. If you think of it all of these stations are move ins:
WRFX Kannapolis
WPEG Concord
WLYT Hickory
WKKT Statesville
WBAV Gastonia
WEND Salisbury
WIBT Shelby
The actual CHARLOTTE FM's are
WFAE
WNKS
WSOC-FM
WKQC
WLNK
But you knew that....
Funny that CBS owns 3 of the 4 Commercial FM's actually licensed to Charlotte....not that it really matters, just interesting.
Some of the stations were bought by people probably at a very low price. They came in, moved the studios, went up on a big tower, ran the station for awhile and then made a pile of money when the sold a "Charlotte" station.
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