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WRUF-850

J

Jeff2

Alert the media!

Unless I missed them, it looks like 850 has dropped out of the Arbitron ratings in the Fall phase 1 that were just posted. Who would have thought that would ever happen?

All three sports stations are toward the bottom of the rankings so guess they shoved 850 out. WYGC is listed as country but they have been sports as "105 The Game" for a while.

I saw a story in the paper recently that the WUFT-FM fund drive didn't go so well after they went news/talk and moved classical to their HD-2. Rock 104 was up so not all bad news for UF, Inc.
 
WRUF is ranked #31 out of 37 stations listed in the Gainesville-Ocala market.

Rock 104 is fifth.
 
I was looking at the Fall Phase 1 posted on Radio Online today and they are not listed. Maybe Radio Online didn't show the complete rankings. Rock 104 is fourth on the Fall Phase 1 list.
 
I was recently reviewing the same ratings and see that WRUF-FM is fourth place overall with Person 12+ for the entire MSA which comprises Gainesville, Ocala and five counties. WOGK was number one in the same MSA. WRUF-AM didn't make a showing in the Gainesville/Ocala MSA 12+ numbers but I'm sure in a composite break down of Gainesville only (taking Ocala out of the equation) in WRUF-AM's target demo of Males 35 - 64 and Males 35+ you will see a decent showing.
 
Alan McCall said:
WRUF is ranked #31 out of 37 stations listed in the Gainesville-Ocala market.

Rock 104 is fifth.
Click to expand...

Alan,

Which ratings services report did you use, and are the rankings you posted Persons 12+ or are they more specific target demos numbers?
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
FALL BOOK IS TSA.
Click to expand...

Yes, but you have two survey areas which includes MSA (the Metro) and TSA (Total Survey Area which extends outside of the immediate metro much the same as an ADI in TV terms).

In addition to MSA and TSA, you also have a County-By-County and a more specialized City-By-City breakdown, although the County-By-County historically has been a "per client" report. The county-by-county is most beneficial for stations that do not cover the entire MSA or TSA, but rather cover a single city of license very well. The TSA and MSA rankings would delute the smaller station's ratings while the county-by-county report would only include the isolated service area giving a more accurate rating for a single station covering a single city or area.

Using WRUF-AM as an example, a County-By-Country survey for Alachua County would give a more accurate representation for WRUF-AM, eliminating Ocala, and the remaining four counties in the MSA (Gainesville-Ocala MSA Counties are Alachua, Marion, Levy, Citrus and Gilchrist). The TSA counties would not even be considered in a Alachua only book. Breaking it down even further to the desiganted target demo in Gainesville alone, I'm sure you will see a completely different set of numbers for WRUF-AM.
 
I'm aware of break down possibilities-- i was under the impression that you were looking at the 12+ number post publicly-- in which case that's the TSA.

I apologize.
 
Kmagrill said:
Is it possible to find the county by county numbers without being a subscriber?
Click to expand...

The only way I am aware that you can get a copy of the County-By-County breakdown without actually being a subscriber would be to find someone "on the inside" at a station that is a subscriber who is willing to let you take a look at the County-By-County report. Otherwise, I know of no other way you may be able to get a copy. It generally is not available to a non subscriber from Arbitron.

Years ago, in the late '70s, when I was program director of WTMC in Ocala, we used the County-By-County survey since back then Ocala was part of the Orlando TSA. We never made a showing in the Orlando book, but we always showed quite well in the individual County-By-County survey for Ocala and Marion County, especially in our target demo.
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
I'm aware of break down possibilities-- i was under the impression that you were looking at the 12+ number post publicly-- in which case that's the TSA.

I apologize.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I should apologize to you. I wasn't disagreeing with you, so no need for you to apologize. I was actually interested in TSA, MSA and CXC ratings. And I was simply commenting on the original statement about WRUF-AM not making a showing in the 12+ ratings. Again, I'm not saying anything you don't already know. I'm simply mentioning these facts for illustrative purposes.

Again, using WRUF-AM as an example, TSA Persons 12+ are of very little use for AM 850 largely due to multiple factors. For one, although WRUF-AM has an excellent coverage footprint, it doesn't cover the entire TSA with a primary signal as the bigger 100kw FMs. For all practicel purposes, WRUF-AM is a local Gainesville radio station.

Another factor is WRUF-AM does not target Persons 12+ with its news-talk-sports programming. WRUF-AM is programming a largely male dominated format targeting Males 35+ and Males 35-64 in Gainesviille and the immediate surrounding area. For this reason WRUF-AM will never show any meaningful numbers in the persons 12+ category if it makes a showing at all. This is why I was suggesting a CXC report showing the 35+ and 35-64 male demo. I'm sure those numbers would be much higher and even quite impressive.

Again, I apologize for any misunderstanding.
 
I understand-- no need to apologize either. Just a mis-understanding. I agree, TSA would hurt WRUF quite a bit-- it's best to use and sell the MSA or county-by-county breakdowns.
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
Even breaking down to men 35-54 in Alachua County WRUF-AM is still a major under performer.
Click to expand...

I would agree, and that is largely due to programming and virtually no promotions whatsoever. Management's priority is WRUF-FM and understandably so since the FM has been giving back to UF the highest ROI. Although there exist room for billing improvement on WRUF-AM, Rock 104, in all probability, will always outperform WRUF-AM along with every other AM in the market and many of the market FMs.
 
Just to clarify, Aribtron's County Coverage reports may be purchased by ad agencies, and the price is very low. Likewise, those same reports may not be purchased by radio stations/clusters in rated markets but can be purchased by stations/clusters in non-rated markets. County Coverage provides the broadest look (12+ AQH & cume for Mon-Sun 6A-mid & Mon-Fri 6A-7P) calendar-year 12-month averages for all stations meeting minimum reporting criteria in all counties within a state. So, for example, the Florida report provides a page (or two, for big counties) for each county from tip-to-tip (Escambia to Monroe?).

Of course, Arbitron subscribers can break out individual counties from their metro or TSA geographies and get much more detailed info.

WRUF-AM? Despite the crummy conductivity in north central Florida, the 5-kw fulltime rig on 850 makes it the best of the AM lot in Alachua, and they should be able to compete on the local Gainesville scene. It's basically equivalent to a small Class A FM (the 3-kw variety). But as someone else noted, the night signal in Marion (Ocala) is like listening through a sieve--too much noise for normal humans to put up with.

I can't remember: how many counties are in the Gainesville-Ocala Arbitron MSA? Is it just Alachua and Marion? Or are some of the smaller counties--Gilchrist, Levy, Dixie & the like--in there, too?
 
What kind of billing do the stations in Gainesville-Ocala knock down? Are WOGK & KTK the money stations?

I'm guessing that Rock 104 must do okay with L&T, but does 850 do any real business? Gator football maybe?
 
The big money makers are WOGK, WKTK, WSKY and WRUF-FM. (I would venture to say, maybe even in that order... no doubt OGK is #1)

WRUF-FM's saving graces are L&T and Gator Athletics (especially football)
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
The big money makers are WOGK, WKTK, WSKY and WRUF-FM. (I would venture to say, maybe even in that order... no doubt OGK is #1)

WRUF-FM's saving graces are L&T and Gator Athletics (especially football)
Click to expand...

Back in the nineties I remember that OGK and KTK were both doing around $3 million a year, so would a good guess be somewhere in the $4 million range? Conservative talk (SKY) can be a tough sell locally, but since the audience is all guys they probably take a chunk that would otherwise fall in Rock 104's lap. It's hard to imagine that the UF bureaucracy doesn't get in the way of their sales. How does "Wind" do?
 
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