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WXBQ dominates again

Looks like XBQ wins their 59th straight number one book with the Winter arbs. No competition, and QUT gets their arse handed to 'em, thanks in part to the impressive new numbers for 'VEK. I've read where some folks believe 'XBQ wins by default, but that's a load. There's other Country stations in the market, including a 100,000 watt stick in Marion, and the Rabbit always ends up on top. Give 'em some love...59 straight is HUGE!
 
Although WXBQ has always been a very well-run radio station, it has benefitted from the head-scratching situation in which the other players in the market with big sticks have been quite content to churn out nice little numbers and accept much smaller piles of money by not challenging XBQ. Sort of like being a heavyweight boxer but opting to fight for smaller purses as a cruserweight.

If Holston Valley was serious they'd simulcast WMEV with TFM--or at least with WVEK. But putting a marginal signal into Bristol and missing the rest of the market ain't no way to compete. Though, FWIW, showing up with 2 or 3 shares with a signal hearable only in cars on the north side of the ridges isn't too shabby. It should provide HV with an indicator that MEV could actually compete if it could be heard.

But as to WXBQ's 59th straight #1 accomplishment... uh... beating up on nobody isn't that much of an accomplishment--no matter how good the station sounds. It's more a freakish accident indigenous to the Tri-Cities market.
 
redneckriviera, you hit it right on the head..

If Holston Valley would simulcast its TFM signal on some of the other AM's, FM's or LMA's they operate, they could serious cut into XBQ.. those stations in the smaller towns have listeners who tend to only listen to their "hometown" stations. It's similar to watching a Fox station's 10 PM news, immediately after "American Idol." Most people watching the number one show on TV, tend to leave the channel where it is for a few minutes after it's over.

In fact.. I'll bet if Holston Valley totalled up all the listeners on all the stations they own or LMA, they'd probably beat XBQ.
 
Well, what I was really saying was that HV should flip 98.5 to Country. The easiest/quickest way to do that would be to simulcast WMEV's existing format, though an overall upgrade (investment) in programming would be logical for an assault on WXBQ. But WMEV's usual showing of 2-to-3 shares gives evidence that what they're doing now could score much bigger shares if listeners in Johnson City-Kingsport & environs could hear it.

Why would Holston Valley scrap their very profitable Soft Rock thing to tackle the Rabbit? Simple. WXBQ outbills WTFM by a 2-to-1 margin. WXBQ takes one-third of all the available radio revenue in the Tri-Cities market. It's worth the bother.

But what would they then do with their very profitable Soft Rock thing? Simple. Slap it on 102.7. The Classic Hits thing is making strides, but they're a long way from Soft Rock's revenue level. And, frankly, WVEK is currently WTFM's biggest direct competitor (in other words, their smaller station is cannibalizing the bigger station's audience--duh).

Win, win.

Holston Valley can send my consulting fee to redneckriviera c/o radio-info... LOL!
 
Again...It seems like total denial that WXBQ accomplished something pretty impressive. Listeners have plenty of alternatives to the Rabbit, but CHOOSE to stay with it. The fact of the matter is, it's a better radio station than anything in the area, and better than some OUTSIDE the market. And it'll take more than signal switching to knock 'em off.
 
oleskoolMM said:
Again...It seems like total denial that WXBQ accomplished something pretty impressive. Listeners have plenty of alternatives to the Rabbit, but CHOOSE to stay with it. The fact of the matter is, it's a better radio station than anything in the area, and better than some OUTSIDE the market. And it'll take more than signal switching to knock 'em off.

And as their Market Manager, you oughta know, right? Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for being the only Country station available on everybody's pick-em-up truck radio.
 
"Why would Holston Valley scrap their very profitable Soft Rock thing to tackle the Rabbit? Simple. WXBQ outbills WTFM by a 2-to-1 margin. WXBQ takes one-third of all the available radio revenue in the Tri-Cities market. It's worth the bother. "


So if WXBQ is billing 6 million and WTFM is billing 3 million (hypothetical), WTFM should go after WXBQ. If they can take half their billing, they would be back up to 3 million. AFTER spending an untold fortune changing formats, re-branding, and losing a boatload of money after blowing out their existing 3 million. It's never cheap to tear down a heritage station in a country or AC format, and the revenue usually trails the ratings victory by 2 to 3 years.

You need some better math. If XBQ was doing six times TFM's billing, maybe.
 
SuperQ said:
"Why would Holston Valley scrap their very profitable Soft Rock thing to tackle the Rabbit? Simple. WXBQ outbills WTFM by a 2-to-1 margin. WXBQ takes one-third of all the available radio revenue in the Tri-Cities market. It's worth the bother. "


So if WXBQ is billing 6 million and WTFM is billing 3 million (hypothetical), WTFM should go after WXBQ. If they can take half their billing, they would be back up to 3 million. AFTER spending an untold fortune changing formats, re-branding, and losing a boatload of money after blowing out their existing 3 million. It's never cheap to tear down a heritage station in a country or AC format, and the revenue usually trails the ratings victory by 2 to 3 years.

You need some better math. If XBQ was doing six times TFM's billing, maybe.

Well, that's the kind of thinking that's kept the Big 3 locked into their comfy non-competitive slots for decades... and WXBQ entrenched at #1 (save for a glitch or two) since 1980. "Don't rock the boat."

Hypothetically, let's say Holston Valley shifts Soft Rock over to WVEK--enabling them to preserve 95% of their audience and their AC billing (losing only a direct account or two out in the hinterlands)--and possibly preserving a percentage of their Classic Hits audience and billing as well--but, more importantly, clearing 98.5 for Country.

Then let's assume that HV's sales crew--with longtime well-established client relationships in place--are able to launch Country 98.5 to a profitable start from the git-go. That makes the rest easy.

Operationally, the real question is how much MORE HV would need to spend operating Country 98.5--including massive promotion--than they're currently spending to run 'VEK. An extra $200,000 a year? An extra $500,000 a year? Remember, the extra money spent growing Country 98.5 would actually be an investment that they'd see returned if the gambit works (that is, if they can cut XBQ in half).

How long will they need to turn the Rabbit's 20 share into two tens? Three years? How long until that $6 million turns into two piles of $3 million?

So if they can preserve Soft Rock's current $3 million by switching it to 102.7, the new pile of $3 million really is replacing the current billing of Classic Hits, which is what? $500,000? A million?

Where in the world can you turn $500,000 into $3 million in just five years time--and never lose a dime doing it?

Johnson City, Tennessee. Ain't America great?
 
All you have to assume for your scenario to be rosy is that all of TFM's listeners and billing will just mosey right over to WVEK. If any audience is more stuck to its station than country, it's passive AC. Plus AC requires enormous amounts of office listening, which would be tough for a station that barely puts 1 mv into Bristol and Johnson City. To dominate in AC requires kilowatts, which is why you see very few successful Class A or C3 AC stations in any top 150 market.

Second , those "client relationships" have been built for years by telling clients that the WXBQ audience is downscale, rural, and not as desirable an audience as an AC station. How long will those client relationships last when you go in tell them to forget everything I've ever said these past ten years. Country is really the way to go.

They would have been much better off taking WVEK country and simulcasting it on 93.9. If they can get a 5 and drop XBQ from a 20 to a 15, WTFM will then win in all the female demos that count.

I have been involved in a head on assault against an established giant twice in my life. If it were that easy, it would be done all the time and there would be no XBQ's, IVK'S or US101's. There are four or five major dominant formats for most any market. If you can own one of those, you're foolish to go chasing another.
 
SuperQ said:
All you have to assume for your scenario to be rosy is that all of TFM's listeners and billing will just mosey right over to WVEK. If any audience is more stuck to its station than country, it's passive AC. Plus AC requires enormous amounts of office listening, which would be tough for a station that barely puts 1 mv into Bristol and Johnson City. To dominate in AC requires kilowatts, which is why you see very few successful Class A or C3 AC stations in any top 150 market.

Second , those "client relationships" have been built for years by telling clients that the WXBQ audience is downscale, rural, and not as desirable an audience as an AC station. How long will those client relationships last when you go in tell them to forget everything I've ever said these past ten years. Country is really the way to go.

They would have been much better off taking WVEK country and simulcasting it on 93.9. If they can get a 5 and drop XBQ from a 20 to a 15, WTFM will then win in all the female demos that count.

I have been involved in a head on assault against an established giant twice in my life. If it were that easy, it would be done all the time and there would be no XBQ's, IVK'S or US101's. There are four or five major dominant formats for most any market. If you can own one of those, you're foolish to go chasing another.

Last point first. If you're going to "assault" an established giant, you'd better have a stick as big (or bigger) than the giant's. Don't know if your twin-spin in giant-killing gave you that weaponry or not, but that's the biggest reason to throw 98.5 at XBQ. The FCC didn't make all stations technical equals, but tackling a C requires a C, especially when there are only a few to go around (as in JC-K-B).

Without extending this fantasy indefinitely, keep in mind that HV has two tremendous promotional vehicles to toss at Bristol/Nininger as well: their damn TV stations. (Sure, they operate "separately" from radio, right? Not at the very top they don't. It's just shifting dollars/debits from one pocket to the other).

But, look, this has probably gone on long enough. Let's just say that y'all win & I lose. And WXBQ is one of America's truly inconquerable radio stations. No one will ever beat them. And it is completely the result of continued management brilliance. Their sales staff is not filled with overpaid order-takers. And all of their air-talents could be on the air tomorrow in LA or NYC... it's just that they choose to live instead in God's Country: East Tennessee!

Is that better?
 
The Rabbit works elsewhere. WQBE Charleston, WV and WKYQ Paducah, KY dominate. They later purchased WKDQ Henderson, KY/Evansville, IN. It did well but could never overwhelm the heritage station.
 
It's never been a question of WXBQ being a brilliantly programmed radio station. Could you plunk it in Atlanta or Nashville tomorrow and win. Of course not. But it is a well-positioned, well-entrenched station with top of mind recall far beyond its actual listening. You just don't take those down quickly. Could it be beaten? Of course it could, but it would probably take a minimum of two years to win in the ratings, minimum with a huge expenditure. Then another two years for the revenue change to catch up with the ratings change. Four years later, you're locked in a major battle when you owned the second best position in the market all to yourself to begin with.

You don't give up a fortress to battle the giant. You try and nibble away at his vulnerabilities and make for a more equal battle of the giants.

Or you just rock along, make lots of money for your investors and don't tug on superman's cape.

The only Class C in the market where a change to country would offer enough upside potential would be 94.9. And I doubt that Bristol is going to aim that one at themselves.
 
"They later purchased WKDQ Henderson, KY/Evansville, IN. It did well but could never overwhelm the heritage station. "

WKDQ never quite beat the Heritage AC station, but they knocked the previously dominant country station out of the format in a couple of years.
 
SuperQ said:
"They later purchased WKDQ Henderson, KY/Evansville, IN. It did well but could never overwhelm the heritage station. "

WKDQ never quite beat the Heritage AC station, but they knocked the previously dominant country station out of the format in a couple of years.

Actually, it took more than a couple of years. When KDQ went country in 1992, the competitor, WYNG, did some very stupid things and the ratings tanked. Around 2000 under Clear Channel ownership WYNG did rebound. Then CC sold their Evansville cluster to Regent who by that time (2003) owned WKDQ and adjoining market country station WBKR Owensboro. Regent exiled WYNG to a frequency that had issues covering the metro and the ratings plunged. Regent pulled the plug on WYNG in 2005.
 
I mentioned this on another topic but here goes-

WXBQ has such large ratings because it is the only country station in town.

Don't give me Marion. Is Marion even in the market? And even if it is, Marion does not do the advertising or have the location. It's like trying to tell me WGOC and WXBQ are equals.

What makes WXBQ appear so beatable is not only the lack of competition, but the fact the other Bristol stations in the market really aren't that competitive or are beaten.

At the risk of sounding like sour grapes, WFHG has never been able to overtake WJCW. WTZR is listed as Alternative and they are beaten by WRZK. WXSM is slumping bad, but Bristol won't even lift a finger to do anything with The Sports Fox.

When WXSM kills its local competition from Bristol with a 0.7 rating share and ad salesmen who think having a "ladies day" is a good way to bring in listeners and revenue to a sports station, please don't tell me Bristol is made up of programming geniuses. They have three local stations that have competition and they all get beat. End of discussion.

It's my opinion that Citadel should change "The Peak" to country. I hope people don't think I'm criticizing the jocks on The Peak- personally I think they're all great professionals and could handle such a switch. But the station makes no money whatsoever and they're getting beat by WEMB and WBEJ, two local AMs stations that are non-entities at night and don't even reach Bristol and Kingsport in the day.

When reading the school lunch menu at an Erwin elementary school is beating your station- something is wrong.

All I can figure out is that the formats aired from the studios on Free Hill Rd. are decided by corporate suits from Citadel and the local execs are afraid to call them and say "Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Citadel Corporate Exec, we really, really, REALLY need to change the format here at The Peak" for fear of hearing from Mr. and Mrs. Citadel Corporate Exec that it IS a good format- all our consultants say so- and since you admit you can't make it work we'll find someone who CAN!

I don't think Citadel would even have to spend that much on promotion to change the station to country- with the sports contracts on 104.9 new listeners will tune in. I think it would be easy to tie in sales contracts with the other stations in the cluster and country- much more so than whatever The Peak airs (lamest hits of the '80s and the '90s- all the time!).

THAT SAID- I submit to you the far-fetched idea that WTFM may not have to change format to beat WXBQ. If country music slumps any further, if the cultural trends of the rest of the USA come to the Tri-Cities (a BIG if), then there stands the odd chance it could fall.

Remember, in the late '80s country wasn't all that popular and WQUT was the top station with a contemporary hit format that gave major play to the rock bands of the day (Guns N Roses, Poison, Def Leppard, Cinderella, Great White, Aerosmith, etc.) that evolved into AOR by the 1990s and now classic rock.

Then Garth Brooks hit, Mr. Ninegar bought up his competition (such as US 99) and WXBQ became No. 1.

Make The Peak "US 105" and I legitimately feel it could be the fourth rated radio station in the market in a short period of time. I know it would take listeners away from WXBQ- even if the suits at Citadel programmed it- and would certainly make more money.
 
Hey! I was in town over the weekend visiting the ex and heard WVEK (horrible) and your new US-105 or 104.9 KOS (again, worse than before)!

Who is running that POS...I mean KOS? I have heard Citadel Stations and this is clearly not one! I heard new songs and some 80s tune I've never heard. I'm sure that'll go over with the demo.

I can pretty much guess that when I'm back in the area again in 4 months, whatever 104.9 will be the next flavor of the day.

However, my buddy Reggie Neal was still sounding great on XBQ and that Blade guy is cool on 949.

Just my 2 cents...

Back to the car lot boys (oh yeah, minus the Chrysler) good ole Caroline!
 
WXBQ wins because it is programmed well. Nininger stations are some of the best programmed and promoted in the country. While working in television in the market, I was impressed at the quality of the air staff and music research. 'XBQ is not a cookie-cutter country station. It is tailored to the area, and frankly is an example of how stations should be run. It DOES outshine many stations in the country.

WTFM also does well in its niche. An attempt to ditch a successful format that is not "broke" would be foolish and risky. If it ain't broke, for hells sake, don't fix it! As for WMEV, as much as it tries, geography is its biggest enemy and unfortunately it will never be a serious competitor due to signal problems.
 
elchupacabras said:
WXBQ wins because it is programmed well. Nininger stations are some of the best programmed and promoted in the country. While working in television in the market, I was impressed at the quality of the air staff and music research. 'XBQ is not a cookie-cutter country station. It is tailored to the area, and frankly is an example of how stations should be run. It DOES outshine many stations in the country.

WTFM also does well in its niche. An attempt to ditch a successful format that is not "broke" would be foolish and risky. If it ain't broke, for hells sake, don't fix it! As for WMEV, as much as it tries, geography is its biggest enemy and unfortunately it will never be a serious competitor due to signal problems.

No one, including me, has suggested that WXBQ isn't anything but well-programmed, well-promoted & well-run. Nice job, everyone!

But physical facilities (put it on a 250-watt AM daytimer and see how it does) and the relationship of those facilities to the rest of the market (one of just 3 full in-market Cs, right?)... and the relationships of those facilities to those of any direct format competitors--or lack thereof--comes into play, too.

And a big part of their success has to be attributed to the virtual lack of serious competitive signals... as well as their programming & promotional savvy.

As far as WMEV is concerned, "never" is a LONG, LONG time. It is not completely out of the realm of possibilities, for instance, that 93.9 could be "moved in"--perhaps to the WTFM site... perhaps merely to Bristol.

Most likely such a move would involve a downgrade, but depending on how much of a downgrade (C-1? C-2?) and the specific antenna site it could very well become a real competitor.

Things change. It could happen...
 
WXBQ is one of America's truly inconquerable radio stations. No one will ever beat them. And it is completely the result of continued management brilliance. Their sales staff is not filled with overpaid order-takers. And all of their air-talents could be on the air tomorrow in LA or NYC... it's just that they choose to live instead in God's Country: East Tennessee!

Is that better?


Redneck- you rock! YOU ABSOLUTELY ROCK!
 
Why do you have to be a market manager to appreciate when a great radio station does something good? I'm equally impressed with WIVK's success as well. Am I managing BOTH gigs? What's funny is the XBQ haters that just REFUSE to acknowledge that they are a great station. Sarcastic remarks on threads are NOT hillarious..they're sad. Because, more times than not..it's jealousy or axe grinding, not constructive criticism. And you know who you are..and so do we.
 
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