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WXKS-AM Cume Still Dropping

CC Boston has those 2 signals on AM and are trying to do what they can with them; casting aside 1430 for now, and just dealing with 1200, what could they run with it if not cons talk--religion?
Ethnic? Oldies? Perhaps even Fox Sports Radio, syndie by Premiere, though FSR is already overnights etc. on Sports Hub. Is cons talk the best moneymaker they have? Perhaps the hiring of Paula O'Connor is a sign they're trying to what they can but so far the only local content they have is Katz, and it's syndie otherwise. They're competing with RKO, TKK, and BZ (at night: Rea) for the
conserv talk audience. TKK and RKO are both going down in the ratings but the 2012 election talk
may buoy them up. WBZ is doing well, most likely from its daytime news (and prob Rea too).

Even with fairly low ratings, RKO keeps up conserv talk and maybe the prospect of more interest with '12 election, etc., is a sign they'd stay with it (and again, what else could they put on instead?)
The talk demo is aging but the conserv talkers are staying with it
 
if you listen to jeff katz then you can hear that it is not strictly political talk...not by a long shot...but loads of real local stories way more than any other morning show...plus you can see with the national work he is doing for cc and premiere that they are developing his show for the long term and for bigger things...when you bring in a big name local pd then you are saying something as well...my listening is with katz in the morning usually on my phone and howie in the afternoon on the radio and sometimes dan rea at night...sometimes mcphee but that voice is tough to take
 
scott5 said:
The holiday month was not a good month for conservative news talk in almost every market you look and WXKS is not an exception.

Here is a list Dec- Holiday ratings slide in top 10 markets.

WABC in NYC 4.1 - 3.0 unheard of!!

KFI LA 4.0-3.4

WLS Chicago 4.1-3.6

WBAP Dallas 4.6-3.7

KTRH Houston 3.5-2.9

WMAL DC 3.8-2.8

WABC Long Island 3.2-2.7

WCBM Baltimore 3.3- 2.5
Click to expand...

OK, wow, where are the analysts to pick apart this theory? Or are so many of you hoping against hope that conservative talk radio will die that you ignore reality?

Now, as I make this statement, I also accept that WXKS itself is a mess. Lousy signal and programming that still hasn't taken hold. But, that said......

One month's worth of PPMs does not a represent a trend! Especially when that month is the December "Holiday" period when listening patterns are not representative of reality. Not to mention that it was a month following a hotly contested national election and - frankly - even the truest believers were pretty burned out on talk. Especially when you're comparing a holiday month with an election month. Come on, you guys are smarter than this.

Check out January and February and - if the ratings of all these stations are still crashing - come and talk to me. Until then, enjoy Olbermann on Current TV......if you can find it! :D
 
maybe cc should just sell it and move on maybe a local business man will buy it and turn it into ethic brokered programming cause thats the only thing that ppl seem to wanna put on lousy am signals.
 
activeradioactive said:
interesting points but the observation about wxks should be programming that has not caught on BECAUSE of the lousy signal
Click to expand...

Good point. Remember that it does take quite a while for talk radio listenership to gel; but in this case, the signal is so poor that it's not happening. Take that (exact) same programming schedule and plop it on 96.9 [as an example] and it would draw several times the listeners than what WXKS has now.
 
activeradioactive said:
interesting points but the observation about wxks should be programming that has not caught on BECAUSE of the lousy signal
Click to expand...

But the signal is NOT lousy; it just is less than great. The new day pattern, when it's on the air (could be on now, for all I know) may help somewhat north and south of Boston, although I think the coverage maps in the application may be a bit optimistic. It's either that or the map of the old coverage was pessimistic.
 
Unfortunately, for operators of AM stations, their signal has to be GREAT in order to make a splash. Electrical interference from a multitude of household and neighborhood sources tends to take an "okay" signal and make it an ordeal to listen to. Basically, you need to have a WBZ-ish great signal to truly do well unless you have one heck of a compelling format. And, what WXKS has formatically is not that compelling in that the exact same thing is available from many other signals in surrounding areas.

Most listeners of such a format will tend to live in the suburbs, yet this station's signal is directed squarely at downtown. Yet, even there, that signal probably isn't enough to penetrate concrete, steel and miles of wiring that typical office buildings feature. Their best signal bypasses many of the very suburban areas within which much of their potential audience resides. Part of it is the highly directional nature of their signal, but an important part is also their relatively high dial position combined with New England's horrible ground conductivity. It's just a tough sale.
 
I get WBAL as clear as a bell at night. I live on the North Shore.
As far as WXKS AM, I think Boston would support a real oldies station '50s-'60s.
Obviously nobody's listening to it now.
 
I get it its RUSH RADIO, let's see how fast we can Rush to the bottom of the ratings pool. :D
Good move CC.
Do yourselves a favor, give the people what they want and not just what the advertisers pay for. If advertisers are little uneasy, that's natural part of business.
If a Tropical/Latin format works, do it, diversify your broadcasting entity portfolio and OWN the demographic in more ways than one. The country is changing and it benefits those organizations that adapt with those changes and make $.
 
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