WYRK #1 Again

[Element9]

This board is gives a lot of attention radio stations and formats that can't crack a 1 share, so why not some equal time to stations that lead the pack, especially in the demo that counts.

Spring '12 Adults 25-54: WYRK is again #1 in double digits (up .6 from Spring '11), 3.5 shares ahead of second place WGRF (up .9 from Spring '11); 4.8 shares ahead of third place WBLK (down .8 from Spring '11); 5.2 shares ahead of 4th place WTSS (up 1.8 shares from Spring '11) and 5.7 shares ahead of fifth place WHTT, which had its strongest in years (up 2.1 from Spring '11).

The remainder of the pack runs WKSE in 6th place (off .1 from Spring '11), followed by WBUF (off .1), WEDG (up .3), WGR (flat) tied with WBEN (up .1). Next comes WJYE, which endured it's worst book in years, losing 42% of its Adults 25-54 shares from Spring '11 to Spring '12 (down 2.7.) No joy in this book.

 

[chas108]

This board is gives a lot of attention radio stations and formats that can't crack a 1 share, so why not some equal time to stations that lead the pack, especially in the demo that counts.

Spring '12 Adults 25-54: WYRK is again #1 in double digits (up .6 from Spring '11)

No surprise 9. 'YRK does what they do very well and has earned the respect of its peers in the Country format.

 

[jas2525]

This board is gives a lot of attention radio stations and formats that can't crack a 1 share, so why not some equal time to stations that lead the pack, especially in the demo that counts.

Spring '12 Adults 25-54: WYRK is again #1 in double digits (up .6 from Spring '11)

No surprise 9. 'YRK does what they do very well and has earned the respect of its peers in the Country format.

...because if they don't do a good job with the format, country listeners will just go listen to.....oh wait....

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

This board is gives a lot of attention radio stations and formats that can't crack a 1 share, so why not some equal time to stations that lead the pack, especially in the demo that counts.

Spring '12 Adults 25-54: WYRK is again #1 in double digits (up .6 from Spring '11)

No surprise 9. 'YRK does what they do very well and has earned the respect of its peers in the Country format.

...because if they don't do a good job with the format, country listeners will just go listen to.....oh wait....

WYRK may be Buffalo's only (FM) Country station with a healthy share of P1s, but it draws P2 listeners from AC, Classic Hits, Classic Rock and CHR formats, too. It might be a stretch (and heresy to some), but WYRK could be called the "KB" of the new millennium.

 

[TheBigA]

but it draws P2 listeners from AC, Classic Hits, Classic Rock and CHR formats, too.

That's not unique to this one station. The country format as a whole shares audience with other formats, and vice versa. Which is why although there is no specific country station in NYC, quite a few country artists have a presence on NYC radio. Crossover country artists include Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, The Band Perry, and Rascal Flatts. It's easy to hear why country now shares with classic hits and classic rock. I've often said that we're moving to a point where format radio as we've known it since the 70s will be replaced by various cross-genre music lists that appeal to specific demographics.

 

[yugoidar]

Next comes WJYE, which endured it's worst book in years, losing 42% of its Adults 25-54 shares from Spring '11 to Spring '12 (down 2.7.) No joy in this book.

Ouch!! I wonder if GM Jeff Silver has any regrets today about letting Program Director Chuck Stevens go several months back. I listened briefly to the morning show while in town recently and was surprised by the music that was played. Seemed off-target to my ears.

 

[jas2525]

Next comes WJYE, which endured it's worst book in years, losing 42% of its Adults 25-54 shares from Spring '11 to Spring '12 (down 2.7.) No joy in this book.

Ouch!! I wonder if GM Jeff Silver has any regrets today about letting Program Director Chuck Stevens go several months back. I listened briefly to the morning show while in town recently and was surprised by the music that was played. Seemed off-target to my ears.

Not to jump on any bash-JYE bandwagon or anything...but I was flipping around earlier tonight and heard some remake of "Life is a Highway" --the 20 yr old Tom Cochran song--on JYE. I tuning in to analyze the station, but I did do a double-take at what frequency I was hearing that on.

 

[chas108]

This board is gives a lot of attention radio stations and formats that can't crack a 1 share, so why not some equal time to stations that lead the pack, especially in the demo that counts.

Spring '12 Adults 25-54: WYRK is again #1 in double digits (up .6 from Spring '11)

No surprise 9. 'YRK does what they do very well and has earned the respect of its peers in the Country format.

...because if they don't do a good job with the format, country listeners will just go listen to.....oh wait....

WYRK may be Buffalo's only (FM) Country station with a healthy share of P1s, but it draws P2 listeners from AC, Classic Hits, Classic Rock and CHR formats, too. It might be a stretch (and heresy to some), but WYRK could be called the "KB" of the new millennium.

Not much of a stretch JPB, nor is it heresy.

Country is the #2 format with teens and young adults. The format offers something for anyone with an open mind, and as I've stated before on this board...it's the place for new music made in the Classic/Southern Rock idiom.

Also 'YRK's pretty aggressive on new releases - as 'KB was.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if there was a second full-power FM country station in town. Conventional wisdom was that it was almost impossible to challenge a heritage country station that was dominant in a market. These days, that seems to be happening as country becomes more pop-friendly and audiences are less entrenched. Country doesn't seem to be the homogenous genre it once was. "Classic Country" and "New Country" are just two of the sub-genres that split up the audience.

With a 12-share out there to fight over, how long before somebody figures that they can grab a 4-share without spending a fortune battling WYRK head-on?

 

[TheBigA]

Most people find there's more upside to taking on the heritage leader and trying to steal the big nut, than settle for a 1 or 2 share with one of the sub-genres. Why? Because heritage doesn't last forever. At some point, the legendary morning guy retires, and that levels the playing field. Or you can do what CC did in St. Louis and just vary the percentage of currents and gold enough to split the audience 50-50. The demos on classic country are terrible, and new country needs the familiarity of the recurrents to succeed. That ends up sounding pretty much like what WYRK is already doing.

There's a very serious commitment to country from both Entercom and Cumulus. At some point, either one might be willing to blow up an FM for the format. Of course the Lake once did the new country thing with WNUC, but that signal isn't the best. And I have a feeling if Cumulus is going to blow up an FM, it will be for sports talk.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It would be pretty silly for Cumulus to blow up an FM for sports talk considering that they just lost the Bills. Successful sports talk stations in markets like Buffalo usually have at least one major local franchise. Entercom has both the Bills and the Sabres locked up for at least a few years. I don't see Cumulus spending the money required to do it well enough to have much impact. Entercom isn't likely to give up the female demos that they combo so effectively.

 

[Element9]

Cumulus and Entercom are the short players in the market, each having only three FMs. Townsquare has the upper hand with four full power FMs, all music based. Rox makes a valid point about Cumulus not having any franchises. Don't see a flip to sports, even with a national pact between CBS and Cumulus. The Bills and Sabres rule the sports landscape in this market and Entercom has 'em.

It's doubtful Cumulus is going to flip any of their FMs at this time. 97 Rock and WHTT are coming off good books. Men 25-54, the Edge morning show with Shredd & Ragan is already #2 behind first place WGR; 97 Rock ranks third. Interestingly, the WBEN + WGR combo beats the 97 Rock + Edge combo in morning drive, if only by a hair.

Now WJYE. Joy has some serious issues, as the ladies are prone to say. The "Joy" brand isn't working. The station's music, as noted by an example mentioned earlier in this thread, is off kilter. As they say in Marketing 101, it's a 'departure from the expected' and could be the reason the station lost so many Women 25-54 shares in all dayparts, especially middays where it plummeted nearly eight shares, from double digits to mid single digits. More troubling, the latest midday ratings are part of a consistently downward trend. It's beyond anecdotal evidence that something is very wrong.

Midday is the core of at-work listening for all music-based stations, especially those targeting Women. As noted earlier in this thread, WHTT appears to win the upper demos (50-64) and Star and Kiss take the lower and mid-range demos (18-49), leaving WJYE to pick up the scraps. The challenge facing WJYE is compounded by sister station WYRK, which is ranked first in midday. Not so ironically, 97 Rock ranks 5th in this demo.

There are a few anomalies in midday listening, however. WYRK picked up six shares from Winter '12 (when it also was #1) to Spring '12. This may not be entirely out of whack, because WYRK's Spring '11 shares were extraordinarily good (3.7 shares lower than its Spring '12 shares.) Star picked up 4.1 shares, Spring '11 to Spring '12 (although it's off a hair from Winter '12.) The rankings are WYRK, WTSS, WHTT, WKSE, WGRF, WJYE, WBLK, WBUF. WYRK and WTSS are in double digits, the remainder of the pack has high to mid single digits.

There has been a marked change in the landscape of the neighborhood, Women 25-54. Unfortunately, WJYE appears to be the shoddy house on the block. Time for WJYE to give up the robo-backsells. They're tiresome and ineffective. (Arbitron verbatim, "Why do phone callers say the name of songs on this station?") WYRK, Star, Kiss and WHTT don't employ this hackneyed technique, nor does 97 Rock, and those stations are far ahead of WJYE. The "Joy" moniker isn't working, perhaps because it more represents the station's "1001 Strings Schulke" era, when it was the station grandma listened to.

The music remains the biggest challenge. Whatever they're doing now isn't working. So it might be time to re-visit "Favorites from yesterday and today." That slogan may be trite, but it worked and listeners understood what it meant. Promise: Deliver. It looks like the suits at Townsquare tried to re-invent the wheel, but the wheels came off the mini-van. Joy's not happy.

 

[GeorgeKramer]

Maybe not an all-sports station, but what about a "hot talk" type of format on FM?

For example, say they were to flip 103.3 FM to all-talk and have Shredd And Ragan 6am-10am, another host 10am to 2pm, someone from 2pm to 6pm, and maybe an evening show.

I know, I know... WHO would fill those slots. I dunno, just throwing the idea out there.

 

[chas108]

Maybe not an all-sports station, but what about a "hot talk" type of format on FM?

For example, say they were to flip 103.3 FM to all-talk and have Shredd And Ragan 6am-10am, another host 10am to 2pm, someone from 2pm to 6pm, and maybe an evening show.

I know, I know... WHO would fill those slots. I dunno, just throwing the idea out there.

If by "hot talk" you mean anything resembling Joel Hollander's "Man" stations on CBS - all but one or two blown up immediately upon Dan Mason's return to the company - I'd want to do some market research first.

9, the only picture I can have of Joy is the one painted on these boards. I'm not sure of the robo-backsells being used in any other format excepting small markets. I don't like how it sounds on one of the soft AC's in Pittsburgh. At its best it sounds cut-n-paste.

I wonder if there's room in WNY to do a modern version of the 119 Strings format, which would be a gold-based Super-Soft AC. Air Supply, Manilow, Streisand, Celine, etc. Minimum jock content.

And as far as Country goes...it's probably inevitable that at some point, Classic Country is going to gain traction. Most stations - mine included - are fighting it tooth and nail, believing that fragmentation will not end well. My station's re-added some select heritage titles...including a few Classic/Southern Rock tunes that make sense. Hank Jr., Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. They're highlighted as an "oh wow" during our Noon or 5PM features.

That said, Country's foray into New Classic Rock is uncharted territory. When the format goes too Pop the males drop off, along with all the Beer and Pickup Truck $$ such demos bring. Then the ladies start to leave. Judging by current ratings and the feedback I get, it's "so far, so good" with the Rock content. But if it gets to the point where Alan or George sound out of place...at least for now...it's gone too far.

 

[TheBigA]

I wonder if there's room in WNY to do a modern version of the 119 Strings format, which would be a gold-based Super-Soft AC. Air Supply, Manilow, Streisand, Celine, etc. Minimum jock content.

That sounds like the new adult standards format, appealing to women 60+. Could be good for AM.

And as far as Country goes...it's probably inevitable that at some point, Classic Country is going to gain traction.

When they do it, the age of the audience goes up, and the women go away. Not exactly what the advertisers want. Right now, some stations can get away with one classic an hour, and maybe a specialty show on the wknds. People talk about how they love Johnny Cash, but they're more in love with the concept and image than the actual songs. When they get played, people start to leave.

 

[chas108]

I wonder if there's room in WNY to do a modern version of the 119 Strings format, which would be a gold-based Super-Soft AC. Air Supply, Manilow, Streisand, Celine, etc. Minimum jock content.

That sounds like the new adult standards format, appealing to women 60+. Could be good for AM.

And as far as Country goes...it's probably inevitable that at some point, Classic Country is going to gain traction.

When they do it, the age of the audience goes up, and the women go away. Not exactly what the advertisers want. Right now, some stations can get away with one classic an hour, and maybe a specialty show on the wknds. People talk about how they love Johnny Cash, but they're more in love with the concept and image than the actual songs. When they get played, people start to leave.

Indeed. Doesn't take a lot of that seasoning to satiate the target listener. Hence the way we program them.

And the "some point" to which I refer above - when the Country lifegroup fragments enough into a Mainstream/Current Country cell and a Classic Country cell to easily support both formats - is hopefully still off in the future.

 

[TheBigA]

And the "some point" to which I refer above - when the Country lifegroup fragments enough into a Mainstream/Current Country cell and a Classic Country cell to easily support both formats - is hopefully still off in the future.

Both radio and records agree that it doesn't help either of them to fragment the format. It's the only format I know of where they agree on something.

 

[Jack Griffin]

Next comes WJYE, which endured it's worst book in years, losing 42% of its Adults 25-54 shares from Spring '11 to Spring '12 (down 2.7.) No joy in this book.

Ouch!! I wonder if GM Jeff Silver has any regrets today about letting Program Director Chuck Stevens go several months back. I listened briefly to the morning show while in town recently and was surprised by the music that was played. Seemed off-target to my ears.

Stevens was the one who came up with the "robo-backsells" which IMO sound dumb. Surprising they outlived him...

It's interesting to see what 'JYE's become. When people hear "Joy" they still think "sleepy elevator music" (as others have noted). So should they change their name?

IIRC Gary Berkowitz is consulting and Joe Chille's been there since dinosaurs ruled the earth...could a change in that too be in order?

 

[Bob1370]

"It's interesting to see what 'JYE's become. When people hear "Joy" they still think "sleepy elevator music" (as others have noted). So should they change their name?"

Maybe. The current name and callsign, WJYE--"Joy"--dates to the late 1970s and it was picked partly as a descriptive brand for the mood the station's music was supposed to set back in the Schulke days. But it was also a name change motivated in part bny a desire to move away from its old name, WBNY (FM). The owners at the time reportedly believed the WBNY call letters hurt them becayse they thought people confused it with WBEN, and gave WBEN credit in their Arbitron diaries when they were really listening to them. As it turned out, the call letter change helped us and hurt them a little bit, because more of OUR listeners were writing down WBNY in their books when they were really listening to WBEN. The two stations were fighting for the 12+ AQH lead at the time, and 30-35 years ago a lot more buys were done on 12+ shares, so it mattered.

 

[yugoidar]

Stevens was the one who came up with the "robo-backsells" which IMO sound dumb. Surprising they outlived him...

IIRC Gary Berkowitz is consulting and Joe Chille's been there since dinosaurs ruled the earth...could a change in that too be in order?
_________________________________________________

While Berkowitz did consult at one time, I believe MIke McVay was the consultant who brought Chuck Stevens back to town from Pittsburgh. No doubt, having been used in other markets, the "robo-backsells" were part of the McVay's input.

Perhaps Silver's failure to bring an experienced, qualified PD on board after dumping Stevens had more than a little bit to do with JOY's rating tumble.