Posts Tagged ‘Arbitron’

Star 104 goes super nova in Erie Spring radio ratings

August 25th, 2010 joel

WRTS/Star 104

It’s got to be one of the biggest Top 40 stations in the country.

According to the recently released Spring 2010 Arbitron ratings for Erie, the nearly 18 percent share of the Erie radio audience that WRTS/Star 104 enjoys at any given part of the day means that if you were to pile all those people into one place it would be the equivalent of the population of a decent sized city all jumping up and down to The Black Eyed Peas. Star definitely benefited from the sheer depth of great Top 40 songs currently in rotation. Erie has gone GaGa for the Lady, the glam of Adam Lambert, and the Gurls of California.

In fact, market watchers tell me that Star 104 has reached audience Nirvana with its “skew graph.” Connoisseur Media’s WRTS scored nearly the same percentage of adult listeners in each demographic slice, meaning that it’s the station that Grandma, Mom, and Sissy can agree on. Most Erieites listen to Star and another station; from Bob to Z.

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Poll: what type of new radio station would you like for Erie?

August 23rd, 2010 joel

Last time we polled our readers about their Facebook habits. Perhaps the most alarming statistic was that over one-third of our poll respondents don’t do Facebook (I’m just glad they read blogs!). Some 43% said that they only allow real-life current and former friends and acquaintances to be Facebook friends. Nobody said that they had an totally open Facebook friend policy.

This week we will be talking about the latest Erie radio ratings, and in one of my conversations with those who watch the local radio market was the fact that there has been no station format changes in the past few years. The climate has stayed the same since the big BOB launch that replaced the old Froggy 94.

Without stating an opinion that we are due for somebody to flip formats, let’s ask the question about the kind of new station you would like to listen to. The format designations below are from AllAccess.com. If you want to add another, leave a note in the comments and I’ll add it to the poll. Only one vote each please.

If an Erie radio station was considering a format flip, what kind of new station would you like to listen to?

View Results

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Posted in Polls Tags: , , , , , , 33 Comments »

Poll: which radio morning show do you listen to most?

October 26th, 2009 joel

When we asked if you felt that local news outlets were sensationalizing news stories to generate audience due to the advertising downturn, two-thirds of our Press and Tower poll respondents said “absolutely”. Only two voters said that stories were less sensational as before.

Right now we are in week six of the Fall radio ratings sweeps and I wanted to get a snapshot of what our P&T readers listened to in the morning (the most important daypart for advertisers). I’ll put up an option for all full-power stations located in Erie County; if you listen to an out-of-market station, leave the call letters in the comments and I’ll add them to the poll so you can place your vote.

Which radio morning show have you listened to most in the past week?

  • FM 91.3-WQLN: Morning Edition (12%, 10 Votes)
  • FM 90.5-WERG: Erie’s Rock Alternative (9%, 8 Votes)
  • FM 99.9-WXKC: The Breakfast Club with Chuck & Brenda (9%, 8 Votes)
  • AM 1400-WJET: Erie Talk in the Morning with Barry & Jim (9%, 8 Votes)
  • FM 100.9-WRKT: The Morning Crew-Mojo & Nat (8%, 7 Votes)
  • FM 88.5-WMCE: Morning Jazz with Bonnie Grice (8%, 7 Votes)
  • AM 1260-WRIE: Mike & Mike in the Morning (7%, 6 Votes)
  • FM 106.3-WCTL: The Wake Up Call with Roy & Cap'n H. (7%, 6 Votes)
  • FM 103.7-WRTS: The Warvel & Curry Morning Show (6%, 5 Votes)
  • AM 1530-WYNE: Captain Dan Geary (6%, 5 Votes)
  • AM 1330-WFNN: Steve Czaban (5%, 4 Votes)
  • FM 97.9-WXTA: Big D & Bubba (4%, 3 Votes)
  • FM 94.7-WXBB: Allan Carpenter (4%, 3 Votes)
  • AM 1370-WWCB: morning show (2%, 2 Votes)
  • FM 102.3-WQHZ: Bob & Tom (2%, 2 Votes)
  • AM 1450-WPSE: Business talk (1%, 1 Votes)
  • FM 93.9-WTWF: Wake Up With The Wolf with Kyle (0%, 0 Votes)
  • FM 88.9-WFSE: College radio (0%, 0 Votes)
  • FM 88.1-WEFR: Religious programming (1%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 85

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Spring ARB: Star increases lead over Classy

August 11th, 2009 joel

Connoisseur Media continued its position at the top of the Erie radio ratings, with their flagship CHR WRTS (Star 104) increasing the total audience lead that they hold over Citadel Broadcasting’s AC WXKC (Classy 100) by a half-share in the Spring 2009 ratings just released by Arbitron.

In fact, none of the stations in the Citadel stable increased their share of the Erie audience this Spring compared to last Fall. On the other hand, only WRKT (Rocket 101) joined Star in an increase in share for Connie Media. In fact the rankers for this Spring book were quite stationary, with a few exceptions.

News/Talker WJET fell one rank and lost over a third of it’s share of audience in the first book since the dropping of Rush Limbaugh from its lineup. Nostalgia CFZM, which had a big fall book here in Erie fell two positions in the Spring.

The most improved station in the Erie market this book: Christian AC WCTL, with an over 20% increase in share audience and a two position jump in the rankers 12+.

It was a bad book for sports radio as WRIE share was cut in half. Meanwhile, WFNN 1330 was again a “no show,” falling under the line this book.

All the 12+ ratings are available on AllAccess.com (registration required).

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments »

Star 104, Connie Media dominate Fall 2008 book

January 30th, 2009 joel

In one of most lopsided ratings outcomes since corporations took over most of Erie radio, WRTS/Star 104 and Connoisseur Media emerged with a much greater share of audience than rival WXKC/Classy 100 and Citadel Communications.

As part of a near Connoisseur sweep of the top 5 slots in the Erie radio ratings, WRTS increased their average share by 40 percent, beating WXKC by almost six share points. The rest of the top five were WRKT/Rocket 101 at #3, WTWF/93.9 The Wolf at #4, and WXBB/Bob-FM 94.7 fifth.
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Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 17 Comments »

This (should be) News/Talk country

January 16th, 2009 joel

WBENI’m writing this post while listening to the very well-programmed WBEN 930/Buffalo, who not only are able to continue to pay for Rush Limbaugh’s clearance fee, but once again scored first in the Buffalo ratings ages 12 and over for the Fall 2008 Arbitron survey.

As opposed to Erie’s WJET, which languishes as a middler in the ratings with poor billing, news/talk stations in the major markets surrounding the Flagship City score at the top of the ratings and revenue rankers. The Fall book is out for Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh; take a look at these 12+ rankers:

  • Buffalo – WBEN (Entercom) – #1
  • Cleveland – WTAM (Clear Channel) – #1
  • Pittsburgh – KDKA (CBS) – #2
  • Pittsburgh – WPGB (Clear Channel) – #3

The two Pittsburgh talkers combine for a massive share of audience that tops rocker WDVE.

Considering the sheer power of the news/talk format in our region, why doesn’t WJET do better in the ratings here in Erie? My take would be the sheer lack of investment in programming and marketing by Connoisseur Media and their predecessors over countless years. The winning stations have real live anchors and reporters and actualities and board-ops that eliminate dead air and cue tones, like the old WJET did through the 1980’s. It doesn’t take much effort, really.

The conventional wisdom in radio for the past twenty years has been to put all of your eggs/energy into your FM basket, and leave the AM stations to die. Meanwhile, with the onset of internet radio, iPod’s and other streams available for music, news and talk are the remaining powerhouses for local connection and community.

We’re seeing the success of the news/talk format elsewhere in the region. Why not here?

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 10 Comments »

The Feed for Friday, November 21st

November 21st, 2008 joel

Editor’s note: Sound off, give a shout out on “Deep Background,” our totally-random open discussion of all things Erie media.

  • It’s a Classy Christmas: WXKC/Classy 100 flipped the switch to all Christmas music today. That means that they’ll be playing the Santa Songs for five weeks, nearly 20% of the broadcast year. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! P&T heard a jazzy version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” by Tony Bennett driving in the snow this afternoon. WCTL is slated to go all Contemporary Christian Christmas on Black Friday.

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