Posts Tagged ‘Citadel Broadcasting’

Star 104 goes super nova in Erie Spring radio ratings

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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Deep Background for August 22-28, 2010

August has turned into a time of significant change for Erie’s media.

Long-term TV personalities have flown the market, the newspaper has unequivocally called out County Councilmen and women based on their support of the proposed Community College, the Citadel group experienced a resurgence in Erie’s radio ratings even Connie Media’s #1 station extends its lead, and Erie’s top new media properties join together to further connect their/our readers.

We are covering it all in the coming days after this lengthy hiatus. Meanwhile you can spout off on anything media topic you desire in this open forum. Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or tweet @pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Fall ratings: Connoisseur strengthens Erie radio domination

The twice yearly ratings horse race between Star 104 and Classy 100 has turned into a yawner.

The Fall 2009 Arbitron ratings released Friday afternoon confirms the amazingly strong hold that the Connoisseur Media cluster has over Erie radio listeners. Although it’s lead 12+ has softened, WRTS/Star 104 continues as Erie’s most listened to broadcast radio station. Meanwhile the flagship station for the Citadel group in Erie, WXKC/Classy 100 has continued its slide in share of audience over at least five books to be ranked fourth.

The big winner of the Fall was WTWF/93.9 The Wolf who garnered their best book ever, good for second place. Rounding out Connie Media’s top stations was WXBB/Bob FM, who scored their best book since they debuted in 2007.

Been a long time since we rock and rolled the ratings. WRKT/Rocket 101 and WQHZ/Z-102.3 have taken what was 17 shares of listenership two years ago and grinded it down to 11. It looks like Rocket especially hasn’t put the jets onto expanding its base.

As far as AM goes…simply, nothing to see here. While AM stations crush their competition in the markets surrounding us in ratings and billing, our offerings have received no investment from their owner companies and so they got what they paid for.

Finally, the third biggest jump up came from my alma mater WCTL, who scored their best book in memory and is knocking on the door of once-prominent WXTA/Country 98.

You can see all the hard numbers at AllAccess.com (registration required).

Classy’s parent files bankruptcy

As reported by AllAccess.com this afternoon:

CITADEL BROADCASTING, the nation’s third biggest radio broadcaster has indeed filed for bankruptcy in NEW YORK on SUNDAY (12/20), by filing a voluntary petition with the bankruptcy court.

The bankruptcy filing, as ALL ACCESS first reported earlier this month (NET NEWS 12/10), is a pre-arranged deal with lenders to swap debt for equity and will reduce CITADEL’s debt load to about $762.5 million.

The filing lists assets of $1.4 billion weighed down under $2.5 billion in debt. A huge, unserviceable debt and interest payment was due on JANUARY 15, 2010, which forced the Chapter 11 filing.

Citadel owns WXKC (Classy 100), WXTA (Country 98), WQHZ (Z-102), and WRIE (ESPN Radio) in Erie.

Deep Background for November 15-21, 2009

Whispers became a shout this week as executives at Citadel Broadcasting are indicating that they may have to go Chapter 11 ahead of a scheduled January debt payment that the owners of WXKC, WXTA, WQHZ, and WRIE don’t have. To hear Jerry Del Colliano of Inside Music Media talk, there could be consequences for the last remaining local morning show in the group: The Breakfast Club.

For me, I think it would be crazy for Citadel to gore their only real cash cow, Classy 100. But a note of appreciation for Chuck and Brenda to the station would be timely.

I just sounded off, how about you? What’s your take on this challenging media environment? Did you spend any funny money on last week’s ETN millionaire auction? What’s the latest scoop at your media outlet? For all this and more, this open forum is our sounding board.

You can leave a comment, e-mail me at joel@nataliemedia.com or tweet@pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Spring ARB: Star increases lead over Classy

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).

What can we learn from the WAMO sale?

Did you catch the news that legendary urban station WAMO/Pittsburgh is being sold? Two Fridays ago it was announced that Sheridan Broadcasting Corp. has filed for a sale of WAMO-FM, WAMO-AM, and WPGR-AM to St. Joseph Missions for $8.9 million.

If your eyes didn’t just bug out, they should have, since the sale of three Pittsburgh stations at the price of half of one just a few years ago may be a true indicator of just how bad off the nation’s radio industry is.

So says longtime radio opinion maker Jerry Del Colliano. Last week on his Inside Music Media blog, he claims that a radio station fire sale may be underway. Large corporate owners, who have bottom-lined their stations so severely that not only have they destroyed their product, they are destroying their profitability (the aforementioned bottom-line.)

If you’ve glanced at the CNBC ticker recently, you’d find out that radio stocks are nearly worthless. The public corporate owner in Erie, Citadel Broadcasting, closed on Wednesday at .085 (less than a dime) per share, with a market cap at $22.61 million.

Del Colliano claims that corporate owners like Citadel will start “selling off ’sticks’” in order to bring in any kind of cash. If we take Jerry’s forecast of 3-4 times cashflow, a station like Classy 100/WXKC, which might cashflow $600 K, could allow you to pick that puppy up for $2.4 to $3 million!

Imagine a local investor with a few bucks burning a hole in his/her pocket taking a proven biller back to local control. He or she can rebuild its connection with the community, all for one-quarter of the entry fee of just a few years ago! Sure the ad market is tough right now, but a radio station that targets older adults still has relevance for years to come. Plus a radio station is an excellent launching platform for all kinds of social networking and alternative streams.

A radio geek can dream, can’t he?