Posts Tagged ‘WRTS’

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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Fall ratings: Connoisseur strengthens Erie radio domination

January 30th, 2010 joel

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).

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 13 Comments »

Top Erie media stories of 2009

January 1st, 2010 joel

Happy New Year and welcome to the “teens!”

As was the case with much of the last ten years, the decade ended last night with the media front and center of culture’s conversation. With top-talker Rush Limbaugh finally released from a Honolulu hospital, and Fox viewers in O&O markets thankful for a momentary reprieve from losing their football, media doings are never far from top-of-mind.

Here’s the top stories we were talking about in 2009, by month:

  • January: local TV stations and the Times-News cover the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20th
  • February: longtime Erie broadcaster and cancer machine inventor John Kanzius succumbs to cancer on February 18th
  • March: Nancy Dymond replaces David Calabrese as market manager of the Connoisseur Media radio cluster in Erie
  • April: a video capture of an apparently intoxicated off-duty Erie Police officer uploaded to YouTube created a local and national controversy about police relations with the minority community, and the new reality of social media
  • May: Lilly Broadcasting merged the newsrooms of WICU and WSEE, resulting in the elimination of about a dozen off-air and on-air jobs
  • June: WICU is the final TV station to switch off their analog transmitter and put Erie completely into the digital television age
  • Wards react to the reveal July: The seven day build of a home for Erie’s Clara Ward culminated in the July 2nd reveal of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house
  • August: Star 104/WRTS increased it’s dominance in Erie radio as the Spring 2009 Arbitron ratings were released
  • September: Former Erie Congressman Phil English began his high profile blog “Presque Isle to the Potomac” on GlobalErie.com
  • October: The Erie Times-News was named Newspaper of the Year by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association
  • November: Erie’s most-visited media website, GoErie.com underwent a major redesign
  • December: The weekend of December 12th and 13th turned out to be one of national media attention on Erie, as Saturday Night Live mentioned the fictional “Erie Chamber of Commerce” as part of a PGA spoof over the Tiger Woods controversy, then a two-hour special episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition showcased the work of thousands of volunteers impacting an eastside Erie neighborhood.

Next week, we’ll talk with one of Erie’s top media watchers about the past year and what we might see in the new year. Stay tuned.

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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 »

Dymond to take over Connoisseur/Erie

March 26th, 2009 joel

Connoisseur has named a replacement for ousted GM Dave Calabrese. From their corporate website:

Westport, CT – Nancy Dymond has been named Market Manager of Connoisseur Media’s Erie operation. Dymond will be responsible for Connoisseur’s market-leading group – WRTS (Star 104), WRKT (Rocket 101), WXBB (Bob), WTWF (The Wolf), WJET-AM and WFNN-AM.

Dymond has over 25 years of experience in radio sales and management. She has had a tremendous track record over the years as Vice President/General Manager for Fritz Broadcasting in Saginaw and Lansing Michigan, Cumulus Media in Flint Michigan, and as Director of Sales for Radio One in Detroit.

“It will be exciting working with such great stations and a company that believes in ‘good radio’ and serving the community”. I look forward to the challenge”, said Dymond.

Dymond will be taking over Erie’s most successful radio stations, such as the 50,000 watt powerhouse STAR 104. In the Fall Arbitron, Connoisseur Media’s 4 FM properties finished #1, #2, #3, and #4 with Adults 25-54 M-Sun 6a-12a.

“We are fortunate to have someone like Nancy leading our operation in Erie. She is a real radio pro. I’m confident she will continue to build upon our success,” said David Bevins, Connoisseur Media’s VP of Operations.

Connoisseur Media is headquartered in Westport, CT. In addition to Erie, the Company owns or operates radio stations in Billings (MT), Bismarck (ND), Bloomington (IL), Des Moines (IA), Huntington (WV), Omaha (NE), Rapid City (SD), and Wichita (KS).

Let’s hope Ms. Dymond finds Erie’s advertising climate as or more hospitable than Flint’s. Welcome Nancy!

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 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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Morning Show Scope: WRTS (Star 104)

October 2nd, 2008 joel

This is the first in a regular feature where you can sit in the radio programmer’s chair and evaluate Erie’s morning personalities. Whether I was on the receiving or giving end of an air check evaluation what we listened for included relevance, concise thoughts, quick pace, tight board operation, and empathy and connection with the target listeners. As you listen to the scoped air check, keep those values in mind.

We start with Erie’s most listened morning show, Warvel and Curry on Star 104.
We pulled Tuesday morning’s 7:00 hour to hear how they are doing in these early weeks of the ratings period. After you’ve had your chance to listen and weigh-in, I’ll give my evaluation in the comments Friday. Remember we want constructive and civil criticism, and keep from any partisan attacks; you never know when we’ll be putting your station under the microscope!

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