Acceptable registrations in the queue through March 16 at 11:00a ET have now been activated. Enjoy! -M.W.

Terms of Use have been amended effective October 6, 2019. Make sure you are aware of the new rules! Please visit this thread for details: https://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/view ... 16&t=48619

Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11873
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:51 am

Listed stations only add up to 65 shares' worth of audio listenership tracked by Nielsen in the GR market.

Look at how many well established FMs have a 2.5 share or less!

WLAV really shit the bed in February for some reason, dragging its trailing 3 month average down to a 3.3 share. Perhaps some of its audience (and 105.3's audience) has been repelled by Jackie's work away from the radio station?

WLHT, WHTS, Blunder and FGR continue to struggle. Star's big holiday numbers are holding up so far!

Congrats to B93 for defeating Blunder by a greater than 5:1 margin! Both WTNR and WHTS have abysmal numbers right now. How fucking awful must 107.3's programming brain trust be at their respective jobs to generate such horrible numbers? Cumulus country stations have a knack for underachieving in other Midwestern markets, too.

The air seems to be escaping the Big 101.3 balloon.

Will Newsradio WOOD see some recovery in spring now that 106.9 is back to full strength?

https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb127



User avatar
TC Talks
Posts: 10106
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:41 am

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by TC Talks » Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:22 am

Don't let Mark Elliott see this, he is convinced that listenership grows every year.


“The more you can increase fear of drugs, crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all of the people.”
― Noam Chomsky

Posting Content © 2024 TC Talks Holdings LP.

User avatar
48125er
Posts: 304
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:50 pm

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by 48125er » Sat Apr 02, 2022 1:00 pm

WKLQ is doing well, I Imagine clownsqaure and cumulus never thought a niche alt station would beat their bread and butter at Shot fm and mix 95.7

Nowadays I only listen to them, 106.5 Jack FM, or 100.5 the river in my car, or siriusxm or spotify, only stations that play a good variety nowadays in this market, basically every other station here bores me to tears, if you look at 100.5's playlist, they sound more like a variety hits station rather than a soft ac, ive been hearing songs on there that arent soft rock esque that i havent heard a station play in years.



whitebalance
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:46 pm

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by whitebalance » Sun Apr 03, 2022 8:04 pm

Thanks to corporate owners.



ChrisWL1980
Posts: 813
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:36 am

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Mon Apr 04, 2022 3:29 pm

I've noticed 100.5 goes all '80s on weekends lately but with an AC lean as opposed to the typical '80s playlist. They don't promote it as such so you'd only notice from listening for a time or looking at their online playlist. It appears to be the case with all of Townsquare's Soft ACs that run their corporate playlist, including 96.1 in Buffalo. Some of the songs - "Living Inside Myself," "Orinoco Flow" for two examples - remind me of the original MOR/borderline adult standards River of circa 1998-99.



ftballfan
Posts: 875
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:38 pm

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by ftballfan » Mon Apr 04, 2022 6:56 pm

Non-subscribers (Michigan Radio, WGVU, Blue Lake, Smile FM, etc.) or out of core market stations (Muskegons, WHTC, WGHN, the Van, Jack FM, etc.) probably add another 10 or so percentage points



User avatar
Art Van Damme
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:55 pm
Location: Hamtramck

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by Art Van Damme » Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:05 am

Does anyone know what the “persons using radio” number is?

I guess nowadays that would be persons that would agree to carrying around a ppm monitor. If that is even used anymore…



Barry Sanders
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:28 pm

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by Barry Sanders » Thu Apr 14, 2022 4:35 pm

PPM has never been used in Grand Rapids, likely never will be.



Better Call Saul
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2020 11:11 am

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by Better Call Saul » Thu Apr 21, 2022 1:00 pm

I have been wondering for some time now, how long radio stations can hold on. Other than maybe catching a football game on local station last fall, I am honestly not sure the last time I actually listened to a broadcast radio station. Sirius/XM lets me listen to what I want with a much better signal and none of the commercials. Its amazing to me that local stations are even able to stay afloat



since16
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2020 7:33 am

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by since16 » Fri Apr 22, 2022 4:05 pm

Better Call Saul wrote:
Thu Apr 21, 2022 1:00 pm
I have been wondering for some time now, how long radio stations can hold on. Other than maybe catching a football game on local station last fall, I am honestly not sure the last time I actually listened to a broadcast radio station. Sirius/XM lets me listen to what I want with a much better signal and none of the commercials. Its amazing to me that local stations are even able to stay afloat

Well, as a radio operator and owner, would like to set the record straight, at least from when it comes to our station:
* Revenue is through the roof.
* Advertisers are contacting us, especially recruitment (why, because they are finding social media is not working as it used to)
* Radio still has 158 million listeners vs. 34 million on satellite (satellite is declining peaking at nearly 35 million subscribers in 2019)
* Car dealers will tell you that the "free" satellite radio does not get renewed as much as you would think.
* Radio is the ONLY medium that can say that you can deliver to all of these at the same time: via website, through smart devices, over the air and can deliver content through all the social media channels as well. (83 million smart devices owned in the U.S. currently that can deliver those stations).
* Approximately 90% of our advertisers at our station are annual advertisers and renew because they can actually say they get results (local advertisers cannot advertise on Satellite radio and not sure if you have tried to advertise on social media today vs 2 or 3 years ago? And, no, I am not anti-social media (we actually utilize ad campaigns for the station). But, by far our organic campaigns can dwarf ad spend. Other businesses are seeing this as well, that is why the phone is ringing because they can allocated budget dollars into other mediums like radio.
* Just hired 3 people this past week because radio is busy and we are putting on another station because if done the right away it can be very successful.

That is what is happening and I talked with a sales rep in another market recently and he was running crazy because it's that busy. I think radio will do well for a while.



whitebalance
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:46 pm

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by whitebalance » Fri Apr 22, 2022 5:35 pm

Thanks to corporations turning out crap product.



User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11873
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Apr 22, 2022 5:48 pm

Radio as an industry is seeing much lower revenue in inflation adjusted dollars compared to ten and especially twenty years ago.

Since16, revenue for the industry is "through the roof" compared to when? 2020? Of course it should be higher now than two years ago, when revenue at most major companies fell 40, 50, even 60 percent compared to 2019.

Independently owned stations, especially those in small town America, thankfully (in many cases) do not follow the same lame playbook as corporate radio.

I think it is great your station is doing well, and I certainly wish you and your colleagues continued success.

You are correct SXM total subscription count is down. I suspect that is mostly due to lack of new cars sitting on dealer lots. Self pay subscription count is a hair above 32 million. I need to do more digging to see how that compares to historical levels.



User avatar
48125er
Posts: 304
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:50 pm

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by 48125er » Fri Apr 22, 2022 6:56 pm

I wonder what percentage is spotify and streaming



User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11873
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat May 28, 2022 8:42 am

The new Nielsen #'s are out for the Grand Rapids radio market.

Highlights:
- B93 and WCSG remain #1 and #2, respectively, and continue to exhibit strong numbers.
- WSNX now has sole possession of third place and cracked a 6 share for the first time in quite a while.
- WGRD sees a nice rebound, is back up to a 5.8 share, and appears to be wiping the floor clean with WLAV.
- WLAV is closing in on matching its all-time low 12+ share as a Classic Rock share. Their all time low point with classic rock is a 2.7 share; they currently stand at a 3.1.
- It was a bad book for secular AC and Hot AC. WLHT continues to wallow in the upper 2's, WTRV fell into the upper 1's, and Star 105.7 tanked from a 4.5 share to a 3.1 share.
- Here's a stunner: Magic 104.9 by a nose hair outperformed WLAV in 12+ share!
- Blunder 107.3 only trails B93 by six and a half shares! :lol
- WFGR is showing some signs of life in the first book following the termination of its prior Program Director.

https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb127

In recent days, I noticed WLAV has decreased the amount of hard-edged classic rock it plays and has gone a bit older with its music. The amount of spins devoted to 90's songs has been slashed; now only 1 such song is being played every 2 or 3 hours. It will be interesting to see if those changes improve its soft ratings at all.



User avatar
Ben Zonia
Posts: 2143
Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:35 pm
Location: Honor

Re: Latest Nielsen #'s show radio's diminishing relevance

Post by Ben Zonia » Sat May 28, 2022 1:08 pm

Here's a stunner: Magic 104.9 by a nose hair outperformed WLAV in 12+ share!
Maybe it's time for Townsquare to put it on a centrally located Class A 80-90 Drop In. Some say (A member of the Bell family told me on the phone that is why they didn't apply for the 80-90 allotments in GR, many years ago) it would be difficult to sell the format in Grand Rapids though, to make it worthwhile to substitute for lower rated but higher billing formats.

WLAV-outdated FCC rules (current Section 73.213) and the resulting spotty measured DA pattern are taking their toll. They should have nailed that old TL site down years ago.


"I had a job for a while as an announcer at WWV but I finally quit, because I couldn't stand the hours."

-Author Unknown

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic