Nielsen #s for GR radio - some significant movements!

[MWmetalhead]

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

Gainers:
Magic 104.9 (best showing in a long time)
B93
WOOD
WTNR
WBFX

Losers:
WLHT. Holy shit. I've never seen them this low. Might be time to find a new morning show. Or a new format. Or both.
Star 105.7
WTRV
WSNX (but still ahead of WLHT by nearly two shares)
WKLQ

It was a bad book for secular pop and adult contemporary music stations for sure. Country gained shares. WGRD and WLAV were nearly unchanged from last month.

[ftballfan]

The Game (which is on a signal that covers the market very well) is almost losing to Jethro FM (which is on a daytimer AM and two translators that don't have the best signals)!

[GnashManDu]

Damn, WLHT is in the toilet. As someone who remembers Dave & Geri, I can't remember the last time the station showed this poorly. As either Lite, Channel, or Mix.

Even Balls out Barnaby never had these numbers. Maybe time to move Andy Rent to Mix?

Who's the PD? They should be ashamed they piddled away this legacy frequency. It's such a shame for one of the best signals in the market.

[ecountry]

I still thinking 95.7 should go Country and take out 107.3 for good as Cumulus doesn't want to seem to give up on the Thunder Brand there. As for Morning show I think it's all not that bad. If they move to Country they have a guy on their Morning show that knows the Country Format as he worked for 94.5 when it was Country.

[MWmetalhead]

I remember 95.7 as W-Lite earning a 2.4 share in the fall book many years ago when Star earned big numbers with Christmas music. The very next book, WLHT rebounded.

During the Kidd Krapdick morning show era, it was in the upper 2s.

The past several books have been the worst in 12+ of the entire Channel / Mix era (albeit barely worse than the first year or two of the "Channel" days).

I think 94.5 has taken share away from 95.7. That + unsuccessful changes in mornings + general shift of pop music listeners away from FM radio are probably all factors.

[Greg Buben]

I see that the top three remain B-93, WCSG, and WGRD. All three of them have loyal audiences and probably will remain
successful. WOOD surpassed WLAV as it should considering they are the station one turns to for news and information.
I'm glad that WLAV dropped into fifth place because as I said earlier they have deteriorated the most from a high rated
classic rock station with a veteran radio lineup to a station that sounds like an average midwestern classic rock station.
I still think that WLHT which dropped to a 2.3% share should flip to classic rock and compete against WLAV because
no other Town Square FM station has the power to compete against WLAV and the I-Heart people would probably
create another "Fox" as they did in their Clear Channel days. I think that Town Square should flip WFGR to WNWZ-FM
considering that WNWZ came in tenth overall. At this time I'd keep "The River" like it is because when Halloween comes
they'll start playing Christmas music and perhaps during the holiday season they can improve "The River" starting on
December 26. The only Town Square station that needs no change is WGRD unless the company flips WLHT to classic
rock which would force WGRD to drop the hippy era rock such as The Doors.
One of the earlier posts had suggested WLHT flipping to country which is an interesting idea but if they did it can't
be the modern country hits that the Nashville major label record companies produce and push. We have enough of
that on B-93 for those who like that which is why Cumulus is insane to continue "Thunder Country". Country could
only work on 95.7 FM if it was either classic country or a diverse country format that mixes the new major label crap
with country classics from the past.

[MWmetalhead]

Why would 95.7 flip to a format that would cannibalize not just 1 but 2 of its sister stations?

WGRD earns outstanding P25 to 54 numbers as is. I doubt Townsquare would want to upset a successful formula.

The best thing for 95.7 would be a return to Adult Contemporary (in which case 100.5 would have to flip to something else) or a flip to Country. One could also make an argument to move Classic Hits from 98.7 to 95.7.

Big Joe from the former also-ran country station in hindsight was not the right choice to host mornings on a Hot AC formatted station. He's not a bad on-air talent but lacks the smooth delivery a lead morning personality on a Hot AC station should possess.

[48125er]

The River would have better ratings on 95.7, Magic 104.9 could move to 100.5

[MWmetalhead]

The River has very old demos. I wouldn't move that brand to 95.7.

[teetoppz28]

The River has very old demos. I wouldn't move that brand to 95.7.

Don't tell my wife that!

[RandJob]

The River has very old demos. I wouldn't move that brand to 95.7.

Why do they have an AC, Hot AC, and Classic Hits in that building? 60% of the cluster going after very similar demos.

Someone mentioned country and I'd usually say that would be a a dumb move. But maybe you give that 95.7 frequency to a Country format and bring over Dave Conrad and keep Big Joe as local talents.

IF you can hyper localize the drive shifts, you might have a chance to ding B93, which ostensibly strengthens WGRD's perceived position. While the original Thunder on 94.5 never beat B93, they had some respectable books before the Nash disaster.

[ftballfan]

If I were in charge of Townsquare GR:

1. Keep WGRD as is
2. Flip 95.7 to country, keeping Big Joe in mornings. I would play at least 2-3 pre-2010 songs per hour
3. WFGR remains as is
4. 100.5 the River adds a Hot AC lean
5. Magic 104.9 shifts to a near-clone of the Block in Kalamazoo/Battle Creek

[jaywmi]

That all seems fine, except I'd push WGRD closer to a true active rocker. Cut out ANY pre-1991 product... increase new music adds/spins. Give up that attempt to be the thorn on WLAVs side.

If I were in charge of Townsquare GR:

1. Keep WGRD as is
2. Flip 95.7 to country, keeping Big Joe in mornings. I would play at least 2-3 pre-2010 songs per hour
3. WFGR remains as is
4. 100.5 the River adds a Hot AC lean
5. Magic 104.9 shifts to a near-clone of the Block in Kalamazoo/Battle Creek

[cckadlec]

That all seems fine, except I'd push WGRD closer to a true active rocker. Cut out ANY pre-1991 product... increase new music adds/spins. Give up that attempt to be the thorn on WLAVs side.

Absolutely. WGRD is pretty dull considering they are the one and only (non-classic) rock station in the whole market. Nobody has much choice, so why would they improve anything. They have no incentive to do so. Those of us closer to the lake have Razor 94-7 and WIIL Rock that are more on the active rock side and they are both leaps and bounds ahead of GRD. Those further inland have Q106 and they have some pretty good stuff as well. Granted, I don't listen to GRD regularly as I am a pretty loyal WIIL listener (can't beat Full Metal Jackie on WIIL), but whenever I do tune in, many of the songs feel like they belong on a classic rock station. And there are already plenty of those here! Certainly more of an active rock lean is needed, in my opinion as well.