KLT wipes the floor clean with The Bear in latest ratings

[NMCSpeaks]

I believe Manistee and Wexford were removed recently, leaving Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Antrim, Otsego, Charlevoix, Emmet and Cheboygan.

Benzie was ALSO removed… so tick that one off.

The current subscribers wanted this one removed… even though Benzie County literally borders Grand Traverse County and Traverse City.

I wonder why. Do you know why?

[MWmetalhead]

Thanks for that info.

In response to your question, my theory would be that the owners of the stations whose signal is best in areas north of M-72 are trying to eliminate counties where their signals are at a competitive disadvantage strength wise.

I suppose it's also possible Nielsen was having difficulty finding willing diary keepers in that locale, although I think my first theory is the more likely of the two.

[TC Talks]

So... Trish.

[MWmetalhead]

That's what I'm thinking. She plus at least one other owner, past or present.

Midwestern presumably would want Benzie counted. 103.5 and 107.5 cover the county well and even Z93 appears to have decent coverage there (but probably does receive some minor interference from the 92.9 in eastern WI).

With two sticks near Glen Arbor, I presume Black Diamond would want it counted, too, even though it would be dilutive to WMKC.

[FakeAndyStuart]

Looks like it's time for "Uncle Andy Explains How Radio Works" for you posters.

1) Only stations PAYING for the service are in the public release of numbers. So Black Diamond, MacDonald Garber and Midwestern are the only commercial broadcasters writing Nielsen a check. It took an agreement with ALL of them to change the geography of the market. The college stations have a different deal.

2) Wexford has NO local businesses. It's all Meijer, WalMart and McDonalds. Cadillac stations are starving to death - put a fork in all of them.

3) Get coverage maps of BD, Mac and Midwestern's biggest signal stations, and layer them on top of each other. It will remarkably look like the new market definition. Who thought?

[Colonel Flagg]

As much as it pains me, I agree with Fake Andy on this one.

[FakeAndyStuart]

As much as it pains me, I agree with Fake Andy on this one.

I'm both titillated and humiliated. Kinda like when I go to the dominatrix... who I could never get to agree to barter. Wouldn't 60 minutes with Mistress Louisa have been a sweet deal on Sweet Deals!

[MWmetalhead]

Only stations PAYING for the service are in the public release of numbers. So Black Diamond, MacDonald Garber and Midwestern are the only commercial broadcasters writing Nielsen a check. It took an agreement with ALL of them to change the geography of the market. The college stations have a different deal.

I was informed by someone in the know on such matters that it takes a super majority of paying subscribers to change the market definition, but this morsel of knowledge was shared with me many years ago, so perhaps the rules have changed?

Also, Bob FM (WZTC) might technically count as a separate owner from WLXT / WKHQ / WSRT / WMKT, so I wonder if Trish actually is able to cast - or least, control - two votes on such questions?

It would seem counterintuitive for Midwestern to vote to exclude Wexford. WTCM-FM's tower is near Mesick, and the station likely draws damn near a 20 share in Wexford County. WJZQ also likely has comparatively greater AQH share in Wexford than in the Traverse City - Petoskey market at large. Not sure about today, but many moons ago, I know WKLT was a popular station in the Cadillac region as well.

[FakeAndyStuart]

Let me guide you here, oh great one.

I was informed by someone in the know on such matters that it takes a super majority of paying subscribers to change the market definition, but this morsel of knowledge was shared with me many years ago, so perhaps the rules have changed?

That is still basically the case. But the magic word in this quote is "paying". In such a small market as TC, the cost to produce the book is basically the same with one two or three subscribers. If you as a subscriber want to pick up the whole tab, you could almost tell Nielsen how to configure the counties. If you want to convince your fellow local owners to help split the cost, you'll have to make some concessions... which to my ear is what the Biedermans did. Doesn't matter how many "votes" there are, it's how many "checks" are written.

[MWmetalhead]

Got it. That makes sense. Textbook example of game theory in action.

[FakeAndyStuart]

The cost of Nielsen is getting more and more difficult to justify, especially in smaller markets. But Nielsen (nee Arbitron) has done a good job of trapping the larger companies into paying for the smaller markets. I was working with a private company whose markets were all Top 50 except one. The small market manager tried a number of times to get out of his contract as that would have flowed right to her bottom line. However, the deal was with the company, and they had built in "discounts" for the larger markets... so when the small market tried to cancel, the total for the other markets came out to the exact same price for the company. So she had to "take one for the team". I'm sure iHeart and Cumulus would love to lose that expense in the markets under 150.. but just can't.

[Ben Zonia]

I don't know if you should put much stock in those ratings, considering that the wrong owners are shown on most of the stations on the Radio Online site.

The owner of WMKC is shown as "Plainview-Old Bethpage School District" and the owner of WUPS is shown as "American Family Association".

I assume some of the mistakes are due to accessing the disaster of the new "upgraded" FCC ownership or other databases.

I have screenshots of these ratings pages in case someone doubts this. I have not linked these pages because I don't want to give them a heads up before you get a chance to look at it before they fix it.

[MWmetalhead]

I saw that, too. It's a software error at radio-online. The topline AQH share data is accurate, though.

[Ben Zonia]

I wonder though if the database reference numbers are based on something in the FCC database which shifted all subsequent files because of a missing or extra file. Kind of like a numerical question skip error made on your SAT test answer sheet, and all subsequent answers are all wrong except by chance.