So that moved Audacy money from one pocket to another.
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All-Access : WLFP (94.1 The Wolf)/Memphis To Move To 99.7, 'Sunsetting' Hot AC WMC (FM 100)
- Thread starter sjs1959
- Start date
So that moved Audacy money from one pocket to another.
AQH is up about 25% from where it was a full month before the switch. That's quite good, but keep in mind that The River was already trending up after coming down from the Holiday numbers and flattening out in April. FM 100’s demise almost certainly helped, but, as you mentioned, most of that was likely increased TSL and people who already listened to both coming back more frequently, I doubt WRVR will have much trouble selling those numbers, but longer TSL generally doesn’t increase billing as much as adding cume. FM 100 listeners will eventually settle somewhere. We don’t know where, but it doesn’t look like they’re jumping to The River lock, stock, and barrel. If they do, they’re taking their time.
The Wolf is really the bigger story. Both its cume and AQH were up by about the same amount. Audacy almost certainly is happy about that. I can’t imagine those numbers won’t come back down, but people are at least sampling the station. When that happens, a strong majority of those listeners usually don’t stick around, but even retaining 10% of them would be reasonably successful. Good chance it won’t be enough to replace the loss of FM 100’s billing. Might not be enough to beat Kix either, but it's a better situation than moving to a stronger signal only to find your TSL goes up while cume remains flat. I'd really like to see how Kix did this book. I'd be surprised if it crashed, but, from what I understand, it let its PD go right before The Wolf moved. Seems risky to lose a PD right before facing bigger competition. I’m sure Cumulus has enough people familiar with country that it can keep Kix going, though.
How possible is it that a lot of FM100's listeners went to streaming/personal playlists?
Agencies, who are the principal users of ratings for radio sales data, look first at AQH rating or AQH persons (the same thing in different expressions) and seldom look at cume at all.
TSL increases AQH share/rating/persons. Advertisers calculate Cost Per Point based on AQH rating, not cume. CPP is the major measurement for ad buys, although a significant move to AQH persons is happening so that direct streaming vs. radio comparisons can be made.
I doubt it was a lot of them, but some might well have. Paid music services seem to have a ceiling. Maybe that’s getting higher as younger people demand it, but those people weren’t FM 100’s primary audience. Free streaming is also showing growth, but that growth isn’t explosive by any means.
Yeah, I won a bet over this. All you had to do was compare 94.1 and 99.7 coverage.
What was the bet for?
Audacy's moves look pretty darn smart based on the new numbers issued today. Over 20 shares combined between 104.5 and 99.7.
They are grabbing a greater share of the market now than they were before despite being down a signal!
For iHeart, their moves created a big mess for themselves. Classic rock is faring poorly on 101.9 as compared to 102.7.
They are grabbing a greater share of the market now than they were before despite being down a signal!
For iHeart, their moves created a big mess for themselves. Classic rock is faring poorly on 101.9 as compared to 102.7.
I just wish Cumulus would buy Nielsen, so we could see how Kix 106 is doing
Memphis has to be the biggest market where Cumulus dropped Nielsen. Last time we saw the numbers, WRBO was leading the way, but V101 seems to have rebounded a bit. Kix 106 also had a commanding lead in the Country race 6 months ago. Now?
You would also think 98.1 The Max benefited from WEGR's move to a weaker signal.
I know 98.9 has tried and failed at competing with 99.7 and 104.5 over the years. With how big The River is at the moment, Classic Hits on that big 98.9 signal seems interesting to me. You'd have to drop some marketing dollars on it. Practically no one has 98.9 on their presets.
I wouldn't bet on it happening, they seem intent to leave 98.9 as is.
You would also think 98.1 The Max benefited from WEGR's move to a weaker signal.
I know 98.9 has tried and failed at competing with 99.7 and 104.5 over the years. With how big The River is at the moment, Classic Hits on that big 98.9 signal seems interesting to me. You'd have to drop some marketing dollars on it. Practically no one has 98.9 on their presets.
I wouldn't bet on it happening, they seem intent to leave 98.9 as is.
I'll have my crow medium well please
And who listens to 98.9 except for Tiger Sports???
It looks about like most of us expected. The Wolf is on its way back down. I think it's still a little up from where it was in its last days at 94.1, but it's closer to where it was than where it peaked. I believe The River has also leveled off to roughly where it was six months ago. It, too, might be up a tad, but, if it is, it's not up much. I'll admit I was surprised to see the Wolf go up by as much as it did after the move, but I wasn't altogether surprised it went up. As we discussed, seeing numbers initially spike like they did for the Wolf and the River after a major shakeup in the market isn't unusual. After three to six months, they typically start to level off and go back down to where they were before. That would appear to be what we're seeing now.
Based on the public numbers, I can't tell where the former FM 100 listeners went. Like you said, 102.7 Kiss FM wouldn't seem to have gotten very many of them. Looks like a substantial chunk of former FM 100 listeners gave it a shot and said, "No, thanks." Not sure if WHBQ-FM or any of the Cumulus properties are doing any better. I wouldn't think any of the former FM 100 listeners would end up at the Cumulus properties, but some could've ended up at Kix. I haven't listened to WRVR much since the change, but, if it has adjusted its sound to be more like FM 100, some of its listeners before the change could've started spending more time at Kix, too.
I will, however, say I tend to disagree with you that Rock 102 should go back to 102.7. As much as I used to like that station 30 years ago, it's not doing much worse on 101.9 than it was at the end of its time on 102.7. I can't imagine iHeart putting anything else on 101.9 that would do any better than what it has now. That signal is always going to be a liability, and nobody's going to search for it to find a startup. The 2.8 share it has now is the best 101.9 has done since it moved into the market. Plus, it's up from where it was the last couple months. So, it might not have peaked yet.
That wouldn't be uncommon today. If a station abruptly changes format without warning, it feels like a knife in the back of a long time listener. And they'll think maybe everybody's right; Radio is a dinosaur and it's time to get with the times.
Except that this was announced well in advance and the last day was well promoted. It is more that the people who were still devoted to 100 probably felt that there was no other station for them and went to satellite or their own playlists. That I agree with. It was the end of an era, but they were headed in that direction when Ron and Karen switched to WRVR, IMO.
Did Q107.5 evolve back into a mainstream CHR? It was Hot AC after the flip here.