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WNEW-FM All-News 99.1 Missing from Latest DC Ratings

G

Gregg

Star Participant
WNEW-FM, which had been rated around #30-something in the last couple of monthly Washington ratings, has dropped off the list completely.

Arbitron has changed its reporting system, so that stations that don't subscribe to the ratings in each market are off the published list. That's why most Baltimore stations aren't showing up in the Washington ratings at this point and visa-versa. But that doesn't apply to WNEW-FM.

The other CBS-owned stations in the DC market are listed, including Latin Hits WLZL, which left 99.1 for 107.9 to make way for WNEW-FM. If anything, you'd think CBS would want to make sure WNEW-FM shows up in both the Washington and Baltimore books, since its signal covers Baltimore better than rival WTOP.



Gregg
[email protected]
 
I heard that the distance between Washington and Baltimore is only 40 Miles. In other words this is basically the distance from the San Fernando Valley to Anaheim.

But Wait in Able for WNEW-Fm to succeed then they would have to cover more Maryland News and Baltimore and WTOP -FM will do DC and North Virginia News.
 
It is possible that CBS is not subscribed to Arbitron for WNEW. With WNEW being so new, CBS may not think it is worth paying for the ratings yet.
 
Is Annapolis officially in the DC market or Baltimore market?
And didn't CBS move around the city of license on one station to move it to the other market?
Please clarify. Thanks
 
The station is now licensed to Bowie, a suburb of DC, about 20 miles northeast of Washington. According to the WNEW-FM map on www.radio-locator.com, the tower is roughly equidistant from Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis.

I also notice WNEW-AM 1580 is not listed in the ratings either, although with their mostly-brokered programming and almost non-existant nightttime signal, that's understandable.

Four other CBS Washington stations are listed... WIAD, WPGC, WJFK and WLZL. Why pay Arbitron for four of your FM stations but not five? Yet that's the only explanation. WNEW-FM still has few listeners, so perhaps CBS has decided not to pay for its ratings till those numbers improve? I've never heard about such a plan but I guess that's it.

As for the poor ratings, two things I'd recommend immediately... Run the news in 20 minute cycles with quick, upbeat stories, more like WINS than WCBS. And also like WINS, distinguish yourself immediately from the OTHER all-news station by running the sound effects of tele-type in the background. Like WCBS, WTOP runs in 30 minute cycles and got rid of the teletype sfx decades ago. Some might say the teletype sfx are a thing of the past (WTOP and WCBS used to have teletype sfx decades ago) but I still think they instantly say "This is a NEWS station" even if a casual listener might not even realize its there.

BTW, CBS also has four stations listed in the Baltimore ratings. But again, WNEW-FM is not listed. For that matter, neither is WLZL, which also broadcasts from a tower somewhere between DC, Baltimore and Annapolis.



Gregg
[email protected]
 
Gregg said:
The station is now licensed to Bowie, a suburb of DC, about 20 miles northeast of Washington. According to the WNEW-FM map on www.radio-locator.com, the tower is roughly equidistant from Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis.

I also notice WNEW-AM 1580 is not listed in the ratings either, although with their mostly-brokered programming and almost non-existant nightttime signal, that's understandable.

Four other CBS Washington stations are listed... WIAD, WPGC, WJFK and WLZL. Why pay Arbitron for four of your FM stations but not five? Yet that's the only explanation. WNEW-FM still has few listeners, so perhaps CBS has decided not to pay for its ratings till those numbers improve? I've never heard about such a plan but I guess that's it.

As for the poor ratings, two things I'd recommend immediately... Run the news in 20 minute cycles with quick, upbeat stories, more like WINS than WCBS. And also like WINS, distinguish yourself immediately from the OTHER all-news station by running the sound effects of tele-type in the background. Like WCBS, WTOP runs in 30 minute cycles and got rid of the teletype sfx decades ago. Some might say the teletype sfx are a thing of the past (WTOP and WCBS used to have teletype sfx decades ago) but I still think they instantly say "This is a NEWS station" even if a casual listener might not even realize its there.

BTW, CBS also has four stations listed in the Baltimore ratings. But again, WNEW-FM is not listed. For that matter, neither is WLZL, which also broadcasts from a tower somewhere between DC, Baltimore and Annapolis.



Gregg
[email protected]
Click to expand...

If WNEW is closer to Baltimore would'nt they need to cross-promote with WJZ CBS 13 to get ratings.
 
CBS probably has an existing contract with Arbitron for both markets that does not include WNEW. Stations are not automatically added to a contract. I am sure at renewal, WNEW will be added or when CBS decides that they are ready to sell from the ratings book.
 
Gregg said:
...And also like WINS, distinguish yourself immediately from the OTHER all-news station by running the sound effects of tele-type in the background. Like WCBS, WTOP runs in 30 minute cycles and got rid of the teletype sfx decades ago. Some might say the teletype sfx are a thing of the past (WTOP and WCBS used to have teletype sfx decades ago) but I still think they instantly say "This is a NEWS station" even if a casual listener might not even realize its there.
Click to expand...

If you want a radio station that programs all news to sound slick and give a sense of urgency you have to back it up with the right production beds and imaging, and I think WNEW is doing just this. Unfortunately99.1 suffers from a few problems: they are generic-cola and WTOP is Coke (It is tough to get people to try something new), and when people DO try something new they may go back to the old because they might think they are missing something. 99.1 also has a much weaker signal southwest of the DC metro, so even if they did well in DC and in the northern and east suburbs they still wouldn't have great numbers.

Supposedly the folks at CBSDC are rolling out the advertising campaign as we speak so hopefully the increase in awareness will see more people sampling WNEW.

As far as the teletype sound efx: I got into radio in 1983 and by 1985 we had a regular high-speed dot matrix printer for our AP wire. Keep the teletype off WNEW. It may mean 'news' to people in radio (and those who are used to it at WINS and KYW) but to the average everyday Joe (yes, the people WNEW is targetting) it would sound very inappropriate and out of place, and believe it or not some people might say "what the heck is that noise?"
 
it would sound very inappropriate and out of place, and believe it or not some people might say "what the heck is that noise?"
Click to expand...

Funny you bring this up....Yesterday up here in NYC I was getting lunch with a friend from work and we were talking about how ESPN is now on 98.7......Then he says to me that the station that should have moved to FM is 1010 WINS because of their lousy signal "and that noice in the background"....He then flipped over to 1010 WINS so he could point it out to me......I just told him "yeah I know what you mean" as I didn't want to go into an explanation that it was a teletype sound effect
 
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