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Philadelphia radio ratings: March 2015

Looks like WPHI is dropping :/. Sort of expected but disappointing for me as a classic hip hop fan.
 
Some highlights: WPHT gained 5600 listeners (I have a feeling its mostly due to the Phillies and not the talk shows), 22nd in cume, 20th overall. I still say change the format on 1210. Nothing at this point can save this format. If CBS radio was willing to change 96.5, they should change 1210 WPHT-AM too. Those 2 stations are the weakest links out of the 6 stations CBS radio owns. WHYY still number 1 news/talk station with a 3.4 and 19th in cume. KYW Number 2 overall with a 6.1, 5th in cume. WBEB still number 1 overall with a 6.6 and first in cume overall, WIP's in 6th, 14th in cume. 97.5 The Fanatic is at a 2.6, 17th in cume. Q-102 number 1 top-40 station 4.7 and number 1 top-40 in the cume, The former wired 96.5 had a 2.3 and 10th in cume, WXTU still at a 4.2 in 11th place, 13th in cume.
 
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The "format" is what it is on 1210. But it currently doesn't need saving. It makes money--and more than pocket change.

I'm not sure what the connection between a rebranding and musical refocus on 96.5 and 1210 is.
 
CBS Radio owns KYW, WPHT, WIP, in terms of spoken word stations in Philly. One is all news, #2 in the market even though on AM. WIP is the top rated talk station in Philly at 94.1, yes they are Sports/Talk. That pulls in the desirable demo, especially young men. Guys like WIP and WPEN, both Philly centric Sports/Talk stations. So two of Philly's spoken word stations that are successful are owned by CBS Radio.

1210 WPHT apparently is billing very well, according to some here. So their ratings may not be great as they get beat by the NPR News/talker WHYY-FM. But bottom line is they are making apparently very good money and remember they are an AM station, not an FM.

Frankly I think WPHT was smart in what they did. They have live and local talk in AM drive, in mid morning, and PM drive. They bring in Rush from the bird, for his 3 hour show in the afternoon. WPHT has the best of both worlds. They air the most popular national talker, Rush, and then offer their conservative audience local talkers so they can call in and participate [Rush takes very few phone calls, because the show is all about him]. WPHT's Achilles Heel is first they are AM not FM, so the younger demos don't tune in. Second, political talk skews older too. The younger men want sports, talk about sports, sports stats, interviews with big sports figures, etc. So bottom line Julius I think WPHT is doing rather well and the bosses at CBS Radio aren't about to mess with 1210, yet. Maybe some day in the future, but not today.

WPEN tried being on AM, didn't do much, but moving it to FM made a difference. 97.5 WPEN has a reasonable piece of the Sports/Talk market in Philly.

WIP AM now WTEL 610 is CBS Sports Radio. Personally I like Jim Rome's show, but again its on AM, and the younger men aren't going to tune in. Would CBS Sports Radio get better ratings on FM, in Philly? Might. I get tired of only hearing about Philly teams on both WIP and WPEN, so I also tune in to Fox Sports Radio 1290 Wilmington and sometimes to 610 in Philly depending on what they're discussing.

So WPHT has a lot of competition from other Philly talk stations and as long as the cash is flowing in to 1210, why mess with it. It's all about making money.
 
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Compared to a lot of talk stations, WPHT is very well programmed. It has a little bit of everything, and has the local talk that people here claim to want. Plus, as has been pointed out, they make tones of money.
 
I think we've gone from one extreme to the other. The station doesn't need to substantially change, but is really making tons of money? WBEB, KYW, WIP, and maybe WDAS are.
 
Unregistered said:
I think we've gone from one extreme to the other. The station doesn't need to substantially change, but is really making tons of money? WBEB, KYW, WIP, and maybe WDAS are.
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The point is that there is no format out there begging to replace talk on 1210 AM. So, as long as it makes money, it is not going to change significantly

The top tier of billers are WBEB, KYW, WMMR, WDAS, WOGL, WMGK, WXTU, WIP and WIOQ. The second tier would be WISX; WBEN, WUSL, WPEN(FM), WRDW and WPHT.

The spoken word stations are more expensive to operate, so profits will not be commensurate with billing rank. The top tier of music stations likely getting gross margins in excess of 40%, with the second tier probably closer to 30%. That is, of course, a generalization but my intent is to show that not just the top two or three stations bill well and get good margins.
 
DavidE: So the only FMs in the Philly market that don't make your first and second tier lists are the three Radio One stations and WRFF-104.5? All of them are third tier? Just curious.
 
radiophiler said:
DavidE: So the only FMs in the Philly market that don't make your first and second tier lists are the three Radio One stations and WRFF-104.5? All of them are third tier? Just curious.
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Yep. They bill less than $5 million. They can be nicely profitable, but with lower margins. A bag full of money in profits, not a wheelbarrow full.
 
Jul said:
Some highlights: WPHT gained 5600 listeners (I have a feeling its mostly due to the Phillies and not the talk shows), 22nd in cume, 20th overall. I still say change the format on 1210. Nothing at this point can save this format. If CBS radio was willing to change 96.5, they should change 1210 WPHT-AM too. Those 2 stations are the weakest links out of the 6 stations CBS radio owns. WHYY still number 1 news/talk station with a 3.4 and 19th in cume. KYW Number 2 overall with a 6.1, 5th in cume. WBEB still number 1 overall with a 6.6 and first in cume overall, WIP's in 6th, 14th in cume. 97.5 The Fanatic is at a 2.6, 17th in cume. Q-102 number 1 top-40 station 4.7 and number 1 top-40 in the cume, The former wired 96.5 had a 2.3 and 10th in cume, WXTU still at a 4.2 in 11th place, 13th in cume.
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You didn't think it was worthy to include in your highlights how Radio 104.5 closed in on MMR with in a couple of ticks?
 
Unregistered said:
Then who is 104.5's competition?

I wasn't here for most of the Y100 days but wasn't their direct competition YSP and MMR?
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Wrff is more poppy than y100, and wmmr is harder, so there is increased separation.

I used to listen to y100, 94.1, and 93.3, but 94.1 always had more overlap with y100 than mmr which had more harder rock and more classic rock. Wrff is more mainstream than all 3 in my perception and a large portion of the songs are or become crossover pop hits, much less so with mmr.

I listen to wrff a lot but the other stations I listen to are chr stations mostly, wmmr is very different.
 
104.5 is alt rock, MMR is classic/hard/modern rock. very different styles and different styles of radio.
 
Unregistered said:
Then who is 104.5's competition?

I wasn't here for most of the Y100 days but wasn't their direct competition YSP and MMR?
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They're not in competition. WRFF is an interesting station. They're *like* Alt Rock but they're also this watery, bordering-on-AC, definitely female-oriented thing. I don't know for sure but I think they're aiming for women who were in their late teens and 20's during the '90s. It's an interesting niche but it's decidedly *not* what fans of WDRE and Y100 were hoping for.
 
atrainradio said:
104.5 is alt rock, MMR is classic/hard/modern rock. very different styles and different styles of radio.
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They might be different styles of radio, but that doesn't mean they don't share audience. (I don't know how much, as I don't have access to the numbers.) But I'd wager that a lot of people who listen to 104.5 or 93.3 have the other as a #2 or 3 preference.
 
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