Bloomberg interview with Delilah

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-delilah/

Nicely done interview with Port Orchard's #1 celebrity, and how she blames PPM for her show's ratings downfall.

And she may be right. With PPM it's become pretty clear that what listeners recall vs. what they actually do, are two different things.

Kelly A said:

And she may be right. With PPM it's become pretty clear that what listeners recall vs. what they actually do, are two different things.

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She was not only right, but she was right, (or in the right place at the right time), to capture mega bucks from a simple idea that caught on with her concept. I am totally impressed with her success in an industry that rarely rewards many of its workers. Congrats Delilah, despite the PPM downfall. You did well. Oh, wait, you did better than well! Do you need a male announcer to introduce your segments? I am available, lol.

I am proud of her success. She has done well over the past 20+ years in syndication, and has become a real celebrity...everyone knows her for the dedications and those love songs.
What's sickening is that no one in western WA airs her anymore...her home market. KRWM got rid of her a few years ago, and KAFE around late 2014.

crainbebo said:

I am proud of her success. She has done well over the past 20+ years in syndication, and has become a real celebrity...everyone knows her for the dedications and those love songs.
What's sickening is that no one in western WA airs her anymore...her home market. KRWM got rid of her a few years ago, and KAFE around late 2014.

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Warm and KAFE have added live personalities during their evening hours, which is definitely a good move that makes perfect sense. I think her show would be an excellent fit for KXXO, though.

seatownmedia said:

She was not only right, but she was right, (or in the right place at the right time), to capture mega bucks from a simple idea that caught on with her concept. I am totally impressed with her success in an industry that rarely rewards many of its workers. Congrats Delilah, despite the PPM downfall. You did well.

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To have a syndicated radio show with a 20 year run that made millions of bucks is impressive, even though I never cared for the show. But it may be time to begin winding the show down, given the changes tastes and demos.

fordranger797 said:

Warm and KAFE have added live personalities during their evening hours, which is definitely a good move that makes perfect sense. I think her show would be an excellent fit for KXXO, though.

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Live... really?

joebtsflk1 said:

But it may be time to begin winding the show down, given the changes tastes and demos.

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Maybe, or you have to adapt to changing tastes and demos. Unfortunately it sounds like she doesn't want to change, and is instead blaming outside circumstances, which isn't a healthy thing to do. He other option is to focus on markets that still use diary, and still play soft rock. But they're smaller markets, and she'll have to live with that.

Congrats to a lady who has had a great run, truly remarkable. However, this piece came off as a bunch of sour grapes. Let's blame PPM for the woes right...Yeah look things change, times change, and people's tastes change. At one point everyone watched black and white TV and thought it was great...Now we have 1080p high def and most folks can now stream on demand what they want. Should we all go back to watching black and white tv then with only 3 networks? This aint the 1990's honey and for her to complain I feel makes her look sad, old, and bitter. No way to go through life. PPM is the game. Play it right and win, don't and lose. Simple choice. Those who have figured it out are winning and all one has to do is look at the #'s - I mean the real #'s Adults 25-54 would be a good place to start. Even in AMD it's still a meters game and it shows. Especially in at work listening where you have the largest listening audience. Nights for PPM are the hardest by far so you are handicapped and that's her time slot. Sorry you had a great run but times have changed and you look more like a dinosaur who should be in a museum. Where we can learn and admire what you did. Gary Berkowitz is a clown. He told a friend of mine he wouldn't make it, turns out that person is in a major killing it #1 all demos and laughing all the way to bank so Gary as well is like Hall and Oats...Out of Touch, Out of time. The days of sappy love songs and requests are LIGHTS OUT!

Guess they let you out of your room again and you found the internet computer, huh. But your posts are always entertaining.

Look kudos to a great and profitable run. She has done so much and now being nominated for the HOF - Good on ya girl. Yet the point remains that things have in fact changed and PPM (PPMary is right ) is the game. You can either play it or not. It measures actual listening not top of mind. Besides the bigger problem is that she is seen as being "old" or "your grandma / mother" listened to back in the day. Why do you think stations have dropped her. The sleepy old soft AC's are not PPM winners and sad as it may be for some that's the game. It's like complaining to the ref that you didn't get the call - them be the rules. The smart people are the ones who adapt and change and you see that in how they program and how talent works a break and the clock to maximize qtr hours and TSL / AQH - Besides a 2 min phone call about how my lover cheated and took the car, home and all while I'm here stuck in this double wide with 4 kids, no money, and mesothelioma isn't a PPM winner...just saying.

I know we can't post numbers other than 6+ so it's sort of a moot point but this for arguments sake does paint something of a picture...
NY - WLTW-FM 6.4 AC top station in market
LA - KFSH-FM 0.7 AC
CHI – WEBG – HD2 Channel
SF - KISQ-FM 3.6 Soft AC
Dallas - KDMX-HD2
Houston KODA-FM 7.4 AC top 3 station in market
D.C. WASH-FM 4.4 AC
Philly – Not on Air
Atlanta – Not on air
Boston – WPLM – Doesn’t even show up ratings wise.
Miami WFEZ-FM 6.3 Soft AC
Detroit – Not on air
Seattle – Not on air
PHX - KOAI-FM 0.6 0.6 0.9 1.1 Soft AC
Minneapolis-St. Paul MN – Not on air

When you are not on air in 6 out of the top 15 markets in America and relegated to an HD2 channel in 2 others... that there is enough for me.

Robert Biltmore Jennings said:

When you are not on air in 6 out of the top 15 markets in America and relegated to an HD2 channel in 2 others... that there is enough for me.

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That's an interesting list. They're just providing show-parts to get on the air in a few of those top 10 markets too. So the actual show isn't cleared, just some host elements.

Not sure exactly what the deal is when a station only runs parts. They may not clear a full commercial load, which costs the syndicator money. At the same time, the syndicator is owned by iHeart. If iHeart isn't supporting this show, it's difficult to justify it to other group owners.

From reading the article, it seemed that the PPM favors music programming. Is that true? If so, it would seem to put talk, news/talk etc. at a disadvantage.

I remember when Delilah was the queen of nighttime radio. She seemed unstoppable. When IHeart got her, I think the previous company took a bit of a hit -- that's how important she was revenue wise.

Weird how times change.

boombox4 said:

From reading the article, it seemed that the PPM favors music programming. Is that true? If so, it would seem to put talk, news/talk etc. at a disadvantage.

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That's what the people in talk radio are saying. Yet there are some news/talk/sports stations that do very well with PPM. I think a good generalization is that unedited, long-winded, disorganized talk is bad. Concise, edited, focused, brief talk is good.

TheBigA said:

That's what the people in talk radio are saying. Yet there are some news/talk/sports stations that do very well with PPM. I think a good generalization is that unedited, long-winded, disorganized talk is bad. Concise, edited, focused, brief talk is good.

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Unless Delilah's show has changed, it seemed it was more 'focused' and brief than some present day news-talk or sports talk shows, where the guy is rattling away for five-six minutes at a time (I'm going by memory, from the late 90's, early 2000's).

So was it the PPM that derailed her ratings, or just the other factors?

boombox4 said:

So was it the PPM that derailed her ratings, or just the other factors?

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Depends on who you want to believe. The ratings don't attach blame. Nielsen just posts numbers, and others interpret them. If you read through this thread, there are a lot of things that could hurt ratings in a subjective business known as radio.

Compared to other music formats, Delilah is drawn out and draggy, which usually isn't a good thing on a music station.

You listen to a tight AC station, the jock never talks more than 15 or 20 seconds at a time (unless doing a sponsor read, interview, etc). You listen to Delilah, her calls and sappy advice can go on 40, 50, 60 seconds.

PTBoardOp94 said:

You listen to Delilah, her calls and sappy advice can go on 40, 50, 60 seconds.

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At least. First she has to read the letter. Then she talks about it. It's like Casey Kasem's long distance dedications, except not as well done.

What most in radio have been drilled in is "content". Seriously, this has been the buzzword for atleast the last decade+. And it still may be somewhat valid. But PPM is showing, slowly but surely, that content is not critical especially if it is boring, long, unfocused, and/or not relevant. Radio will be forced to go back to an earlier style, and that is simply staying focused and saying it in as few words as possible. Hmm, kind of like 1980? Wow. Perhaps some of us were right about this 36 years ago. Disclaimer: I certainly don't think this "content" argument hurt radio, in fact, in many cases made radio more entertaining. However, it also promoted many to mistake "content" for simply more inane talk. You can hear it in all size markets today, and it isn't pretty. The point is that this type of radio is not PPM friendly, nor should it be.