WUSF Beating WFLZ?

WUSF beating WFLZ in the latest public August 6+ ratings...
Am I reading this right?

WUSF 5.1
WFLZ 4.8

DJ Mo said:

WUSF beating WFLZ in the latest public August 6+ ratings...
Am I reading this right?

WUSF 5.1
WFLZ 4.8

Click to expand...

Overall 6+ numbers mean nothing.

WUSF had a good book with TSL due to the political season, but if you look at the Cume WFLZ has almost triple the amount, that is where it counts.

I am sure when you actually break the numbers down WFLZ blows them away int he demographics that really count, which are 18-34 and 25-54.

Furthermore, in the commercial world, a Non-Commercial Station is non-existent as it has zero effect.

I think the remarkable thing about it is that an NPR station is tied for fifth (even in the beauty pageant demo) in a market like Tampa. I would've never expected it....

When the political season is over, everything will probably be back to where it is and WFLZ will be on top again.

OrlandoGM said:

Overall 6+ numbers mean nothing.

WUSF had a good book with TSL due to the political season, but if you look at the Cume WFLZ has almost triple the amount, that is where it counts.

I am sure when you actually break the numbers down WFLZ blows them away int he demographics that really count, which are 18-34 and 25-54.

Furthermore, in the commercial world, a Non-Commercial Station is non-existent as it has zero effect.

Click to expand...

In my market, the NPR station does quite well 25-54. If you want to talk demos, look at household incomes for NPR listeners versus soccer mom listeners (soccer mom household incomes are very high but not as high as NPR elitists)
The change is probably just another Nielsen "wobble" (which, BTW, were supposed to be eliminated when PPM methodology was introduced) caused by panel changes.
Our NPR affiliate has a sales department that rivals a few of the top ten commercial outfits. Their weasels are every bit as slick as the commercial weasels. They also bill millions in underwriting yearly!

OrlandoGM said:

Overall 6+ numbers mean nothing.

WUSF had a good book with TSL due to the political season, but if you look at the Cume WFLZ has almost triple the amount, that is where it counts.

I am sure when you actually break the numbers down WFLZ blows them away int he demographics that really count, which are 18-34 and 25-54.

Furthermore, in the commercial world, a Non-Commercial Station is non-existent as it has zero effect.

Click to expand...

So you're saying that WDUV being #1 in this market for so long means nothing?

And you're saying that if there is a non-commercial CHR station in the market (which there is), it has no effect on WFLZ or even WPOI?

The non-com CHR I'm talking about is the one adjacent to the 100.1 LPFM Hispanic station that iHeart obviously had a problem with a while ago.
I'm pretty sure WFLZ & iHeart is already well aware of this one.

WYPW Power 100 (99.9FM) in Brandon:
http://www.power100.fm

Not sure why people are surprised about this. What it says to me is that when people want news/talk, they go to WUSF. They have that format all to themselves. The loser here is WFLA.

David perhaps you can share your expertise on this. How is a Non Commercial LPFM such as WYPW allowed to sound like a commercial station with a current music log, imaging, air talent (not serving as educational but entertainment) and spots. I thought the point of LPFM's was to have an education and community requirement. It seems in many markets both LPFM's and Non Com stations below 92 on the dial are getting away with sounding like straight ahead commercial stations complete with paid talent and a Sales Staff. In that case are these stations really making that much to cover costs of keeping the stations on the air and pay staffs? The big companies even have a hard time doing this.

You have lots of interfering stations on 99.9 through 100.3, starting with the 99.9 in Hernando County, that one Hispanic station on 100.1 (Viva 100.1), which is also interfering 2 iHeart stations, WRUB's translator in 100.3 and full-powered WZJZ in Ft. Myes, which can be heard from St. Pet, interfering with Viva FM, and I could hear Power 100 all the way in the South Pasadena/St. Petersburg areas, with only a car radio, ironically, not heard in downtown Tampa, despite the closeness.

Why does anyone even bother running a LPFM with a CHR format when you have 3 major signals (WFLZ, WPOI, and WLLD) in similar formats all competing with you? It must be a labor of love, because it would make more sense to run a format that no one else is doing.

DavidEduardo said:

There is no control of content on non-commercial or LPFM stations. They can sound just like commercial stations, and they can solicit advertisers with the only restriction that the "ads" conform to the rules of underwriting.

There were some famous and very successful "commercial sounding" non-coms, with an example being WBRU in Providence which has been a rock station... and a good one... since the 60's. http://www.wbru.com/

Non-commercial stations and LPFMs are not required to be educational, just non-commercial. They can be classical, jazz, rock (look at Fordham's very good station in NYC) or talk and information. They can be bluegrass, top 40, oldies (look at the LPFM true oldies station in LA County's high desert) or Americana. They can be regional Mexican (KNAI, the UFW station in Phoenix is an example) or Contemporary Christian.

And serving the community can take many forms. Playing a good contemporary music mix is just as much a service as playing classical music. "Community service" is not limited to talk and discussion shows about local issues.

Click to expand...

Absolutely! Tell the fans of '60s-80s pop and soul in the Hartford area that WNTY's 96.1 LPFM in Southington isn't providing a service by playing songs largely discarded by Hartford full-power FMs, either because they're too old or aren't classic rock. Tell the fans of Spanish Tropical in the Hartford area that the LPFM at 97.1 isn't providing a service by playing their favorite genre in static-free stereo in a market that has no full-power FM doing ANY Spanish-language format. We're pretty fortunate up here that EMF has a full-power FM blaster of its own (106.9 WCCC) serving the Hartford market and doesn't need to buy up frequencies for translators, and that the market is largely Roman Catholic and isn't fertile ground for fire-and-brimstone Protestant preaching.

radiolife3 said:

David perhaps you can share your expertise on this. How is a Non Commercial LPFM such as WYPW allowed to sound like a commercial station with a current music log, imaging, air talent (not serving as educational but entertainment) and spots. I thought the point of LPFM's was to have an education and community requirement. It seems in many markets both LPFM's and Non Com stations below 92 on the dial are getting away with sounding like straight ahead commercial stations complete with paid talent and a Sales Staff. In that case are these stations really making that much to cover costs of keeping the stations on the air and pay staffs? The big companies even have a hard time doing this.

Click to expand...

As David mentions, non-comms are allowed to sell "underwriting announcements." Most have a sales staff that solicits sponsorships, and those sponsorships may include underwriting announcements. Such announcements are similar to commercials but are not allowed to include "calls to action." One example of a "call to action" is a price. So, you could say, "This hour is brought to you by Oil Changes R Us, serving you with four area locations," but you couldn't say, "This hour is brought to you by Oil Changes R Us, home of the $14.99 earlybird special."

Underwriting announcements are also not expected to exceed 30 seconds in length, though the FCC allows some latitude if the announcement was made in good faith.

An LPFM outside of Austin got a pretty large fine for airing commercial programming a few years ago.

DavidEduardo said:

And serving the community can take many forms. Playing a good contemporary music mix is just as much a service as playing classical music. "Community service" is not limited to talk and discussion shows about local issues.

Click to expand...

However, my view is they're sidestepping the INTENT of the law, especially when you read the testimony that led to the Local Broadcasting Act.

I believe Power 100 is owned and or operated by the same people that own some local nightclubs and the Sunset Music Festival. It's a probably a promotional vehicle and is focusing more on streaming. Remember... if you're "over the air" somewhere, you pay the lower royalty rates compared to online only. It's my guess that it's all about the streaming and larger online audience while the OTA license is simply an investment and or being used for music licensing.

Why were on this subject, anyone checked out 99.1 in St Pete? WUJM... 99 Jamz... The Burg. They've got a decent signal around St Pete but the format is all over the place.

One person's all over the place is another person's eclectic. It's all how you look at it!