WMIA Sounds Good!

I have to admit that I was skeptical about WMIA flipping back to a more rhythmic direction. I thought they would simply flank Y100, and not be anything inquire. I'm glad I was wrong. I like the musical direction of the station. There is a good variety, plenty of 80s Gold that was once played on Power 96, and not as much repetition as I imagined. Count me pleasantly surprised!

I agree 100%, problem is their ratings. I think with Y100 and The Beach - mix them together and you have 939 MIA. The problem is they don't stand out - They are live and local however they aren't KTU DJ's that stand out and are known. Perhaps DJ Sama, but, based on the ratings, not enough listeners. I hope they stick with the format and not flip again. Also having Joey Brooks in the morning - competing with Elvis Duran, Julie Guy, Kenny Walker and DJ Laz is quite difficult to bring in more listeners.

I'm not sure how live they are. But nonetheless, they are playing songs that The Beach is not playing - songs that were played, for example, on Power 96 in the late 80s and early 90s. I hope their ratings improve.

My problem with the previous format was that it wasn't unique to the Miami market. This format is much more Miami-friendly.

Like I said many moons ago...should have never left the Move to the Music format. It's unique and people love it.

And I'll still say who cares about ratings. True value comes from the number of stores running your station and the people talking about it in circles. I hear nothing but good about them and they are played everywhere I go.

The hell with arbitron!

The only thing I wish is that they would stop playing the music fast. It drives me nuts.

Unfortunately, decisions are made based on ratings. And ratings impacts revenues in that they can dictate ad buys. While I agree with you, the reality is unfortunately different.

So who goes first? - 939 MIA (again) or 104.3 The Shark? I truly wish wMIA would stay put. Like I said, if they can get the audience, lock them in with shows, local spots (booths, fairs, concerts), perhaps they can capture a larger audience. Remember when they were the "Move to the Music" they copy catted 1035 KTU - but it didn't work - they just don't have that kind of listening audience. In my opinion, that's the only way MIA is going to last. As for the Shark, that won't make it another year. Thoughts?

There always has to be one radio station within a corporate cluster that will flip formats every couple of years with the hope that using a different format, from one of their own large market stations, and seeing if it sticks is what all these corporate types know how to do. What formats are left for them to do badly is the question that they can use to replace MIA or The Shark. I vote for FM translators for WIOD and The Ticket myself.

jbrasco951 said:

I vote for FM translators for...The Ticket myself.

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That was tried when 104.3 first immigrated south to get away from the snow, forty-eight miles to the north.
Problem was that it did not add any listeners to what they have on 790, and one for 610 would not add any either unless they had competition, which they do not.

DavidEduardo said:

They changed it due to declining ratings.



Station owners, station managers, salespeople, programmers. Their incomes and compensation generally are based on revenue or ratings. And revenue is directly connected to sales demo ratings.



While trending on social media does play a part in today's radio, being on in stores does not. Being on in public places depends more on the format than the success of the station. In fact, less successful stations with fewer commercials sometimes tend to be on in public places.



Arbitron has been gone for years now.

In larger markets, ratings are the principle metric for ad buys.

I saw, many years ago, what is today a top 15 market go without ratings for two years. Total market revenue declined by close to 50% and many stations were in serious financial difficulties. Quality of programming declined and commercial loads increased because stations had to sell cheap spots since there was no industry metric. One full power FM and fulltime, high power AM had even gone off the air. A new ratings service was brought in, and revenues in the market doubled in the first year.

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Oh David, haven't we talked about this? I told you that respectively, you and I just will never agree on any of these things. And I won't agree with anyone on it until I finally purchase a station and prove my point.

I won't fail. But, if my theory turns out wrong....then I will admit I was wrong and apologize.

I have to admit, I think WMIA has never sounded better musically. I loved it with iHeart (or was it CC at the time?) first changed format and calls to WMIA. But over time, it just got boring and, when it finally was just an AC station, I felt it was an also-ran to, for example, Lite. Good, but a bit <yawn>. If I wanted Lite, or Coast, I would have listened to them.

But now, they are sort of like a Classic Rhythm Hits. Songs I have not heard in a very long time, along with some more current offerings so I don't need to switch my dial to Y100. I hope they keep their playlist broad. There's only so many times you can hear "Born to be Alive" before it gets tiring.

Thumbs up to you, iHeart!

So a WMIA update:

It looks like they made a full transition to adult Rhythmic AC (I call it "adult" because "classic" hip hop is now lumped lumped in the Rhythmic AC category listed on published 6+ ratings). Has the swing improved ratings, or no changes. David your analysis if I could ask, and is available?

DavidEduardo said:

You have made statements about what is supposedly wrong, but I don't recall anything concrete as your alternative.

Let´s look at ratings, where you say "And I'll still say who cares about ratings".

Advertising buyers need a metric to justify their ad buys. Going back historically, we had circulation figures for newspapers. That allowed the establishment of ad rates based on the potential number of people reached.

Going back to the early 30's, advertisers demanded measurement of radio audiences and radio ratings began. Like circulation data for print, the medium paid for their own measurement because, without ratings, they would be at a disadvantage against other media and not receive much, if any, ad buys.

So, essentially, every owner, manager, seller and employee of any station that hopes to get agency buys cares about ratings.

Small stations in large markets that can not compete for audiences don't have any motivation to buy ratings. Similarly, even the biggest stations in the smallest markets and towns don't get enough audience to be "worth the time" by ad agencies.

This is all a matter of economics that affects the entire industry. Without audience measurement, even more today than ever, advertisers will simply place their money in other members of the media family.

This perspective on ratings is just one example of how your points of view, while perhaps altruistic and noble, are not practical and would definitely not be profitable.

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Ok, for once I will put my points into a long form type. I mainly haven't done this because I've rarely been in front of a computer, usually on my phone.

I understand your point on the ratings system. You speak of Advertisers needing a metric to justify their purchases. I do not agree. While the newspaper did have a circulation number, radio has had a feature that doesn't need a circulation number. It's called "everybody listens to radio". It's there, in your car and usually in your home. It's free. No subscription required. Therefore, it stands to reason that there will be a certain number of listeners, regardless of the number, that will listen (providing the content fits what they want).

Now, if I did want to look at my ratings...as I have said before....I would use a combination of Social Media (modern adults), bumper stickers and advertisers word to prove my success. I would also count on a local "ratings" done by a magazine. Something where they have the community vote to elect their "Favorite", and based on the votes and the count on Social Media, I could say "our station reaches these people constantly, plus more that tune in and out.

As far as ad buying agencies. I get it, they control the world and aren't going away. But in my small market, they controlled 10% of the ads. And i still believe that radio in today's age is more "small market" than ever before. With the access of MP3's, streaming music and YouTube...why on earth would most people want a radio station? Why? Simple, because it can offer something that those systems cannot. Content related to the listener. Specific programming. Items related to the community they serve (that is of course, if they are still doing that and are not simply just a jukebox on autopilot). Like the small station I learned to run back home, we sold 85% of our ads to local businesses. We had sales staff that went to that local Pizza shop. We talked to that Farmers Market. We reached that corner gas station. To most, that's a waste of time. It's too little money. Doesn't work they say.

Well I don't agree. I would rather have 50 little gas stations than one large client that annoys us, takes half our rate and lets their ad agency push our talent around until the point where we have to figure out what to do because they pay half the bills. No thanks. And I am a firm believer in selling the clients on our station. I wouldn't just say "buy us because we're a radio station and we're better than TV", I would make it a point to let that business owner know that 1. We are dedicated to our station and format, 2. We are dedicated to keeping our listeners happy (by including them in polls on the station and listening to their calls and inviting them to send in their thoughts), 3. We are dedicated to making sure our ad package for them is exactly what their business needs and is not going to waste their money and 4. I would make sure our social media is dedicated to actually providing information to our listeners that keeps them engaged both on the air and off the air.

Now, as far as the competition. I get that ratings help stations battle and stay fresh and innovative. Totally get that. However, why I complain so much about them is because in today's raitings....a 2nd or 3rd place station just "doesn't cut it"! That is pathetic! I understand the race to be #1, but not every station in the market can be #1 and it's not correct to fight them all together. Why is an R&B station that's higher than the talk station a bad thing? R&B people aren't listening to RUSH! They should be broken down by format if you're going to do ratings for pete's sake. And, there is nothing wrong with being #2 or #3, if you audience truly loves you. Do you know how many times I watched owners like iHeart blow up a station that JUST SWITCHED and hasn't even really had time to gather a following? It's ridiculous! Or a station that has a following just gets ruined because they haven't made # 1 in a while, even if their ad dollars are not affected. Case in point, why I get so angry at Cox for killing 97.3 The Coast. THAT STATION WAS AMAZING! It had a "cult" like following. But, the management believed the music was too old and people where going away.

SERIOUSLY? Let me get this straight....I, a 30 year old, am too old to listen to old music? So me, and my group of friends (and there are others like us) listen to the early 80s music because we do not care for what is to be "our music" don't count? And what about the people who grew up with that music? They're not dead yet! JESUS MAN THEY AREN'T EVEN OVER 60 YET!

That....that is what makes me so mad. That is a poor decision and most of the time it's due to "ratings". Ratings that aren't #1!!!! It's so bad!!!! That is why I no longer believe in the current rating system. I think it's flawed in many ways. No home phones to call, people with the black boxes that don't really reflect the listening public......it's just all out of whack. Social Media likes and actual listener participation means more to me on how my station is doing than a ratings company I have to pay for that tells me if I'm good or not. No, I'll know if I am good....if my advertisers tell me that their ads worked. If my listeners tell me they love the programing. That is how I know how good we are.


Now, do I make more sense? I mean, you can still disagree with me but....until I put it into play...which I plan to do....only then will I know if it does or doesn't work. I believe it will, but testing is the only way to see it happen. It worked in our small, yet large market. I bet it would work everywhere.

There has to be accountability when it involves the amount of money that it takes to effectively promote your product with all media. Online it is easy to know how many hits you receive, repeat and passionate visitors etc through ip addresses but with radio how do you know? Sure, in small markets they can throw on some adds for their local business on a station for a few weeks and see if they see an uptick. However in markets with millions of people you MUST have some sort of respectable way of measurement to know who and how many are listening to each radio station to work out your strategy. Ratings are a must.

So we had diary but that was bull. You had chr stations with all these adult listeners where they, adults, were asked to fill out their listening habits. Well I don't want anyone to think I'm a freak so I will write down the adult stations etc etc...or mostly people who didn't take it seriously, filled it out on that Thursday for the week with the top of mind heritage station even if they didn't listen to it. Now we have the ppm which is even greater bull because so few have these meters and can skew the results making them meaningless. 2 people in Tampa put a station stream at number 1 18-34, 2 freaking people! So yes ppm is needed to get accuracy but until they increase the sample it will be bull just like the diary was. Detected listening through a smart phones app, you can offer little incentive for it and get a really viable sample size as well. Yeah, we wont be seeing that anytime soon just as the shadow government that runs this country isn't going to be on the evening news tomorrow introducing themselves to the American public either.