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partymarty

partymarty

Frequent Participant
Other than Star, when was the last time you saw radio spend $$ to advertise itself?

Bravo Iheart!!!

WLW boards popping up. Will it help? Is it too little too late? Should they focus marketing resources on FM where the ROI might make sense? Should they find a credible morning show for WLW? Blow up one of the FMs and move WLW?

What would Helen say?

Pile on!
 
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partymarty said:
Other than Star, when was the last time you saw radio spend $$ to advertise itself?
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I see fairly significant spends, but they are focused on new media now.
 
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If CC/Iheart never had to divest those two FM signals a decade ago I could see 94.1 WLW being a thing now, but I just can’t picture them ever blowing up Kiss or EBN for a simulcast.
 
Iheart AMs are a mess. The same bottom hour news ran from 6:30 until at least 2:30 (stopped listening) today on 55KRC.. especially sad since they had live producers all day. Dan Patrick show breaks are out of sync and double audio plays twice every hour (has for months).

Reds cutaways are often not muted..we get great listen ins to Marty and the Cowboy behind the scenes. Including several of the 7 words.


I don't blame the local folks. They are busting ass trying to figure it out. There's just no way to do QA with so few bodies.
 
almaniac27 said:
If CC/Iheart never had to divest those two FM signals a decade ago I could see 94.1 WLW being a thing now, but I just can’t picture them ever blowing up Kiss or EBN for a simulcast.
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If they still owned 94.1 and put WLW on there it would surely be the death knell for 'LW. That frequency has been cursed in this town forever. LOL
 
It's a shame since 94.1 has a great signal. I wonder why Cumulus doesn't do more with it? Nash FM is awful.
 
microbob said:
It's a shame since 94.1 has a great signal. I wonder why Cumulus doesn't do more with it? Nash FM is awful.
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They made a big investment in country, and that station clears their syndicated morning and evening show. Mission accomplished. That's all it's intended to do. But when you already have a heritage country station like WUBE, there isn't much room for another station in the format.
 
Big A. I disagree about WUBE. They are so vulnerable. It's a shame nobody wants a fight anymore. It's an 18 month (and, yes expensive, takedown.)
 
partymarty said:
Big A. I disagree about WUBE. They are so vulnerable. It's a shame nobody wants a fight anymore. It's an 18 month (and, yes expensive, takedown.)
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You're the same guy who thinks WLW is in trouble, right? Most of Cincinnati seems to disagree with you.
 
TheBigA said:
You're the same guy who thinks WLW is in trouble, right? Most of Cincinnati seems to disagree with you.
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Yeah, WLW that bills 25% more than the #2 biller in the market.

And the #2 station is WUBE, with 30% higher billing than the #3 station and a position and cash flow that allow it to very effectively deter competition.
 
WLW is suffering through it's worst ratings since the mid 90s. It's sloppy and way too old. Have you seen the median age? The former can be fixed...and you can hear that someone is now paying attention. Fresh imaging, not as many book author tours. The only way to fix the aging demo is a full signal FM. You have the most expensive to produce product on the least desirable medium. Yes, Radio is the perfect job for a "C Student".

As for WUBE. Kudos to them for being mostly live and local. And along with WGRR are the most plugged into the community, but again, they are underperforming the lifegroup potential by a not insignificant number. I stand by my comment that it's an 18 month takedown. I also understand no current owner in the market has the resources or stomach for that fight.


Pile on..
 
partymarty said:
The only way to fix the aging demo is a full signal FM. You have the most expensive to produce product on the least desirable medium.
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The goal is to make the most money, not get the best ratings or have the youngest demo. If WLW can bill the most money in Cincinnati, then everything else doesn't matter.

Also, putting aging product on FM just moves that aging demo to FM. Nothing more. Ask the folks at WMAL-FM in DC. Or WVXU/WGUC Cincinnati.
 
TheBigA said:
The goal is to make the most money, not get the best ratings or have the youngest demo. If WLW can bill the most money in Cincinnati, then everything else doesn't matter.

Also, putting aging product on FM just moves that aging demo to FM. Nothing more. Ask the folks at WMAL-FM in DC. Or WVXU/WGUC Cincinnati.
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Does that go for sports programming, too? If not, why did WFAN put a full simulcast on FM? Just to break through the office building brick-and-steel/computer noise barrier?
 
partymarty said:
As for WUBE. Kudos to them for being mostly live and local. And along with WGRR are the most plugged into the community, but again, they are underperforming the lifegroup potential by a not insignificant number. I stand by my comment that it's an 18 month takedown. I also understand no current owner in the market has the resources or stomach for that fight.
.
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I looked at a couple of comparable markets and WUBE wins on ratings share, revenue share and power ratio. The 4 rimshot / suburban country stations have almost a 5 share, but very little revenue.

Lousiville. WAMZ. Lower share, lower power ratio, lower percentage of market revenue. WQNU has an even lower power ratio and much lower share.

Indianapolis: WLHK. 33% lower power ratio, lower share, lower percent of market revenue. WFMS has less than half the power ratio in this market that WUBE has in Cincinnati, and its percentage of market revenue is consequently lower.

Both of these markets have a slightly higher aggregate country share which is a normal happening when there are two or more reasonably decent signals in a format. When one goes away, the shares don't all migrate to the survivor (in any format, for that matter). So, were either of the competitors in Indy or Louisville to leave the format, the resultant shares and revenue would be, at best, comparable to that of WUBE.

So taking a viable signal, wiping the existing client base and going against WUBE would be so expensive that there would likely be no return on investment for two years, and then it would depend on dealing a severe blow to WUBE. I think WUBE will invest in fighting off any new challenge and that will make the new station's job very costly and difficult.
 
CTListener said:
Does that go for sports programming, too? If not, why did WFAN put a full simulcast on FM? Just to break through the office building brick-and-steel/computer noise barrier?
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Sports talk is a very different format than conservative talk. In many ways. If WLW was sports talk, yes they should move to FM.
 
David. That's a wonderful rundown on why it's not likely anyone will take on WUBE. Shame, as they are ripe for a full frontal attack. Your logic is spot on.

Big A. You are kidding yourself if you think there isn't serious internal concern about WLW. The ratings are in the tank the revenue will follow. Helen Mays doesn't send Mr Chase and spend Mr Green when the Titanic isn't taking on water. Big changes are coming to the (used to be) Big One. But the only way you make it matter is to put it on FM. Ya gotta fish where the fish are. And unless you are happy with a 60+ demo you need to move it.
 
partymarty said:
Big A. You are kidding yourself if you think there isn't serious internal concern about WLW.
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Let me say this again: If you put 60 year old talk show hosts on FM, it won't attract younger audiences. I gave you a list of examples. The NPR talk stations in Cincinnati are both on FM, and neither get better demos than WLW. So why blow up an FM?

But if they did, which FM should they blow up? Their lowest rated FM is Kiss. So you'd blow up a station aimed at people in their 20s to run conservative talk that appeals to people in their 60s? Really?
 
I don't see any universe where you blow up either WUBE or Kiss. iHeart can't buy any other FMs. In the 80s, Randy Michaels turned the old gray lady upside down, running off the old-school programming and old-school listeners with this in-your-face young talk station. That needed to happen again in at least the mid-2000s.
 
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