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Los Angeles Ratings
- Thread starter radiofan
- Start date
KROQ has been well inside the top 5 many times. I pulled at random the Spring, 2000, numbers and they were 4th.
Then looking at the period between the end of '01 and ending with the beginning of '05. 15 books, #1 in all but 2 of them.
They appear to have been hurt, as were all diary TSL overperformers, when the PPM came to LA, with the average off about 0.8 on average from the pre-PPM diary books.
Check https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Duncan-American-Radio-Issue-Guide.htm for the American Radio ratings from 1976 to 2002.
And https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Ratings-Directories.htm for the R&R listings through 2008.
KABC has been below #25 for a long long time; the difference between 25th and 40th is within the margin of error of the survey so, to say it somewhat simplistically, 25th is the same as 40th.
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KROQ in 25-54 is now a 3.5 and KYSR is a 3.1. They have pretty much flipped positions and share in the last few months.
There are lots of reasons I could give, but it would obviously compete with co-owned KCBS, no?
Low Power FM stations are non-commercial and only cover a very limited area, around 10 to 15 square miles.
Translators, for which it would be nearly impossible to find a frequency in LA, can cover more but since there seem to be no possible allocations, that will not work either... and the few that exist cover very limited areas.
All the full signals are doing very well, so the chance of a format flip are, IMHO, zero to none.
That said, KROQ HD-2 appears to have "made the book" only because of the new Minimum Reporting Standards rule that any eligible service (AM, FM, Stream, HD) of a subscriber will be "in the book" if it reports one minimum listening incident. So a single person, listening for a brief but qualifying time, will cause the facility to be included. So ignore all those 0.1 stations; they are meaningless with this new rule.
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That's sort of a moot point, in that Entercom is at ownership cap and has a stable of well performing stations. Keeping that format away from Jack and the original KROQ might be challenging. For the moment, it's really a tribute to their heritage.
hotpatrick2004
Star Participant
When is cumulus gonna get the message with kabc and flip that station. It really is garbage. The only thing worth listening to is mcintyre n the morning n peter tilden. Dr drew is boring. I like john phillips but not with jilluan. She was gr8 for fox in the morning but not for radio. And there evening lineup is a joke. #blowitup
To what? There really is no viable format for that signal. What they have is making them money.
If you don't like it, there are lots of alternatives.
18-34 Women they are second to KBIG and quite a bit ahead of KOST and KXOL, the #3 and #4 stations.
In 25-54 Women, they are #3, behind KBIG and KOST.
Their true target is 18-44 women, where they are #2.
As BigA mentions, KABC's real issue is signal. The facility is not suited for a general market, English language format. Deck chairs, Titanic, etc.
hotpatrick2004
Star Participant
Hey david edwardo 2 questions? Why did kabc do so well at one time n how did kfi end up kickin there but? Why did kroq n alt 98.7 flip where kroq is beating alt 98.7? Whom is doin best n the mornings alt or kroq?
ChannelFlipper
Star Participant
I will take a shot at the first one (and yes, we have traveled this road before):
KABC excelled at talk radio when they had no competition and put on a lot of elite liberals like Micheal Jackson and Gloria Alred to espouse almost 100% left-wing talking points that largely mirrored the talking points set out daily by the New York Times and the three major networks (that collectively acted as a unified news cabal).
KFI went to talk, brought in the #1 talk host in America who espoused a fresh, new, more conservative viewpoint that was not echoed elsewhere in the media, and once listeners got a choice, they chose the more intellectually, uh, stimulating alternative. KABC eventually got on board and brought in a slate of much more conservative hosts such as Larry Elder to counter the KFI giant that had slayed the old KABC guard, but by that time listener preferences had been established and KFI's continued clear booming signal trounced the KABC signal which covered an area that seemed to shrink by the day.
As the other posters have said, it doesn't matter anymore what KABC airs since it doesn't have the signal to compete anyway. I would personally like to see them go to all-polka, or at least all standards, and see if anyone notices. All kidding aside, I have tried to listen to the morning show with McIntyre, but the commercial load and top and mid hour newscasts and traffic make it hard for the advertised host to get a word in edgewise. I bet he only talks for 30 minutes or less in any hour and never for more than 10 minutes at a time. It is painful to listen to radio.
So now that he has his own radio station KEIB, why hasn't his audience followed?
From what I recall, Michael didn't as much espouse liberal talking points as did celebrity interviews. That was back when talk show hosts weren't primarily political.
ChannelFlipper
Star Participant
They left the state. His core audience has dwindled here in SoCal for years along with the exodus of many companies both large and small that have taken their middle-class jobs with them. Oddly enough, the immigrant community and their descendants that have largely taken their place are not big fans. Although I believe he is also down form his peak (nobody stays at the top forever), he is still the #1 political talk show host nationally in terms of affiliates and revenue. That said, I do think Hannity is gaining on him fast in those areas.
With regard to Michael, Jackson, I see you are mixing up show guests with show topics. What do you think he was talking about when guests like Jane Fonda appeared? It was more than just their latest movie. Lots of Ivory Tower liberalism was thrown in too.
I'm sticking with my view that this was at a time when talk hosts weren't primarily political. What really killed MJ was that his style of informational talk became dull when compared to aggressive hot talkers. Tom Leykis, who also wasn't primarily political, was another host who put people like MJ and Larry King out to pasture. They were loud, fast talking, in your face, with a rock attitude. Now even Leykis can't get hired because he doesn't preach to the converted.
KABC was a victim of its poor signal vs. KFI and its own mistakes.
When KFI started creeping up on KABC, KABC did not do one basic thing: examine the Arbitron diaries in Columbia. If they had, they would have seen what I noticed which was that KFI made its early gains in the areas where KABC had the worst signal. San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, Irvine, Pomona, etc.
Instead, KABC thought that their programming was wrong, and they messed with all the wrong things. The programming was not in need of change as much as in need of refreshing. But with increasing noise levels in LA, the usable signal area of KABC was shrinking fast. And in the areas where it was still a good signal, the population was increasingly ethnic where the older non-Hispanic white guy programming of KABC just did not perform.
The available listeners moved out, the coverage shrank and KABC messed with all the wrong elements of its programming. And in the meantime, KFI found the right blend of talent and topics and became the better station with the vastly better signal. KFI did not immediately achieve critical mass when they added Rush... it took KABC's errors to drive listeners to KFI where they found not just Rush but a good line-up of talent in the drive times, too. And we have to remember that part of the midday success was due to the popularity of Dr Laura, who rivaled Rush in audience sizes.
Someone who is an Alt and KROQ listener will have to tell us what has happened in the last few months that has given the advantage to KROQ
hotpatrick2004
Star Participant
Thanks david. I use t o say 2000 to 2007 enjoy kabc. Mr kabc alred and taylor. How fast the mighty have fallen. Mr kabc left n went to 1150 air america briefly. Both were brief his stay at 1150 and air america.
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