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January 2024 Bay Area Radio PPM Ratings

HenryOchs

HenryOchs

Here are the January 2024 San Francisco Radio PPM ratings:

ratings.radio-online.com

Radio Industry News, Radio Show Prep, Radio Promotions, Radio Station Data, Podcast News

RADIO ONLINE offers the latest radio industry news, podcast news, radio show prep, radio promotions, radio station data and more. RADIO ONLINE has been serving the radio industry since 1989, with up-to-the-minute news at radio-online.com
ratings.radio-online.com ratings.radio-online.com

And the January 2024 San Jose Radio PPM Ratings:

ratings.radio-online.com

Radio Industry News, Radio Show Prep, Radio Promotions, Radio Station Data, Podcast News

RADIO ONLINE offers the latest radio industry news, podcast news, radio show prep, radio promotions, radio station data and more. RADIO ONLINE has been serving the radio industry since 1989, with up-to-the-minute news at radio-online.com
ratings.radio-online.com ratings.radio-online.com

Any thoughts or observations?
 
Covering the survey period from Thu. 1/4/2024 thru Wed. 1/31/2024, age 6+ overall:
alternate view: San Francisco - RadioInsight
OR
alternate view: https://www.urbaninsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SAN-FRANCISCO.pdf

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis from Research Director, Inc/XTrends:

RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, JANUARY 2024, Part I | Research Director, Inc.

Let us be the first to wish you a Happy New Year! We know, we know, it’s FEBRUARY. However, we are about to embark on a mystical journey through
researchdirectorinc.com researchdirectorinc.com

25-54: 1. KOIT 2. KMVQ 3. KQED 4. KMEL 5. KIOI 6. KITS
18-34: 1. KOIT 2. KMEL 3. KMVQ 4. KRZZ (up from #10) 5. KITS 7. KYLD
18-49: 1. KOIT 2. KMVQ 3. KIOI 4. KMEL 5. KRZZ (up from #9) 6. KITS
Alternate view - San Jose, age 6+
radioinsight.com

San Jose - RadioInsight

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings San Jose (Market #39) Population: 1,639,200 Black: 47,500 – Hispanic: 376,400 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2023 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and data are...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
What is happening at Bay Country? I noticed that their ratings are falling and need improvement. Do you think they should hire a Live and Local morning show?
 
HenryOchs said:
What is happening at Bay Country? I noticed that their ratings are falling and need improvement. Do you think they should hire a Live and Local morning show?
Click to expand...

Really, really, really rough stations in terms of sound quality and signal quality. I have no clue what they’re running or doing with their station, but in 15 years of listening, discussing and observing radio as a fan, I’ve never heard a station with such bad audio quality.

The signal quality is also truly baffling with Alpha, 15 miles away from the antenna, you can get interference on 106.5 KEZR from a Sacramento station to the point that it fully over takes it with full HD-1. I took them off my dial despite their good (to my taste) programming because the sound quality and signal quality is too bad, San Jose area. Doesn’t matter if i’m in Santa Clara county, San Mateo County or Alameda county.

We had a former Alpha engineer talk in this forum about how the management ran everything bare bones. If they sell their cluster it could blossom with proper funding and tweaking their setup to further improve the Bay Area coverage. Sad to see them really misuse a cluster with so much potential.

Alpha just doesn’t understand the terrain in the bay, which is fair. A lot of people who don’t live in the bay don’t. We are probably the only place HD makes a difference as a market worth a damn.

92.7 (KREV)’s new owners KEXP could teach Alpha a lesson or two about getting the most of those signals.

Sorry for the rant. Alpha Media sucks, haha.
 
Radiopaw said:
They’re now an NPR affiliate, per the other thread. Lot of possible reasons for their movement.
Click to expand...
More accurately, KCSM has returned to being a secondary NPR affiliate. (KQED being the primary one.) For a long time, they were a secondary affiliate, running music programs like Piano Jazz. When I was still new to the Bay Area, 40-or-so years ago, they even used to air Weekend Edition on Saturdays.
 
HenryOchs said:
What is happening at Bay Country? I noticed that their ratings are falling and need improvement. Do you think they should hire a Live and Local morning show?
Click to expand...
All Gregorian chants, all the time.

Ought to give KGO a run for its money.
 
It looks like the honeymoon period is over at Live 105. I’m curious to see where they end up settling down at- surely, they should do better than the 1.x they were mostly getting for YEARS before Dave came to town.
 
HenryOchs said:
What is happening at Bay Country? I noticed that their ratings are falling and need improvement. Do you think they should hire a Live and Local morning show?
Click to expand...
We've talked about this a lot, but their signal fades in and out constantly. I live about 1.5 miles from their simulcast station KKDV, which is about two mountain ridges over, and even that signal is really unreliable. Bobby Bones does a good upbeat morning show, but it's very automated, and it sounds as if the broadcast team is sitting far away from their mikes. The terrain is a real challenge, but there's something else going on also. (When I have a chance, I'm going to drive around and find their tower. Mark says it's near the intersection of I-680 and Highway 24). With their country-pop sound, they should be doing better. JMO. - Daryl
 
Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
We've talked about this a lot, but their signal fades in and out constantly. I live about 1.5 miles from their simulcast station KKDV, which is about two mountain ridges over, and even that signal is really unreliable. Bobby Bones does a good upbeat morning show, but it's very automated, and it sounds as if the broadcast team is sitting far away from their mikes. The terrain is a real challenge, but there's something else going on also. (When I have a chance, I'm going to drive around and find their tower. Mark says it's near the intersection of I-680 and Highway 24). With their country-pop sound, they should be doing better. JMO. - Daryl
Click to expand...
That signal is definitely hemmed in by terrain. Coverage is pretty much restricted to Walnut Creek & Concord. Here's a Longley-Rice coverage map:


Essentially the only usable signals are the green areas, yellow in a car. The orange and red areas don't really have a signal, especially near the bay, where the HD sidebands of KSJO will drown out anything from 92.1.

Dave B.
 
Last edited:
DaveBayArea said:
That signal is definitely hemmed in by terrain. Coverage is pretty much restricted to Walnut Creek & Concord. Here's a Longley-Rice coverage map:


Essentially the only usable signals are the green areas, yellow in a car. The orange and red areas don't really have a signal, especially near the bay, where the HD sidebands of KSJO will drown out anything from 92.1.

Dave B.
Click to expand...
For the Oakland-Berkeley areas, that map is actually rather optimistic. KKDV registered barely a whisper at my former Oakland house, which was near Chabot Space & Science Center, even in the car.
 
DaveBayArea said:
That signal is definitely hemmed in by terrain. Coverage is pretty much restricted to Walnut Creek & Concord. Here's a Longley-Rice coverage map:


Essentially the only usable signals are the green areas, yellow in a car. The orange and red areas don't really have a signal, especially near the bay, where the HD sidebands of KSJO will drown out anything from 92.1.

Dave B.
Click to expand...
People are complaining about more then 92.1 on these forums - alpha could just really use some upgrades on their equipment (processing) and their signal location, height and power adjustments. They’re certainly not optimal.
 
I found it. I think this is the tower for KKDV 92.1, which simulcasts KBAY San Jose. It’s located behind a clump of big eucalyptus trees on top of a tall hill on the north side of Highway 24, just before the merge with I-680 in Walnut Creek. There is a very steep one-lane driveway leading up to this cluster of buildings, so I didn’t try to drive up there, as it was marked “private road.” I had to take the photo from down the street below.
To everyone who wants to reply, “Who cares; what difference does it make?” Yes- I understand. It only makes a difference to me, because my theory was that the tower must have been located down in the valley - hence all the static and interference. But it’s not down in the valley- it’s on the highest hill around. It’s about 650 feet. In fact, if you blow this photo up and look at the 10:00 position, you’ll see a jet on final approach to Oakland Intl. Airport.
 

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To add : There’s an interview on the internet with the chief engineer at KCBS 740 / KFRC 106.9 , where he says that the terrain in this area is some of the most challenging in the entire country for FM signals. That’s why I still own a couple of portable radios, even though analog receivers are going obsolete, as everything is mostly streamed these days. -Daryl
 
Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
To add : There’s an interview on the internet with the chief engineer at KCBS 740 / KFRC 106.9 , where he says that the terrain in this area is some of the most challenging in the entire country for FM signals. That’s why I still own a couple of portable radios, even though analog receivers are going obsolete, as everything is mostly streamed these days. -Daryl
Click to expand...

well said, but not much of a secret. The more experienced companies seem to be able to get more out of these clusters too.

Alpha and Mr Stolz certainly didn’t know how to get much mileage out of what they had, nor do I think either truly cared.
 
I'm sorry. In the interest of full disclosure, I need to add clarification. I don't have any personal knowledge of how Alpha and Mr. Stolz operate their stations, so I'm not qualified to make a judgment about their motivation. I like KBAY, and I think it has much potential. I will continue to listen and wish them the best of success.
 
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