October PPM Monthly

[RoddyFreeman]

EMF's WAKL-FM really gained traction in the October monthly, going from a .2 to a 1.3 share in Persons 6+. It was no doubt due to the jocks reading entries to the "Where Do You Wackle?" contest. I mean, "I wackle in the sackle?" Come on.

As a whole the Christian Contemporary genre increased by 18%. It's interesting that Praise 102.5 also had a big increase. Maybe people are watching the national news and feel a need to pray.

Also of note: 92-9 The Game was in the mid-4's before during the Falcons Super Bowl season, but I don't recall them being #7 before. And what happened to CHR/Hot AC--Q99-7, Power 96-1 and Star 94-1? CHR is still getting pretty good shares in other markets I've looked at.

 

[jabba17]

EMF's WAKL-FM really gained traction in the October monthly, going from a .2 to a 1.3 share in Persons 6+. It was no doubt due to the jocks reading entries to the "Where Do You Wackle?" contest. I mean, "I wackle in the sackle?" Come on.

As a whole the Christian Contemporary genre increased by 18%. It's interesting that Praise 102.5 also had a big increase. Maybe people are watching the national news and feel a need to pray.

Also of note: 92-9 The Game was in the mid-4's before during the Falcons Super Bowl season, but I don't recall them being #7 before. And what happened to CHR/Hot AC--Q99-7, Power 96-1 and Star 94-1? CHR is still getting pretty good shares in other markets I've looked at.

I was wondering the same thing...I keep wondering if we're over-CHRed in ATL. Is CHR hitting another one of its periodic doldrums?

Kicks and 105.7 continue their downward trends...

 

[BarryATL]

Here is the link to the ratings.

https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb047

 

[RadioDoogie]

What’s up with WALR, WFSH, WAMJ, and WSTR all being listed as “AC?” This is not the format for these 4 stations.

 

[DOB]

I was wondering the same thing...I keep wondering if we're over-CHRed in ATL. Is CHR hitting another one of its periodic doldrums?

Kicks and 105.7 continue their downward trends...

It takes more than a monkey to put on a great chr now, as in a person who would have known to have been playing a great song like Dance Monkey 2-3 months ago and have it as a power by now. When pop is mass appeal and fun it conveys the kind of good feel emotions and hipness that listeners expect from it. It's about more than 1 song, but this example certainly makes the point.

 

[Alex_0490]

I was wondering the same thing...I keep wondering if we're over-CHRed in ATL. Is CHR hitting another one of its periodic doldrums?

Kicks and 105.7 continue their downward trends...

Someone at Cumulus and/or iHeart flip one of these stations to Christmas and debut a new format on the 26th of December.

 

[DavidEduardo]

What’s up with WALR, WFSH, WAMJ, and WSTR all being listed as “AC?” This is not the format for these 4 stations.

The format descriptions are put onto the ratings lists by each site that publishes them. Some of the sites have notoriously incorrect format descriptions.

 

[Firebird61]

EMF's WAKL-FM really gained traction in the October monthly, going from a .2 to a 1.3 share in Persons 6+.

So....billboards, marketing and promotion actually work?

 

[secondchoice]

The format descriptions are put onto the ratings lists by each site that publishes them. Some of the sites have notoriously incorrect format descriptions.

I use to fill out the Arbitron for stations in both the Cincinnati and Louisville markets. We use to pick the format we wanted reported along with "slogans or names" what is now called branding. Now that was over 20 years ago. Now I am really glad I an out if the business. You can even control the format you are listed as which could make sales folks go crazy. Who at the "site" determines what format a station is listed as?

 

[DavidEduardo]

I use to fill out the Arbitron for stations in both the Cincinnati and Louisville markets. We use to pick the format we wanted reported along with "slogans or names" what is now called branding. Now that was over 20 years ago. Now I am really glad I an out if the business. You can even control the format you are listed as which could make sales folks go crazy. Who at the "site" determines what format a station is listed as?

Websites can call a Spanish language Regional Mexican station "CHR" or whatever they want. They don't get the format descriptors from Nielsen. They use their own contacts of information to list formats. The fact that the websites can add data also explains why ones that list ownership sometimes attribute stations to the wrong owner.

Nielsen requests stations update their Station Information Packet every quarter, with slogan and format. The format name has to come from Nielsen's list of pre-defined formats, and competing stations can object if they choose and if the name the station selected is off-base.

Nielsen makes format descriptors available in the radio client and agency versions of its data, but not everyone looks at them. It is not a default field in the Nielsen software, but it can be selected easily.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Websites can call a Spanish language Regional Mexican station "CHR" or whatever they want. They don't get the format descriptors from Nielsen. They use their own contacts of information to list formats. The fact that the websites can add data also explains why ones that list ownership sometimes attribute stations to the wrong owner.

Nielsen requests stations update their Station Information Packet every quarter, with slogan and format. The format name has to come from Nielsen's list of pre-defined formats, and competing stations can object if they choose and if the name the station selected is off-base.

Nielsen makes format descriptors available in the radio client and agency versions of its data, but not everyone looks at them. It is not a default field in the Nielsen software, but it can be selected easily.

Years ago, my boss and I took a tour of Arbitron. Stations were allowed to submit (I think) 3 slogans so they would get credit if listeners identified a station that way. WPGC in Washington submitted "rock and roll" as a slogan, which I thought was borderline cheating.

Years prior to that, my boss and I took a tour of Pulse, which Arbitron eventually killed but was then being used by our agency. Richard Roslow, whose family owned the company, was explaining how they made decisions on which station received credit when call letters given by respondents didn't exist. We were from Baltimore, and he showed us such a case in our market. He said, "The person said WMBR so we gave the credit to WMAR." Hours later I was thinking about this and realized the respondent was talking about WFBR, which sounds more like WMBR than does WMAR.

Of course the error could have been made by the interviewer. Several years ago I worked on an account that used a telemarketing center to collect information. The person at the telemarketing center wrote the person said they saw the ad in Creative Loathing.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Years ago, my boss and I took a tour of Arbitron. Stations were allowed to submit (I think) 3 slogans so they would get credit if listeners identified a station that way. WPGC in Washington submitted "rock and roll" as a slogan, which I thought was borderline cheating.

A station was given a form where it could specify slogans, names and program / talent names.

In one Arbitron diary inspection for San Juan, I found that they had accepted "ballads" as a slogan. Of course, Arbitron policy was that generic terms could not be registered. I found several hundred hours of credit to that station for that "slogan" and Arbitron had to reissue the book.

Years prior to that, my boss and I took a tour of Pulse, which Arbitron eventually killed but was then being used by the agency I was with. Richard Roslow, whose family owned the company, was explaining how they made decisions on which station received credit when call letters given by respondents didn't exist. We were from Baltimore, and he showed us such a case in our market. He said, "The person said WMBR so we gave the credit to WMAR." Hours later I was thinking about this and realized the respondent was talking about WFBR, which sounds more like WMBR and does WMAR.

The last Pulse book ever issued was for San Juan, and I picked it up at the offices on 6th. Remember that the Pulse was based on 24 hour recall with cume created by algorithm. In the personal interviews, Pulse used aided recall by showing a dial card to the respondent if they could not precisely identify the station. On phone recall interviews, they used in-depth questions to try to define the station. But they were not very good at ascription.