Star 94-1 Repositions As Today's Best Mix

[RoddyFreeman]

Q100 has been Atlanta's New Hits; Power 96-1 has been Atlanta's #1 Hit Music Station; B98.5 has been 80's, 90's and Now. Star 94-1 has been . . . Star 94-1. (Okay, they were "10 Songs in a Row," but did that define the station?)

Star 94-1 is now Today's Best Mix. While certainly not original--a gazillion stations have used it since Mix 106.5 in Baltimore debuted in 1986--I've always thought it was an effective positioner for Hot AC, a format that's kind of betwixt and between.

I've also always felt a positioner that defined the format was an essential ingredient in a successful station. I lived in New York in the 80's when WYNY-FM was a top-sounding AC station but didn't use a positioning statement. Another station changed to AC as WNSR and drilled in that the call letters stood for New York Soft Rock, and quickly stole WYNY's audience.

Star 94-1 also started doing 94 minutes of music uninterrupted at 9AM. It's a means of getting office radios tuned in, but B98.5 (which plays 98 minutes of music starting at 9) kind of owns the perception of being the office station.

Will these moves help Star 94-1 out of its ratings malaise? One roadblock is The Bert Show. While the 2 of the show's ancillary stars hold court on Star in the morning, The Bert Show's constant is Bert himself, and it's proven a tough show to break.

 

[jabba17]

Is The Bert Show really doing that poorly? How are Star's ratings in that daypart?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Is The Bert Show really doing that poorly? How are Star's ratings in that daypart?

Not understanding your question. The Bert Show is #1.

 

[RadioDoogie]

Got to be an Entercom thing. FM100 (WMC - Hot AC) in Memphis has used the same moniker for years.

 

[jabba17]

Not understanding your question. The Bert Show is #1.

"Will these moves help Star 94-1 out of its ratings malaise? One roadblock is The Bert Show"

This makes it sound like The Bert Show is a problem or part of the problem, not a bright spot for Star.

 

[DoctorRadio997]

I think it's interesting that they're quietly cutting the Jeff and Jenn Show off at 9am. There's definitely a question about whether their content is strong enough... if programming is taking the last hour of your show and turning it in to a commercial-free music feature, that's usually not a good sign. I can't imagine that the show and station ratings are what Entercom expected with all of the money they spent. I'd guess there were some tough conversations in that station last week.

 

[jabba17]

I think it's interesting that they're quietly cutting the Jeff and Jenn Show off at 9am. There's definitely a question about whether their content is strong enough... if programming is taking the last hour of your show and turning it in to a commercial-free music feature, that's usually not a good sign. I can't imagine that the show and station ratings are what Entercom expected with all of the money they spent. I'd guess there were some tough conversations in that station last week.

Yeah, Rock100.5 did the opposite a few months back and added a 9-10 hour to Bailey & SS. They've also gotten rid of their TOH break and now sneak in the TOH ID (Bailey works it into whatever he is saying), probably to keep people from flipping to the 9:00 shows.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I think it's interesting that they're quietly cutting the Jeff and Jenn Show off at 9am. There's definitely a question about whether their content is strong enough... if programming is taking the last hour of your show and turning it in to a commercial-free music feature, that's usually not a good sign. I can't imagine that the show and station ratings are what Entercom expected with all of the money they spent. I'd guess there were some tough conversations in that station last week.

You could be right about the content needing to be strengthened.

As far as starting the music feature at 9 (and this is just a guess), maybe Star feels that some of the potential office audience is switching to B98.5 when their 98 minutes of music begin, and that once that happens, the audience can't be recaptured.

 

[radiofan86]

At one point last year, Star had pulled ahead of Q100 in some key demos. It "woke up" the folks at The Bert Show, for lack of a better descriptor. As a frequent listener of the show, you can tell they have stepped their game up in the last year. Also, while Jeff is talented...the difference between Jeff on The Bert Show and Brian on The Bert Show completely changed the dynamic. Brian is fun, quirky, funny...Jeff is funny but in kind of a cynical way. I don't doubt that listeners relate and feel the warmness of Brian more than they did/do with Jeff.

It was mentioned that Star went to a music intensive 9 A.M. hour. The Bert Show recently made a big deal about going live with content in the 9 A.M. hour (they previously aired recycled content from earlier in the morning). A CHR and a Hot AC, while musically similar, tend to have slightly different goals. A Hot AC absolutely needs to capture office listening and I'm guessing that's why they roll out the music block at 9. The audience is mostly into the workplace by 9.

 

[DoctorRadio997]

I couldn't agree more with Roddy and radiofan. I think there was some interest in the new morning show on Star 94.1 last year, but after a few months the audience felt that the content and topics weren't as strong as The Bert Show and went back. Now Star might be scrambling to try to lessen the damage and correct some really low ratings ahead of the CBS / Entercom merger. Most morning shows dial back the content at 9am if they want any chance of in office listening. The bigger questions is, did Star take too long to figure it out and is the damage already done?

 

[AMRocks]

I think it's interesting that they're quietly cutting the Jeff and Jenn Show off at 9am. There's definitely a question about whether their content is strong enough... if programming is taking the last hour of your show and turning it in to a commercial-free music feature, that's usually not a good sign. I can't imagine that the show and station ratings are what Entercom expected with all of the money they spent. I'd guess there were some tough conversations in that station last week.

Actually, the only reason morning shows continue to 10am is for revenue. They can sell 5am-10am as "morning drive," typically the highest rated (and highest priced) daypart. Almost everyone is done with their morning commute by 9am. It's an extra hour of higher-priced spots.

 

[DoctorRadio997]

There's a difference between saying that a show is on until 10am and actually ending the content at 9am and keeping them on until 10a just talking up songs (like what is being done at Star). No one keeps a show on until 10am for revenue. Very few buyers and agencies just buy "morning drive" anymore. They're very specific about what hours they buy in which day parts. They break up mornings to 6-8a, 7-9a etc. Morning drive is the highest priced day part if the ratings are there, if they are not, another day part very well could be more expensive.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

A few points: An advertising rate for AM drive can go to 10AM even if the station airs different programming from 9-10. The ratings for the hours from 6-10 are averaged to get a rating whether the programming changes or not. Second, I buy radio and virtually never see a proposed schedule broken out by individual hour. A specific hour in a daypart could be bought, but doing that would command a premium, and odds are the premium wouldn't be worth paying.

Yes, morning drive is usually but not always the most expensive daypart. But morning drive only is rarely purchased. Most radio buys include the other dayparts, also. The drive times usually command a disproportionately high cost-per-(ratings) point, meaning the same number of listeners cost more during those dayparts. It's a matter of supply and demand, but it's caused by advertiser perception that the audiences are much larger in those dayparts. Stations sometimes have a bigger audience during middays but at a lower cost than AM and PM drive. These factors (plus getting the reach needed) usually force buyers to purchase several dayparts.

 

[DavidEduardo]

There's a difference between saying that a show is on until 10am and actually ending the content at 9am and keeping them on until 10a just talking up songs (like what is being done at Star). No one keeps a show on until 10am for revenue. Very few buyers and agencies just buy "morning drive" anymore. They're very specific about what hours they buy in which day parts. They break up mornings to 6-8a, 7-9a etc. Morning drive is the highest priced day part if the ratings are there, if they are not, another day part very well could be more expensive.

I spent several decades as a selling manager of stations and even as a DoS of a group. I seldom (maybe never) had buys that broke up dayparts as specifically as you mention. And if someone did want that, as Roddy says, I would have charged much, much more.

Occasionally I'd get a very specific buy, such as spots just ahead of the doors opening for a big sale. But those were usually "before 9 AM" or something similar.

Smart buyers know that just using mornings will cut campaign reach severely. In the PPM, in fact, Middays and Afternoons have more total radio usage than mornings.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Actually, the only reason morning shows continue to 10am is for revenue. They can sell 5am-10am as "morning drive," typically the highest rated (and highest priced) daypart. Almost everyone is done with their morning commute by 9am. It's an extra hour of higher-priced spots.

With the decline in home radios and the consequent changes in 5-6 AM listening, it is really hard today to sell 5 AM as "drive". It worked for a while in the 90's and early 00's, but changes in listening, lower PURs and use of other platforms has made this a rather hard sale except in high early morning traffic markets, like LA or Houston. On the other hand, it diminishes morning values in NYC, where in-car is historically about a third lower than other markets due to use of public transportation.

 

[secondchoice]

Two questions:

100.5 recently extended it morning show to 10 AM. That had to cost cash strapped Cumulus a few extra dollars. Has “AM Drive” revenue extended enough into 9 to 10 AM to pay for the extra cost or was it because of a sponsor paying for it?

Has the AM Drive money that use to be spent 5 AM till 6 AM on radio has gone to the local TV stations in the Atlanta? WSB TV now starts it’s Action News at 4:30 AM now.

 

[rohocop2121]

Seemed clear to me

"Will these moves help Star 94-1 out of its ratings malaise? One roadblock is The Bert Show"

This makes it sound like The Bert Show is a problem or part of the problem, not a bright spot for Star.

I actually understood Roddy contextually immediately. It's clear to me that he is saying The Bert Show is the road block keeping Star from seeing its ratings improve.

 

[DoctorRadio997]

Agree Rodney - the morning show is certainly not performing because of Bert. But there are also many others morning shows in front of them in rank. The station overall isn't even close to where it could be, and is actually performing worse than it was when Lincoln Financial Media ran it.

 

[jabba17]

I actually understood Roddy contextually immediately. It's clear to me that he is saying The Bert Show is the road block keeping Star from seeing its ratings improve.

Please forgive me--I had a massive case of brain flatulence.

 

[DOB]

The thing is when you are going after the same demos as the Bert show you are going to see very low ratings compared to the shows that are going after slightly different demos. I think the ppm has changed things quite a bit. With the diary, a station like k rock in New York had killer numbers in mornings with Stern, but then after he was off the station dropped to the point of very very few if any people were listening. It didn't really matter, they still were among the top billers just from the Stern morning show. They might as well shut the transmitter off completely after 11a each day and weekends. The ratings wouldn't be really that much lower at all.
People really get set in their morning rituals and they are hard to break. Elvis has done very well in most markets he was put on, but the show could never develop a following in Atlanta because of the loyalty that the audience had for the Bert show. I think what you need to do is be realistic. Take what you can in mornings, but really kill it in every other daypart. Like David said above, mornings are no longer the most listened to daypart with the ppm any way. You can get your stations ratings up by being the best outside of mornings. Clearly, Power 961 would be killing Q100 if it weren't for the Bert show. Q100 is the heritage station that is set up with the best morning show in the market, yet Power 961 still out cumes them by a fairly decent amount book after book. Power 961 is without a doubt better programmed than Q100 is, Bert keeps the Q in the game.