• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WKKT #1 country station in America

C

CLTRadio

WKKT was the top rated country station in America for fall 2021. Their new PD really delivered.

WSOC used to dominate the country battle in Charlotte, but underperformed for most of 2021. John Reynolds has programmed top 40 radio for his entire career. I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to put him over WSOC. He clearly doesn’t know the format.

www.insideradio.com

Charlotte's WKKT, Austin's KVET-FM Top Nielsen's Country Station Rankings In Markets 1-50.

This week, Inside Radio's “By The Numbers” shines a light on Fall 2021's 10 top-rated country stations in each of four separate market groups, based on average quarter-hour share among
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com
 
WSOC started to falter a bit under CBS which is no surprise as they don’t have a great track record with the country format. Country is one of iHeart’s biggest and most researched formats and they are tough to compete with because they know what they’re doing.

Also, I wonder if the rebrands 103.7 has had have hurt. I was never a fan of the “new 103.7” thing they started.
 
101tm said:
WSOC started to falter a bit under CBS which is no surprise as they don’t have a great track record with the country format. Country is one of iHeart’s biggest and most researched formats and they are tough to compete with because they know what they’re doing.

Also, I wonder if the rebrands 103.7 has had have hurt. I was never a fan of the “new 103.7” thing they started.
Click to expand...
The country battle in Charlotte has been competitive at times, but WKKT has never beaten WSOC consistently the way they have over the last year and some change.

I do agree that "The New 103.7" rebrand was horrible. They were 103.7 WSOC for many years, then went to "The New 103.7" in 2011, and then to "Country 103.7" in 2018. I wouldn't say the rebrands are constant. They've only done 2.

103.7 WSOC skewed older and played both new and old country. They changed the branding to "New" when they went in a new country direction and dropped most of the gold from their library. I'm assuming they realized their branding was horrible when they decided to change to "Country 103.7".

I've listened to both stations for decades, and 103.7 has been my go to station until recently.
 
CLTRadio said:
WSOC used to dominate the country battle in Charlotte, but underperformed for most of 2021. John Reynolds has programmed top 40 radio for his entire career. I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to put him over WSOC. He clearly doesn’t know the format.
Click to expand...
Does that really matter? K-104.7 was programmed by a consultant for years and probably still is. John Reynolds is just a suit.
 
CLTRadio said:
WKKT was the top rated country station in America for fall 2021. Their new PD really delivered.
Click to expand...

BTW this is not to say that this station has the most listeners of any country station in America. If you read the small print in the linked article, WKKT has the largest share of its local market of any Top 50 market. That excludes all of the stations that use diaries.

Country Aircheck released their own list on Monday with the top stations using continuous diary method, and the #1 station in WUSY Chattanooga with 11.2 share. The #2 station is WIVK Knoxville with 10.9. WRNS Greenville has 10.2. So in smaller markets, the country stations have larger shares than in larger markets.
 
TheBigA said:
BTW this is not to say that this station has the most listeners of any country station in America. If you read the small print in the linked article, WKKT has the largest share of its local market of any Top 50 market. That excludes all of the stations that use diaries.

Country Aircheck released their own list on Monday with the top stations using continuous diary method, and the #1 station in WUSY Chattanooga with 11.2 share. The #2 station is WIVK Knoxville with 10.9. WRNS Greenville has 10.2. So in smaller markets, the country stations have larger shares than in larger markets.
Click to expand...
An 11.2 share in Chattanooga is smaller than a 7.3 share in Charlotte. Chattanooga and the other markets that you mentioned have nowhere near the population of Charlotte.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Does that really matter? K-104.7 was programmed by a consultant for years and probably still is. John Reynolds is just a suit.
Click to expand...
That's not accurate. John Reynolds is the PD and he's responsible for the programming.

It does matter. If you look at 2020, WSOC was consistently winning the country battle when Jack Daniel was the PD. WSOC was down and WKKT had a big increase when John Reynolds took over at the beginning of 2021.
 
CLTRadio said:
An 11.2 share in Chattanooga is smaller than a 7.3 share in Charlotte. Chattanooga and the other markets that you mentioned have nowhere near the population of Charlotte.
Click to expand...

Conversely a 5 share in Houston is bigger than a 7.3 share in Charlotte. A 4 share in Dallas is bigger than a 7.3 share in Charlotte.

KSCS Dallas cume is 660K, while WKKT cume is 260K. They're talking about market share, not the number of people.
 
Last edited:
The way iHeartless likes to lay people off I didn't realize anyone was still there...and then there's the lovely iHeartless non-compete! They even make part-timers sign 'em or try to anyway.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
The way iHeartless likes to lay people off I didn't realize anyone was still there...and then there's the lovely iHeartless non-compete! They even make part-timers sign 'em or try to anyway.
Click to expand...

They get a lot of publicity when they lay people off, and no one ever covers that a lot of those laid off people either get hired back or replaced. I know several who've been hired back either at the same station or in another market. They've also been on a major hiring spree for their digital department. They have non-competes, but laid off people also receive severance, so they get paid during the non-compete. There's more to the story than gets reported.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
The way iHeartless likes to lay people off I didn't realize anyone was still there...and then there's the lovely iHeartless non-compete! They even make part-timers sign 'em or try to anyway.
Click to expand...
iHeart isn’t the only radio company that has laid people off.

And if you follow the news from sites like radioinsight, iHeart is the operator that has been hiring the most by far recently.
 
TheBigA said:
They have non-competes, but laid off people also receive severance, so they get paid during the non-compete. There's more to the story than gets reported.
Click to expand...

Two weeks severance doesn’t cover a six month non-compete.
 
TheBigA said:
Severance is usually based on time employed. Usually two weeks for every year. Includes health benefits.
Click to expand...
I invite you to read the book "Towers In The Sand" that says and I quote Jack Cole was called into the office and fired from WJNO Palm Beach the day Clear Channel took over. The company did not honor his $120K a year contract even while enforcing a non-compete clause for 6 months. There is a good reason it was known as Cheap Channel and now iHeartless.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
I invite you to read the book "Towers In The Sand" that says and I quote Jack Cole
Click to expand...

You give me one example from a very long time ago. I know lots of people who currently work for iHeart. They pay very well, and they operate very differently from the company formerly run by the Mays family.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom