Hudson Valley Arbitron Radio Ratings: Fall 2011

[pjc1961]

This diary-rated market (#39) comprised of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties was added back in June 2011 - to refresh your memory, see article -
link: http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2211719 and
link: http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/mktdefs.asp
- use drop-down menus to select "Fall 2011" and "Hudson Valley"

http://radio-info.com/markets/hudson-valley

The publicly released age 12+ overall rankings cover the Fall 2011 survey period from Thu. 9/15/11 to Wed. 12/7/11.
The next survey period is Spring 2012 covering the dates of Thu. March 29 - Wed. June 20, 2012 with the report release date likely being late July 2012.

[Tony Santiago]

Dumb question, what does Poughkeepsie fall under?  Technically it IS a part of the Hudson Valley yet on the Arbs, Dutchess and Ulster counties aren't factored in.

[thataveragejoe]

Dumb question, what does Poughkeepsie fall under?  Technically it IS a part of the Hudson Valley yet on the Arbs, Dutchess and Ulster counties aren't factored in.

Poughkeepsie/New Paltz/Kingston are still part of the Poughkeepsie book (#161). As they should be. The socioeconomic climate of Sullivan or Ulster county is very different than Westchester or even Orange, and no station would cover all that large an area. As it is there the smaller stations get hurt a lot, but in a sense they should. As I noted in the HV board, The Newburgh Beacon Bridge has always essentially been the dividing line between Lower Hudson Valley and Mid Hudson Valley. The book should probably be called Lower Hudson Valley rather than Hudson Valley itself. It's still not perfect, but it never will be.

[Tony Santiago]

Poughkeepsie/New Paltz/Kingston are still part of the Poughkeepsie book (#161). As they should be. The socioeconomic climate of Sullivan or Ulster county is very different than Westchester or even Orange, and no station would cover all that large an area. As it is there the smaller stations get hurt a lot, but in a sense they should. As I noted in the HV board, The Newburgh Beacon Bridge has always essentially been the dividing line between Lower Hudson Valley and Mid Hudson Valley. The book should probably be called Lower Hudson Valley rather than Hudson Valley itself. It's still not perfect, but it never will be.

I know it's not perfect, and you didn't invent the "book", but let's take out Ulster and Sullivan counties in this equation.

Dutchess County has more similarities to Orange and Putnam than the other counties (at least the western portion of the county).  Go up Route 9 and it's more suburban/urban from Fishkill up to the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park.  I suppose you have to count the entire county in this but that's why I brought up the question.  I know Ulster is more rural in nature and I didn't even think to add Sullivan County into this although, yes it is part of the Hudson Valley.

[mikerock]

This diary-rated market (#39) comprised of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties was added back in June 2011 - to refresh your memory, see article -
link: http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2211719 and
link: http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/mktdefs.asp
- use drop-down menus to select "Fall 2011" and "Hudson Valley"

http://radio-info.com/markets/hudson-valley

The publicly released age 12+ overall rankings cover the Fall 2011 survey period from Thu. 9/15/11 to Wed. 12/7/11.
The next survey period is Spring 2012 covering the dates of Thu. March 29 - Wed. June 20, 2012 with the report release date likely being late July 2012.

I wonder if they are specifically catering to the only two stations that are actually able to put in a good signal into both Orange/Rockland/Westchester,  WHUD and WSPK.   Except for WHUD, Westchester and NYC stations are fringe, barely or not receivable at all in Orange and Dutchess counties.  For example, WXPK barely covers Rockland and Westchester, forget about getting a single north of there.

Same goes the other way.  Orange/Dutchess stations are barely or not receivable at all in Rockland county.  The only station that provides a good signal into Rockland County from Dutchess is WSPK.  While WPDH and WRRV are barely to not receivable at all down here.

What would have made more sense is if they did something like this or in addition to this book.

1. Lower Hudson Valley - Rockland, Westchester, Southern Putnam and Northern Bergen County. 

2. Mid Hudson Valley - (Newburgh/Middletown)- Orange, Dutchess and Putnam. 

[thataveragejoe]

This diary-rated market (#39) comprised of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties was added back in June 2011 - to refresh your memory, see article -
link: http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2211719 and
link: http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/mktdefs.asp
- use drop-down menus to select "Fall 2011" and "Hudson Valley"

http://radio-info.com/markets/hudson-valley

The publicly released age 12+ overall rankings cover the Fall 2011 survey period from Thu. 9/15/11 to Wed. 12/7/11.
The next survey period is Spring 2012 covering the dates of Thu. March 29 - Wed. June 20, 2012 with the report release date likely being late July 2012.

I wonder if they are specifically catering to the only two stations that are actually able to put in a good signal into both Orange/Rockland/Westchester,  WHUD and WSPK.   Except for WHUD, Westchester and NYC stations are fringe, barely or not receivable at all in Orange and Dutchess counties.  For example, WXPK barely covers Rockland and Westchester, forget about getting a single north of there.

Same goes the other way.  Orange/Dutchess stations are barely or not receivable at all in Rockland county.  The only station that provides a good signal into Rockland County from Dutchess is WSPK.  While WPDH and WRRV are barely to not receivable at all down here.

What would have made more sense is if they did something like this or in addition to this book.

1. Lower Hudson Valley - Rockland, Westchester, Southern Putnam and Northern Bergen County. 

2. Mid Hudson Valley - (Newburgh/Middletown)- Orange, Dutchess and Putnam. 

NYC city stations do pretty well in Orange County and even under the old book had solid (yet) meaningless numbers.
This book is designed beyond the radio box. Agencies Agencies Agencies. Yes clearly the 50k stations of which there really are 3 are going to have a big advantage. However, shouldn't they? They have the most potential reach, to an area that's largely based on bedroom communities. If you had to tell someone looking to reach NYC's suburban commuting market what would you say? Wow look how good X station did in a market that's 1 county wide yet reaches less than 5% of TSA? This book is far from ideal, but still better than the useless old Newburgh-Middletown book.

[XCountry285]

Hudson Valley Market should never include Bergen. Bergen's apart of the NYC Market clearly. If anything combine Sussex into the Hudson Valley Market that's where a lot of their stations do come in well especially Vernon. I think they should have a Poughkeepsie Market & a Newburgh-Middletown Market again. Half the station's ratings were low! and half the stations on there that were high no one could receive there! When I go into Warwick I lose Z100 just over the hill past West Milford. That's when I can get K104 and WRRV Why did all the station's ratings plumet?

[mikerock]

Hudson Valley Market should never include Bergen. Bergen's apart of the NYC Market clearly. If anything combine Sussex into the Hudson Valley Market that's where a lot of their stations do come in well especially Vernon. I think they should have a Poughkeepsie Market & a Newburgh-Middletown Market again. Half the station's ratings were low! and half the stations on there that were high no one could receive there! When I go into Warwick I lose Z100 just over the hill past West Milford. That's when I can get K104 and WRRV Why did all the station's ratings plumet?

Bergen county is huge. I said Northern Bergen county, meaning only the towns on the border with Rockland county.  You are probably right and know I may have been nit picking in that respect by narrowing it down too much.  I only mentioned it because Westchester stations put in a pretty powerful signal there yet.