News 92 raitings

[Mrtraveler01]

I was over at Radio Online and looking at the ratings and just noticed that KROI News 92 scored a 0.3 during the holiday season (But sister station KMJQ did get a boost to 5.9).

All I have to ask is, what happened?

[Mediafrog+]

KROI completely dumped one audience in order to build another.  Sort of like tossing back all your Scrabble letters and starting with a fresh set.  Gonna have to give it a while to gain any traction.  Way too early to write News92FM off.

Other things that jump out: All three Country FM's are trending down.  Country Legends is at some of its lowest numbers ever.  With KILT-FM pulling away from KKBQ, Cox may start reconsidering their overall market strategy.  I have no idea what would work better on 97.1, however.  Its the sort of stick that a religious outfit such as KSBJ or EMF might be interested in, should either have the money, and should Cox decide its no longer worth the effort.

KOVE has almost caught up with sister KLTN.

And a few chuckles over KGOW's 0.1, making it the lowest rated station to turn in any kind of number.  So much for what was once regarded (by some) as the brave new world of SportsTalk radio.  Makes me want to dig up all the posts the KGOW fanboys plastered on this board three or four years ago.

[DToTheJ]

Here... you... go, frog+! 

Oh, and as a Scrabble/Words With Friends aficionado, I completely dig your KROI analogy. 

[schmave]

KROI completely dumped one audience in order to build another.  Sort of like tossing back all your Scrabble letters and starting with a fresh set.  Gonna have to give it a while to gain any traction.  Way too early to write News92FM off.

Other things that jump out: All three Country FM's are trending down.  Country Legends is at some of its lowest numbers ever.  With KILT-FM pulling away from KKBQ, Cox may start reconsidering their overall market strategy.  I have no idea what would work better on 97.1, however.  Its the sort of stick that a religious outfit such as KSBJ or EMF might be interested in, should either have the money, and should Cox decide its no longer worth the effort.

KOVE has almost caught up with sister KLTN.

And a few chuckles over KGOW's 0.1, making it the lowest rated station to turn in any kind of number.  So much for what was once regarded (by some) as the brave new world of SportsTalk radio.  Makes me want to dig up all the posts the KGOW fanboys plastered on this board three or four years ago.

They're not so loud nowadays are they?

[TooMuchCoffee]

I do hope the experiment finds traction in this age of new media. I would like to think that there are people who still appreciate a real news station.

[Gregg]

Listening during the holidays is skewed, with KODA getting double digits playing Christmas music.  So any ratings taken in December are not going to reflect true listening patterns, especially for Country stations.

But .3 is not good news for News 92.  I hope Radio One knows an All-News station builds s-l-o-w-l-y.  That said, it didn't take very long for All-News KOMO Seattle to be a top station when it debuted a few years ago.  Of course, they had already been a Talk station, so they kept some of their audience.  And they were already the Mariners' flagship station as well.  Still, they debuted I believe in the Top 10 in the Seattle ratings and are at #4 today.

Should I remind everyone again that there is NO successful All-News station in the Sunbelt, except maybe for KNX Los Angeles, which is at #9?  CBS's KRLD runs All-News in Dallas 5am - 8pm weekdays, and is ranked somewhere around #25, despite a 50,000 watt signal.  And that's it.  No All-News station in Atlanta, Miami, Puerto Rico, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa, Orlando, San Antonio, Charlotte, St. Louis, Kansas City, etc.  There were All-News stations in some of these markets and they lost them for lack of interest.  

Why does a new All-News station debut so strongly in Seattle and KROI debuts with a .3 in Houston?  Doesn't Houston have as much news as Seattle?  As much need for frequent traffic and weather reports around the clock?  Why is there no All-News station in any other Sunbelt market except LA and Dallas, while there's a successful All-News station in all the major Northern markets?  



Gregg
nh153@mail.com

[stan]

Check back in 6 months. It is premature to consider these results.

[streetbeat]

I don't think anyone is hoping the station will fail (okay, maybe a few people are), but when the News 92 folks came out in the weeks before the debut promising groundbreaking, in-depth, community coverage, I think people were expecting a little bit more. Turns out it's basically two street reporters and a bunch of anchors. It's hard to cover a big city with only two workhorse/street reporters. News 92 promised in-depth city hall and county commissioners coverage, but hasn't been seen much at either place. All-news radio is very difficult to sustain. That's why you don't see it done well except in heritage markets like NYC, Boston, LA, D.C. and a few other big cities. Those stations have massive staffs and a huge behind-the-scenes infrastructure. Smaller stations, like News 92, can do great over short periods of time (storm coverage/breaking news etc.), but when they have to get up and do it again the next day and the day after that without the proper resources, it isn't easy. Good intentions are admirable and I suspect all the people who are part of the News 92 team are doing the best they can. That said, will RO be willing to support that payroll over a long period of time (and build an expensive new newsroom?) when all they've seen over the first two books is their market share take a massive nosedive? Maybe they have the stomach for it. Most radio companies wouldn't.             

[Rock Bottom]

@Streetbeat.  Thanks, that was one of the best posts I have ever read on this board.   

[sdh483]

My only gripe with news 92,  WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much coverage on the talking heads, aka the GOP debates.