816th Post - Radio Ratings

The radio ratings are out! The radio ratings are out! Are you as excited as I am?

Here is the link. Check it out. I'll be here when you get back.

The numbers you see are the overall ratings numbers for the station. Averages, more or less. If they are popular in one demo, and not so much in the other, they average it out and that is the number you see.

Some stations are up, and some are down. That is the nature of the beast. It used to be that you could drill down on these reports to see how each station fared in different demographics (I suspect that the really juicy information is not available to the public, that you have to buy a membership to the BBM ratings to see that stuff). I mean, Z103.5 doesn't covet the senior citizen set. It is after a younger listenership. So is the station that replaced CJCH this time last year. A similar sentiment can be expressed about C100 as well, although much of its advertising is focused on women, making me think they want the distaff portion of the greater Halifax area to tune in.

The numbers that you see may or may not be reported in the paper over the next day or so. Allnovascotia.com will more than likely report on the ratings in Friday's edition of their online "paper". They usually just use the page I just sent you to. It was those numbers that stated, a year ago, that CJCH only had about 2.6% of the overall listenership. That may have been true in one context; but CJ wasn't after the 18-34 female market. It was after a much older demo; and in that demo the station was not doing shabbily at all.

But, from this corner of the world, MBS's decision to bring back Denyse Sibley to CHFX last year sure seems to have paid off. They seem to be way up. I must send her an e-mail and congratulate her. She'll say, "Bev? I don't remember her".

Hal FM, CHNS FM on the report, also is up; I think their decision to freshen up their play list is starting to pay off for them. Kool FM is down. Q104 is down, which is a shock to me, actually. CFDR, the last AM station in this market (and not long for this world), is up quite a bit, if you examine the percentage of listenership.

Lisa Blackburn's facebook update earlier today laments her station's ratings performance. She's not alone. Jocks and p.d.'s, and m.d.'s all pay attention, rapt attention, to ratings books. Managers contemplate programming changes, format changes, even staff changes, based upon how their station is performing, or perceived to be performing.

The retired jock I interviewed this past weekend told me about the time his station's ratings were up, back in 1961 or so, and how the station manager gave him a bonus check for $2000, a friggin' fortune back then.

Over the last year or so, since I have begun these interviews, it has been my pleasure to meet and talk with many radio professionals. I wish all of them well, and do not harbour ill will for any I haven't met or spoken with yet. I take no pleasure in hearing about anybody's ratings dipping.

Off to the cottage tomorrow night for another fun-filled weekend. Woo hoo!

Bevboy