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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
11/5: New radio ratings — big stations remain big
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Arbitron changed ratings systems, which made a lot of stations nervous.
But a quick glance at the first month’s numbers out today (covering mid-September through mid October) indicate that the top stations such as WSB-AM, V-103 and Kiss 104.1 remain the top stations. (I don’t have morning show or demographic breakdowns yet. If I can get some, I’ll update this.)
V-103’s overall numbers fell a bit, allowing 750/WSB-AM to prevail among older demographics while Kiss 104.1’s numbers were stronger.
Arbitron is now using people meters, electronic devices that measure actual listening, instead of weekly paper diaries, which is based on people’s recall. This is supposed to be more accurate. These ratings are used by many advertisers as a basis to pay for ads.
Under meters, people apparently listen to more stations than they would report under the old system. But they don’t listen as long either. As a result, “cume,” or the number of individuals who listen to any station in a given week, is far higher for almost all stations. But time spent listening fell off. That’s pretty normal based on other markets, though the dropoff in time spent listening wasn’t as sharp here as it was in Houston or Philadelphia, the first two markets that began using meters.
What does this mean for you and me as listeners? Too soon to say but any worries that Hispanic or black stations would be inadvertently hurt were unwarranted, based on first month’s numbers.
The folks at Q100 were happy. Q100’s “cume” number increased more than any other station, more than doubling from 427K to 860K. The station was also surprised that far more men listened than reported under the old system. (As Gary Lewis joked, kind of a warped version of the “Bradley” effect. Guys perhaps didn’t want to admit listening to the Bert Show, though it may have been because they were in the car with their wife/girlfriend.)
The two Hispanic stations appeared to do better under the new system. Praise held up well.
Overall, the top 20 stations aren’t really all that different from what you would have seen under the old system:
1- WSB-AM, 2- V-103, 3- Kiss 104.1, 4-Kicks 101.5 5- (tie) B98.5 5- Praise 7-River 8-Q100 9-95.5/The Beat 10- Hot 107.9
11- Star 94 12- El Patron 13- Grown Folks 14- Project 15- WABE-FM (yes, now we can have noncommercial stations numbers, too) 15-(tie) Viva 17- 104.7/The Fish 18- Smooth Jazz 107.5 19-Dave 92.9 20- True Oldies 106.7
21- 94.9/The Bull 21 (tie) -680/The Fan 23- WGST-AM 24- Rock 100.5 25- 790/The Zone 26- Legends 96.7 27- La Raza 102.3 28- J93.3 28 (tie) 920/WGKA-AM 30- WAOK-AM
In terms of “cume” or total listeners, the top 10 are:
1-B98.5 (1.2 million vs. 551K over the summer)
2- V-103 (1.12 million vs. 847K)
3- 750/WSB-AM (1.1 million vs. 733K)
4- 95.5/The Beat (930K vs. 603K)
5- 97.1/The River (900K vs. 567K)
6- Q100 (860K vs. 427K—the biggest increase of all stations on percentage terms)
7- Star 94 (850K vs. 500K)
8- Kiss 104.1 (850K vs. 559K)
9- Hot 107.9 (780K vs. 478K)
10-Kicks 101.5 (730K vs. 431K)
A few stations actually lost cume including 90.1/WABE-FM, Viva 105.7 and 91.9/WCLK-FM.
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11/5: Radio personalities react to the Obama election
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlantan and Grown Folks 102.5 syndicated morning host Steve Harvey said last night was one of the most momentous occasions of his entire life.
“It was an eye opener for me personally,” he said, calling from the set of BET’s “106 & Park.” “It restored a lot of faith I needed to have in this country. There were enough people who were not African American who saw beyond the man’s color, that judged him on his content and character. That’s what this country is all about.”
An African-American president, he said, was never even on his radar screen before Obama came along. “It was a complete makeover of my mental processes yesterday,” he said. “This country is a bit more open to change than I thought. People are just sick and tired of being sick and tired, as my mama used to say.”
Harvey feels Obama can reach across the aisle and heal rifts domestically and internationally. He said he spoke to Obama five times on his show, including just a couple of days ago, just minutes after he found out his grandmother had passed. “I had no idea that had happened,” he said. “I just thought he sounded tired… I cannot have done that. I don’t know anybody else who could have held up the way he did under all those accusations and false accusations. I would have blown it. I would have said, ‘You can all just kiss my *!’ We’d have gone from there!”
Syndicated talk show host Clark Howard, an Atlanta native heard on WSB-AM: “At 11 p.m., when it flashed across the networks that Obama had been elected, I completely chocked up and started crying. I had no idea I’d react that way. I think it’s based on growing up at the tail end of the most bitter time of the Civil Rights era… Economically, I agree with Obama on nothing. He’s going to raise my taxes and I don’t think he has the same feeling about the free market as I do. But I don’t care now. I’ll care when I do my taxes in April of 2010.”
Larry Wachs of Rock 100.5, who is not an Obama fan, said we are now entering a period of major uncertainty. As for folks who voted for Obama, “I’m not sure they know who they voted for. It was a short-term feel good thing, a desire for change after eight years. That was the message. People bought it.” As for his own radio show, he feels they’ve had some great shows recently. “We’re coming from a real place. It forces us to cut through the clutter and keep it simple.”
Bert Weiss of the Bert Show on Q100 said he was heartened to see the racial diversity at the Grant Park celebration in Chicago for Obama. “That says everything about Obama. I hope he can really bridge the racial gap between people.”
Larry Tinsley, who hosts the gospel show on V-103, said he felt a true “sense of jubilation” last night. “I just felt pride watching this historic event,” he said. “It was a beautiful sight to see.”
Cledus T. Judd at 94.9/The Bull isn’t stating his political viewpoints though it’s fair to guess he wasn’t an Obama supporter. “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an independent. It doesn’t matter to me. Just fix it. Both [candidates] said they said they could Show us the way. As long as you can get my interest rate down from my mortgage, make sure my children get a good education, get gas prices down to 95 cents a gallon. It can only go up. We cannot be in any worse shape. The guy’s an amazing speaker. If he can follow up with specifics and lead us in the right direction, I’m fine with it.”
Frank Ski spent election night debating with Rock 100.5’s Eric Von Haessler and Q100’s Bert Weiss on WATL-TV. “Barack winning has taken away every excuse black people have of being too poor, of growing up with a single mom. He came from a single grandmother, went to Harvard. And he shows that you can’t be a real leader without having worked in the neighborhoods, in dilapidated bulidings, helping Chicago rally for causes. That’s true leadership… I regret I wasn’t there last night at 11 to wake up my boys to watch this.”
I heard a bit of Neal Boortz this morning and he said he wasn’t going to “drop any dookie on this parade,” choosing to let supporters bask in the glow of the Obama victory.
I didn’t interview Oprah but I’m watching her show, which is live. “The election is over and I’m unleashed!” Oprah said. She had kept her mouth shut for months even though we all knew she was all for Barack. “He will unify and bring this country together,” she said. She brought on local civic rights legend and Rep. John Lewis as a guest. “I had an out of body experience,” Lewis said, at Ebenezer Church. “I was overcome. It reminded me of all the struggle, all the pain. To see this day come, it was too much, too much.”
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11/5: “Real Housewives of Atlanta” episode No. 5 recap. Do you know how to spell cat?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After spending the night before watching election results, I feel beyond silly having to recap “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” But this is my job. Thank goodness for the DVR because I did not watch this when it aired last night three times in a row on Bravo.
ABOVE: Kim Zolciak dines with Dallas Austin at Rosa Mexicana.
This is yet another episode focused around Kim, both her efforts to become a country singer and her burgeoning feud with former BFF NeNe. At Barnsley Gardens, minus Kim and Sheree, DeShawn and Lisa watch NeNe get drunk and mock Kim’s country singing aspirations, her looks and the assertion Dallas Austin is helping Kim’s musical desires because he’s friends with Big Poppa. (As usual, NeNe is pretty darn funny. Funniest singing line: “I’m 29 but I’m really 89!)”)
This routine gets back to Kim via Sheree, who heard about it second hand from an unknown source. Kim is deeply offended. She blows off NeNe during a shopping trip. When DeShawn (while dining with NeNe at Chima) calls Kim to see if they can clear the air, Kim hangs up on her. Kim and Sheree bond over how awful NeNe is. “She’s a wannabe. She’s a hater,” Sheree said. Kim decides to text NeNe to tell her off — which is so, like, “Gossip Girl.” Why not say it to her in person?
Here’s the text: “I can’t believed [sic] the ** you talked about me! You have no class you are so evil! Don’t ever call me again. You are a low budget bitch!”
(NeNe, inspired by DeShawn, wants to start her own foundation Twisted Hearts to helps battered women, having been there herself. She comes across as sincere and realistic, wanting to raise $20K in her first brunch fundraiser as opposed to DeShawn’s $1 million.)
We also finally get to see Kim sing. Or at least try to sing. She is awful. She even admits (somewhat) that she needs work. A LOT of work.
Super vocal coach Jan Smith (who has worked with the likes of Usher, Sugarland, Mariah Carey, et. al) tells Kim to her face that she is like a prettily constructed house with a major crack in the foundation and that she doesn’t know what she’s doing as a singer. This results in a comment from the annals of deluded, arrogant “American Idol” tryout singers: “Jan is nitpicking me. She says I don’t know the ABC’s of music. I don’t need to. I’m a singer.”
My favorite moment is when Kim recounts her meeting with Jan at Rosa Mexicana before Dallas Austin:
“She goes, ‘Okay, you have a beautiful house, beautiful furniture, beautiful chandeliers, but there’s a crack in the foundation.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘You’re not knowledgeable on music.’ ‘Is that hard to learn?’ ‘No.’ She’s like, ‘When you were born, what’s two plus two Kim?’ I said, ‘Four.’ ‘How do you spell cat’ I said, ‘K-A-T.’ She’s like, ‘Did you know that when you were two?’ “
Let’s just leave this recap at that. Kim, though, might call this a R-E-K-A-P.
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