Radio ratings 1993-94

[Mega Hertz]

An interesting find! This is from R&R, issued in early 1995. When Detroit was market #6! Anyway, most of the rockers were in the bottom half of the diary, and it is interesting to see how things were before the TeleComm Act of 96, when things really changed. I suppose this is what happens in an over-rocked market (though it was nice having all that choice). Wheels at 18, Z-Rock lower than that, and no TRUE CHR in the market (96.3 was, for all intents and purposes, an alternative Top 40 station).

Also, I hope this embeds right. I've never been too good at posting photos on forums.

[ChrisWL1980]

WHYT interestingly still continued to report as a CHR/Pop to R&R until late '95 or early '96 when they finally moved to the Alternative panel.
If you combined the 95.5 and 96.3 playlists at the time with a smidge of 97.9 (Urban music wasn't crossing very strongly to CHR/Pop at the time), you'd get something pretty close to CHR (despite 95.5's penchant for editing out any spoken word bits lest they be considered "rap", and guitar solos from songs like "Hold My Hand" and "I'm the Only One"). Still, I used to enjoy DXing 98.3 WTWR, 92.5 WVKS and Flint's WWCK (I used to pick up the AM 1570 simulcast on my bedroom clock radio) to be able to hear "all the hits on one station."

[Mega Hertz]

IIRC, CHR at the time was in a funk. Detroit did not have a TRUE CHR until DRQ tweaked in 1998 or so. And by that I mean much in the way of urban music. Before that, I think 99.5 the Fox or 96.3 were more Top 40, though they each had their lean. The early 90s were a tough time. AORs found themselves in trouble, CHR found itself in trouble, the only format that really came out a winner was country. Beautiful Music stations were evolving into AC which was still too hot sometimes for a certain segment. This was when it was all but a guarantee that JLB and WJR would be top two. To see THREE AM stations in the top 5 is amazing!

[MWmetalhead]

This a terrific find!

FM 98 WJLB blowing everyone away in ages 12+. 1270 WXYT every bit as relevant as 950 WWJ! WRIF with big demo wins, especially compared to other rock stations, even back then!

What prompted 93.1 to ditch "Lite FM" in favor of Rhythmic AC? At the time, their numbers looked perfectly respectable! When did the flip to Rhythmic AC occur - I want to say 1996?

Star 97 was just beginning to crap the bed. "96.3 FM" WHYT saw a big decline, too. year over year. WLLZ was already bordering on irrelevance, 89X had a crappy book following what appears to be two decent books, and WYCD appeared to be winning the battle with W4 Country in the demos that mattered (W4 performed much better with older listeners).

The other thing that caught my attention - the popularity of Jazz 106 WJZZ! Holy crap. Second place in Men 25-54 and third in Men 18-49?!! No wonder 98.7 WLLZ became Smooth Jazz V98.7!

Z-Rock: 19th place in A18-49, tied with Classical WQRS. I'm not sure of the purpose, though, of rebranding to The Bear.

Funny how 89X is listed but 93.9 is not.

What an incredibly boring station (music wise) Q95 must've been at the time. I remember they sounded pretty bad in 1999. To have equally milquetoast WPLT right next door on the dial in the late 90s was a pretty painful 1-2 punch.

Based on the data above, it is amazing 98 WJLB evaded direct competition as long as it did. Seems to me flipping 97.1 to Urban should've been a no-brainer.

[Mega Hertz]

WDRQ flipped to Rhythmic AC in August 1996.
WCHB flipped to Urban also around August 1996.

WLLZ may have been bordering on irrelevance otherwise but not in my house Plus, Podell took over PD reigns in mid '94 and Drew and Mike were getting hot. Other than Sheri Donovan, who was at WLLZ then? Who was their morning show? I listened to just as much Riff as I did LLZ but can't remember much from the last 3 years of LLZ's life. I can remember Calvert interviewing Mellencamp in late 1992

102.7 was hampered by their lack of signal south and west. Not to mention, hard rock and metal were a hard sell. Then when the Z Rock branding went under, they flipped it to another AOR Riff like outlet.

Star 97 was how I discovered that people don't want a "decade" station. Tried being middle ground between CSX and OMC. Didn't work!

Why was WXYT so hot? Did they have Rush then? 1994 was a big year for Conservatives and Rush had a lot to do with that.

Looks to me like the decision to flip Wheels to Smooth Jazz perhaps was made earlier than late 1995. Unless the tweak in June was a last ditch effort. I have seen rumors on here that Dan Mason was gonna get that format on 98.7 regardless and that was meant to tank the station. Perhaps Flagg can pop in here and clear it up.

[MWmetalhead]

Yes, 1270 aired Rush then. Station had strong local talent in several other dayparts. I am unsure if they were already carrying Imus in the morning; I think that came later. 1270 was also flagship for the Detroit Lions.

IIRC, Rush did not move to 760 until 2002.

[Mega Hertz]

This thread sure didn't gain much traction. Perhaps if I blamed low ratings on the LEFT and make it a liberal conspiracy we could get more posts in here.

[ZenithCKLW]

I noticed the only owner that still exists: Crawford.

[Mega Hertz]

Holy shit. You're right. Doesn't Greater Media still exist in other markets? I can't remember. It could be fun to play a game of who bought who, who swallowed up who, and who owns what today. Look at all those different owners! Two stations max! Ffs.

[MWmetalhead]

Beasley acquired Greater Media in its entirety.

To see "Viacom," "Infinity" and "CBS" all listed as separate entities is really, really remarkable!

[ZenithCKLW]

It could be fun to play a game of who bought who, who swallowed up who, and who owns what today.

It would look like a backwards family tree.

[Mega Hertz]

Group W, Viacom, CBS and Infinity all became the same family. Secret was bought up a couple of times before Clear Channel bought them up. CC had originally owned WQRS before Greater Media got it due to ownership limits. What do we have now...Bell, iHeart, Beasley, Entercom, Crawford, Cumulus. Did I miss anyone?

[Mega Hertz]

Sorry. EMF/KLove and the Masons.

[WOHO]

Check it out, 3 of the top 5 are the AM stations, and WJR was even higher in 93's book. Man, things sure hit the skids! 1270 can even get a share anymore while 97.1 was about a share then. All I can say is wow. And yes, the ownership changes are incredible. Can't believe Detroit was still a Top 10 market that stage of the game either, thought they were down to #9 already by 94?

[Colonel Flagg]

WDRQ flipped to Rhythmic AC in August 1996.
WCHB flipped to Urban also around August 1996.

WLLZ may have been bordering on irrelevance otherwise but not in my house Plus, Podell took over PD reigns in mid '94 and Drew and Mike were getting hot. Other than Sheri Donovan, who was at WLLZ then? Who was their morning show? I listened to just as much Riff as I did LLZ but can't remember much from the last 3 years of LLZ's life. I can remember Calvert interviewing Mellencamp in late 1992

102.7 was hampered by their lack of signal south and west. Not to mention, hard rock and metal were a hard sell. Then when the Z Rock branding went under, they flipped it to another AOR Riff like outlet.

Star 97 was how I discovered that people don't want a "decade" station. Tried being middle ground between CSX and OMC. Didn't work!

Why was WXYT so hot? Did they have Rush then? 1994 was a big year for Conservatives and Rush had a lot to do with that.

Looks to me like the decision to flip Wheels to Smooth Jazz perhaps was made earlier than late 1995. Unless the tweak in June was a last ditch effort. I have seen rumors on here that Dan Mason was gonna get that format on 98.7 regardless and that was meant to tank the station. Perhaps Flagg can pop in here and clear it up.

Thanks for the props, but "Flagg" was in Orlando at WHTQ when WLLZ flipped to Smooth Jazz. I remember getting a phone call when they flipped. I believe KC was doing mornings at the end, and I'm pretty sure Gary Palmer was PD/afternoons, after Shari moved to L.A. Could be wrong. Dan Mason, to his credit, was a good guy, who paid his dues, not just another empty suit exec. I suspect with WLLZ running on fumes, they wanted some of those BMW dealer and "wine & cheese" ad dollars. Smooth Jazz had a loyal following, among those with higher income.

When Chuck Fritz owned WXYT, it was a license to print money. The reason? Local programming. Established local personalities. A real news department. Once Infinity took over, things started to go downhill. I remember Glenn Haege saying how bad the exterior of the building looked once Infinity took over. "At least Chuck Fritz cut the grass, and pulled the weeds" he said. Putting WXYT into irrelevance is something I will never understand. That's why IHM's talk lineup is currently on WCXI. Wrap your mind around that one!

Star 97 had a nice stable of air talent, but basically ignored all of the black music of the 70s. If you lived through the 70s, you understand how patently absurd that is. Even more ridiculous in a market with a large black population. Steve Miller, Elton John, and Gerry Rafferty can only carry you so far. Whoever the consultant was (Walt Sabo?) obviously didn't get the memo that white people love black music too. CKLW played the HITS in the 70s. Star 97 played the whitest hits of the 70s.