Nielsen audio AQH shares for April

[TC Talks]

The guy on the right is Red Noize. It was a standing joke in GR.

[MWmetalhead]

They didn't give him many lines in that commercial, did they?

[Greg Buben]

Is that the same Craig Russell who responded to my last post the former afternoon host on WFGR? If so I met him while he
worked at WFGR. We all have our opinions whether we post them or not. It seems to me from what I read of his response
that he is content with the status quo of commercial FM stations in G.R. including with Cumulus of G.R. Again, if the most
important station of their local cluster has been below 4% for the past four rating periods something is wrong and should
be corrected. WLAV is that station and if they continue trending downward then eventually Cumulus will have to consider
if they want to remain in the G.R. market or not. I know under current circumstances WLAV won't have any classic rock
competition but I do think the classic rock audience deserves a better classic rock station in the market. One last point
before closing again I think WLAV should play less of the big pop hits of the past that can be found frequently on both
WFGR and WBFX. I still say they should stick mostly to the songs that were AOR hits and less of the big pop hits.

[MWmetalhead]

There were plenty of AOR hits that were also top 40 radio hits, especially in the first half of the 1980s.

Radio stations generally aren't going to make wholesale changes based on a few survey periods given the fact ratings surveys are now issued every 4 weeks. Time will be given for prior changes to "settle in."

[SteveL]

I think Phil Tower may have initially hosted mornings immediately following the flip to classic rock. Correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Red Noize (or one of his other names) was the morning guy when LAV made the switch to Classic Rock. Then the Evening Guy (he was a Math Teacher) and Tracy Forner ran mornings for a while. Then Phil Tower.

In spring 1993, Noize was at Z93 in Atlanta. WLAV was "97 Rock" and hadn't gone full throttle classic rock yet.

Unless he returned to the station shortly thereafter, he was not in mornings when the flip was made (which occurred my freshman year of high school).

I do remember hearing Steve Labenz on LAV immediately after the flip.

Phil was our morning guy after LAV went from 97 Rock to Classic Rock. Dave Fortney did middays, I did afternoons and Rob Brandt did nights. This was before automation but I forget who we had covering 10p - 6a.

[MWmetalhead]

Thanks for the info and for confirming Phil Tower was the inaugural morning host upon the flip to classic rock! Glad to know my memory still functions well on occasion.

Before LAV, he hosted a late morning talk show on WOOD 1300. He took the opposite stance of Rush Limbaugh on most if not all issues and liked to argue / debate with Rush's legion of listeners.

I almost mentioned Fortney's name as one of the inaugural jocks but was less certain on that one. I generally associate that name with WKLT up north.

[craigrussell100]

"Is that the same Craig Russell who responded to my last post the former afternoon host on WFGR? If so I met him while he worked at WFGR. We all have our opinions whether we post them or not. It seems to me from what I read of his response that he is content with the status quo of commercial FM stations in G.R. including with Cumulus of G.R."

The Same Greg....and to be honest, I dont really care what LAV or anyone else in GR is doing...I havent worked in the market in nearly 10 years. I just know WHY they are doing what hey do...and it isnt the reasons you think. Again ratings arent the end all to end all. Very Rarely. If they were, almost every station in town would have changed formats at least 2 rimes in the past 5 years. Theres no consistency to that.

Its all about the money. Always has been, always will be.

[DJ-MichaelAngelo]

https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb127

is this an exhaustive list of EVERY radio station in the GR market? or only like the Top 20 most popular ones or whatever

[MWmetalhead]

Only stations that subscribe to Nielsen are publicly listed.

[zzand]

Craig is right, money is the main driver and if billing is fine then why make changes. I do believe these are 6 plus vanity numbers. The ones that truly count are the demographic breakdowns. Those are the numbers that sales would use. To make changes based on vanity numbers is foolhardy to say the least.

[DJ-MichaelAngelo]

Only stations that subscribe to Nielsen are publicly listed.

Cool, thanks for clarifying - I didn't know that. This is kind of a radio-nerd question, but can anyone post a list of the GR-area radio stations that DON'T subscribe to the Nielson ratings? I can think of a couple right off the top of my head, but don't know how common that is in the industry.

[TC Talks]

Here are all the stations

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/locat ... &sort=freq

[Tabooma]

Steve L wrote: "Phil was our morning guy after LAV went from 97 Rock to Classic Rock. Dave Fortney did middays, I did afternoons and Rob Brandt did nights. This was before automation but I forget who we had covering 10p - 6a."

The switch from Mel & Frank's 97 Rock to classic rock happened on a Sunday at noon, with Tim Steele (who did "Jazz Brunch" for the first year or so) leading off on that Sunday and the rest of the staff each doing a couple of hours on that launch day.

I believe that Steve (although he obviously was part of that inaugural crew) didn't have the 1994 classic-rock lineup totally correct. My recollection is:
- Morning: Phil Tower
- Midday: Steve Labenz (who came from middays at WGRD)
- Afternoon: David Fortney (PD)
- Evening: Rob Brandt
- Overnight: Kristi Swan

In that first year, LAV's ratings shot high, but then started to fall. Kristi Swan moved to co-host mornings with Phil. However, a year later Tony Gates was hired as PD, with Fortney and Tower exiting. The revised lineup in 1995:
- Morning: Gates and Swan
- Midday: Ed Buchanan
- Afternoon: Steve Labenz
- Evening: Rob Brandt
- Overnight: ?

Some time later, Ed joined Tony in morning, and Steve and Rob switched time slots.