South Bend Ratings

[KalamazooClown]

Apparently Midwest Family Broadcasting was a little too aggressive with all their format flipping last spring. Aside from Sunny 101.5 (the only station they did not change, IIRC) Rock WIRX/WYRX is their highest rated station with at 1.7 share. A few years ago this was a solid 5-6 all day long with their classic hits format as Z943. 99.9's return to country pulled only a 0.6, although B100 saw a H*** drop, which seems odd. I cannot remember if WYTZ-HD2 was Sports or Alternative during this book, but that translator managed to outperform WYTZ. Classic Rock 97.7 WZOW seems to be benefiting from the changes at 94.3.

https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb287

[MWmetalhead]

99.9 seems to be a disaster. Alternative Rock listeners aren't sticking around for country. Most listeners from when it was country the first time either removed the preset when it went CHR or removed the preset when it went Alternative.

It seems to have been a terrible book for country in general as B100 crashed, too.

Small market. It's Nielson. There are probably major sampling problems.

[TC Talks]

Honestly, I don't believe format flips will gain new listeners any longer.

Radio is now a 50+ medium, and 50+ start getting set in their ways. Sure, they need surprises, but trying to start over with a new format these days seems foolish.

[Chrocket87]

Unless the current station is losing money, I agree with TCT.

When you change format, you’re throwing out the current billing with no guarantee that listeners/advertisers will take to the new format.

The remaining radio listeners aren’t scanning the dial anymore. They have their favorite stations and if their presets aren’t doing it for them at the current moment, they’ll get their content another way. If you want listeners to find your station, you’ll have to spend money promoting the new format, thus increasing the odds you’ll lose money.

Given these risks in an era where radio revenue is way down, if your station is even minimally profitable, it just makes more sense to stand pat, format-wise.

[TC Talks]

And flipping to one of the same tired 6 formats? Foolish.