Holiday 2017 ratings - Just....WOW

[CAwasinNJ]

If anyone was wondering if FM100.3 could beat last years huge Christmas ratings, wonder no more. They did.

We can't publish the numbers here, but they are available from a number of sources. Here's one:
ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb101

I don't know any other way to put it other than that number is insane. Somebody else needs to get into that space next holiday season. B98.7 took a hit this year and they've done it before. They'd be a logical choice. Maybe My 99.5 or KODJ could look at it as well.

That's pretty much THE story this month. Anything else stand out to anyone?

[levoix]

When did KEGA shift from currents to gold? I sense a flip soon, based on the ratings lately.

[David]

Looks like Salt Lake isn't the only major market where the all Xmas music format took center stage during the latest ratings book. It kind of surprises me that terrestrial radio can still attract such a large audience in today's digital age, at least once a year anyway:

www.insideradio.com/free/christmas-is-status-quo-at-stratosphere/article_a1df6ece-01a6-11e8-9be6-339be5973503.html

[Timmy]

I love that KSOP-FM took over ZHT and is #3 overall, at least in the public 6+ numbers. They are always just kicking! I think being independent helps them have a bit more freedom in their presentation and music choices. Now they're also playing the HD game and brought their AM side to HD2. I think HDradio is severely underrated. A lot of modern vehicles now have HD tuners standard.

[David]

I noticed that the ratings for KSOP-AM dropped a bit in the holiday ratings book. I wonder if the drop has anything to do with the classic country format now being available on the station's HD2 channel.

[CAwasinNJ]

levoix, as far as KEGA's ratings, I wouldn't pay a lot of attention to the Dec/Hol periods. Those are heavily skewed by Christmas music.

Just a reminder for David and everyone else, the ratings numbers that we read are shares. The definition Nielsen uses is "The percentage of those listening to radio in the Metro who are listening to a particular radio station." What you're seeing is not an absolute number and shouldn't be interpreted that way.

Timmy is right that a lot of newer cars come with IBOC, but it's still a tiny percentage of total listening. First there's the issue of cars more than a few years old (there are a lot of those) and then there's the issue of actually USING it. IBOC coverage is still a big problem. Even if you have the greatest format in the world, if the listener can't hear it then it doesn't exist. As far as KSOP(AM)'s ratings, unless the KSOP-FM HD2 isn't a fulltime simulcast (extremely unlikely) or they haven't registered and aren't broadcasting PPM data (also extremely unlikely) then the numbers for KSOP(AM) listed would be the combined AM1370 and 104.3HD2 listening. Like I said, don't look for trends in the Dec/Hol numbers. I'll also note that KSOP(AM)'s number vary wildly from one month to the next much more than most stations. I'm not sure why, but they do. Maybe Christopher John has some insight that he could share on that if it wouldn't be a problem.

[David]

I agree with your comment about HD Radio coverage, CA. I have an Insignia tabletop HD Radio, and I have to try about four or five different locations in a room to pick up the KSOP-AM HD2 simulcast on 104.3 clearly. Then again, my location has always been a black hole for FM signals, which is probably why I've spent more than $50.00 on different indoor HD TV antennas before finding one that will work well at my location. That's why I prefer to listen to KSOP-AM rather than the HD2 simulcast. AM reception just works better for me being only about a mile from the mouth of Ogden Canyon.