Nov 5 - Dec 2 (December) ratings time

[CAwasinNJ]

Sorry I didn't get to this last week when it came out, but it was a hectic weekend. I'm sure it was for at least some of you as well. I'm not sure how many of you really care about my musings on the ratings but here they are.

In my last ratings posting I said that the election season was over and unless something crazy happened I didn't see KNRS' and KSL's numbers staying as high as they were. I blew that one, after all this is 2020 the year when everything crazy happened. In retrospect I should have known that the interest in the vote counting, election lawsuits and so on would have continued to drive news/talk numbers. It did. KNRS did drop from the #1 perch down to #3, but their numbers were in line with September and October. KSL stayed at #2 and actually was up slightly, though they have other things going for them of course. KUER was also up significantly to their best numbers in at least 2 years. (I didn't go back further than that.)

The new #1? Yep, FM100.3 by a lot. Expect that number to grow for the Holiday book. You might even be able to see their ratings from space. Easy 99.1 grew again as well, though they aren't close to the numbers they managed to pull this time last year. We'll have to see how that goes.

The slide of Now continues and has gotten a little worse. The Holiday book doesn't actually end until Jan 6, so maybe that will be a saving grace for them?

Mix has showed some really nice growth now for 2 months in a row, even with the flocking to Christmas music.

No ratings showing for KMES 1430. They either don't subscribe, are too low to list or both. I'd put my money on both.

[dspete]

My goodness...
KUUU (U92)
Down in the basement with the HD2 channels?

[CAwasinNJ]

I think grouping U92 in with the HD2's is overstating things a little. That being said, they are doing poorly. Broadway has been cleaning house recently, so it would make sense to do something about their lowest rated FM. What about putting The Eagle on 92.5? Country seems to be more popular in the market and the rimshot signal on 101.5 has always been a problem. The old signal could either take the U format or become something else.

[drpepper]

Hard to picture KUUU going away completely, but not sure what gains might exist by moving the format to 101.5. Yes it has a farther reaching signal but IMO the people that are listening to U92 now will be the ones listening if the format moved to 101.5. Give or take 100 listeners or so, who can pick it up in Evanston, kemmerer and a few other places. IF there was a huge format hole in the market then yeah sure. Put that format on 92.5.
I feel like CoolFM makes a lot of sense on 101.5. if I were going to move u92, I'd put it on 105.5 and 95.9. Then i'd simulcast KALL on 92.5 because 92.5 covers the valley much better than the zone is able to via 97.5.
Then i'd put the Eagle on 103.9. The signal really gets out well and could still serve a decent portion of the market.
having said all this, while the adds are targeted at the metro more than anywhere, i do wonder if listenership is measured around KEGA's COL and whether or not it makes a significant contribution to their ratings. Taking in to account the difference in population to the salt lake market of course.

[levoix]

Hip hop has changed quite a bit, and most of the new music coming out now is not "rap" like it was back in U92's heyday. It might make more sense to combine Mix and U92, and simulcast ESPN 700 on the other frequency.

[CAwasinNJ]

My suggestion wasn't about improving U92's ratings but rather was about improving Eagle's. 92.5 isn't a full class C but it's better than the boosters that listeners along the Wasatch Front use to hear Eagle. IMO there is more potential upside for Eagle on 92.5 than leaving U92 there. If that move happens then the question would be what to do with the 101.5 signal. The easy answer would be just make it U101.5.

Sports stations aren't going to get much in the way of ratings, so putting KALL on an FM (besides the little translator it already has) doesn't make sense to me unless there's really nothing else to go with. All of these decisions are about opportunity cost.

Putting The Eagle on 103.9 alone (I assume you mean the Lake Mountain translator) is a no go. That leaves out Ogden and North Davis.

[drpepper]

levoix I do like the idea of combining mix and U92 for the reasons you mentioned. the genres have been blending together for a while now.
CAwasinNJ i suggested putting the Eagle on 103.9 because not sure theres room for 3 full power FMs in the market playing Country currents. i realize 103.9 doesn't cover ogden at all and barely gets in to Davis county. That said, KKEX and KKUT serve ogden and orem/Provo respectively, so maybe the eagle's ratings could improve.
I don't know of anywhere in Salt Lake where KALL's translator has a listenable signal. i've checked in while out and about in different areas and it always sounds the same. maybe ratings data tells a different story, but that translator seems completely worthless. I know it is only 10 watts or something like that right? but is that even worth having on the air? It does sound like the audio is being fed via the AM signal itself rather than duplicating the audio via each frequency separately to give the FM freq the clarity available from listening on FM. i am sure legally the translator is supposed to be directly fed via the AM it simulcasts, but plenty of AM sports stations with an FM Translator sound way clearer. Including Kall's sister station KOVO's Translator on 94.5

[CAwasinNJ]

3 full power country stations vs 2 full power and a rimshot/booster isn't really a major difference. Eagle's numbers show that listeners can hear it and choose to listen. It's not the same as if there were only 2 country stations and they were full market ones and then a new 3rd full market station came in.

KALL's translator (K221GK) is 99 watts from way up near Farnsworth Peak. Whether it's worth being on the air is debatable, but it can't change the station it rebroadcasts for a while yet. The short answer is that K221GK can be fed by whatever means they want to, and according to their FCC filings it is fed by microwave.

[drpepper]

Good to know about K221GK.
About the eagle, or Broadway's stations in general, i wonder what if any further changes might take place at the cluster.