All Those Contests On Radio,They Are Hoping You'll Listen: One Man's Opinion

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 03:45 AM

If you have noticed that there are an unusual number of contests underway on the local radio and TV stations, you are right on.

The ratings are on and of course the radio stations are hoping to have you tune in so they can say at the completion of the ratings that they had a large audience which then enables them to be able to ask more for their commercials in the coming months.

CBC on the other hand , does take part in the ratings, but doesn’t spend a dime on trying to get you to listen during the rating period. In the past few years, the CBC has been doing very well with its ratings, thank you very much.

The rating periods may be inflated with these contests, but the national advertisers who buy their advertising on the basis of audience numbers, know all the games.

So let me give you what I think will be the fall picture in the media.

CBC will lead the pack with its continuing efforts to be the news source of the north. They have done a very good job getting the stories out and no other news source in the electronic media can match them.

At least two of the stations in the market are trying to attract the younger crowd; they are facing an uphill battle. Both FM 94 and the Drive, are, for the most part head to head, but they face the "I Pod," which has been scooping up the market faster than Rev Canada can get your money,

Satellite radio has been slowly taking a huge chunk out of the market ,especially in this region where the FM signal dies when you’re twenty miles out of the city.

CJCI (The Wolf) has been the owner of the ratings with their country sound in recent years, they however face a new upstart CFIS FM, community radio. The new community station is targeting females 50+ and that folks is the fastest growing age bracket in North America.

Used to be that you tried to target 25-54 men and women; problem is (as Hits 101 has discovered) that is a dwindling group.

CFIS won’t be shown on the ratings but trust me, from what I am hearing they will make an impact that likely will be shown in fewer listeners to commercial radio.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: metalman on September 12 2007 9:26 AM

CBC raqtings are higher because they don't have as much inane senseless chatter, and loud repetitive advertisements, and do not play the same songs repeatedly throughout the day. I had my fill of commercial radio a long long time ago. Give me the government funded CBC or mypocket funded satellite radio anytime. Both of those options give you variety. Ipod? just the latest must have personal accessory, touted as the best thing ever! until the next best thing is introduced.
VIVA la 8 track!!
metalman.

Posted by: owl on September 12 2007 9:48 AM

The order of the day in this household is CBC in the mornings to pick up "local" happenings, the new CFIS 93.1 on the car radio is the preferred station at the moment. The rest of the day at home it is generally CD's with occasional switching to the radio channels available through cable.

Other than CBC, local radio is not heard in the house.

Posted by: Buzz on September 12 2007 10:32 AM

CBC is the only station I ever listen to. Is something that we Canadians can be thankful for, as it's the only radio station that gives thoughtful, complete, balanced and often extremely informative information. I have no problems at all in funding it with tax money either...it's FAR superior to commercial stations. I used to live in the USA, and I can tell you that their media is absolutely HORRIBLE in terms of providing quality news & information. Most stations rely on sound bites, headlines, and completely shallow reporting.

Posted by: Gofaster on September 12 2007 10:58 AM

Radio stations? We have radio stations? My poor old AM radio went dead a long time ago.

Posted by: bohemian on September 12 2007 11:56 AM

"The new community station is targeting females 50+ and that folks is the fastest growing age bracket in North America."

At least SOMEONE understands where all the economic power is!

Tom Peters has lots of great stuff about this often overlooked demographic:

http://search.freefind.com/find.html?oq=women+power&id=53137468&pageid=r&_charset_=&bcd=�&scs=1&query=women+power&Find=Search&mode=ALL&search=all

Posted by: gonefishing on September 12 2007 12:16 PM

To be fair, and make note that I'm the younger demographic being discussed here, and yes I do listen to the CBC as well as my sat radio...the CBC wins via default. The other stations are just that bad, incredibly bad!

The on air "talent" is what draws as much, and in some cases even more-so, than the music does...the complete lack of talent in a market this size is insane. The PD's in these stations need to be held accountable, maybe then I won't have to watch commercial cut in's on global for "MJ" in the morning show...

Posted by: Death to Socialism on September 12 2007 1:20 PM

I agree the on-air "talent" is horrific, ditto for the locally produced commercials they run, but I'd listen to nothing before I'd listen to the CBC. I here it occasionally if I'm working in someone elses shop & all I hear is the same mindless blather as every other station except on a more pretentious level.

Posted by: gonefishing on September 12 2007 1:22 PM

Posted by: gonefishing on September 12 2007 1:23 PM

Sorry, not sure how that posting happened twice

Posted by: Death to Socialism on September 12 2007 2:04 PM

wtf?

Posted by: Satevis on September 12 2007 2:50 PM

CBC is the only radio station I've ever been able to listen to in Prince George without getting a terrible headache- even throughout my teens. Sometimes I wonder if the other stations are TRYING to be as obnoxious and inane as possible, just to get my attention.

A tip for those stations: How about toning down those voices a little, choosing better music to play, and making your commercials less annoying?

Posted by: Chadermando on September 12 2007 7:55 PM

I stopped listening to local radio stations when they got rid of the local call-in talk radio. I like FM97 sometimes though and occasionally FM94 when they have a good song playing until their annoying load cut'ins happen, then I turn the radio back to satalite quickly. Other than the satalite radio I like CBC in the mornings and from noon to 2 with the call in shows.

Posted by: Palopu on September 12 2007 8:28 PM

For me its CBC or Nothing. The local radio stations give me a headache, and sound like the **crap** they spew out at Hockey Games. Loud and Head Ringing. Im sure that is one reason why a lot of people do not attend Hockey games.

Who needs all this noise?????

Posted by: snappi on September 12 2007 9:18 PM

I'm a Wolf fan!! I have always like the country stations..I used to love the Jack Webster and Meisner also...

Posted by: ren on September 12 2007 10:32 PM

I worked in radio for a while , and I have a lot of friends who still work in the industry . Truth be told if you honestly think CBC will be the most listened to station you need to give your head a shake . The ratings system in this country is brutal and not terribly accutrate but its the only one we have . 94x does a good job with what they have , lets face it rock ain't what it used to be . The drive is a pretty good classic rock station but they need to expand thier playlist. The CBC do a great job but just as the other stations annoy a lot of people here the cbc annoys alot of people just as much . For the most part I keep my radio on the wolf , for the music and I rather like Carol in the mornings . Listen to other stations online and you'll find the talent here isn't a bad as you think . Trust me as someone who made a go as an annoncer , if you think you can do better you probably can't !

Posted by: Chester on September 12 2007 10:51 PM

My clock radio wakes me up to an easy listening christian radio station from the east coast I think. It's a refreshing way to start the day compared to the annoying racket the local stations bombard us with.

Even though I actually advertise on the local radio, I can't stand to listen to it myself. I guess it's because I don't know what else to do instead to reach my target market. (which also happens to be the 50 plus female market) Chester

Posted by: The_Duke on September 13 2007 7:58 AM

In the car, I usually have on rock station 94X, of barring that a CD. My wife loves the Wolf. I'm not a country fan, but I grin & bear it when I have to.

I've travelled all over Western Canada, Ontario, and the U.S. and the quality of radio in Prince George is no worse than other cities of this size. Actually it's better for the most part. At least 94X has announcers that are in Prince George and not pre-recorded DJ talk from a guy in head office 1000 miles away. They talk about local stuff and actually live in the city. The same can't said for most places of this size.

And for the record, I'd rather have a root canal than listen to the CBC.

Posted by: netsurfer on September 13 2007 9:07 AM

CBC is a huge waste of taxpayer's money as it has a budget in excess of 1 billion and has less than 5% of the Canadian listening and viewing audience. It is nothing but a propaganda outlet for our past succession of Liberal governments and an outlet for anti-Americanism and radical political correctness.

Posted by: Death to Socialism on September 13 2007 11:44 AM

+1 Netsurfer

Posted by: local_radio_guy on September 13 2007 3:38 PM

C'mon Ben. You know better than that. First of all. Fm 94 has not been called FM 94 for 6 years. I'll let that mistake pass. But to say that CBC will lead ratings in the fall book is absolutely ridiculous. I hope we see a retraction when CBC comes out third just like they did last book. Another thing. Ben, you know that these ratings are complete BS because of the innacuracy of the system.

As for Ben's claim that 94X is targeting a younger audience...... Take another listen Ben. The X is a steady mix of classics from the 70's 80's and 90's with a touch of new rock. The main demographic is 25-54 males. With heavy targets on the 25-40.

His claim that the Drive is trying for younger audiences is also off base. They play a relatively STEADY stream of classics from the 60's through the 80's with a few millineum hits thrown in. That also targets 25 to 54 with heavier targets on the 45+.

The new community station has gained a bit of interest but anyone that has listened for more than 10 minutes knows that the jumps from format to format and era to era during music hours makes people eventually tune out.

CBC has made great gains over the River in the past 2 books but it is no where near #1. This "opinion" is pretty irresponsible in the way it reports the facts. Thats this other mans opinion.

Posted by: Death to Socialism on September 13 2007 4:15 PM

PWND!

Posted by: ren on September 13 2007 9:26 PM

well said Local Radio Guy ! good info too !!

Posted by: The_Duke on September 14 2007 6:43 AM

Maybe Ben's just mad that nobody picked his show up after he parted ways with CKPG?

Posted by: meisner on September 14 2007 8:34 AM

It is always amazing to watch people in the media who hide behind names, pretending to be something then they really are. I do wish they had the courage to say who they really are. But then I should be proud, they are reading the news from Opinion250, not their own station.
Collectively they all know that no one has been able to beat my listener ratings.
Instead let�s blame the messenger, not the message. If the BBM isn�t correct, then why the contests to try and improve ratings.
For you media types that wish to take a shot but hide behind a hidden name may I say, 'Listen to the wind", instead of creating it

Posted by: gonefishing on September 14 2007 8:45 AM

All this talk about any particular station playing "better" music is garbage. I can gaurantee you, your idea of "better" and my idea of "better"are different, so let's give that a rest.

As for the "Talent", and wow, do I use that term loosely, in particular the morning shows on the River and 94X, to say, for even one second ,that it's comparable to other markets of equal size is obsurd and uninformed. The bottom line is that the quality of broadcasters being drawn to the central interior (with few exceptions) is poor.

Bare in mind, I spent my time in the industry as well, and only recently left. And yes, I did my time on air, so Ren, I'll feel free to make my judgments.

In particular, maybe Ken Kilcullen should take a time out from shooting Furniture Commercials for PGTV (another gross excersize in hack broadcasting)and LA Weightloss to actually listen to and watch his team and hold them accountable for their performance.

Posted by: ren on September 14 2007 9:19 AM

Thanks gonefishing , its nice to see someone with some background make some points . I agree that the rivers morning show is on the weak side but I think Gary Long has some poetential , but I think he was better solo .

Posted by: Big_Dog on September 14 2007 9:40 AM

Wow...this is getting interesting.

Ben, it's Big Dog here from 94X. (No hiding behind screen-names!)

Just wanted to say that I agree with a good portion of your article, but I DO have to disagree with you on one point.

It has to do with your comment regarding 94X and The Drive trying to attract a 'younger crowd'. This is simply not the case.

I'm not aware of a classic rock or AOR station in the country that has target demographic that is "young". Generally, Led Zeppelin, The Who, AC/DC etc. aren't the bands that the 'younger crowd' is listening to. It's what their DADS are listening to. Sure there are exceptions but for the most part that point is hard to argue. I suppose it depends on ones interpretation of 'YOUNGer crowd'. If by 'younger crowd' you mean younger than you - then you're correct. (with all due respect). But honestly, both stations' target demos are the middle-aged crowd. Sure 94X attracts the younger listeners by default, simply because a good portion of the younger crowd in this city is attracted to rock music. And rock music is what we play. BUT... that doesn't make the younger crowd (ie: Teens to mid 20-somethings) the target crowd we're trying to attract as you stated. I can make an educated guess that the same can be said for the Drive.

Cheers ~

Posted by: local_radio_guy on September 14 2007 10:28 AM

By the way. Local Radio guy is Matt Porteous. Sorry Ben. I didnt know we had to post our full names on here. I looked up gonefishing, The_Duke, and ren in the phone book but didnt come up with anything. Must be unlisted. You can see my email address anyway. So you know who I am.

I know you had great ratings Ben. I was there too. I saw them. Is that going to be your answer everytime someone disagrees with you? Just because you had ratings at one time means noone is allowed to disagree with you ever again?