The back story on the 950AM format change - Yes, our Air America station is leaving Rochester
950 AM is changing it’s programing format from Progressive talk to something else on August 1st. You probably know 950Am as the Air America station, but actually it is a station owned by Entercom communications and broadcasts progressive talk shows from Jones syndication as well as Air America like Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, and of course, Bill Press (just to name a few).
So, here is the back story I confirmed with the Bill Press people last night. Bill Press is headlining a Greece Town Democratic Committee fundraiser. (That is a story for another post - great catch GDC) He is broadcast on 950AM so, in the spirit of station promotion and cooperation, the Bill Press folks offered/asked 950wroc if they want to live broadcast a show or do some other activity to maximize Bill Press’ visit to Rochester in order to promote the station as well as the program. The answer comes back - sure, but we are changing the format August 1st.
Faster than Gomer can say, “Surprise, Surprise”, jaws drop.
So the question is, why?
Seems Monroe County is fairly progressive. Certainly has a long progressive history. Sure our elected officials don’t always reflect progressive values, but still, this is after all New York and compared to other places we are way progressive.
Now, why would the format change? Sounds like a business decision.
OK - so what do you need for a successful station? Content and Management commitment to push that content. Well - the content exists. certainly, not all shows appealed to all people. Randi Rhodes didn’t appeal to me personally, but I know of others who rave about Randi. I find Miller’s humor refreshing and Ed Schultz’s ability to reframe issues a must listen. Bill Press is on target for the morning. some of the other folks, a bit wonkish. Still, there are different formats/shows for different people.
But what is on the other side of of the dial? Well, there is WXXI 1370, A member supported public broadcasting station. Wonderful in its own right, but not really talk radio.
For talk radio we have Conservative talk - WHAM to WSYR to, well, forever. Between 1180 Am and 810AM there are wall to wall conservative shows from here to Albany. 1520 AM, out of Buffalo is the only chance to listen over the public airwaves to progressive vice.
Public Airwaves you say - sure - the FCC grants them licenses.
So large progressive audience is available.
My questions are this - ratings how bad was WROC? If it was considered “bad” rating wise, what was done to correct it?
Call the station, email them and demonstrate that there is an audience in Rochester.
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Does anyone get how ratings are calculated? I know a lot of folks who listen to 950, but not one has ever been polled on their listening habits.
progressive radio needs a far reach and a good promotions dept to succeed. Its truly community-based and needs to be nurtured in a way that other formats do not. My guess is that the folks at 950 just want to run a radio station and aren’t interested in taking part in a movement or anything fancy like that.
I would call the advertisers of the station to let them know you heard their ad on 950, as well. That is what the programming dudes at 950 want to hear.
They’re done by calling random households — the same way political polls are done. But the twist is that once you’ve been selected and contacted, you function the way a “Nielsen family” does for tv. That is, they monitor (really you self-monitor) your listening habits for some period of time.
The sample sizes are likely very small relative to the population, so there is no reason to expect we would know anyone who had taken part in such a poll.
I’m not sure if radio ratings are viewed as being as reliable as tv ratings, so calling the station and so on might make a big difference.
At the risk of being conspiratorial: This is an interesting “marketing” decision considering the presidential elections are just a few months away. THE democrats have a very chance at winning, There are heavily contested elections for the state legislature in which democrats have a chance. Seems like ratings would be good. and now one voice is silenced in the area.
If you look here:
http://www.arbitron.com/home/ratings.htm
and pick the Rochester market, you’ll see that WROC’s ratings are pretty terrible. They have a .8 share in the last rating period. WHAM has a 10.8 rating. WYSL has a .6 (which is also awful). It looks like WHAM rules in news/talk and perhaps WROC will try a format where there isn’t such a strong incumbent.
Entercom owns the top-rated station (WBEE) in the Rochester market, and all the rest of its stations are in the top 10 for the last period (WBZA, WCMF and WPXY). Presumably, they expect their stations to be well-rated, so one can see why they made this business decision.
950AM has consistently been in the bottom tier of stations since switching to a Progressive format and being part of the Air America Family certainly didn’t help. The station averages about an .8 share. As a comparison, WBEE draws an overall share of around 11.0, WHAM averages about 9.5, and WDKX (the only locally owned station left in the market) pulls a 7.5 share. Of the 25 or so stations that report, WROC is 18th.
AA was never run as a successful business but more as a “movement”, and it has shown since the start - total mismanagement and bleeding millions each quarter. There are almost no stations anywhere in the country that even carry their full line up any longer.
Contrary what many think, the corporations that own radio station groups care about one thing, making a profit. In fact Entercom, CBS, Citadel, etc. all have a wide variety of formats under their umbrella, representing both the left and the right, oftentimes in the same city. Market share numbers don’t lie though and neither do the billables, Conservative Radio, when done properly makes the corporations lots of money. To date Progressive Radio as a whole has not. Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller are the only syndicated programs drawing respectable share numbers nationwide.
Business decision based on self fulfilling prophesy seem to be easy to make.
My question stands - what was done to ‘grow” this station?
Is someone trying to tell me that a format that serves, for arguments sake, half the population can’t work?
I find that amazing and unbelievable
So profit before public interest. But the airways are not private proprety
The airways are public, the companies that own the radio stations are not.
Would you suggest we have socialized radio?
Well, based on their past performance, Air America will likely be up for sale again before too long and need yet another owner with more money than sense to step in and save them, again. It could be your big chance. Give Mr. Green a call. He’s probably had about enough by now.
950AM is not an Air America Station. Air America like the Jones Network is a content provider. 950 plays the content. and Entercom couldn’t figure out how to serve the Rochester Market
there is the CBC in Canada, the BBC, in Britain, others in Europe. Don;t see why we couldn’t have a mix like these countries have
I found that the advertisers for this station probably didn’t appeal to the listeners of these programs. How does that figure into this issue?
Smells like an opportunity ripe for the picking for Mr. Wease, quite frankly. I wonder if he has ever considered the AM Dial on a national syndication. Perhaps he should come to Greece and talk to Bill Press when he’s in town. Wease’s wife ran for public office as a Dem not that long ago…I’m sure he can appreciate the need for progressive talk radio.
How about a return to the Fairness Doctrine that mandated stations to provide alternate viewpoints instead of just blaring conservative talking points 24/7???
950 AM has consistently been in the bottom tier of stations since well before they began broadcasting a progressive talk format. Their signal sucks. You can’t get people to listen to what they can’t hear. WHAM is a 50,000 watt flamethrower that reaches 38 states and Canada (and when I was working there with “skip” we even hit Norway. To compare WROC to WHAM is the sign of a lunatic!!!
Cool. Glenn Garman - the voice on radio for many years in Rochester! How you been guy? Thanks for the input! It’s nice to know a real radio personality joined the fray!
Now we just need to get a definitive from WROC 95.0…
when I was working there with “skip” we even hit Norway. To compare WROC to WHAM is the sign of a lunatic!!!
…well that didn’t take long to deduce
I’ve noticed noticed fewer PSAs and more paid ads recently, seemed like maybe they were on track.
I agree that the biggest problem is the pitiful signal strength.
I just had to take a short trip to Batavia and back. Living in Fairport, most of the time listening to 950 in the car just isn’t an option. The signal doesn’t become reasonable on the car radio until I’m well down 490 towards downtown. Interestingly, it held up well on the West side most of the way to Batavia.
I agree about the decrease in PSAs — even mentioned that to my wife a couple of weeks ago, before all of this happened. A year ago, some commercial breaks were 100% PSA.
In contrast, years ago I used to drive to Washington DC regularly. I could get WHAM for a big chunk of the trip. That was before WHAM went off the political deep-end and was the all Bruce Williams / Dr. Laura station (at one point they had Dr. Laura on for 5 hours a day — which I thought was horrible at the time but would be an improvement now!)
It’s a pretty safe bet WROC-AM will flip to ESPN Sports Radio on August 1st. Currently WHTK is a second affiliate of ESPN, but relies primarily on Fox Sports Radio. By offering a dedicated home to ESPN Sports Radio, WROC can lure ESPN away from WHTK.
The first sign there was an issue with WROC was Entercom not following through on signing an affiliation agreement with Nova M to continue Randi Rhodes post-AAR. The other Entercom progressive talk outlets did (you can hear Randi quite easily on 50,000 WWKB Buffalo on 1520).
The format change is almost certainly going to be ratings neutral. WROC has done poorly in the ratings since their heydey in the 1970s as WBBF-AM. Lousy signal coverage and the dominance of FM has left most lower powered AM signals in the ratings dust. WROC did poorly with standards and with their second tier grade B conservative talk format just before flipping to progressive talk. The ratings have basically stayed flat.
As a second tier AM station in the Entercom portfolio, the station is basically run off of a computer in a closet with no significant local programming or invesment in program development or promotion. Advertising revenue is poorer with political talk radio of any persuasion because some advertisers do not want to get in the middle of political disputes. Potential revenue from sports talk advertising is greater and this is probably the reason behind any affiliation change.
At this point it is unlikely another local station will pick up the progressive talk format, unless one of the “rimshotter” suburban/nearby town AM stations elect to launch it.
XM listeners can continue to receive Air America programming and select Jones Radio programs (Schultz/Press) 24/7. Sirius was carrying Stephanie Miller last time I checked. With the impending merger, it’s assumed the full compliment of progressive programs will eventually be on both platforms. You can also hear most of the progressive talk shows on 1520 WWKB Buffalo day or night, because they are high powered. WWKB is also an Entercom outlet, so there are no guarantees that station will also keep the format.
Contacting WROC in large numbers can make an impact if it helps them make a case with their advertisers. But format flips generally occur despite protests 90% of the time. Protest, but also avail yourselves of the alternative ways to receive progressive talk after 8/1.
[...] - as we all know as we told you earlier and were reminded by Bill Press, when RT interviewed him during his visit to Rochester, 950AM WROC [...]
I am sorry we lose a progressive news channel. There is only WXXI in Rochester now for news, nothing else! Coming from the UK, I find it a pity that there is no news channels on FM. Is’nt there a market for people who are interested to hear what is going on in the world, including some clever analysis? All FM stations a pumping music (and ads). Now AM seems to move in the dumbing down direction too.
Why do we call it a “format change” when this is about content?