Twin Cities Radio: Boys and Girls Are Different
By Brian Lambert
(UPDATE: I neglected to add the usual disclaimer about the three MPR stations to the original post. MPR, being the rigid rule-bound place that it is, discloses no information about specific demographic groups, which other broadcasters routinely leak. I couldn't begin to guesstimate the gender breakdown for KNOW, KSJN, or The Current. But KNOW is reliably in the top five among adults.)
Next June, the so-called Personal People Meter arrives to revolutionize radio ratings in the Twin Cities. Or so they say. The Arbitron ratings system (which, at this point, I generally refer to as a sick joke science-wise) is a creaky written diary-based affair that almost everyone believes favors the most familiar personalities and signals in town. (Ask yourself how diligent you'd be writing down everything you listened to as a favor to some big company?)
Around here, where KQRS's Tom Barnard still dominates like no one else in the country (no other local show crushes their local competition like Barnard does), conventional wisdom is that diary keepers too busy to actually recall what they punched up driving in to work simply pencil in a straight KQ ticket from dawn to dusk and call it good enough for government work.
The PPM, as it is called, is a portable device that constantly grabs signals from wherever you happen to be—cruising to your pedicure and listening to Lori and Julia or sniffing cedar planks at a lumber yard with the overhead speaker blasting 93X—and accurately records THAT for your electronic diary.
Point being, the PPM might be a game changer . . . or not.
Until next summer, we're stuck with what the radio industry has got—what it sells, hires, and fires by.
Just for giggles, I thought you'd be interested in a breakdown of la difference between radio for ladies and radio for gentlemen. These ratings (shares, actually), come from the spring book, roughly April–June '08.
MORNING DRIVE (6–10 a.m., Monday through Friday. Adults 25–54)
Rank Station Share
1.............KQRS.........23.1
2.............93X............5.5
3.............K102...........5.3
4.............KS95...........5.2
5.............Cities 97......4.7
6.............KDWB..........4.6
7.............KFAN...........4.1
8.............WCCO..........3.8
9.............JACK............3.0
10............WLTE...........2.7
11............KOOL 108......2.3
12............FM107..........2.1
13............KTLK............1.9
(tie).........The Beat.......1.9
15...........AM1500..........1.8
16...........Air America.....1.2
17...........The Patriot......0.9
Then, breaking that down gender-wise. The top ten of each:
MORNING DRIVE
(Women 25–54)
1.............KQRS...........14.7
2.............KS95.............8.8
3.............Cities 97........7.7
4.............K102.............7.6
5.............KDWB............7.3
6.............WLTE............4.6
7.............KOOL 108.......3.8
8.............FM107...........3.8
9.............WCCO...........3.4
10............The Beat........2.8
(Men, 25–54).
1.............KQRS ............29.7
2.............93X................8.6
3.............KFAN..............7.1
4.............WCCO.............4.0
5.............K102...............3.5
(tie).........JACK...............3.5
7.............KTLK...............2.9
8.............AM-1500...........2.7
9.............KDWB..............2.5
10............KS95...............2.4
Then, switching to afternoons . . .
AFTERNOON DRIVE (3–7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Adults 25–54)
1.............KQRS...............8.3
2.............KS95................6.6
3.............K102................6.3
4.............Cities 97...........6.2
5.............AM 1500............5.0
(tie).........KDWB...............5.0
(tie).........KFAN................5.0
8.............93X..................4.7
9.............JACK.................4.0
10............KTLK................3.5
11............KOOL108............3.4
12............FM107...............3.3
13............WLTE................3.0
14............WCCO...............2.9
15............The Beat............2.1
(WOMEN 25–54)
1.............KS95................9.9
(tie).........Cities97............9.5
3.............K102................7.3
4.............FM107..............5.9
5.............WLTE...............5.8
6.............KQRS................5.6
7.............KDWB...............5.4
8.............KOOL106...........4.7
9.............JACK................4.0
10............The Beat...........3.0
11............WCCO..............2.4
14............KTLK................1.3
15............Air America........1.0
(tie)..........AM 1500............1.0
19............KFAN................0.6.
(MEN 25-54)
1.............KQRS................10.4
2.............KFAN..................8.4
3.............AM 1500..............8.3
4.............93X....................6.5
5.............K102...................5.5
6.............KTLK...................5.3
7.............KDWB..................4.7
8.............JACK...................4.1
9.............KS95...................3.9
10............Cities97...............3.6
11............WCCO.................3.3
14............The Patriot............1.3
15............FM107..................1.1
(tie)..........Air America...........1.1
Thought you'd want to know.
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
I'll take Dwight Yoakam for $200, please.
Any comment on Dubay-less P.A. show?
How about Barreiro getting ripped by ex '68 Olympic "black power" guy?
107 @ #4 women? Even Leinfelder can't get those numbers up?
LAMBERT: I discussed The Great Dubay Disappearance in a comment to Frogman ...
Posted by: bertram jr on August 8, 2008 at 10:31 AM
"cruising to your pedicure and listening to Lori & Julia or sniffing cedar planks at a lumber yard with the overhead speaker blasting 93X "
This is an accurate caricature.
I dont think I actually know anyone who's listening to KQ after 9:20 am.
What about Gary, and more improtantly, Kerri?
LAMBERT: My mistake. I've added the usual disclaimer about MPR on the post -- they never reveal any demographic information.
Posted by: 108 on August 8, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Does this not include numbers from MPR? I find it hard to believe that KNOW or 89.3 doesn't make the list anywhere.
LAMBERT: See the "updated" post.
Posted by: justinph on August 8, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Does any of this even matter? Hasn't radio been left for dead? Personally, I can't remember the last time I consciously turned on a radio or tuned into a station. Maybe it's just my generation (I am 27).
It's just that when given the option between listening to my iPod or a radio, I'll choose the iPod every time. No commercials, the music is 100% of what I like, and the audio quality is excellent.
LAMBERT: I'm not your generation and other than 89.3 I don't think I've listened to music radio in years. The talk end of it -- at least when the talk is distinctive, and preferably local -- still has life, which explains Barnard's appeal more than KQ's rotation of "Heart" hits.
Posted by: Jared on August 8, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Despite their poor programming good to see Air America in there. Wonder how many listeners a one percent share equals. Here's my back of the envelope rating of AM950: Early morning - Bill Press - sucks - Democratic Party hack. Stephanie Miller - I really like this show, though I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea. Ed Schultz - sucks. Why is he always yelling and being defensive? He can cut off anyone he wants. His policy of not screening calls is idiotic. Thom Hartmann - not too bad, but the show is ruined by not running it live. I find the Mark Heaney show pretty good, considering this is basically their only local programming. Rachel Maddow used to be better, but now that they simulcast her drech from MSNBC it sucks.
LAMBERT: Local Air America is an embarrassment. If they had a minimal grasp of the entertainment factor required for radio they could at least double those pathetic numbers. But, come on, ONE (not so good) local show?
Posted by: Rob Levine on August 8, 2008 at 4:50 PM
Curious how the meters have impacted numbers in other markets? Also - does Arbitron attempt to measure podcasts or Internet radio?
LAMBERT: On the second, I'm not sure. I'll ask around about that on Monday. I don't believe there is a diary process for podcasts, but I could be mistaken. On the first, the shift hasn't been as dramatic as some expected, but it varies from market to market.
Posted by: Dave on August 8, 2008 at 9:58 PM
This is just a place holder posting to buy time for the ones you fans and detractors are awaiting...
You must be up at the cabin...cutting brush...working though your definitive Edwards column.
Again, Democrats ...Republicans...we are the rubes. They are all the same.
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;"
"The Hollow Men" T.S.Elliot
LAMBERT: I've said my piece on (my guy) Edwards. I hope he understands that you only get to apologize, or fully disclose ONCE. If there's a second wave of disclosure -- i.e. the kid really is his, or he OK'd the "support" money -- he is totally toast.
Posted by: jed leyland on August 9, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I'm hoping we are going to see an Edwards part II blog from you shortly. Now that I've heard the quotes from him over the years and yesterday's admission that he waited until she (his wife) was in remission before doing the tango, that dude is one slippery fella.
LAMBERT: There's no good way to say, "I was horny."
Posted by: Dave on August 9, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Uh, the Mark Heaney show sucks...completely. Thats not opinion, thats fact. Deny it, and your credibility could not be more specious, you have a real tin ear. This is a man who doesn't have the chops, who would be a mere commentator wannabe, unemployable in traditional radio. But hey, he speaks nutter, speaks in language the tinfoil hat brigade understands, so he's got a home at Air America.
LAMBERT: The shame of KTNF is that it reaffirms the belief that liberals can't do radio. I don't accept that.
Posted by: 108 on August 9, 2008 at 6:52 PM
C'mon, if the kid is his, Edwards is "totally toast"? I've said it before in this space: big deal. John Edwards may have held himself out as a saint, but even saints get hard-ons now and then and succumb to the temptations of the flesh.
His behavior is no worse than Bill Clinton getting blowjobs in the Oval Office or both John McCain and Newt Gingrich (if I have my facts straight) dumping their wives for younger women.
LAMBERT: I agree. But my point is that for Edwards to gain the benefit of the mainstream press's considered indifference to this story he had to deliver a full and complete apology/explanation. I don't think he's done that, and you don't get multiple chances. I still think he's a sharp legal mind, and I think the public in general has learned to separate sexual hijinks from professional skill. But his legalistic mea culpa hasn't neutralized his baggage.
Posted by: A Son of Mississippi on August 10, 2008 at 8:55 AM
And I meant to add that McCain did so after wife #1 suffered debilitating injuries from a car accident, and Gingrich reportedly broached divorce with his wife while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. My point remains that, while Edwards' conduct is hardly praiseworthy, there ARE second acts in American politics.
LAMBERT: True, and a cabinet level job would be an appointment, not an election.
Posted by: A Son of Mississippi on August 10, 2008 at 9:06 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10dowd.html?_r=3&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Ooh, I say, Maureen has very much nailed "your guy".
"Oncologically correct" - if it wasn't so pathetic- it would be hilarious.
Who's paying for her 'new life" in Beverly Hills?
How noble that she is "refusing" a DNA test. It's also a pure tipoff that she knows exactly who daddy is.
Any comment on the Strib burying Edwards on page 8 Sunday, and that neither piece could muster any mention of Elizabeth's cancer?
I assume you're busy wading through McInerneys book to learn some more of her "background"?
"Your guy", indeed.
LAMBERT: Wake me when you get to the part where he (repeatedly) subverted the Constitution, forged intelligence documents to take us into a war now costing us $2 trillion and climbing and trashed our reputation in every nation on the planet.
Posted by: bertram jr on August 11, 2008 at 9:24 AM
How'd you vote, Bri?
http://votebright.com/john-edwards-dna?a=13244&b=105&c1=
Posted by: bertram jr on August 11, 2008 at 9:34 AM
The guy blowcombs his way to millions by channeling dead kids for slackjawed juries.
He schtups a nutcase while the wife is cancer stricken, then lies about it.
You're ready to elect him President.
Some self examination may be in order.
Beyond belief.
Posted by: bertram jr on August 11, 2008 at 2:04 PM
"Wake me when you get to the part where he (repeatedly) subverted the Constitution, forged intelligence documents to take us into a war now costing us $2 trillion and climbing and trashed our reputation in every nation on the planet".
Truly delusional.
May I suggest you stick to "local" media issues?
You're rather far afield.
Posted by: bertram jr on August 11, 2008 at 2:29 PM
All this fine advice on candidate insight coming from a guy who was probably a rabid supporter of John Grunseth for Governor, Brian. I recall quite a few conservative voices in this fair state of ours supporting the bona fides of Mr. Grunseth until it was determined he was giving late-night swimming lessons that didn't fall under the Red Cross defintion of "beginner" a few weeks before the election.
I'm sure some real self-examination took place then among the conservative voices and their ability to see "inside" their chosen candidates following that disgrace. Most likely, that insight ranged from "How come I wasn't invited?" to "Isn't it kind of chilly to be swimming at night in October? That pool must be heated."
LAMBERT: From the perspective of a media guy's naked self-interest, does any story get better than jut-jawed family values Republican gubernatorial candidate skinny dipping with teenage girls? Damn. Those were good times.
Posted by: Danny B on August 11, 2008 at 3:32 PM