May 7, 2018, Issue 600
Winter 2018: PDs Share Their Insight
Nielsen’s Winter 2018 diary releases began last week and Country Aircheck is taking a closer look at select stations with the help of their programmers. Go beyond the 12+ numbers, including promotions, contesting and market dynamics below. WQMX/Akron VP, Dir./Operations & PD Sue Wilson: One thing WQMX saw is an increase in male listening, both with regard to cume and TSL. Where the station is traditionally more of a 60-40% split female to male, it was closer to a 56-44% split female to male Persons 12+. And when we looked at P25-54 it was closer to a 50-50% split. If we tried to explain that male increase, certainly there has been a shift in the music to a slightly more traditional sound. While there are still a lot of pop artists, Midland, Luke Combs and Sue Wilson Jon Pardi test really well with men here. The Akron radio market is interesting in that we are wedged between two other radio metros with Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south. There are a lot of choices for radio in Northeast Ohio. WQMX shares most audience with WGAR/Cleveland, but we have recently seen an increase in sharing with Top 40 WAKS (Kiss FM)/Cleveland, even more so than with the Country competitor and especially with Women 18-34. Before I came to WQMX 11 years ago I programmed in Cleveland. That market’s signals come in as strong in Akron as those here. We really have to be on our toes and employ tactics that work with both diary and PPM methodologies. It was a long, cold winter and one of our best promotions was a series of giveaways for the summer concert season. Our listeners seem to love to win two things: money and tickets! Overall, we were happy to see improvements from last book to this one. KXKT/Omaha PD Hoss Michaels: The Winter 2018 book was a good start to the year. The station was up year-over-year from Hoss Michaels a 7.9 to a 9.4 12+. (continued on page 8)
Dark Knight Moves: Reviver’s David Lee Murphy (c) with KEEY/ Minneapolis’ Gregg Swedberg (l) and Midwest’s Tom Baldrica at Saturday’s Trip Around The Sun tour stop.
Cocaine, Rhinestones & Country: Oh My! Tyler Mahan Coe spent nine months living off credit cards and recording in his basement to create Cocaine & Rhinestones, arguably the first hit podcast about country music. Debuting last year with an episode about Ernest Tubb trying to shoot longtime Grand Ole Opry manager Jim Denny, the podcast has topped the iTunes all-genre music podcast chart with its focus on pre-2000 behind-the-scenes stories and analysis of country music. The son of singer-songwriter David Allan Coe, the younger Coe’s concept was to create a podcast he wanted to hear. Namely, an Tyler Mahan in-depth look at the genre’s history through Coe
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