BOSTON RADIO UPDATE 11.25.2020 CLARK SMIDT, Boston/Northeast www.broadcastideas.com
With all the stuffing, here’s the BOSTON November 2020 Radio Story from October 8 – November 4. Northeast Markets will follow.
BOSTON. Market #10 6+ Population 4,376,900 Spanish 12% Urban 8.15% 46% of stations subscribe.
CLUSTER SHARES - High & Low Months Underlined. The iHeart lead over Beasley goes 12.6-11.7-12.4-15.0. iHeart is now 7.2 ahead of their November ’19 showing, Beasley is off 4.9 from last year at a new cluster low. ETM trails iHeart 20.1-18.2-18.3-21.3-21.0 and ETM cluster is down 2.8 from a year ago. Non-Comms show WBUR 0.8-1.1-0.2-0.8 ahead of WGBH. Sports WBZ/FM dips 4th-5th, 5.4-6.8-6.2; WEEI/FM is 2.6-2.8-3.0, now tied for 12th from #13.
BOSTON CLUSTER SHARES:
Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov’20
1. iHeart 30.6 33.0 35.5 35.0 35.9 35.2 34.0 33.5 35.3 35.7
2. Beasley 24.1 23.9 21.5 22.2 21.9 22.8 21.4 21.8 22.9 20.7
3. Entercom 16.8 13.9 12.8 12.0 13.6 15.1 15.8 15.2 14.0 14.7
BOSTON STATIONS:
Gainers: +0.8 Classic Rock WZLX, +0.8 News/Talk WBUR, +0.6 Talk WRKO-AM, +0.5 RhymCHR WJMN, +0.4 A/C WMJX.
Dippers: -1.2 Country WKLB, -1.0 CHR WXKS/FM, -0.6 Sports WBZ/FM, -0.4 Adult Hits WBGB (WODS).
CHANGES FOR THE ENTIRE TOP 206 BOSTON STATIONS as WBZ takes sole possession of first place. Only two stations moved by a full share point but the ranks were scrambled in the survey that included all sports and Election Day.
TOP 10: Sept/Oct/Nov ‘20 Share/Cume Rank – calls/format/owner/share trends, local color & November 2019 comps.
5/7-1/8-1/8 WBZ-AM News/Talk iHeart 6.1-7.2-7.0. The Winner! iHeart has #1-3-4-6. 490-453k cume. YrAgo #3, 4.8.
3/2-1/2-2/3 WROR-FM Classic Hits Beasley 6.4-7.2-6.9. #2 by a hair. #2 cume 857-773k, Beasley leader. YrAgo #1, 8.5.
4/4-6/4-3/4 WZLX-FM Classic Rock iHeart 6.3-5.9-6.7. Turn-around, weaker competition, cume 641-597k. YrAgo #6, 5.3
8/18-5/18-4/19 WRKO-AM Talk iHeart 4.9-6.0-6.6. Moves into 4th with more gain. Cume dips 392-309k. YrAgo #9, 3.4
6/8-4/5-5/5 WBZ-FM Sports Beasley 5.4-6.8-6.2. Surprise dip, still tops WEEI/FM 2.3-2.8-4.0-3.2. YrAgo #4, 6.2.
1/1-3/1-6/1 WXKS-FM CHR iHeart 7.3-7.0-6.0. Holds #1 cume 964-874-879k. Can’t remember a #6 rank. YrAgo #2, 6.4.
2/3-7/3-7/3 WMJX-FM A/C Entercom 6.7-5.1-5.5. Stays at #7, 761-802-791-776k cume. Music changing? YrAgo #5, 5.8.
9/12-9/15-8/9 WBUR-FM News/Talk Boston U. 3.4-3.5-4.3. Moves up a notch, cume gains 391-362-407k. YrAgo #12, 4.5
7/5-8/6-9/7 WKLB-FM Country Beasley 5.1-4.7-3.5. Cume down 566-518-482k. Leads Bull 2.9-2.5-1.2. YrAgo #8, 4.0.
16/19-11/17-9/16 WGBH-FM News/Talk WGBH Found. 2.3-3.3-3.5. Gaining back into Top 10, tie #9. YrAgo #13 at 3.1.
Plenty of News, Politics and Covid gave WBZ-AM undisputed Top Slot. Talker WRKO-AM gained again to #4 and non-comm WBUR slipped into 8thh. Musically, last month’s gains left. Recall on May 28, WODS dropped CHR “AMP” for Adult Hits WBGB-FM. May 1.1 share 285k cume; June 1.5 & 306k cume, July 1.8 & 339k, August 2.5, 416k cume. September #12 2.6 share on only a 300 cume increase. Was October the peak at #11, 3.1, 403k cume as November scores #14 at 2.7 & 378k. The River WXRV dipped from last month’s #9 to #11. WJMN Jammin’ had a 0.5 recovery but still at #15; Boston signals WBOS, WBQT, WKAF and WCRB can all use a New Year’s boost.
Shares up in 5 of the Top 10. This month share movement was +/- 1.2 as Boston’s Top 10 entry share hit moved up June/November 3.3-3.2-3.4-3.1-3.1-3.5. Top 20 entry holds at 1.3 again, June/November 1.2-1.5-1.5-1.3-1.3-1.3. Ties at #9, 12, 15, 21, 25, 27, 31 & 33. The Top 4 stations are within 0.4, again, this month. Radio reach and credibility grows. Broadcasters do more delivering greater returns to advertisers. Local radio connects and helps the local economy.
TOP 20: Sept/Oct/Nov ‘20 Share/Cume Rank – calls/format/owner/share trends, local color & November 2019 comps.
10/15-9/11-11/15 WXRV-FM Adult Alternative Northeast 3.1-3.5-3.3. Slips from Top 10. Nice variety. YrAgo #13 at 3.0.
10/6-13/7-12/6 WWBX-FM Hot A/C Entercom 3.1-2.8-3.0. Format in a tight battle for rank & position. YrAgo #11 at 3.6.
12/17-13/19-12/17 WEEI-FM Sports Entercom 2.6-2.8-3.0. Slight up, again. Cume 317-305-318kk. YrAgo #7, 4.9.
12/11-12/10-14/11 WBGB-FM Adult Hits Entercom 2.6-3.1-2.7. This is a slip from steady gains. As WODS YrAgo #20, 1.7
17/14-15/16-15/18 WBWL-FM Country iHeart 2.2-2.2-2.3. Cume 373-360-316k, WKLB leads 2.9-2.5-1.2. YrAgo #16, 2.1.
19/10-19/14-15/13 WJMN-FM Rhythmic CHR iHeart 1.9-1.8-2.3. Breaks a 2, this time. Cume stays 365k. YrAgo #17, 1.7.
14/9-16/9-17/10 WBOS-FM Classic Rock Beasley 2.5-2.1-2.1. New Year’s resolution? Cume 417-397k. YrAgo #9 at 3.6.
17/13-18/12-18/14 WBQT-FM Rhythm A/C Beasley. 2.2-2.0-2.0. Cluster has a pair of big signals to fix. YrAgo #15 at 3.3.
14/16-16/13-19/12 WXLO-FM Hot A/C Cumulus 2.5-2.1-1.9. Cume 365-369k but share/TSL is dropping. YrAgo #18, 1.9
20/20 WKAF Hot A/C iHeart 1.1-1.1-1.3 Cume 218-201k. Started very nicely, good variety and a 3 share. YrAgo #22, 1.8
21/22 WCRB-FM Classical WGBH Found 1.3-1.3-1.2. Needs a good refresh. Cume 187-182k. YrAgo #19, 1.5
21/21 WGIR-FM Rock iHeart 1.1-1.1-1.2. 183-185k cume, #1 at 9.3 in Manchester, NH.
23/23 WERS-FM Variety Emerson 1.1-1.1-1.1 Cume 148-140k.
24/26 WCTK Country Hall 0.8-1.0-1.1, 113-94kk Boston cume but #2 in Providence at 10.4.
25/25 WHJY Rock iHeart 0.9-0.8-0.6 Boston cume 114-104k and #1 in Providence at 11.6.
25/29 WXKS-AM Talk iHeart -0.4-0.5-0.6, 50-52k cume
27/24 WSRS A/C Rock iHeart 0.4-0.5-0.4. Cume 150-131k, #1 in Worcester at 8.0. 3-way tie.
27/30 WUMB-FM Folk UMass 0.4-0.4-0.4, 42-41k cume. Lots of potential here, with numerous signals.
27/28 WHEB Rock iHeart -0.4-0.3-0.4, #1 Portsmouth.
30/27 WSNE Hot A/C iHeart 0.4-0.3-0.3, 76-80k cume, #7 Providence at 4.1
31/33 WEEI/FM Stream Sports Entercom 0.1-0.1-0.2. 22k cume.
31/32 WVEI Sports Entercom 0.1-0.1-0.2. Boston cume 26k. Providence #9, 2.5.
33/31 WWFX Classic Hits Cumulus Worcester. 0.1-0.1-0.1. Boston cume 34k
33/33 WEEI-AM Sports Entercom. 0.0-0.0-0.1. Returns to those listed with a 19.5k cume at 50,000 watts. Sad.
Tied at 35 going 0.1 to 0.0: WCOD Hot A/C Cape Cod. 19k cume & WRCA-AM Bloomberg Business Beasley 5k cume.
Election over. Transition begins. Covid not going away, yet. Stay Safe at Home for Thanksgiving.
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CLARK SMIDT, Broadcast Advisor (978) 502-6633 www.Broadcastideas.com [email protected]
Broadcast Branding, Presentation and Strategic Connections for Radio, TV & Station Tower Value