BOSTON RADIO UPDATE CLARK SMIDT October 2, 2020 www.broadcastideas.com
Welcome to 4Q, A Month of Two Full Moons and The New Season. Here’s the BOSTON September 2020 story from August 13 - September 9. Northeast Markets will follow.
BOSTON. Market #10 6+ Population 4,376,900 Spanish 12% Urban 8.15%
CLUSTER SHARES - High & Low Months Underlined. The iHeart lead over Beasley goes 14.0-12.4-12.6-11.7. iHeart is 1.9 ahead of their September ’19 showing, Beasley is off 2.2. ETM trails iHeart 23.3-20.1-18.2-18.3 and the ETM cluster is down just 0.6 from a year ago. Non-Comms show WBUR 0.4-0.8-1.1 ahead of WGBH. Sports gains for WBZ/FM now #6, 4.1-4.9-5.4; WEEI/FM holds at 2.6-2.6-2.6, in a tie for 12th.
BOSTON CLUSTER SHARES:
Hol Jan’20 Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept’20
1. iHeart 28.6 31.0 30.6 33.0 35.5 35.0 35.9 35.2 34.0 33.5
2. Beasley 21.7 24.6 24.1 23.9 21.5 22.2 21.9 22.8 21.4 21.8
3. Entercom 24.4 16.3 16.8 13.9 12.8 12.0 13.6 15.1 15.8 15.2
BOSTON FORMATS:
Aug ’20 Sept ‘20
Hot A/C, Rym, CHR 18.0 18.6 WXKS 7.3, WWBX 3.1, WXLO 2.5, WBQT 2.2, WJMN 1.9, WKAF 1.2, WSNE 0.4
Classic Hits/Rock 18.2 18.0 WROR 6.5, WZLX 6.3, WBGB 2.6, WBOS 2.5, WWFX 0.1
News/Talk 17.1 17.3 WBZ-A 6.1, WRKO-A 4.9, WBUR 3.4, WGBH 2.3, WXKS-A 0.4, WRCA-A 0.2
Non-Commercial 8.7 8.5 WBUR 3.4, WGBH 2.3, WCRB 1.3, WERS 1.1, WUMB 0.4
Country 8.9 8.4 WKLB 5.1, WBWL 2.2, WCTK 1.1
Sports 7.8 8.2 WBZ-FM 5.4, WEEI-FM 2.6, WEEI/F Stream 0.1, WVEI/F 0.1, WEEI-A 0.0
A/C 7.1 6.5 WMJX 6.1, WSRS 0.4
Rock/Alternative 5.5 5.2 WXRV 3.1, WGIR 1.1, WHJY 0.9, WHEB 0.1
Gainers: Talk WRKO-AM + 1.0, Adult Hits, Sports WBZ/FM + 0.5, CHR WKXS/F + 0.4
Dippers: Classic Rock WZLX - 0.8, Hot A/C WWBX - 0.8, News/Talk WBZ-AM -0.5, Hot A/C WBQT – 0.4
July/Aug/Sept. ‘20 Share/Cume Rank – calls/format/owner/share trends, local color with Sept. 2019 comps.
2/1-2/1-1/1 WXKS-FM CHR iHeart 7.3-6.9-7.3. #1 cume 971-904-964k. Back in the Top Slot. YrAgo #2, 6.3.
3/3-4/2-2/3 WMJX-FM A/C Entercom 6.9-6.5-6.7. Moves up into 2nd place, 743-761-802k cume. YrAgo #4, 5.8.
5/2-5/3-3/2 WROR-FM Classic Hits Beasley 6.5-6.2-6.4. #2 cume 805k skips ahead of WZLX. YrAgo #1 at a 7.6.
1/4-1/4-4/4 WZLX-FM Classic Rock iHeart 7.4-7.1-6.3. Something’s sliding as WROR pulls ahead. YrAgo #3, 5.9.
4/6-3/6-5/7 WBZ-AM News/Talk iHeart 6.7-6.6.6.1 King of News on AM. iHeart now posts #1-4-5. 501k cume. YrAgo #5, 5.3
8/13-7/14-6/8 WBZ-FM Sports Beasley 4.1-4.9-5.4. Nice gain, cume +22%, tops WEEI/FM 1.5-2.3-2.8. YrAgo #6, 5.0.
6/5-6/5-7/5 WKLB-FM Country Beasley 5.4-5.4-5.1. Cume +4.1% but dips share. Lead on Bull 3.2-2.0-2.9. YrAgo #7, 4.4.
8/20-8/18-8/18 WRKO-AM Talk iHeart 4.2-3.9-4.9. Up a full share point, cume +12.6%. Boston Talk is hot. YrAgo #8, 3.9.
10/15-10/15-9/12 WBUR-FM News/Talk Boston U. 3.2-3.4-3.4. Cume + 4.1%. Holds share, gains a notch. YrAgo #10, 3.4.
8/7-8/7-10/6 WWBX-FM Hot A/C Entercom 3.5-3.9-3.1. Dippity doo in a crowded format. Stays Top 10. YrAgo #13, 3.0.
12/11-11/13-10/15 WXRV-FM Adult Alternative Northeast 2.8-3.0-3.1. Ties into Top 10. Sold 3 NH FMs. YrAgo #15, 2.7.
Shares up in 6 of the Top 10. All share movement less than +/-1.0. Boston’s Top 10 entry share lowest for Feb/Sept 3.5-3.6-3.8-3.6-3.3-3.2-3.4-3.1. Top 20 entry holds at 1.3, Feb/Sept 1.9-1.4-1.3-1.2-1.5-1.5-1.3-1.3. Ties at 10, 12, 14, 17, 4-way at 21 and 36. Again, 7 FMs bunch within 0.4, #12-17. Fluctuation factors: sound, content, connection, Covid habits. Listening grows along with listener trust in and accountability from radio. THE BIG 103 FORMAT CHANGE: May 28, WODS dropped CHR “AMP” for “Music Unleased” Adult Hits WBGB-FM. May 1.1 share 285k cume; June 1.5 & 306k cume, July 1.8 & 339k, August 2.5 share, 416k cume. September could already be peak, like the foliage: #12 2.6 share but only a 300 cume increase. Wide playlist & off-beat automated liners tie WEEI/FM and beat WBOS, WGBH and WJMN. Surprised there aren’t more formats poised for changing to match times and demographic demands.
July/Aug/Sept. ‘20 Share/Cume Rank – calls/format/owner/share trends, local color with Sept. 2019 comps.
15/18-15/18-12/17 WEEI-FM Sports Entercom 2.5-2.6-2.6. Still waiting for the sports surge. Cume -3% YrAgo tie #9, 3.7.
19/15-15/10-12/11 WBGB-FM Adult Hits Entercom 1.8-2.5-2.6. Former WODS. Inexpensive automatic. YrAgo #20, 1.6.
11/9-17/9-14/9 WBOS-FM Classic Rock Beasley 3.0-2.3-2.5. Stops share slide, cume + 4.6% YrAgo #12, with a 3.2 share.
17/16-17/19-14/16 WXLO-FM Hot A/C Cumulus 2.1-2.3-2.5. Gains share & +29% cume! Beats JMN, BQT, Worc. #2, 6.1.
12/17-12/18 16/19 WGBH-FM News/Talk WGBH Found. 2.8-2.6-2.3. Cume dips 10%. New logo no help. YrAgo #13. 3.0.
12/8-12/8-17/13 WBQT-FM Rhythm A/C Beasley. 2.8-2.6-2.2. Ouch. Ties Bull at #17; cume down 10%. YrAgo #10, 3.4.
16/14-16/16-17/14 WBWL-FM Country iHeart 2.3-2.4-2.2. Cume +7% but WKLB leads 2.1-3.0-2.9. YrAgo #16 at a 2.4.
18/10-19/11-19/10 WJMN-FM Rhythmic CHR iHeart 1.9-1.7-1.9. Borrowed time, once #1 signal WCOZ. YrAgo #19, 1.8.
20/21-20/23-20/22 WCRB-FM Classical WGBH Found 1.5-1.3-1.3. Not good for GBH Radio. Cume +4%. YrAgo #23 at 1.1.
21 Tie: WGIR-FM Rock iHeart 1.1-1.3-1.1. #1 at 9.3 in Manchester, NH. #24 cume. WKAF Hot A/C iHeart 1.3-1.2-1.1 cume @20. WERS-FM Variety Emerson 1.1-1.2-1.1 cume #23. WCTK Country Hall 0.8-1.0-1.1. #1 Providence at 12.3.
25. WHJY Rock iHeart 0.9-0.9-0.9. Cume 25, #2 in Providence at 10.2.
26. Tie @ 0.4: WSRS A/C iHeart Cume #26, #1 Worcester 8.0. WXKS-AM Talk iHeart Cume #29. WSNE Hot A/C iHeart, Cume #27, #6 Providence 4.2. WHEB Rock iHeart Cume #28, Portsmouth NH 7.0 #1. WUMB-FM Folk UMass, Cume #30.
31. WRCA-AM Bloomberg Business Beasley, 0.2.Cume #34.
32. Tie @ 0.1. WEEI/FM Stream Entercom. WCOD A/C iHeart Cape Cod. WWFX Classic Hits Cumulus Worcester. WKOX-AM Talk iHeart. WVEI Sports Entercom, Providence 2.5, #8.
Classic Rock & Classic Hits prove sustained strength, Sports is restarting, CHR/Rhythmic/Hot A/C is crowded, a Worcester 50kw ties for #14 and Non-Comms are in a less commanding position. Throughout Covid-19 and into the new normal, radio proves accessibility, value, reach, frequency and immediate benefits for advertisers. Most important is Radio’s largest share of the audio pie added to the unique FCC license for audience credibility.
Radio is an integral part of the American Fabric as we celebrate a 100-year history, 1920-2020. Digital delivery is fast and clear but broadcast content creates, connects, comforts, and serves the content for all new gadgets. Smart coordination of all channels with Radio Complement is smart business. Here to a 4Q comeback.