Friday, August 3, 2012

Quick Ratings Question for Knowledgeable Confessors

We've taken a passing interest in the on-air postings for positions with Cumulus and the stations.  There's the chief engineer slot, and they're also looking for an IT guy, sounds like.  Both sorely needed. 

We hear the Ticket guys griping about Cumulus corporate practices, and we've observed some ourselves, so it's amusing to hear these ads talking about what a fabulous place Cumulus is to work.  Maybe it is, but the contrast between recent events and the bubbly self-promotion of the ads is amusing.

Lately, we've heard i93 trolling for sales guys on The Ticket.  My question is this:  The ads state that i93 is the "third-most listened-to" station in DFW.  When I go to this site

http://www.radio-info.com/markets/dallas-ft-worth

I see a listing of stations with an "AQH%", but those rankings don't match up with the "cume" numbers, which I assume represents listeners.  Based on the cume numbers, KLIF- FM does indeed appear to be the third-most listened-to station, although down in the listings.

In fact, i93's "cume" is about triple The Ticket's.

Now, we all know that the 25-54 male demographic is the most desirable, and Thc Ticket rules there.  My question for a radio guy is:  how should we read these tables?  What is the relationship between the AQH% (and what is it?) and the "cume," and what is their relative importance to advertisers?  Why does The Ticket appear so far down on this list, if it is so dominant in the most significant demo?

Thanks in advance.

5 comments:

  1. Demographics are all that matters.

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  2. AQH = the average number of persons listening to a particular station for at least five minutes during a 15-minute period

    Cume = the total number of different persons who tune to a radio station during the course of a day for at least five minutes

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  3. Weren't you at one time considering buying a radio station, Plainsman? Seems like you'd already know this stuff.

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  4. Wow, good memory.

    That's right, but it was a very small rural station in the Midwest -- doubt it registered on any ratings charts. I learned a little about the industry as I looked into the investment, but decided not to buy and that was the end of my radio education.

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  5. I'm a little surprised no one commented on the little interchange about "consorting with the enemy". If you did not hear it yesterday Corby was talking about what he did the previous evening.

    He was eating by himself and in walked Bob Sturm and Ben Rogers. They sat down and had dinner. That had Danny and Mike talking about the "enemy".

    He then made an oblique reference to Corby also consorting with Greggo. Where upon Corby stated he had hi a few times.

    Mike then stated, "not me, I'm keeping it real."

    My version of it anyway.

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