Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Winnipeg Radio Ratings Spring 2012


CJOB Still Tops But Winnipeg Loves Sports


Back in January, I guessed there was going to be some movement when it came to radio ratings. The Spring BBM listings have indicated as much.


1. CJOB - 13.0 (16.6)
2. CBC Radio 1 - 9.2 (10.6)
3. Hot 103 - 9.1 (15.6)
4. Power 97 - 7.7 (7.2)
5. Citi - 7.2 (5.6)
6. Energy - 7.1
7. QX-104 - 6.8 (8.7)
8. Fab - 6.6 (6.7)
8. Clear - 6.6 (6.3)
10. Bob - 6.4 (5.2)
11. CBC Radio 2 - 3.1 (2.1)
12. TSN Radio 1290 - 2.7 (0.7)
13. Fresh - 1.5 (1.6)
14. Breeze - 1.0 (0.9)

CJOB and Hot 103 both took a major hit from their dominant position. And why not? Strip away some major sports fans and you see a drop of a couple of points right away for CJOB. As for Hot 103, they had a big target on their back with a massive lead in ratings.
The biggest winner by far is Energy who have gone from bottom dwellers to a shade under the top 5. It could be in the next six months that they finally grab top 5 and continue closing the gap with Hot 103.
TSN Radio 1290 has its sights clearly focused on CJOB's sports fans. There is no doubt that when Blue Bomber broadcasting rights come up again in six years that TSN will try to grab it. CJOB is probably counting their lucky stars that they sealed up that deal otherwise they might be looking at dropping out of first place in fall of 2012 for the first time.
My early complaints about lack of local content on TSN have been remedied by early morning and drive home local sports radio shows. On game day, it is all Winnipeg Jets all the time. CJOB has beefed up their hockey coverage and it has helped them from bleeding as many fan as they could have lost.
The Breeze is probably pouting a bit after bringing in Don Percy and not budging in the ratings. They still have their eye on Clear and now Breeze. Might have to wait another ratings period or two to see if there is any movement in the softer side of music.
Winnipeg loves its rock stations. Power 97 and Citi are right up there. Older pop stations like Fab, Clear and Bob are in the middle of the pack.
It has to be mentioned how resilient the two CBC radio stations are. It must be a shock to some that CBC Radio One is a respectable second and has been sitting in a top 5 position for some time. If only their TV stations had such similar strengths.
What can we expect in the fall of this year? Look for no major format changes but expect to see lots of promotion of morning shows and that means TV ads and contests. 
I think it behooves me to say radio station advertising is dreadful on TV. Stop going down to the States and having some content developer put your ad together from some generic plan. Please. And no more testimonials from actors talking about how they listen in the car, at work, etc. 
BOB FM. Your ads are not funny.
Do something different.
Case in point. Tourism ads. Some are quite good but try to find the difference between North Dakota and South Dakota ads. Don't get me wrong but similar vistas, music and western drawl don't look much different on TV. Then look at Minnesota's ad.

Now, that is good.
So listen up radio broadcaster: Here are some suggestions.
Lip dub can be fun. Radio broadcasters doing a broadcast from a desk at Portage and Main or something like that. Or an actual jingle like we saw with Minnesota. No more snippets of songs and and logo crapola.
Example of NBC's Today show having some fun.


Okay, have fun, play safe and come back and wow us in the fall.

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