Viewpoint Ratings – The Truth
There’s been a lot of buzz, especially on Facebook, with everyone talking about the reason Viewpoint with Dan Morris was taken off the morning time slot at News Talk 107.9…here are the official numbers provided by Bluewater Broadcasting and re-printed with their permission.
As I have mentioned before – the core demographic for News Talk stations is Men 35 – 64…with that in mind – here are the morning ratings for News Talk 107.9 for the past three books:
Sp10 – 7.5, Fall10 – 3.5, S11 – 2.3
That’s a significant drop from 7.5 to 2.3. If it was two books you might could say it was a fluke, but this is over a 3 book time period.
Here’s some other demos to look at too…ones that truthfully are not the core demo for this station but are seeing the same results:
25-54 Adults – Sp10 3.1, Fall10 3.4 , S11 1.5
35-65 Adults – Sp10 5.4, Fall10 4.4, S11 2.3
25-54 Men – Sp10 4.9, Fall10 3.1, S11 2.4
35-64 Women – Sp 10 4.2, Fall10 4.5, S11 2.6
So there you have it. There were two small increases, followed by dramatic decreases.
So now I ask, if you owned this station, could you justify keeping this program in it’s current time slot? (especially when you consider too that half the inventory was being given away as payment)
Popularity: 13% [?]
Finally! After almost a year and a half since Montgomery locals were turned up on Direct. Picture quality is great. ...
Thank you for publishing the ratings numbers and thank you, too, Rick Peters, for allowing them to be published. I certainly do understand why a change needed to be made. It was a little shocking to hear how much the show had declined. I was sure, at first, that I’d misheard the numbers.
I hate to sound so ignorant, but I’m going to go ahead and ask a stupid question. What exactly is “inventory”? Is this related to sponsors advertising on the show?
Could that drop be because of.the leaving of Mr monteil
Inventory is the “number of commercials available to sell to advertisers”.
For example: if there was 16 minutes per hour of available commercials to sell, half of that was given to Dan.
Jay,
Good question. In hindsight, I probably should have put up with the bombastic egotist and kept the team together. Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, a lot of listeners probably turned in to hear what obnoxious thing was going to come out of Montiels mouth next. How’s that for an offhanded compliment and a mea culpa?
I still listen to viewpoint, but I have to say the show was much more interesting with Judge Montiel. I flip back and forth to listen to him and Kevin in between commercial breaks.
Rick the numbers don’t lie,something Dan is fond of pointing out.I hope he succeeds in his new time. Thank you for your honesty and integrity and good luck with your new lineup. I am already missing Beck.
Thanks for the kind words. We have always tried to conduct ourselves with the utmost of integrity in our business and personal dealings. As you have pointed out, the change in Viewpoint was not the only change on News Talk 107.9. We’ve readjusted the entire schedule, and are looking for more local talk talent. Frankly, we are extremely disappointed with the performance of the station. If we intend to keep the format on the air, we are going to have to do better. Believe me when I tell you there is a real commitment to continuing the format, but the obvious truth is that 104.9 The Gump out performs News Talk on a translator.
looking at the arb survey periods above….how can there be fall ‘ll ratings? this fall hasn’t happened yet, or has it?
Typo. It’s the last 3 books. Spring and Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 which was just released 2 weeks ago.
Good catch. Typo has been corrected to reflect Fa10 versus Fa11.
When WACV (News Talk 107.9′s predecessor) signed on as a news-talk station back in the 1980s, the station’s programming was built around “Don Markwell’s Viewpoint”. Kevin Elkins, I believe, was on in the morning slot, and then Joe Marcus. Don came on after them as I recall, and for some time was paired with Joe Marcus. Then, Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy (I used to love that ragtag show – he always called his cheap equipment “East German surplus”) and Ken Hamblin, the Black Avenger, rounded out the weekday schedule.
Hamblin is off the air, Limbaugh is on another station, and I don’t know what became of Liddy’s show. Looking back on the early days of talk radio, Glenn Beck’s schtick just seems incongruent with what used to be conservative talk. Although he could be funny and entertaining, I’m glad he’s gone.
It is weird now, when I drive to school I hear Greg and Susan, and when I leave school in the afternoon, I hear Greg and Susan. Reminds me of the “Dick Van Dyke” episode where Rob Petrie did a 100-hour disc jockey shift.
marcus did a greg at one time……early morning and then late afternoon. friday sign on was “we could be having a japaneese sandstorm and it would be a great day be…cause it is friiiiday!!!” sign off friday afternoon with,”6′oclock, and i’m headed to happy hour.”
want be listening to viewpoint, will wait for Ingram’s show.
I’ve missed something…fill me in.