WPTT follows the money

Come September 1, Pittsburgh radio listeners will be without anything resembling liberal talk.

WPTT (1360AM), which carries a wide mix of talk programming, including local talker Lynn Cullen and syndicated offerings from liberal hosts such as Thom Hartmann and Alan Colmes, and conservatives Laura Ingraham and Mike Gallagher, will drop their present format and flip to business talk with the WMMY call letters.

Cullen, who has been with the station for a decade, will end her WPTT show on August 29, but she is open to picking up another local talk radio gig. She has already received feelers from other stations.

WPTT management cites the heavy competition from talkers KDKA and WPGB-FM. "It was slicing the talk pie pretty thin, and we just found that, quite honestly, it was like trying to push a boulder uphill," said Alan Serena, vice president and marketing manager for the station's owner, Renda Broadcasting. The format change has nothing to do with the content of any of WPTT's current programming.

Cullen, 60, had been told by management that she had the only program on WPTT that was bringing in significant ad revenue, much of it from such bedrock sponsors as Little's Shoes and Castle Windows. "The station is on for 24 hours, but my three hours were the only revenue-producing hours," she said.

Serena acknowledged her drawing power and said that when the station dropped talk-show host Doug Hoerth in December, it was partly because it hoped to cut costs enough to allow Cullen's program to survive.

Ratings Roundup Winter 2007: Part 3

And now we come to part three.

Today, Arbitron released ratings books for more markets, including five that have liberal talk radio stations.

In Minneapolis/St. Paul (#16), 1000 watt independently-owned suburban blaster KTNF drops a bit, from its highest-ever 1.7 to 1.1 for the Winter book. This is a tenth of a point higher than their position a year ago. They are clustered in a pack with three other talk stations: Conservotalk FM'er KTLK-FM, which rises just over a full point, Salem's WWTC and female-oriented FM talker WFMP, which they are tied with. Last fall, the station actually bested KTLK in several daypart and demographic breakdowns, particularly with Ed Schultz' show. Since then, the station moved Schultz to his new time slot, three hours earlier.

There's some interesting stuff going on in Buffalo (#52), as WWKB almost triples its ratings in one book, leaping from 0.6 to 1.7, good for 16th place in the market. They are helped somewhat by a change of formats at WHLD, which previously carried Air America Radio programming, prior to their current gospel music format (which has thus far failed to chart). Since the flip, WWKB has picked up Randi Rhodes and reorganized their schedule, to what appears to be greater success. They are also up nearly half a point from a year ago.

WPTT in Pittsburgh (#24), which carries Air America's Thom Hartmann, local talker Lynn Cullen and even FOX Noise suck-up Alan Colmes drops only a tenth of a point, from 1.2 to 1.1, the same point where they were a year ago.

Market #22 Denver's KKZN slides as well, from 1.9 to 1.3, close to where they were last winter and spring. They are still neck-and-neck with Salem conservotalker KNUS.

And finally, in the Queen City of Cincinnati (#28), WSAI, which ditched liberal talk around the beginning of the year for some weird form of Neal Boortz-anchored 'lifestyle talk' has dropped off the ratings charts. They are non-existent. Hope the Clear Channel braintrusts there who were adamant about wiping progressive talk off the local airwaves are satisfied with this little account executive throw-in special they've created.

Coming up on Friday, books for Miami, Seattle, Columbus and others will be released. Portland and Phoenix are set for Monday. I'll likely combine both days into one report, on Monday afternoon.

Ratings Roundup: Phase 2 Winter trend, part 2

Yesterday, you saw some of the early results of the second of the Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings trend reports. And today, some results from a few other markets.

This rolling trend report survey period covers this past December, January and February, and is the run-up to the official Winter ratings books, which will be released starting later this month.

In Denver and Pittsburgh, nothing exciting to note about any of the liberal talk stations there. KKZN slides a bit, and WPTT, which carries only Thom Hartmann from the Air America lineup and is as close to liberal talk as the market really gets (save for tiny WURP), drops slightly as well. However, one station makes a very impressive leap this time around. WWKB in Buffalo/Niagara Falls (#52), which recently lost a competitor when Air America-formatted WHLD flipped to gospel music, moves from a 0.6 in the Fall book, to a 1.1 in the last trend, and now to a 1.6 share, good for 15th place in the overall rankings. Like the situation in Monterey/Santa Cruz discussed yesterday, one station seemed to benefit when a rival switched formats. WWKB has also recently shuffled its schedule.

In Minneapolis/St. Paul (market #16), KTNF slides a few tenths of a point to 1.3 after their spectacular Fall book. The 1,000 watt station in the western suburb of Eden Prarie holds its own in a very heavy talk radio market that is also home to legendary top-rated middle-of-the-road talker WCCO, reformed conservotalker KSTP, underperforming 100,000 FM conservotalker KTLK-FM, female-oriented FM talker WFMP, Salem's pair of conservotalkers, and, of course, highly-rated Minnesota Public Radio flagship KNOW.

Finally, we conclude with Cincinnati, OH (#28), where WSAI is nowhere to be found after ditching liberal talk for some weird hodgepodge of lifestyle and how-to programming and lower-tier conservotalk shows. Gee, smart move, Clear Channel. Hey, at least liberal talk got ratings!

More trend reports for other markets are on the way next week. If you want to see the overall (12+) numbers for yourself, you can check them out at Radio and Records or StationRatings.com.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 5

For the last of this series of Arbitron ratings reports for liberal talk radio stations across the country, we arrive in the Northeast. This one will take a look at the upper East Coast.

In New York, WWRL finally makes an appearance in its first ratings book since becoming the new flagship for Air America. Whereas the signal-challenged station rarely appeared in the rankings prior to the September flip, they now come on with a 0.8 share, tied for 26th place. WWRL also makes a first-time showing in other regional books, garnering a 0.7 share in Long Island (market #18), where they only have a partial presence, and 0.5 in Middlesex, NJ (market #39). Meanwhile, WLIB, now airing a gospel music format, drops from a 1.0 to a 0.5 share in New York City. They did not show up in other regional market surveys, where they have done well under its previous format. All in all, considering the station switch and signal limitations, WWRL did not do too badly, as they beat a few 50,000 watt stations and are even competitive with stronger, higher-profile FM stations like WFNY, airing CBS Radio's expensive "Free FM" talk format.

Upstate, in Buffalo/Niagara Falls (#52), little WHLD maintained a mid-share figure for its last ratings book before its recent flip to gospel music. Since picking up Air America and other liberal talk programming, the station has gone from a perrenial no-show to actually making a dent in the ratings book. Its final number was a 0.5. Entercom-owned rival WWKB finished just a tenth of a point ahead, with a 0.6, down from a 1.0 in the Summer. WWKB appears to be a rather neglected station, with a neglected website and a midday show rerun in the evening hours. Perhaps with WHLD's dropping of Air America, WWKB will have some new programming options. The station does have a fairly strong signal, and could be a success if they figured out how to utilize it properly. To the east, WWKB's sister station WROC in nearby Rochester (#53) made a pretty big jump, rising from a 0.9 to a 1.3, good for 15th place overall. The Arbitron book for Ithaca (#283) has been embargoed, meaning that overall ratings are not available to the public, so there's no word on how WNYY did in that market as of yet. They flipped from oldies to progressive talk last June.

In Boston (#11), the two weak signals of WKOX and WXKS maintained a half share with their recently-dropped progressive talk format. The current ratings for Central Massachusetts' trimulcast of WHMP are unknown in the Springfield (#84) ratings, since the book is under an embargo by Arbitron. In the last available ratings, from one year ago, the station held a 1.6 share, making it the #2 talk station in the market. WAVZ in New Haven (#109), armed with a weak signal and little support from owner Clear Channel, did not register overall in the current ratings book. The station switched to ESPN Radio last week. And WLVP in Portland, ME (#167) drops slightly for the fall, down from a 0.9 to 0.6 share.

Pittsburgh (#24) is the home of two Air America Radio affiliates. The stronger, more established suburban rimshot WPTT, which carries Thom Hartmann, local liberal talker Lynn Cullen and an assortment of other talkers from various sides of the political spectrum, comes in at a 1.2 share. WPTT has recently gotten the go-ahead from the FCC to swap dial positions soon, moving from 1360AM to 910AM, which will give them a stronger daytime signal, though they will cease nighttime broadcasting as a trade-off. WURP, one of Air America's newest affiliates, is a no-show in the book, mostly due to a very tiny predominantly daytime signal that doesn't really get cover much area (at night, they power down from 1000 watts to a measly 4 watts). They have a construction permit pending that will double the daytime power and move the transmitter into the city, which will give the urban areas of Pittsburgh 12 watts at night. The station has long carried The Young Turks, and recently picked up Air America programming for weekends. During the week, they run 'hot talk' personalities such as Don and Mike and Tom Leykis, as well as G. Gordon Liddy.

And finally, this analysis consists mostly of the overall numbers, ages 12+ for all time periods 6AM-Midnight, since these are the only numbers that Arbitron officially releases to the public. Therefore, these numbers do not give any substantial information in regard to daypart, age and gender breakdowns, which are highly coveted by advertisers looking to target specific audiences. Occasionally, more specific information does seep through, such as a statement on Hartmann's website, claiming that his show enjoyed massive increases in listenership in several markets, including WPTT Pittsburgh, with a 100% increase, KPHX Phoenix up 186%, KTNF Minneapolis-St. Paul up 120%, KQKE San Francisco up 100% and his hometown of Grand Rapids, where WTKG is up 114%.



The next series of Arbitron ratings reports will be coming in late March, which will take into account the ratings for this Winter.

Election draws national attention to Lynn Cullen

WPTT-AM (1360) talk host Lynn Cullen's liberal philosophy has set her apart from the pack in the largely conservative world of talk radio. So in a way it's ironic that the presidential election ended up putting her show in the national and international spotlight.

Last month she was featured in a CNN International Report, along with KDKA-AM's (1020) Mike Pintek, on opposing talk host viewpoints in battleground states. Then C-Span simulcast her program a week before the elections and ended up repeating the broadcast.

The TV exposure generated more than 3,000 e-mails. "I'm still digging out," says Cullen, who still has about 1,600 left to read. Combine that with the station's presence on the Internet -- its talk shows are streamed live -- and you have something akin to electronic syndication.

Syndication in some other form may not be far behind, the host says.

"That's a possibility. There's an audience."

(snip)

Cullen would be happy to go national -- as long as she can do it from Pittsburgh. "I want to stay here. I'm not going to pick up and do this somewhere else. I had opportunities to leave. It's not who I am. I'm not nomadic. My son's life is here. My life is here."

(more)

C-SPAN: Political Talk Show Week

From the site:

In the remaining days leading up to next week's election, C-SPAN is simulcasting various talk radio shows around the country. On Tuesday, we have Michael Smerconish of WPHT 1210-AM Philadelphia and Lynn Cullen of WPTT 1360-AM Pittsburgh.

It looks like they're still fleshing out the schedule, but so far tomorrow, it looks like Lincoln Ware of African-American talk station WDBZ in Cincinnati, OH and conservative Denny Schaffer of WSPD-AM, Toledo, OH. I have also heard rumors of a simulcast of Thom Hartmann's show, but I'll keep you posted.

You can also check C-SPAN's site for more info.