http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3193577 Plenty of sports radio to go around in Houston By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle The majordomos at KILT (610 AM) and KBME (790 AM) both like what they read in Houston's first Arbitron book as a two-sports-station town, thus proving that, unlike the lilies of the field, they can spin as well as toil. The broadest audience measurement, persons age 12-plus from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday through Sunday, doesn't look too good. KILT slipped from 21st place in the fall book to 23rd for winter 2005 (January-March), and KBME came in 31st, or next to last. KILT, however, is pleased that its morning and afternoon drive numbers combined are in the top 10 among men age 25 through 54 with a 3.7 rating, and KBME is happy that it showed significant growth in that same demographic in its first full ratings period since making the move from music to sports. For adults 25-54 from 6 a.m. to midnight, KBME went from a rating of .1 to .5, and for men 25-54 it increased from .2 to .9. KILT's numbers went from 1.6 to 1.8 for persons 25-54 and from 2.9 to 3.0 for the men 25-54 demo. "That shows me we brought new people to the party, which is important for us as we try to grow the format," said Ken Charles of Clear Channel Radio, which owns KBME. "If I just take audience from them, it's not a win for anybody." In afternoon drive time (3-7 p.m. weekdays), where Marc Vandermeer and Rich Lord on KILT face off against Charlie Pallilo on KBME, KILT's persons 25-54 rating went from 2.2 to 1.9 while KBME went from .1 to .9. For men 25-54, KILT dropped from a 4.1 rating to 3.0, and KBME went from .1 to 1.5.
With the Internet, I don't think any city besides New York or LA needs two newspapers. Besides, aren't most newspapers owned by the same one or two companies now, like radio stations?
The Chron has, over the past 5 years, moved more and more of its internal resources away from the print paper and into other areas - commercial printing, internet advertising, etc. All newspapers are struggling because of the growth of the internet.
So basically SR610 is killing the "Sports Animal" in the ratings area. I am not surprised though that many people switch over from dull Marc Vandameer to Charlie Palillo during the drive time period. Charlie is just a lot better than Marc, and Rich was good with Charlie, but now he is dragged along with Marc's preference for movies and entertainment over sports talk The "Drive Time Players" on SR610 was my favorite on SR610, but now I switched to the morning crew, John & Lance are pretty funny and I love listening to them. Otherwise, I still listen to Charlie on 790 during the afternoon, and occasionally switch back to SR610 to see if they have interviews lined up that are of any interest to me, otherwise it is all Charlie.
I wonder if John and Lance's ratings will go down a bit during the summer. Its only so much local talk I personally can listen to when the baseball team is this bad and there is nothing else going on during the summer. Last year's team was bad during the summer but at least there was the McGrady trade to discuss, and the baseball team had a little hope. Mike and Mike aren't that bad, and if the Astros don't experience a miracle, national talk is going to be a lot more appealing.
Summer ratings for the AM stations genreally take a dip in terms of a percentage of toal listenership...there are people that are listening that ordinarily aren't (students, teachers) but overall summers are good for us. There are just as many people that want to hear people bag on my damned Astros as there are people that want to join me in the lovefest.
So I'm listening to Houston's newest ALL SPORTS radio station last night, 790, about 11pm. I still haven't figured out what the hell they were talking about , but it wasn't sports. Something about an energy museum in Houston. They were talking a bunch of mumbo jumbo that was going over my head. Turning tar into fuel, crap like that. It pissed me off because 790 is the station that blasts 610 for having a home improvement show on the weekends. At least that show has useful information on it. I wanted to fire off an email to Ken Charles and may still do so.
i believe every AM station is required to do some public service broadcasting...they usually choose Sundays for it.
I believe there is some requirement for an hour (?) of "public affairs" type programming per week. My guess is that is what you stumbled into. I do have to give Clear Channel credit for staying away from the lure of infommercial money, which 610 used to frequently dip into.
I find it funny that 790 switches to FSR (Fox Sports Radio) at night. Those FSR radio commercials slam ESPN radio. I actually prefer listening to 790 once the local shows are off the air. That JT the brick guy is a freaking jerk, though. My favorite is the 3rd shift on fox. It can get a little annoying sometimes with the sound effects overload, but I still like it. It keeps me awake at 2am.
we do a public affairs show, too so I can't crush them. Yes it's federally mandated to air that crap.
