from fmqb.com
April 29, 2004
FMQB reporterd earlier on dramatic increases for Stern stations in New York, L.A., Chicago, Boston, and Cleveland. Other stations experiencing the Stern affect* include:
FM Talker KLLI/Dallas: 2.7 (13T) - 3.9 (7)
Active Rock KISW/Seattle: 4.1 (5) - 5.7 (2T)
FM Talk WXYV/Baltimore: 3.1 (10) - 4.5 (8)
Active Rock WBZX/Columbus: 5.9 (7) - 7.2 (4)
Rock WBUF/Buffalo: 6.8 (4T) - 7.2 (4)
* Ratings cited above are 12+ morning drive, Fall to Winter.
But not all of Stern's stations trended up in the Winter. Modern Rock KITS/San Francisco slipped from fourth (4.2) to fifth (3.6) in mornings. Ditto WAQZ/Cincinnati: 3.6 (12) - 2.9 (13T).
from the NY Daily News
November 13, 2002
Ever wondered how many other people in America are actually listening to, say, Howard Stern at the same time you are?
Tony Sanders, who crunches national numbers for the trade publication Inside Radio, says it's around 1,490,000.
Standard radio ratings, designed for advertisers, use a figure called "cume," which is the cumulative number of persons who tune to a given show or station at some time during an average week.
That's obviously a much higher figure. The national weekly "cume" for Stern has been estimated by the trade mag Talkers at "8 million-plus."
By comparison, Rush Limbaugh is rated at 14.5 million-plus per week, Sean Hannity at 10 million-plus and Dr. Joy Browne and Imus at 5 million-plus.
The numbers of people listening to those hosts at any one time presumably are proportionate to Stern's numbers.
Stern's numbers also mean more than 10 times as many people are listening to him at any given time than are, say, watching cable news channels on television.
Sanders has also tracked Stern's ranking in all of his markets for summer 2002 - though this is just based on his share of the total audience. Like most hosts, Stern scores higher among his specific target audiences, which for him includes younger men.
Overall, Stern is No. 1 in New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Syracuse and York, Pa.
In other cities, it goes like this: Philadelphia, second; Washington, D.C., fourth; Los Angeles, seventh; Baltimore, 16th; Cleveland, second; Buffalo, fourth; Chicago, 10th; Dallas, 11th; Detroit, ninth; Hartford, sixth; Las Vegas, second; Boston, second; San Diego, third; Pittsburgh, third; Seattle, fourth; Rochester, seventh; Miami, fourth; San Francisco, fifth.
--snips--
from The San Jose Mercury News
March 9, 2001
--snips--
Paydays
Forbes magazine reported last week that Rush Limbaugh makes $31 million a year; Howard Stern $30 million; and Paul Harvey -- who does, what? 15 minutes a day? -- $29 million, simply staggering numbers.
No wonder "Jackie the Jokeman" walked off Stern's show. I'll bet Stern will pay Jackie what the guy wants before too long.
Morning radio can be so strange. For example, last week, Stern had on an artist named Steve Kaufman, but acted as if he hadn't had Kaufman on several months earlier. This is the guy who, at that time, claimed to have spent several days with prostitutes in Amsterdam. Stern acted as if he hadn't talked to Kaufman before, though the producer briefly mentioned the earlier incident, but not the interview.
It reminded me of something his competitor, Mancow Muller, used to do. Mancow would open his show, claiming that he was going to have huge celebrities like Michael Jackson, Cher or Bill Clinton on the air that day. Then, at the end of the show, he'd thank the same folks, even though they never were there.
But if you heard only the beginning or the end, you thought you'd missed something really big.
--snips--
from The San Francisco Chronicle
January 22, 2001
RATINGS AND LISTENERS
Being able to participate in news and talk has kept the listeners loyal to KGO and KCBS even though each lost its senior morning host to retirement last summer -- Al Hart at KCBS and Jim Dunbar at KGO. Both had been on the air since before the cell phone, the car phone, even the push-button phone.
"We're not a personality station," said Ed Cavagnaro, director of news and programming at KCBS. "Format is king at KCBS." Fall is the most important ratings period of the year, and in the latest Arbitron survey, KCBS won in cumulative number of listeners, with an estimated 648,900 people tuning in for at least five minutes during the morning at least once a week.
KGO had 512,100 listeners per week, but they listened longer, especially during Owens' first hour, from 9 to 10 a.m. So even with 100,000 fewer listeners KGO won, if just barely, in share, which measures the percentage of all radios that are turned on and tuned in to a particular show at any given quarter hour between 5 and 10 a.m.
KGO has long been at the top of the ratings charts with its "news talk" format. "People have grown up with us," Berry said. "They listened to us as kids, and now they're adults, and they're driving their own cars, and they're stuck in traffic."
MORNING DRIVE RADIO SHOWS
Here are the top 10 morning drive shows, measured by average quarter-hour share.
The ratings are according to the Arbitron Fall Book, for listeners 12 and older, 5-10 a.m. Monday through Friday. "Off-the-Road Factor" subjectively measures each show's ability to distract drivers and ranges from 1 (sedate) to 5 (outrageous).
1. KGO-AM 810, news talk information. "KGO Morning News" with Ed Baxter and Ted Wygant, 5-9 a.m. "The Ronn Owens Show," 9 a.m. 7.6 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 3. Owens, tired of 21 days straight talking about the presidential election, starts his show with a news report pulled from four hours of combing the morning papers: "Our anuses are misunderstood."
2. KCBS-AM 740, all news. Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor, 6-10 a.m. John Madden at 8:15. 7.5 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 2. Financial report delivers Nasdaq nose- dives at 25 and 55 past the hour. Big investors urged to take public transportation.
3. KSFO-AM 560, news, talk, information -- "The Lee Rodgers Program" with Melanie Morgan, 5-9 a.m., Rush Limbaugh 9 a.m. 6.0 share.
Off-the-Road factor: 4. Limbaugh introduces himself as El Rushbo, adding, "You're listening to the most powerful man in radio." His first caller suggests that the yellow Ryder truck hauling ballots in Florida is symbolically linked to the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. "The Democrats are trying to blow up and destroy the country." Limbaugh does not disagree.
4. KOIT-AM/FM simulcast 1260/96.5, soft adult contemporary -- "More Music Morning Show" with Jack Kulp and Ellen Hyatt. 4.1 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 1. Elton John, Celine Dion, Phil Collins. Don't fall asleep at the wheel.
5. KQED-FM 88.5, National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" with Bob Edwards, 5-9 a.m. "Forum" with Michael Krasny at 9 a.m. 4.0 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 2. Morning traffic report from the Peruvian national highway in the Andes. "I Brake for Llamas."
6. KITS-FM 105.3, alternative. LIVE 105 carries "The Howard Stern Show" from New York, 6-10 a.m. 3.6 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 4. Stern: "Mark is now gonna spank Erica. You've been bad. You've been bad. You've been having dirty sex thoughts."
7. KYLD-FM 94.9, rhythmic contemporary hits/top 40 dance -- "The Doghouse Morning Show" 5:30-10 a.m. 3.5 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 4. "Angel of the Morning" set to hip-hop, followed by Dog House gang ridiculing it, emphasized by a loud burp.
8. KKSF-FM 103.7, smooth jazz. 3.0 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 2. Kenny G dentist office music may cause temporary insanity.
9. KDFC-FM 102.1, classical -- 2.7 share.
Off-the-Road Factor: 1. The Bavarian Symphony Orchestra playing a Russian wedding march at 8:45 a.m.
10. KMEL-FM 106.1, hip-hop and R&B. 2.6 share. "The Baka Boys Morning Show" just arrived last week from Los Angeles.
from the September 28-October 4, 2000 issue of Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper
The Best of Silicon Valley Web Site
Readers Survey
Valley Life
--snips--
Best Morning Radio Show
First Place Howard Stern KITS-105.3 Second Place Sarah & Vinnie KLLC-97.3 Third Place Doghouse "Wild" 94.9
from the San Jose Mercury News
July 27, 2000
It's becoming a local program director phenomenon as ugly as Murphy's Law.
You do your best work -- or rather, you get your best ratings -- and you get fired.
It happened a few months ago at KFOG-FM and it just happened again at KMEL-FM.
After trailing urban competitor KYLD-FM for years, program director Joey Arbigey, 31, finally got his station back to the top. He beefed up the morning show; got rid of Rick Chase, (sadly); cut down the specialty shows, (again, sadly); but took a leap in ratings.
In the spring book, so important to advertisers looking to get the biggest bang for their buck, his station is No. 4 among the Bay Area's 5.8 million listeners over 12.
But a few weeks before the station got the results, it fired Arbigey, replacing him with the competitor's program director, Michael Martin.
In radio today, you dig a hole and the sludge fills it in.
Other trends in the local ratings: alternative music on KITS-FM has taken a dive; Spanish music on KSOL-FM is soaring; the Giants have helped KNBR-AM come back into the Top 10; country at KYCY-FM really has some reason to be singing the blues.
KGO-AM amazingly is at the top of the heap for the 22nd year in a row. That's right, I said year. There is no run like it in a major market. Sister station KSFO took a small hit in the standings, but because the competition is so tightly packed, it dropped to 17th. But expect it to soar when the numbers from Rush Limbaugh and Laura Schlessinger come in.
If you pull out the 1.5 million people around San Jose, three Spanish stations made the Top 10 for the first time (KSOL-FM, KLOK-AM, KBRG-FM); rock of the classic and alternative varieties (KUFX-FM and KITS-FM) has plunged; country (KRTY-FM) is hurtin' for certain; and people in both cities are refined: classical music (KDFC-FM) is in eighth place in both markets.
In morning shows, news is still tops, followed by Howard Stern, the Doghouse, Sarah and Vinnie and lots of mellow stuff.
Ratings are compiled by listeners who keep diaries and send them to Arbitron, similar to the way that television ratings are done.
Here are the San Francisco spring ratings compiled by Arbitron, with market share. These ratings include nine counties around the Bay Area and 5.8 million listeners over 12.
KGO-AM (7.1); KCBS-AM (4.4); KOIT-AM/FM (4.2); KMEL-FM (4.1); KSOL/KZOL (3.7); KYLD-FM (3.7); KNBR-AM (3.6); KDFC-FM (3.4); KKSF-FM (3.4); KISQ-FM (3.0); KBLX-FM (2.8); KFOG/KFFG (2.8); KFRC-AM/FM (2.8); KZQZ-FM (2.8); KSFO-AM (2.7); KSJO/KFJO-FM (2.5).
--snips--
San Francisco morning shows run like this for listeners over 12: KGO, 8.1; KCBS, 6.9; KITS, 3.9; KYLD, 3.9; KSOL, 3.7; KOIT, 3.5; KLLC, 3.3; KMEL, 3.3; KBLX, 3.1; KNBR, 2.9; KSJO, 2.8.
What's it say about me that two of my favorite stations don't even show up in the ratings (not counting non-commercials, which are rated separately)? KBPA-AM, the excellent business station at 1220, doesn't make the cutoff of a 0.4 share.
Neither does CNET radio, at KNEW-AM (910). I've been enjoying Rob Black's stock talk at 5 p.m. on KBPA and David Lawrence's ramblings about anything, with a focus on high tech at CNET at 7 p.m.
Former KITS morning man Alex Bennett, once a household name, is doing a tryout 9 to noon co-hosting with Desmond Crisis, on CNET.
Maybe that will help.
from RadioDigest.com
May 5, 2000
No. 3 in morning drive is Wild with a 3.8, a huge drop from the top two. KOIT's steady Tom Saunders places fourth at 3.5, with 18-34-year-old male-intensive Howard Stern's Live 105 (KITS 105.3 FM) repeater station fifth at 3.3. In most other dayparts, this station is dead in the water.
Alice's ultra-annoying Sarah and Vinnie are sixth at 3.2, and East Bay reader Kenn Fong, who carpools into S.F. from the East Bay, says, "Nothing is more annoying than getting into a stranger's car and having it tuned into those two. You're biting your tongue the whole way over the Bay Bridge -- but carpool etiquette says the driver gets to pick the radio station."
Tied for seventh is KSFO's Janet Reno-bashing team of Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan at 3.1 -- hmmm ... maybe the Weiner Nation isn't carrying the station -- along with the big surprise in mornings: up-and-coming Spanish station KSOL (98.9 FM), with its best-ever finish also at 3.1. KSOL also just missed out this time on making the top-10 12-plus list.
KFOG's steady pro Dave Morey (2.9) placed ninth in AM drive, with 50 percent commercial-free KNBR's (680 AM) Gary Radnich barely placing 10th (2.8) ahead of Renel and Kiss, just 0.1 behind.
--snips--
thanks to robk for sending this...
from the: The Press Democrat Santa Rosa, CA
November 7, 1999
Big award: Newstalk giant KGO Radio (810AM), the toprated station in the Bay Area the past 21 years, recently received radio's most prestigious award, the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Award as Best Major Market Station in the country. KGO also posted its 85th consecutive win in the quarterly (summer) Arbitron ratings for the Bay Area.
KGO, with with an average 6.2 hourly rating among all listeners, was followed by all-news KCBS (4.4), office-listening champ KOIT (4.1) and KNBR (4.0), which rebounded from a dismal spring ratings book.
In the demographic group most coveted by advertisers, listeners 25-54, KGO also won with a 4.6 rating, followed closely by aging-hipster station KFOG (4.5), KOIT (4.3), oldies KFRC (4.2), and Berkeley-licensed KBLX-FM (3.9). KBLX, the last remaining major Bay Area commercial station not owned by a conglomerate, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its classy, eclectic "Quiet Storm" format.
In listeners age 18-34, "King of All Media" Howard Stern dominates ratings, on San Francisco's Live-105. The rest of the day, Live-105 (105.3 FM) is dead in the water.
One of the more interesting ratings stories locally is that, for the third straight ratings period, San Francisco's classical KDFC (102.1) placed among the Top 10 Bay Area stations. That's a rarity: KDFC program manager/air personality Bill Lueth says that only one other major classical station, in Boston, places in its market's Top 10.
Under Mormon church-owned Bonneville Broadcasting's management (Bonneville also owns KOIT), KDFC is playing a lot more ads than it traditionally has, and Lueth admits some of them are annoying and that he has "weekly battles" with KDFC's sales manager over this.
"KDFC is also doing market research and TV advertising for the first time," he adds. Lueth says KDFC's research has shown many of its listeners prefer "the Mozart-Vivaldi sound." Which is fine by this listener; I rather like the new KDFC.
from: RadioDigest.com
Gotcha Arb’s Right Here! The four words you never saw in Herb Caen’s column? "Convicted felon Wilkes Bashford." The one word you won’t hear on commercial radio, the Big Taboo? "Arbitron." A big no-no. So, if you’re ever on a commercial station without a seven-second delay and you want to have some real fun . . .
So let’s make quick work of this Arbitron stuff - the Spring Bay Area book. First, the 12-plus numbers, which we savvy radio insiders like to call a "beauty contest," because advertisers don’t buy them: Mickey’s Mouth Club, KGO, won with a 6.7 percentage share, followed by all-news KCBS and The Official Celine Freon/Elton Jones station, KOIT AM-FM, both with a 4.2. Then came Wild 94.9 ("Wild 107.7" sounded much cooler) with a 4.0; the Iranian station, K-Farsi (KFRC) at 3.5; classical KDFC (3.4); KMEL and smooth-jazz KKSF (3.3); conservative talker KSFO (3.1); and Z-95 (3.0).
Notice anyone missing? How about 50,000-watt KNBR, the Giants’ flagship station? It tied for 11th. That’s the first time I can remember "The Sports Leader" being so low in a spring book. And get this - KNBR (also home of Ralph Barbieri, The Amazing Human Emetic) actually lost ratings from the winter Arb’s.
But for you true ratings buffs, here are the 25-54 numbers, the ones the advertisers supposedly salivate over - does the name Pavlov ring a bell? - because as we all know, no one over the age of 54 ever buys anything (well, probably not car stereos, anyway): KGO (5.0); KOIT (4.7); K-Farsi (4.3); KKSF and KFOG (4.0); Alice (3.8); K-101 (3.5); KBLX (3.2); KNBR, Live 105, and KSJO (2.9). From 6 to 10 a.m., Live 105’s Howard Stern and The Amazing 22-Minute Commercial Breaks rules with a 5.3 share in 25-54.
--snip--
WHEN THEY write the history of Bay Area radio, 1999 may go down as the worst year of the once-mighty medium.
Troops have been called in to fight DJs at KPFA-FM, which was founded by pacifists.
On two stations Wednesday you could hear DJs tormenting the people who have it the hardest: While Howard Stern was playing Jeopardy with homeless people on KITS-FM, KYLD-FM's copycat "Doghouse" was challenging homeless people to wrestle a mentally retarded man and asking them Sternesque questions.
Anyone up for throwing Christians to the lions or burning witches at the stake?
And don't forget to send out the press releases at Christmas about how much you do to help the hungry.
On Disney-owned KSFO-AM, afternoon host Michael Savage was making fun of the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. only two days after his tragic accident. This mentally challenged talker is among the slimiest people ever to sit behind a microphone (right up there with the old-time quack years back who promised rejuvenation from goat-testicle transplants and Bob Grant, whom Disney fired after he celebrated Ron Brown's death).
Savage ghoulishly laughed as he kept playing Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea" while knocking the Kennedys. Station manager Jack Swanson hadn't heard that particular installment (at least he's got better things to do), but even he said it appeared to be "in bad taste."
But hey, revenue is up 12 percent for national broadcasters over the past six months, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau.
They'd better milk it while they can. With the kind of programming the big corporations are putting on and the very slim free radio band, most of us will run to satellite radio before long.
--snips--
ON RATINGS: In the spring book in San Jose, news talk triumphed again; KSJO's acquisitions moved it up the rock rankings; country and mellow rock revived.
KGO-AM (810) reached a 7.5 share of San Jose's 1.4 million listeners over the age of 12, followed by KYLD-FM's (94.9) 4.8 share; country KRTY-FM (95.3) had a 4.1. in a tie with KSJO-FM's combined triplecast (92.1/92.3/92.7); hits radio KARA-FM (105.7) had a 3.8; newly rockin' KEZR-FM (106.5) had a 3.6 (and would do better if Kelly and Kline honored their bets); all the traffic and news you can stand on KCBS-AM (740) drew a 3.6; alternative KITS-FM (105.3) climbed to a 3.5; adult music's KBAY-FM (94.5) hit a 3.4 (if this Celine/Elton blend is adult music, I guess I'll always be a kid); Spanish love songs at KBRG-FM (100.3) tied with classic rocker KUFX-FM (98.5) at 3.3.
In the San Francisco book, which includes San Jose and 5.5 million people in nine counties, the order goes like this: KGO-AM, 6.7; KCBS-AM, 4.2; KOIT-AM/FM, 4.2; KYLD-FM, 4.0; KFRC-AM/FM, 3.8; KDFC-FM, 3.4; KKSF-FM, 3.3; KMEL-FM, 3.3; KSFO-AM, 3.1; KZQZ-FM, 3.0.
Among listeners ages 25 to 54, in San Jose, KGO-AM was on top, with a 5.0 share, followed by KUFX, KSJO, KARA, KEZR, KRTY, KFOG/KFFG, KOIT, KBAY, KIOI/KNEW and a three-way tie among KFRC, KITS and KLOK.
In the larger San Francisco metro area, rankings for the 3.2 million people between 25 and 54 were KGO, KFRC, KOIT, KFOG, KKSF, KLLC, KIOI, KSJO, KBLX and KCBS.
What about morning shows, you ask? In San Jose among listeners over 12, news talk was still tops at KGO, followed by more news on KCBS. Then came KYLD's dog-doo house; Howeird Stern on KITS; Lamont and Toe-naily on KSJO; palabras y musica en espanol on KLOK; Gary Radical-niche on KNBR; Greg Kihn or Kihn-he? on KUFX; Lee Rodgers and boss Jack Swanson's wife on KSFO; and Marla Davies and her co-hosts on KEZR.
Some shows you have to dig for in San Jose: Despite the ubiquitous bus ads, KSAN-FM's Darian O'Toole is in 28th place, below KLLC's Sarah and Vinnie in 16th and KZQZ's Ferrrrrnando in 14th.
Rush Limbaugh has lost more than pounds: He's dropped to 7th place in his time slot, behind Ronn Owens, adult contemporary music, Howard Stern, news, smooth jazz and classical music.
from: The San Jose Mercury News
June 27, 1999
"GOOD MORNING, SAN JOSE . . ." The next time you hear the friendly voice of what you think is your hometown disc jockey waking you up and telling you what a beautiful day it is, consider this:
There's a good chance -- especially if it's very early in the morning or a weekend -- that the DJ is sitting in a thunderstorm 3,000 miles away.
Or he recorded his jokes and stories half a week earlier, at the end of a long shift in the studio -- and what you are hearing is being played by a computer.
With radio station consolidations reaching record levels in the past few years, cost cutting has been necessary to help pay growing sales prices. Just about every music station in the Bay Area is playing some kind of pre-recorded show, most often during late-night and weekend shifts, times when fewer people listen.
San Jose stations have been at the forefront of cost cutting for years, partly because as the 29th largest market in the country, it is overshadowed in revenues by direct competition with stations in San Francisco, the country's fourth-largest market.
It was tolerated in stations more focused on music than personalities. But last month's move by rock station KSJO-FM to have its 7 p.m. to midnight show done from Tampa, Fla., and to voice-track much of the weekend, has shocked industry insiders, who fear it represents a growing movement away from live local radio.
Supporters of the system, which is spreading across the country, say that not only does it increase profits, but also it lets listeners hear more talented DJs all week long, rather than the second-rung personalities who normally work nights and weekends.
That's what irks those who dislike consolidation. They say second-tier shifts are needed for new talent to develop.
"You have to think differently," says Jim Richards, who oversees programming at three Bay Area stations that were bought last June by Kentucky's Jacor Communications (rocker KSJO-FM (92.3), classic rock station KUFX-FM (98.5) and KCNL-FM (104.9), which has a hits-of-the-1980s format).
"That local thing, in the scheme of things, doesn't mean anything. People just want to be entertained. They don't care that David Letterman does his show from New York. They watch it because it's entertaining."
Soon after his company bought the three San Jose stations (and has since merged with the larger 625-station Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio), Richards got rid of the weekend staffs at two of them, replacing them with pre-taped segments by weekday personalities.
Richards' KCNL-FM has no disk jockeys at all and is beating many stations with live announcers during much of the day, particularly afternoon drive, when it is the fifth-most-listened-to San Jose station by people 18-49.
Computers play the music and advertisements, a format that must thrill the corporate accounting department.
Savings add up
Richards says voice tracking -- the process that allows a DJ to do a customized show for one market while sitting in another -- can save a station 85 percent of a DJ's salary. The station keeps its engineers and board operators and gives the remote DJ a slight increase in pay.
Radio and Records, a trade journal, estimates it can save an annual average of $44,000 per station.
Ever since Congress deregulated a struggling radio industry in 1996, stations have been consolidating in droves. Radio corporations have bolstered their power by amassing large numbers of stations nationwide -- while downsizing their operations to help pay the huge debts these acquisitions have left them with.
Last year 561 stations changed hands at a total sales price of $1.6 billion. The previous two years, 1,255 stations -- about one-tenth of the commercial stations nationwide -- were bought and sold for $5.1 billion. The trend shows little sign of letting up, as big radio corporations get bought by bigger ones.
In a cost-cutting move that sparked some controversy, in March Richards replaced the longtime KSJO San Jose night guy, Dennis Erectus, with a show that was voice-tracked from San Diego, and he replaced that one last month with one from Tampa.
His replacement, a former Walnut Creek native named Ricker, tailors humorous or informational bits of several minutes for the San Jose audience while he is doing his own local show in Tampa. It reaches San Jose three hours later because of the time difference.
He's doing two shows at the same time. He knows what songs are played in San Jose and fills the space between them as if he were here talking about local clubs and station promotions.
With the computer voice-tracking system the DJ can take live calls in the faraway studio from the local San Jose phone number. Listeners may never realize they are talking long distance.
Rumblings from the ranks
Some DJs who've spent years honing their craft don't like the trend.
"I hate it," says Kim Vestal, a 19-year KARA-FM morning show host who tapes her six-hour Saturday morning show in a half hour, after she finishes her Friday installment at the light rock station.
"There is no joy in it. If I had to do it full time, I would get no satisfaction. There is nothing like being on the air live. It's the difference between driving a car and driving a simulator."
Erectus, 49, has been the eye-opening, hilarious voice of the night in San Jose for two decades, doing a shock-jock show long before anyone knew the name Howard Stern.
Erectus (who won't reveal his real name) was shocking without mocking race or handicaps -- standard practices for Stern and his countless imitators.
Erectus says he was offered a $7,000 raise over his $46,000 yearly salary and a new contract at KSJO, but to get it, he would have to tape additional shows that would air during the weekends.
"That would be selling out everything I've done in this market since 1977," says Erectus.
"The audience plays a big part in my show. If I had to do it on tape, it would be watering it down. If I was in it just for the money, I would have done it. But I believe in what I do."
Erectus' former boss, Jim Richards, says Erectus was dropped not because he wouldn't voice-track but because he was only a disc jockey during a downsizing period when the station needed its staff to do other jobs, too, jobs such as producing commercials or writing copy.
Richards dropped all of the station's weekend DJs, replacing them with their weekday counterparts on tape.
"Not everyone who is on a station, whether local or piped-in, deserves to be," he argues. "People will still have a place to start out, just in smaller markets. Where there were 15 opportunities in the past, now there are five."
Richards says voice tracking could be the wave of the future.
"This would have been done five, 10 or 20 years ago if we had the technology," says the 31-year-old manager.
Other stations have been doing it longer, but they were more music-intensive and less personality-driven than those in a rock format.
KARA-FM (105.7) has voice-tracked since 1972 for weekends and less-popular evening and midday segments. DJs there don't talk about the time or weather and try not to make it appear that they are in the studio live.
"I call it virtual DJ-ing," says KARA's music director, Mike Danberger. "You can sit at a computer terminal anywhere and do multiple stations across the country. I never thought in a million years I'd see it at stations like KSJO."
Stern changes equation
Shock jock Stern may have helped trigger the wave of machines replacing live DJs, Danberger says.
"There was an unwritten rule that the morning show had to be local," he says. "Howard Stern changed that. The fact that he could have huge numbers, all across the country, made managers take a look and say: 'Geez . . . How important is it to have a local jock in the studio?'"
Over at San Jose's KEZR-FM (106.5) and KBAY-FM (94.5), managers have been moving away from voice tracking, replacing taped segments with live bodies during evenings and weekend days, taking a different tack from their competitors and trying to market more local programming.
But the station is clearly moving against the tide. Many other stations are now live only in highly rated morning and afternoon drive times.
Radio critic Ben Fong-Torres, whose recent book "The Hits Just Keep on Coming" (Miller Freeman, $27.95) looks at the day when strong and funny personalities dominated radio, says voice tracking is another nail in the coffin.
"This maintains the status quo: Mediocrity will sound the same, but now it's done by pre-taping."
The guy who spent part of this week throwing baloney at women covered only by mayonnaise and who took heat for talking about how attractive the young women fleeing the Littleton high school shooting were hosts the show that enjoys top ratings with adults in San Francisco and second-highest ratings in San Jose.
That would be New York's Howard Stern, who has remained on top even with a channel change, from San Jose's KOME-FM to San Francisco's KITS-FM. While he hasn't cracked the top of the whole market (among all listeners 12 and over), he has reached the peak of the most important age group for advertisers, listeners 25 to 54.
His winter ratings in San Jose rose from a 6.2 share of adults listening between 6 and 10 a.m. to a 6.4 share, just behind KGO-AM's news and news talk, which drew a 6.6 share.
In San Francisco, Stern was dominant with a 5.8 share of adults, ahead of KCBS-AM's news with its 5.0 share, and KGO's news talk with 4.7.
I'm sure this says something about our tastes and the baloney being served all over, but you'll have to make the correlation yourself.
Meanwhile, Stern was adamantly defending his jokes about the Littleton tragedy, claiming that most of his show, except for a few minutes, was properly respectful. (He's lost advertisers in Denver, hence the sanctimony.)
It's ironic to see him backpedaling since, during this and almost every other gruesome national tragedy, some of his fans have made tasteless phony phone calls to TV stations pretending to be witnesses, and Stern has later promoted them on the air.
The station manager at KMPX, Stern's Denver station, by the way, -- which ran apologies for Stern's remarks -- is Bob Visotcky, the former San Francisco KYLD-FM boss who defended the Stern imitators on "The Doghouse" for years.
(Also related to the Colorado tragedy, there was an interesting comment from a Kansas City DJ who got fired for suggesting that his child should take a gun to school to defend himself: "The station pays me to be the cock that crows in the morning, but in the end I guess I'm the hen that laid an egg," said Russ Johnson, formerly of KCMO.)
The other news in the Bay Area's winter ratings book is the rise of KNBR-AM's Gary Radnich. Rise indeed. The guy does a late-night news show and sleeps a few hours before taking the morning mike.
His ratings in San Jose shot from 2.7 to 4.4 among adults. In San Francisco, they climbed from 2.4 to 3.7. His friendly, even-keel style is working. But how long can he function on all that caffeine?
Lamont and Tonelli and Greg Kihn had big winter jumps in San Jose, after fall slips. And two newer music stations, KCNL and KZQZ, did very well.
Overall, music was strong; talk and news dropped some, even amid impeachment and war. KGO-AM was still on top, maintaining the position it's held for nearly a quarter-century, an amazing run.
KGO and KSFO program director Jack Swanson doesn't blame impeachment news for drops at both stations, because talk stations in other markets held strong. Rather, Swanson says it was a case of music drawing the people who filled out ratings diaries for the period.
Here are Arbitron's winter/fall ratings for San Jose's 1.4 million listeners over 12: KGO-AM 6.6/7.9; KYLD-FM 5.1/5.6; KSJO-FM 3.9/3.1; KEZR-FM 3.8/3.9; KNBR-AM 3.5/2.8; KBRG-FM 3.4/3.0; KZQZ-FM 3.4/2.9; KOIT-FM 3.4/3.3; KCBS-AM 3.4/3.8; KUFX-FM 3.3/2.4; KARA-FM 3.0/2.7; KBAY-FM 3.0/3.6.
And the results for San Francisco's 5.6 million listeners (which include the 1.4 million in San Jose): KGO-AM 6.4/7.3; KOIT-FM 4.5/4.7; KCBS-AM 4.3/4.4; KYLD-FM 4.0 /3.9; KISQ-FM 3.4/3.4; KMEL-FM 3.4/3.6; KKSF-FM 3.3/3.6; KNBR-AM 3.3/2.8; KDFC-FM 3.3/3.5; KABL-AM 3.1/2.4; KBLX-FM 2.9/2.7; KITS-FM 2.9/2.7.
NEWS TALK took a big jump, and sports talk hit a big bump in the fall radio ratings released this week by Arbitron.
I guess people are more interested in Bill Clinton's transgressions than Latrell Sprewell's. And how many more times can you hear weenies imagining their fantasy four-player deals, mascot and all?
In San Jose, local stations were happy to have beaten back summer advances by San Francisco stations.
KSJO-FM's hard rock hit a bump; Spanish-language stations KLOK-AM and KBRG-FM made a jump; adult music with a beat at KBAY-FM moved up; and country KRTY-FM was flattened.
In San Jose, news-talk KGO-AM made a big leap, from a 6.7 share, or percentage, of 1.3 million listeners over 12 during the summer to a 7.9 share in the fall.
It's no surprise that the station is on top in both San Francisco and San Jose. It has been for 20 consecutive years.
But its lineup changes, including moving psycho-babbler Laura Schlessinger to afternoons and the tasteful Gene Burns to evenings, worked.
Meanwhile, sports and Rush Limbaugh station KNBR-AM skidded from a 3.7 summer share to 2.8 in the fall for listeners over 12.
The station, once buttressed by Frank Dill and Mike Cleary, has gone through three morning formats over the past year, finally settling for sports with Gary Radnich.
In the San Jose morning drive-time slot, KYLD-FM's "Doghouse," the only show to broadcast live oral sex on the air at a time when children were listening, beat shock jock Howard Stern on KITS-FM for listeners over 12. Both shows placed third and fourth behind news on KGO and KCBS-AM.
For the 851,000 listeners ages 25 to 54, the group that matters most to advertisers, Stern was second to KGO; KSJO-FM's Lamont and Tonelli were fourth, after KCBS, followed by San Jose's Kelly and Kline on KEZR-FM.
In the only city where a liberal beats Rush Limbaugh, KGO's Ronn Owens is almost doubling Limbaugh's KNBR audience over age 12 from 9 to 11:45 a.m.
Digest these numbers yourself. These are stations heard in San Jose and their weekly audience over 12, with fall ratings, followed by last summer's.
KGO, 7.9 from 6.7; KYLD, 5.6 from 5.4; KEZR, 3.9 from 3.6; KCBS, 3.8 from 4.4; KBAY, 3.6 from 2.3; KSJO, 3.6 from 4.6; KOIT, 3.4 from 3.3; KLOK, 3.1 from 2.5; KBRG, 3.0 from 2.5; KDFC, 3.0 from 2.2; KITS, 3.0 from 3.0; KRTY, 2.9 from 3.2; KZQZ, 2.9 from 2.8; KKSF, 2.8 from 2.9; KNBR, 2.8 from 3.7.
Same thing, San Francisco-style: KGO, 7.3 from 6.5; KOIT, 4.9 from 4.2; KCBS, 4.4 from 4.6; KYLD, 3.9 from 4.4; KKSF, 3.6 from 3.0; KMEL, 3.6 from 2.9; KDFC, 3.5 from 3.0; KISQ, 3.4, unchanged from 3.4; KFRC, 3.2 from 3.4; KIOI, 3.1 from 3.6; KSFO, 3.1 from 3.2; KNBR, 2.8 from 3.8; KBLX, 2.7 from 2.1; KFOG, 2.7 from 2.7; KITS, 2.7 from 3.0; KLLC, 2.6 from 2.8; KZQZ, 2.5, unchanged from 2.5.
Morning shows heard in San Jose go in this order (from most-heard to least) among listeners over 12: KGO news; KCBS news; KYLD "Doghouse"; KITS Stern; KSJO Lamont and Tonelli; KEZR Kelly and Kline; KBAY Don and Lisa; KSFO Lee and Melanie; KLOK Guillermo and Victor; KARA Kim Vestal.
For morning shows in San Francisco, the order is: KGO, KCBS, KYLD, KOIT, KITS, KSFO, KFRC, KNEW, KISQ, KKSF.
Thanks to robk for this story...
Following the latest game of musical chairs in radio, Howard Stern's voice will be MUCH LOUDER in the Bay Area.
On Monday, Stern, the wildly popular New York motormouth who bills himself as "king of all media," moves from KOME (98.5 FM) in San Jose to the more powerful KITS (105.3 FM) in San Francisco. To make room, KITS, which calls itself "Live 105," unloaded station executives and on-air personalities. The result will be a less local and more syndicated sound.
The switch is an outcome of the recent $2.6 billion sale of the ARS radio network to CBS. CBS sold off KOME and KUFX (104.9 FM), the Gilroy classical music station, to the Jaycor radio chain in return for stations in Minneapolis and Columbus.
Locally, CBS also owns KCBS (740 AM), KLLC (97.3 FM) -- better known as "Alice" -- and KYCY (93.3 FM), the "young country" station.
KOME general manager Jim Hardy will move north to take charge of KITS. "Everybody tells me I'm moving to the big time, but I'm waiting to see the check," he said with a laugh.
KITS program director Richard Sands got the ax, as did morning DJ Johnny Steele -- he replaced veteran Alex Bennett a year ago -- Roland West and on-air personality Lori Thompson. Rick Stuart survived the putsch and stays on as the afternoon man. The station will retain its alternative rock flavor. The syndicated sex talk show "Loveline" will air daily at 7 p.m.
Although the move had been anticipated since the beginning of the year, the ax fell Wednesday morning with stunning suddenness. Steele was on the air when a station executive delivered the news. "There was that look on his face," said Greg McQuaid, who books guests. "We thought, 'Is this it?'" Steele never went back on the air.
"They said, 'Just keep playing the music,'" said McQuaid. Like others at the station, he doesn't know if he'll be kept on.
"It's a pretty nasty business," said one disc jockey who didn't want to be named. "Those f -- in New York are playing games with people's lives." West reportedly will get some on-air time at sister-station KLLC. Web Fingers, the nighttime KITS DJ, likely will go to KROQ in Los Angeles, also owned by CBS.
Until Monday, KITS will play just music and commercials during the morning hours.
Stern's claim to media royalty is not without merit. He wrote a couple of best-sellers, one of which, "Private Parts," was made into a movie -- starring himself -- that did well at the box office. He will premiere his own late-night TV show in August. And he's the most popular radio name in the country.
All this is bad news for KYLD (94.9 FM), which calls itself "Wild 94.9." It aims at the same 18-to-34 demographic that Stern targets. Both specialize in juvenile bad taste, but Stern's cultural commentary can rise above the merely gross and off-color. Even with KOME's signal, faint and sometimes nonexistent in parts of the Bay Area, his show is second to KYLD'S "Doghouse" in the morning slot.
"It's going to affect the market," said KFOG (104.5 FM) program director Paul Marszalek. "It's clearly a case of going from a position of weakness to a position of strength. Is he going to be a great success? Absolutely."
Said another radio executive: "You have to assume Howard's going to be No. 1 in that demographic."
© 1998 San Francisco Chronicle
Thanks to robk for sending this story in from FMQB
May 28, 1998
Here's the new KITS braintrust, effective May 27:
Unclear is the formatic future of KOME. One of Mel Karmazin's original Infinity properties, the station is now being swapped away, perhaps to Jacor, future owner of Active Rock KSJO/San Jose. CBS may choose to hang on to the KOME call letters.
Market watchers have been predicting Stern's move to KITS ever since its longtime morning man Alex Bennett exited last July, but station members were unprepared for the scope of changes that went down Wednesday morning (5/27). The morning show was cut-off at 9:15, when staffers were told about the changes. Live 105 immediately went into a music and sweepers mode. CBS radio head Dan Mason was on-site.
The move gives Stern a bigger Bay Area megaphone and strengthens Live 105, which has been floundering in the high ones after years of performing in the two-three share range. It also allows CBS to distance the Euro-flavored Live 105 from Modern AC sister KLLC (Alice). fmqb expects Nenni and Taylor to put a male spin on the station, to complement female-leaning Alice.
"Live 105 is a legendary radio station in the Bay Area," Jim Hardy told fmqb. "It's just huge. Putting Howard on the station and taking advantage of its position and branding in the No. 4 market in the country makes for a perfect marriage. We'll be able to get into areas that we weren't able to get into with KOME. It will make a lot of people happy."
Thanks to robk for sending me these stories...
May 28, 1998
Company Press Release
SOURCE: CBS Corporation
Dan Mason, President of CBS Radio, commented: "This swap will enable CBS to expand its presence in Minneapolis, the nation's 15th largest radio revenue market, where CBS currently owns WCCO (AM) and WLTB (FM), as well as to enter into a new top 30 market in Columbus."
Under the terms of the swap, Jacor will receive from CBS: WOCT (FM) and WCAO (AM) in Baltimore; KLOU (FM) and KSD (FM) in St. Louis; and KUFX (FM) and KOME (FM) in San Jose. CBS will receive from Jacor: KMJZ (FM) and KSGS (AM) in Minneapolis; and WHOK (FM), WLVQ (FM) and WAZU (FM) in Columbus.
This swap satisfies the divestiture requirements which the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission had previously established in the pending acquisition by CBS of American Radio Systems' (ARS) radio broadcast operations in Baltimore, St. Louis and San Jose.
This will increase to 33 the number of markets that will be covered by CBS Radio's 165 stations once the ARS transaction is closed and other pending ARS station acquisitions and divestitures are completed.
May 28, 1998 from the San Jose Mercury News
The mega-mergers that have turned the radio business into something resembling professional sports claimed another victim Wednesday in San Jose.
KOME-FM (98.5), a rock station since 1970, is slowly packing up its tents off Winchester and moving into the spot occupied by KITS-FM (105.3) in San Francisco.
Morning drive time shock jock Howard Stern, whose ratings over four years helped propel KOME toward the top of the heap in both San Francisco and San Jose, will move to KITS -- known as Live 105 -- on Monday. Stern's was one of the only shows on a San Jose station to score so high in the San Francisco ratings, setting a profit record of more than $6 million last year, according to KOME general manager Jim Hardy.
The popular nighttime sex therapy show "Loveline" will also move to Live 105 on June 8.
Several key staff members have been fired at KITS, which has had a modern rock format for almost 15 years. Program director Richard Sands and morning show hosts Johnny Steele and Lori Thompson were dropped Wednesday.
Hardy, San Jose Operations Manager Ron Nenni and Program Director Jay Taylor will move to San Francisco and retain their job titles.
The station moves are the result of a larger deal in which CBS bought Boston-based American Radio Systems for $1.6 billion and the assumption of $1 billion in debt.
Live 105 will broadcast a music-only format, with no live hosts, until Monday. KOME, which traded rock for alternative rock three years ago, will then begin playing alternative music with no live disc jockeys pending approval of a sale, which could take as long as six months.
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