Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990 TAG: 9007310301
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHUCK MILTEER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For the 19th straight time, Roanoke Top-40 powerhouse K92 (WXLK, 92.3 FM) is the top-rated and most listened-to station in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market, according to the spring Arbitron survey taken from mid-March until mid-June.
In the most promotion-intensive ratings period in the market's history, the results were remarkably consistent - the top four stations maintained their positions with each gaining in terms of overall audience share.
The only change among the top five stations is the return of Roanoke's WSLQ (Q99, 99.1 FM), which posted a big increase in audience share after shifting its music mix toward softer contemporary music and oldies.
But the largest increase belongs to K92. The station posted a significant jump in audience share, building on a slight gain in the fall survey and emphatically ending what had been a two-year ratings slump.
"This sends out a message: `If we were ever gone, we're back,' " said K92's operations manager and program director Eddie Haskell.
Haskell said K92 has worked to regain some of the mystique of its early years. He pointed to the return of David Lee Michaels, one of K92's stars in the early '80s, as an important factor. "Of course giving away $60,000 didn't hurt," Haskell said. The station began a massive promotional effort of cash and merchandise giveaways around the first of the year.
While the overall ratings are the report card, many potential advertisers look at specific target age groups when deciding where to spend their advertising dollars. The 25- to 54-year-old age group is generally considered to be the most desirable. In this group, the ratings tell a slightly different story.
Lynchburg-based country-music station WYYD (107.9 FM), which was third in the overall ratings, has taken the lead in the 24-to-54 age group, posting a big gain that overpowered K92's slight increase. It is the first time K92 has not been No. 1 in the age group in a Roanoke-Lynchburg survey, and a major victory for WYYD.
"We'd be happy to be No. 1 overall, but when the numbers translate into advertising dollars, that's when you can be the most successful," said WYYD operations manager Kenny Shelton, adding that 25-to-54 is his station's most important target.
Overall, WYYD increased its audience share, but was not able to match its performance of a year ago when the station came within a fraction of a ratings share point of catching K92.
A major challenge for WYYD is to gain more audience in the Roanoke Valley, where WYYD generally shows up as a distant No. 3 to country competitors WJLM (J93, 93.5 FM) and WSLC.
Easy-listening WPVR (94.9 FM) was second overall, with its best ratings since the fall 1988 survey and its best spring-survey ratings in four years.
WPVR's AM news-and-talk sister station, WFIR (960 AM), showed a decrease from the fall survey but was about even with a year ago. All of the significant AM stations in the market showed decreases in audience.
Album and classic rock station WROV-FM (96.3), which hit the airwaves with much fanfare last February, is No. 4 overall and has shown consistency, staying within about a half-point of its initial audience share.
WROV general manager Mike Slenski had said that he felt a larger share was a realistic goal for the FM station. But he was quick to point out that "from a business standpoint, we're in about same position we have been and we've been able to be successful."
WROV-AM, consistent with the other AM stations in the market, showed a slight ratings decline.
WSLQ, which appeared to be reeling after a 50 percent ratings drop last spring, has managed quietly to regain most of that loss with its low-key music shift. Q99's sister station, country-music WSLC (610 AM), showed a slight drop in audience but regained its position as the market's No. 1 AM station.
The movement of urban contemporary WTOY (1480 AM) up the AM dial didn't seem to affect its ratings. The same cannot be said for the former WTOY, which adopted an all-business format and the call letters WBNI (910 AM). WBNI did not register in the ratings survey.
Lynchburg AM urban contemporary station WJJS (1320) showed the largest drop of any station in the survey, falling from No. 5 to No. 10. Two FM urban stations from North Carolina (Raleigh's WQOK and Greensboro's WJMH) showed well enough to account for most of the drop.
A few notes from the Birch survey of the Roanoke metro market:
K92 posted its best overall ratings since the Fall 1988 survey and its first increase since the spring of 1987. WROV-FM continued to be a comfortable No. 2.
The best performance came from WJLM (J93) which zoomed into third place overall and is the Roanoke Valley's country-music leader. Country formats had a strong showing in the survey, with WSLC in fifth place and WYYD tied for eighth.
Adult contemporary station WSLQ showed some improvement, probably at the expense of WROV-AM, which has shown steady decreases in the last year.
The biggest drop in the Birch was by WPVR, which tumbled to sixth. That's the station's worst showing ever in a Birch survey, but the survey tends to favor stations with younger target audiences. News-and-talk sister station WFIR placed seventh.
ARBITRON RATINGS
ROANOKE/LYNCHBURG AUDIENCE SHARE, 12+ Fall '89Spr. '90 1. WXLK 15.217.4 2. WPVR 11.512.5 3. WYYD 10.712.0 4. WROV-FM 7.68.0 5. WSLQ 5.57.4 6. WJLM 5.54.8 7. WSLC 5.14.3 8. WGOL 2.23.2 9. WFIR 4.12.8 10. WJJS 5.72.6 11. WROV-AM3.12.3 12. WJMH .32.0 13. WTOY* -1.7 14. WTTX-FM -1.4 15. WQOK 1.31.2 WBLT .61.2 17. WZST .81.1 23. WBNI** 1.8 - *-formerly WSAY**-formerly WTOY
(Birch ratings also printed but not received for database storage)
by CNB