Both had faded in the ratings after Arbitron, the company
that measures radio usage, went to a new system in 2010. Arbitron abandoned its
longtime approach of asking a random sample of radio listeners to fill out a
weekly diary of what they tuned into and started handing out beeper-sized
gizmos to electronically measure what stations were listened to.
In the latest rankings, both WBT-AM and WLNK-FM were tied
for No. 6 among Charlotte stations.
Arbitron’s electronic monitors, called Portable People
Meters or PPMs, are distributed to about 1,000 people in the 13-county
Charlotte listening area. They are said to be more accurate than the diary
system, which relied on people remembering what they listened to, and for how
long.
Nationally, though, stations with talk formats tended to
show a dip in the new ratings system while stations concentrating on music
showed gains.
At WBT, Greater Media made changes to increase listener
interest. It added more newsmaker interviews on shows like “Charlotte’s Morning
News” and made weather and traffic an appointment destination on the 10s. It
sped up segments by eliminating chit-chat.
At WLNK, the station’s morning show with Bob Lacey and Sheri
Lynch sped up the time spent with callers and started playing music between
segments. Listeners complained, but ratings rose.
No comments:
Post a Comment