Quad-Cities Air America Radio Arbitron's Up

[Khaotic]

The Fall 05 Arbitrons are out for the Quad-Cities and WKBF (Progessive Talk AM 1270) in the Quad-Cities has jumped to 2.6, making it the 2nd most listened to AM station in the Quad-Cities.

Note that WOC has been around forever and they have publicity. WKBF's website hasn't been updated since it was put up and has zero publicity in the Quad-Cities. But word of mouth is finally making a difference.

http://www1.arbitron.com/tlr/public/report.do;jsessionid=c43rOuMXaxH8QpGr1rE6nA**

[Itchinjim]

1. Excellent.

I listen to WKBF almost exclusively. Hopefully this will boost their ad revenue.

[Pirate Smile]

2. I'm in Cedar Rapids and I listen to it - when I can get it.

As with most of the stations, I wish they could boost their power. I stream at home through other stations because I don't think the Quad Cities station has a way to do it on their website - at least they didn't the last time I checked. I did just figure out that I have a boom box that can pick it up at most spots in the house (my lap top is in the shop :( ).

I've been worried because sometimes it seems like most of the commercials are PSAs, instead of paid advertising. These numbers will hopefully help with that. I've wanted to tell some C.R. businesses to advertise on it but I'm not sure how many people can get it here. I can get it in my van but not in my hubby's car. As the OP said, there has been no advertising. I would have never know without DU.

[rurallib]

3. That's amazing - that station used to pull a 0.5

I looked it up back when it first flipped. Well that is just great. I just love Stephanie Miller and her voice monkey. Every day I break into a hearty laugh about something.
Edit: nice to see the drugRush channel take a little dip. (WOC)

[Bluzmann57]

4. I listen everyday

Well, maybe not on Saturday, but most other times. I predict that soon that station will overtake even WOC because people are waking up. Something telling about those ratings, Two Chicago stations are out ranking KJOC, which went from all sports to all right wing and Chicago sports. I dislike that station so much that I won't even listen to Cub games on it. WGN gets my Cub vote.

[rurallib]

5. I listen everyday also plus some on the weekends

We lose them at night until sunrise. On the weekend I just love listening to Ring of Fire with RFK jr. and Sam Palantonio (I think). Very provocative. Also really like Laura Flanders on Sunday night.
At night after I lose WKBF I can pick up a 50,000 watt station from Cincinnati to carry me til 11PM. That is WCKY at 1530 AM.

[pstans]

6. get another AAR station here in Iowa?

Blog for Iowa has an entry about how to get another AAR station here in Iowa.

http://www.blogforiowa.com/blog/_archives/2006/1/30/1731326.html

I started to make a list of possible stations that are sucking in the ratings. I will post what I get later.

[rurallib]

7. Will be meeting with a group tonite to discuss some action

in the Iowa City/ Cedar Rapids area. Couple possibilities in the area to flip. Will keep this forum posted.

[rurallib]

8. BTW in anticipation of our meeting tonite I called WKBF

and talked to the station manager. Seemed pretty nice and apparently a liberal (remember he works for clearchannel so being liberal is out of the norm). He said some interesting things. One was that there are businesses that refuse to run ads on WKBF and are very vocal about it. This should really come as no surprise.
Second Al Franken is nearly even with old Fatass(drugRush) on WOC. This is amazing. He didn't say what Stephanie Miller's ratings were but opined that her's is 'the best show on radio'.
The 2.6 was not great ratings, but from where they were it is great. I am guessing the reason WOC is tops is 1) a long history and 2) more local programs and news.

[pstans]

9. Here is a quick list of stations

KXEL-AM 1540 Kxel Broadcasting News/Talk Waterloo
KWMT-AM 540 Clear Channel Country Ft. Dodge
KASI-AM 1430 Clear Channel News/Talk Ames
KXIC-AM 800 Citicasters Licenses News/Talk Iowa City
KOEL-AM 950 Cumulus Country Oelwein
KMJM-AM 1360 Clear Channel Sports CR
KOEL-FM 98.5 Cumulus Country Cedar Falls


Here are the sites that I got info from...
http://www.arbitron.com
http://www.radio-locator.com
http://www.radioandrecords.com

[Bluzmann57]

10. Good luck to you all out there

As a resident of the Quad Cities, it is really nice to have progressive radio around here 24/7, with occasional breaks for ISU sports and the local Minor League baseball team. If you are able to persuade any program directors to switch, you will not regret it. And please keep us posted. I sometimes travel to Cedar Rapids and would like to keep listening in the car when I'm up there.

[CornField]

11. How is 1360 linked with WMT and KGAN?

1360 also hosts the Bob Bruce (WMT personality) sports trivia bit

Their address is also the address of KGAN (Sinclair)

Curious how all those pieces fit together.

[rurallib]

14. 1360 (KMJM) and WMT are both owned by Clearchannel

KGAN was at one time WMT television. When the FCC forced the split between tv and radio WMT-TV was sold to the Gannet newspaper chain and became KGAN. I believe one rents space from the other. With the FCC act of 1996 (thanks, Mr. Clinton), Clearchannel gobbled up radio stations like pacman on steroids. I don't know all the stations they own in Iowa but here is a list off the top of my head:

WHO (DM), WMT & KMJM (plus a couple FM stations) in CR. KXIC in IC, WOC,WKBF, WLLR and others in Davenport.
In total I think they own something like 20 station in Iowa. This is not a researched fact so don't quote it.

[pstans]

12. I thought the best choices were...

1540 KXEL-AM out of Waterloo and 540 KWMT-AM out of Ft. Dodge. These 2 stations had the largest listening areas and included the most large cities.

KXEL coverage map: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KXEL&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
KWMT coverage map: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KWMT&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

[rurallib]

13. Several problems with both. I will try to be brief.

1) Most of the stations that have flipped in this country have been clearcahannel(CC) stations. While CC is a very right wing (RW) company, they are the largest and due to their concentration in some markets they have stations that are total dogs or have duplicate programs. That is what happened in the QCA. WKBF was a total dog, so it could be used to test progressive radio. If it failed, nothing lost. If it did anything that was more than it was doing.

2) CC is in business to make money as are all companies that own radio stations. They will not flip any stations just to make us happy.

3) CC is about the only company that has extra stations to play with. I believe KXEL is owned by a local group. Not sure who owns KWMT but considering their market area and coverage I would bet they already garner a pretty good audience.

4) One other thing CC looks at is coverage. They will seldom flip a 'big' station or one with a long history. For that reason WMT, WHO and WOC wouldn't even be considered. As noted in #1 they look for a dog with small coverage. One exception is WCKY in Cincy (1530AM after dark it's 50,000 watts). WCKY was a dog with huge coverage.

If we could choose, I'd flip WHO tomorrow and that would cover most of Iowa. But it is a business decision for someone, not us. They want to make money AND do so without pissing off too many potential customers. Remember, the fact that people exist would think differently than others is abhorent to the RW.

[pstans]

15. KWMT is owned by Clear Channel

and their ratings have ranged from 0.5 to 0.8 the last year.

Check the Des Moines ratings...
http://www1.arbitron.com/tlr/public/report.do

Does KWMT 540 come in in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and Des Moines? If you live in those areas, post here if it does.

[rurallib]

16. That only means KWMT gets a.8 in Des Moines.

Des Moines is not their main market. KWMT is located in Fort Dodge, I think. So I would doubt they care at all what their Des Moines rating is. If you look at the QC ratings, I believe there are 3 or 4 Chicago stations listed. Chicago stations don't care what their ratings are in the QCA.
I would think that KASI(Ames) might be a target for those in DesMoines. Remember for clearchannel this is a business decision. They care not about content if they make money off it. KASI is registering between 0 and .5. Although Des Moines is not their main market, I would think they might be vulnerable. As far as CR/IC we are working on it. Have patience.
There is a post on blogforiowa concerning bringing AAR to your local area. It's about halfway down the page. http://www.blogforiowa.com/