Although radio remains an afterthought for many, as popular culture media fixation focuses much more on iPods and various assortments of portable mp3 listening devices, tablets, and laptop computers, the bare fact is millions still tune in every week, multiple times each week, to their favourite local radio station. The age-old quest for ratings in radio remains of paramount importance to the conglomerates that own our local radio stations, given that all but two of those stations listed in the graphic below are funded solely through advertising. Thus, today, we present the Vancouver Autumn Radio Ratings, for your amusement and perhaps edification, and to provide you with some insight into how popular your radio station appears to be among listeners across Metro Vancouver.
First a few notes, and a couple of observations on Vancouver’s radio wars.
Bell continues to make its pitch to take over the Astral network of radio and television stations. In Vancouver, The Shore, Virgin Radio, and CISL are all owned by Astral Media, a media conglomerate looking to get itself out from under a tough market, and sell itself off to Bell. Locally, Bell owns CHQM-FM, TEAM 1040 and 1410, and FM rocker, The Beat, as well as the local CTV television outlet. Bell’s acquisition of Astral is all but a fait accompli given the assurances that Bell has given to the CRTC to be “fair” wth their competitors — of course, if the takeover is successful the CRTC will insist Bell divest itself of some of their local radio properties. Nat and Drew, the morning hosts at Virgin Radio make a little fun of their current predicament in the video above, as they visit all of the current (and a couple of currently unemployed) morning radio teams at radio stations across Vancouver.
Ratings notes: The Shore continues its basement run, a surprise given that it’s among the better and more listenable radio stations in town. The Beat took a hit in the ratings as their former morning host Kid Carson took his morning schtick over to Sonic Nation, seemingly to good advantage.
Astral Media: According to Astral, in the latest Vancouver radio ratings, perennial runner-up in the young folks listener category, their local Virgin Radio outlet 95.3 “jumped” in this book from number three to a solid number one in market share, with adults 25-54, based on the gain from 11.6 to 13.3 “commercial share points”, or a rise of +14.7% from the last survey of radio listener habits. With SHORE 104 and AM650, Astral Radio now claims 17% of of the 25-54 demographic of the commercial radio listening audience across Metro Vancouver.
Our local Mother Corp station, CBC Radio One, continues its months long run atop the ratings heap, while former Top Dog CKNW (and its 65+ age audience), although near the top of the ratings, can really be said to only be languishing, a comment that holds true for bottom dweller, The Peak. JR-FM has rebounded in recent books, as listeners look for an alternative to the middle-of-the-road music most Vancouver radio stations programme. The rest you can figure out for yourselves. Here then are the ratings …
