8.4.20 Bee-otches of the Day: most northern Michigan radio station owners

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Name: various radio station owners
Age: various
Occupation: supposed entertainers of the public
Last Seen: northern Michigan
Bee-otched For: ratings? What are they, anyway?

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Well, this is embarrassing. 

Twice per year, Nielsen releases ratings data for market 158, aka Traverse City/Petoskey/Cadillac. Usually, WTCM-FM leads the pack with KLT at #2, 106 KHQ at #3 and so on.

But this time around, only two companies had the balls to know how they did in the ratings: Black Diamond and Central Michigan University.

BD's Big Country 102.9 rocked up to one of its best books ever with a 6 share. I'll betcha that Midwestern dropping country on 93.5 and the huge lack of competition helped them a lot. Classic rocker The Bear trickled up to a 3.9 overall while Rock 105/95-5 had one of its crappiest books in a while with a 4.8. Then again, COVID-19 has hurt active rock stations in general in recent months with its mainly younger fans staying home.

Normally, several radio groups up north subscribe to Nielsen. But since the demise of Northern Broadcast, which sold 97.5 WKLT to Midwestern, the owners of WTCM-AM/FM, WCCW-AM/FM and Z93 not long ago, it's no doubt that a lot has changed up north. And not all of it's good.

Right now, there's several empty spots on northern Michigan's radio dial where stations once broadcast loudly and proudly. Of the six stations NBI sold, KLT is the only station that has retained format, albeit on 97.5 only. Of course, 98.9 was spun off to a Christian group and is now Air 1. 94.3 is now airing programming from Central Michigan University, 106.7 was sold to MacDonald Garber with a new format pending, 105.5 was recently sold to Good News Media and will return to the air with a religious format while the future of 92.5 - way out in the middle of nowhere in Atlanta - is up in the (W)air (no pun intended).

And yes, don't get me started on 101.9, 92.3, 99.3, 100.7 and AM 750. 

As I've mentioned in the past, it seems that Black Diamond is the only major radio company in northern Michigan that knows what they're doing. For years, northern Michigan radio station owners and their consultants from Florida have all cried that an active rock station wouldn't do well up north. In the great words of one Maurice Richard Povich, "that was a lie". It explains why in the late 90s, Rock 105's predecessor, The Zone was a shitty wuss rocker that overplayed forgettable shit like Jann Arden's "Insensitive", Sinead Lohan's "Diving To Be Deeper" and anything that would give a straight white male douche chills. But when The Zone FINALLY started spiking in KoRn, Rage Against the Machine, Tool and other bands that people *ACTUALLY* like in late 2000s, the ratings went up.

Granted, MacGar - KHQ, Lite 96, Bob FM and 96.7 The Bull's parent - is the worst offender since they haven't subscribed to a book in years. 

So, why is Black Diamond the sole company with ratings info? Simple: $$$. Allegedly, it costs $25,000 per book for broadcasters. But thanks to COVID-19, among other factors, well, WYSIWYG. I know, ALL companies are showing signs of struggle because of it. But since much of Michigan is reopened and ad revenue's PROBABLY back up for the Summer months, it would have been nice to know hwo all the major changes affected up north radio.

Hell, I WANTED TO KNOW HOW WKLT DID! Now that Omelette's back and the fact that they're on three frequencies, it would have been cool to see if Midwestern's plan worked or backfired.

I also wanted to see how WCCW-FM did as well. Why? For starters, there's a part of me that thinks that there's not much time left for 107.5. 1) When Dean Berry moved to KLT, they never replaced his afternoon shift. 2) Their sole listed jocks, Charlie D. and Dave Gauthier are close to retirement age. Last but not least, 3) they are the only Midwestern station that does not stream. There's also word that 1310 AM - currently carrying ESPN programming - might not last much longer since the property the station's towers are located is up for sale. It would be somewhat wise for Midwestern to kill 107.5 since they only had a 3.0 in the last book. That way, their listeners would migrate to 97.5. Then, 107.5 would flip to ESPN. Who knows?

The next ratings book should be out in early 2021, carrying the Fall ratings. Some of the questions I have would be: 1) if MacGar signs 106.7 back on, what will be their format? 2) Can Q100 - now on three frequencies - have the ratings KLT, Rock 105 and The Bear have? 3) Can 107.5 rebound to prove that last paragraph is wrong? 

All I can say for now is that if we all want to know, northern Michigan's radio station owners need to pay up.

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