Noteworthy:

CHFI = 11.1
CHUM + Virgin = 11.1

If the ratings included the large and growing 60 plus demographic would AM 740 be in the top two along with 680 News?  Not all retirees are on limited incomes.  Many have good pensions or buyout cash with money to spend or are still working.

AM 740 doesn't cater to the 25-54 demo, so the fact that they are near the bottom in this demographic is not surprising.  If you look at total share they have 2.5% with most aged 55+ which is who they want to reach and who they program too.  Hence the name Zoomer Radio! 

Sort of like CBC Radio 1 who do well in Toronto with the 25-54 demo and even better when looking at the total audience.  However, since CBC radio doesn't sell ads 25-54 is not as important to them as it would be for stations like BOOM, CHUM FM or CHFI who absolutely do want this age group.  CBC radio does  well across the country total audience, not as well 25-54 in most markets.  But again this doesn't really matter so much since they are not in the hunt for advertising.  

I remember three months ago we had a fantastic discussion on the board regarding why Toronto should or shouldn't have a country music radio station.  Vancouver's JR Country (CJJR) was brought up as an example of a country station that has had success for years.  A city that is as diverse, multicultural and competitive as Toronto in most ways, maybe even more.  Here are the latest numbers for Vancouver, all demos.  We see that CJJR is still doing well, coming in 4th in Vancouver overall...Or are they 4th???
I hope Aaron doesn't mind me using his figures since he kindly broke out the 25-54 demos for Vancouver for the readers of RadioWest.ca.  And CJJR was number #1 in Vancouver in this demographic with a 10.0 share.  So this begs the question if country music can do so well in Vancouver, why not Toronto?  Also it is noteworthy that in both Edmonton and Calgary, country music did just so-so.   So Pattison Radio obviously has Vancouver figured out with a station in a city that on paper at least, shouldn't be doing so well with country music.  Even if this is a one off, CJJR has been one of the top stations for years.
 
A 25-54
93 7 JR Country 10.0
Rock 101 9.9
CFOX 9.3
94.5 Virgin Radio 8.8
Z95.3FM 8.8
MOVE 103.5 7.4
CKNW 7.2
102 7 The PEAK 5.9
Jack FM 5.5
CBC Radio One 5.0
News 1130 4.3
KISS Radio 104.9 3.9
104.3 The Breeze 3.4
Praise 106.5, Praise 106 3.2
Funny 1040 AM 2.5
CBC Radio 2 / CBC Music 1.4
Sportsnet 650 1.1
AM730 .7
BNN Bloomberg Radio .5
ICI Musique .4

Last edited by paterson1 (March 11, 2021 4:48 pm)

Broodcaster wrote:

If the ratings included the large and growing 60 plus demographic would AM 740 be in the top two along with 680 News?  Not all retirees are on limited incomes.  Many have good pensions or buyout cash with money to spend or are still working.

AM740 is #8 60+. Not just adding that demo in -- but also excluding anyone younger.

Top 5 are CBC, Classical, CHFI, 1010, Q107

Absolutely 54 is now way too low to be the standard top-of-the-middle. People are working later into their years, and spening money. The theory was that retirees could no longer be influenced to try new brands or would no longer make impulse purchases. That *has* to be outdated, but I've not seen anyone prove that yet.

Last edited by RadioAaron (March 11, 2021 6:38 pm)

While there are certainly many more factors, one reason for JR's success this year is that *some* stations with smaller CUMEs, but more loyal audiences are being rewarded in the work-from-home era. All it takes is a few meters in the hands of people who only got to listen say, on their commutes, but now can listen all day.
The Alberta Country stations just didn't win that lottery. (And there must be something else going on there too, as they were starting to lag pre-Covid.

You're seeing many NPR and AAA(!) stations in the states set record ratings levels. Again, smaller but more loyal audiences listening even longer than before.

Last edited by RadioAaron (March 11, 2021 6:30 pm)

MJ Vancouver wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

I remember three months ago we had a fantastic discussion on the board regarding why Toronto should or shouldn't have a country music radio station.  Vancouver's JR Country (CJJR) was brought up as an example of a country station that has had success for years.  A city that is as diverse, multicultural and competitive as Toronto in most ways, maybe even more.  Here are the latest numbers for Vancouver, all demos.  We see that CJJR is still doing well, coming in 4th in Vancouver overall...Or are they 4th???
I hope Aaron doesn't mind me using his figures since he kindly broke out the 25-54 demos for Vancouver for the readers of RadioWest.ca.  And CJJR was number #1 in Vancouver in this demographic with a 10.0 share.  So this begs the question if country music can do so well in Vancouver, why not Toronto?  Also it is noteworthy that in both Edmonton and Calgary, country music did just so-so.   So Pattison Radio obviously has Vancouver figured out with a station in a city that on paper at least, shouldn't be doing so well with country music.  Even if this is a one off, CJJR has been one of the top stations for years.
 
A 25-54
93 7 JR Country 10.0
Rock 101 9.9
CFOX 9.3
94.5 Virgin Radio 8.8
Z95.3FM 8.8
MOVE 103.5 7.4
CKNW 7.2
102 7 The PEAK 5.9
Jack FM 5.5
CBC Radio One 5.0
News 1130 4.3
KISS Radio 104.9 3.9
104.3 The Breeze 3.4
Praise 106.5, Praise 106 3.2
Funny 1040 AM 2.5
CBC Radio 2 / CBC Music 1.4
Sportsnet 650 1.1
AM730 .7
BNN Bloomberg Radio .5
ICI Musique .4

As a Vancouver-area resident I have a couple of theories about this, though they haven't been studied:

- Metro Vancouver has a significant rural area. Large parts of the land area of Metro Vancouver municipalities of Delta, Surrey, Langley Township, Maple Ridge, and even Richmond are rural farmland. There is a far more rural or small town lifestyle in parts of Metro Vancouver outside Vancouver or New Westminster than what I recall in the Toronto area; traditionally country music does well in more rural markets if I'm not mistaken.

- There has been some influx of people from Alberta, where country music is a strong format, in recent years. I'm not sure how many have ended up in the Vancouver area but I can imagine some have, and at least some of them would enjoy country music.

In the Toronto area, one could argue that Milton and Halton Hills are more rural parts of the region; however they are also in close enough proximity to Hamilton or Kitchener that there could be some country music listening coming from stations in those cities that don't get captured in the Toronto PPM ratings. Vancouver on the other hand doesn't have the amount of spillover from adjacent markets that Toronto does - there are radio stations in Abbotsford and Bellingham, WA that come in clearly in parts of Metro Vancouver, but it's only 2-3 stations, not the plethora of stations from Oshawa, Barrie, Hamilton, or K-W that parts of the GTA receive.

Another note about those Vancouver ratings - there is no way "Funny 1040" got a 2.5 share in the 25-54 demo. The vast majority of that listening would've been from when it was still TSN 1040.

Speaking of Vancouver, this was almost inevitable:

Demise of TSN 1040 leads to ratings bump for Sportsnet 650