Both WBZ’s Toucher and Rich and WEEI’s Kirk and Callahan claim they are number one in the men 25-54 demo. Boston.com’s Chad Finn digs deep into the Nielsen dilemma in the city with two highly successful and entertaining sports morning shows, four very successful pro sports teams, and legions of fans to both. Throw in a little social media and you have one of the best wars now taking place on the radio. Remember those?
It was just a few months ago that there was the real possibility that these two sports stations would have been owned by the same company. Entercom, which already owned WEEI was closing on its deal to merge with CBS Radio, owner of WBZ. A side deal with Beasley prevented that from happening, which was great for everyone. The hosts don’t have to pretend they love each other and the listeners are the beneficiaries of the entertaining radio war. But we digress.
How can both morning drive teams claim they are number one in the male 25-54 demo? Here’s how Finn breaks it down in his rcolumn. “The fundamental answer is this: WEEI includes the share it gets from listeners based in the Boston DMA (designated market area) who tune into Providence-based WVEI because the signal comes in better in certain areas, such as the South Coast. The Sports Hub does not include these numbers when revealing how they fared against each other.”
As you can see from the tweets from both morning shows this week, it can be confusing. Finn says his attempts (over the last nine years) to get Nielsen to explain have been fruitless.
Then, of course listeners from both stations blow up Twitter, which ratchets up the entertainment on both stations, as they fight it out about who’s really #1. It’s not uncommon for one show to talk about, play soundbites, make fun of, mock and ridicule the other show on the air. What would a consultant think of that these days?
This year Finn said he did get a little more information from Nielsen. Here’s what they told him. “From the company’s perspective and its letter of the law, WEEI should not be counting the numbers WVEI provides within the Boston market. The reason is that the purpose of the ratings is to reflect the same content and advertising load at a specific station or program. The advertising content on WEEI and WVEI is different – its parent company, Entercom, has made the decision to sell the stations separately – and thus any share from WVEI should count separately.”
WEEI fans would argue Nielsen is splitting hairs. “If there are listeners listening to the show they should get full credit for that. It should have nothing to do with what commercials are playing.” Sports Hub fans might say “the rules are the rules, stop crying about them, and just admit our guys are number one.”
Who knows who’s really number one, but as a listener of sports radio, the content is fabulous and entertaining. And that’s coming from someone who’s not a Boston sports fan. And, for years, we have often wondered who’s holding either of these two shows back from being syndicated? That’s the real shame of it all. For all the milk-toast content we hear about all across the country, here we have some very talented, entertaining people, and they are stuck in one market.
Check out Chad Finn’s full article HERE.
