PPM-er to blatherwatch "we have not listened to KIRO since April 1."

A guy who describes himself as a 42-year-old "home-officed" Seattleite whose family members are Arbitron personal meter wearers told Blatherwatch today that neither he nor his wife have heard KIRO news talk since April 1st, the day they left the AM dial.

KIROAM was the market leader for many books; it's now rumored to have taken a huge hit in the new PPM ratings. The news talk FM side with all its expensive talent is said to not be doing well either.

"We used to have KIRO on pretty much all day," he writes," but we just didn't make the effort to switch. We leave it on KOMO or KVI most of the day then turn it to KUOW at 3." 

He complains that he must pull out his radio's little antenna (which, when extended, blocks a doorway) to keep KIROFM reception at his Ballard home from getting "scratchy."

"KUOW, he writes, "comes in just fine."

"We used to listen to the Greg and Jane, Dave and Dori straight through every day, but my wife and I were just saying how much we DON'T miss them. It was not the kind of listening that made us loyal, apparently."

He says his son and daughter ages 17 and 19 wear the meters but are exposed to few radio signals except accidental ones. Our cars are the same way -- I tend to punch around AM but if I put it on KUOW, I leave it there. I set the KIRO button in my truck, but never use it."

"We are definitely a no-KIRO Arbitron family. We were surprised, [that] the switch-over so easily turned them off for us."

He says that participating in the 2-year survey has made them all more aware of what and how much media they listen to. The radio he says is off at night and on weekends. "That's a habit we haven't even realized had changed until we started wearing these meters."

(The meters, which pick up signals from the radio and teevee programming in earshot of the wearers, must be worn at all times during waking hours. They have very sophisticated motion detectors that turn off the meter -- if it's set down, or you happen to die -- Arbitron techs boast that all a person has to do is breath to keep the meters running).

Our PPM-er describes the kind of habit-changing one must do to keep a meter in motion for all your waking hours. It can be clipped to belts or pockets like a pager; Arbitron provides an array of little attachable cases; some wear it around their neck on a lanyard. "It's easy to forget to put it back on if you take a shower or change clothes."

A green light turns off if it's not being worn.

Putting the meter in the nighttime data collector when you go to bed can be difficult to remember too, he says. "Sometimes I fall asleep on the couch watching TV, and I'm pretty groggy when I crawl into the bed. I wake in the morning and say, 'O no!' It still counts if I remember to do it the next night, it can store the data for 3 or 4 days."

"The kids were messing up a lot at first. They like the little checks they get in the mail, they get more if they wear it more." There are weekly drawings for $500 among the those who wear the meter for over a certain number of hours.

"We have made it a little competitive game in the family about who gets the maximum points," he says. "Everybody has agreed to share the big money if any one of us wins it."

We asked him if he could game the survey -- have the meter registering something other than what he was listening or watching.

"I figured out a way you could do it," he writes, "but I don't really care one way or the other. I don't listen to the radio to be a liberal or a conservative, I just listen to what interests me."

Comments

[sparky]

I assume there is a maximum mileage area around Seattle where they take their data? Any idea how they select people to do this???

[inwestseattle]

I've stopped listening to KIRO too. The reception in West Seattle is too scratchy to be acceptable. Sorry, but didn't you guys at KIRO anticipate this?

[Charles de Midway]

I think there are about 1100 PPM wearers in a market of over 3 million people. A single PPM has lots power over the stations. Some say too much. there should be a bigger sample. Plus minorities media isn't well represented.

[joanie]

Yes, I, too, work in the northwest area of Seattle and cannot get anything better than scratchy FM in my classroom which has west-facing windows.

And I also wondered, Sparky, how people were picked to participate.

Funny that your friend who used to listen to KIRO all day long so easily moved to KVI as one of his choices. I thought KVI was anathema to a KIRO listener. The few times (not so few when he had a good topic and whined less) I listened to 710DORI I sure could not listen to KVI. Not even Carlson.

Well, with Randi back and Reagan getting very good listener participation and guests, KPTK is doing okay for me.

I will be interested to see the numbers for sports talk and the possible decline? of KJR.

[AuthenticAndrew]

Enough with the anecdotes. Let us be patient enough to wait for some real numbers.

[Dave (not dave ross)]

its not the reception for me, i find the commerical load on kiro fm a lot less tolerable than when they were on am only. my kiro listening has been cut by half or more, easily. i have gone to music stations rather than talk.

[Jerry]

I used to listen to KIRO but now keep it locked on to AM 530 (road conditions, amber alerts, etc).

I grew frustrated with trying to figure out the difference between AM and FM, so put it on 530 and have never looked back.

[Corporate Suit]

I posted a thread about this over at www.radio-info.com about how much I have pretty much forgotten about KIRO's talk programming since they left for the FM. Out of AM band, out of mind...and I wondered if anyone felt the same? However, too many people piled on by saying that "FM is the next wave for talk!" I don't think so....

[HoChiMinh]

I should expect that KIRO will stumble a bit in the ratings initially, but they have far too much talent to fail. Like any major change it will take a little time to acclimate but rest assured they will continue to be the area's power station(s). I agree with the 'have patience' approach.

[LucasFoxx]

They are selecting people the same ways they did for the diaries, but they are moving to add Cell Phone only users. Seattle-Tacoma will have Cell Phone only users by June.

[Upton]

Since April, when I'm at home, I stream Ross's show occasionally but I for the most part have switched over to KPOJ and Thom Hartmann. The reception isn't great but it's a heck of a lot better than KIRO's joke of an FM station.

Thanks for thinking of us down here in Lewis County KIRO.. I hope 97.3 FM fails BIG TIME...jerks.

[KSR]

Geez, what a rough crowd. One day nobody listens to AM. Lose one signal and all of a sudden, everyone does. Loyalty? Somehow, I doubt KIRO is much concerned with a listener who'll tune to a road conditions station rather than push the little button marked FM... sheesh!

My understanding is that only 18-20% of all radio listeners (and there are a lot fewer of them than there used to be) ever tune the AM band these days. KIRO can pull a smaller percentage of the 80% that's on FM and do just fine.

As for Chehalis; this has already been covered here. KIRO doesn't have to care. You are out of their area of interest. Listen to your own stations.

Typically, the naysayers here are quick to jump on the bandwagon. For how long have you all been patiently waiting for KPTK and AA to build significant numbers? Years! Yet, a few short weeks after switching, you've all but given up on poor old KIRO.

Oh... using the report of one PPM user is hardly sufficient to draw a conclusion... and how convenient, that you always mention the ultra-reliable reception of your fav KUOW, while always shoving KIRO-FM's so-called scratchy signal down our throats here. You can find places where every station, am or fm will have problems. Get real.

[AuthenticAndrew]

I caught Dori's show yesterday and maybe I wasn't listening closely but I could have swore he didn't say *1* single word about politics, he didn't express any pro-libertarian views, he didn't express any anti establishment views. He covered some human interest and current event type topics - and it was somewhat listenable. It reminded me of the pre right wing nut job Dori. If he can keep that up he might do OK.

[HoChiMinh]

He can ONLY succeed with your support.

[Circe]

Only Bonneville has the cash to take this risk. They've got to groom a whole new audience. I don't wonder that the old world talkers like Dave and Dori are doing... the real question is: How is Ron & Don, and TBTL doing? I believe it's that kind of radio, the lifestyle, the gossip and entertainment kind that they're pushing on the FM dial. (It;'s not unlike what has always existed on the FM dial. Issues and arguing is for the old boomers. they're still a big bunch but they're AM loyal, and dying slowly.

[Brian]

Kiro used to be my go-to station. Now I don't listen to them at all anymore and I'm not sure I really miss it.

[BeeBee]

Love KIRO FM! Made the switch. It wasn't hard really because my parents taught me at a young age how to dial in my radio. KUOW, KPLU etc all have their blank spots in this city and KIRO FM is no different. I will always love my boys, Dave, Dori, Ron and Don!

[asdfasd]

What a bunch of Luddites! I imagine a city full of arbitron listeners who churn their own butter, subscribe to "Buggy Whips International" and have their VCR's all blinking 12:00.

Hey grandpa!! FM will not steal your soul or rape your daughters. I didn't know blatherwatch cornered the coveted 65-90 market. How did you guys even learn how to turn on your computers?

Better not mention the KIRO computer stream or podcasts. Their heads may explode via "Scanners".

[BeeBee]

asdfasd -- Well written. Thank you.

[nancy]

I live north of Bellingham and am a talk-radio fan and listen to it 24/7; I am a shift worker. KIRO began to lose me when 9-11 happened and Dori (I can't believe I used to like his show) started wetting his pants whenever Bush/Cheney fired up the fear machine, as well as promoting liars such as the Swift Boaters and Ann Coulter.

Dave Ross is milquetoast, and Thom Hartmann is available on 2 stations here, at least, in Dave's time slot. KIRO radio lost me years ago, the more I think about it.

As for the new channel--has anyone told Bonneville that reception for their station SUCKS here in Bellingham? Not worth devoting a car channel button to???

[Striker]

I have not listened to KIRO since the move.
I live in Olympia and cannot get a good signal.
KIRO AM, I like to watch football and baseball but don't care about every little thing about the players.
KOMO just took over a local FM station 97.7 to simulcast their station. Even if I wanted to listen to local raido, they are turning to Seattle clones.
FM is music - AM is information
And that's the way it is.

[Jay]

The reception in W. Seattle is terrible. Not that big of a deal since the commercial load has driven me away. It really gets creepy listening to their hawkers 'caress' every word -- "Real --- Natural ---- Dog Food ---". Yeah, I heard you the first time. Too bad, but times change and they blew it.

[David M]

I was a pretty loyal listener of KIRO until they went off AM. While I'm also an FM listener, their format just didn't seem to fit amongst all the music stations. HOWEVER they got me back this week. Why? Because they've been joined on the FM dial by KOMO 97.7. I guess it's a bit like car dealers when they all bunch up together on a block. It creates more of a scene than when they're all by themselves.

Ironically when KIRO moved off AM, I began listening to KOMO a lot more than I ever had. Though KOMO led me to accept talk on FM, I'm...mainly listening to KIRO-FM now. So in my case at least, KOMO did KIRO a favor.

[KAAA]

Michael..your comments on the first month of PPM results in Seattle. It's a whole new ballgame. Where are the talkers???

[brave new world]

I got thrown off the KIRO train a bit too. Both AM and FM. Reasons:

Reception on the FM is spotty on the waterfront (where I work) and really bad in West Seattle (where I sometimes play).

Every time I tune into the AM (usually in the a.m.), it's some national sports guy yapping about how great the NBA is. Could there be a less appropriate and more tone-deaf topic to introduce a new sports-talk station to Seattle? Seriously, the letters "N B A" and it's instant dial-change for me. I heard that 710 would be "less local" than 950, and that's in fact turned out to be the case.

I haven't gone to a competing station. The "loss" of the old 710 KIRO just kind of confirmed for me that there's less and less of interest on radio at all these days. The medium has become kind of a wasteland. So I've gone to podcasts. The iPod goes with me everywhere -- car, home, work -- I just plug it into the speakers, get better, deeper content on stuff i'm interested in (news and sports, as before) and and my podcast hours probably now outnumber my radio hours by 3 to 1.

[KAAA]

M, I think you CAN post some of PPM numbers. I've seen the 12+ and 25-54 #'s on that "other" web site. Not the actual shares, but order of finish. Astounding results! No dayparts, however. THAT would be intersting to know and I have no way of getting them.