Musical influences in Pittsburgh - mostly a rock-n-roll town?

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Yeah, but he forgot to mention Donnie Iris!

"Ah! Leah!" is an awesome song.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by raubre

They call it "Heritage Rock" now?

To WDVE's credit, they do have some current rock on their playlist, so labeling their format as Classic Rock wouldn't be entirely accurate. I envision the Classic Rock format as mainstream rock from the 1960's through the 1980's -- pre-grunge, basically -- so Heritage Rock could be a better term for stations that play mainstream rock from the 1960's to the present. I see Heritage Rock as the inverse of Active Rock. Active Rock is primarily contemporary mainstream rock (see Project 9-6-1 in Atlanta) with a dash of classic rock while Heritage Rock is primarily classic rock with a dash of contemporary mainstream rock.

Originally Posted by raubre

And I hate how they call The X "alternative." They play Metallica, Danzig and Pantera and they are metal, NOT alternative!

This is part of why I've been contemplating what to do with WXDX. Do we shift them more toward an Active Rock format and flip WLTJ to a genuine Alternative Rock format, or do we make WXDX a more genuine Alternative Rock station and flip WLTJ to Active Rock? WXDX does play a lot of "indie" rock bands as well, so they do have some Alternative Rock credentials.

And I mention WLTJ as a candidate to be flipped because whatever they are, they don't have the ratings. If they're a Variety Hits station, then WRRK has significantly higher ratings, and if they're an Adult Contemporary station, then WSHH has significantly higher ratings.

Originally Posted by raubre

I also had no idea the aribitration ratings covered public radio, "outlying" stations and WV stations.

It covers all terrestrial AM and FM radio stations. It can also include stations located on the fringes of a market.

Originally Posted by greg42

Surprising thing to me on that list is the fall of KDKA. Been a while since they were #1, but they were still consistently #2 to DVE up until fairly recently.

That's the first thing I noticed when looking at the most recent ratings. I was surprised. That'd be like WSB in Atlanta tumbling out of the top two, which apparently hasn't happened yet, judging by their Arbitron ratings.

I've also noticed that WDVE isn't dominant like they used to be. They used to have double-digit Arbitron ratings even when it wasn't football season (they're the flagship FM station for the Pittsburgh Steelers Radio Network), but now they need football to get the double-digit ratings, and they also have a surprising new challenger to the throne: WKST, the local Top 40 station.

And speaking of WKST, I've noticed in the last five years that the more "youthful" radio formats are making pushes in the Pittsburgh market. It used to be that WDVE, KDKA, WWSW and WDSY were the top four stations in Pittsburgh, but the latter three have fallen to #5, #6 and #9, respectively, while WKST has matched WDVE atop the ratings, and WRRK, WXDX and WBZZ (née WZPT) have all gradually increased their ratings in the last few years. It dovetails pretty neatly with the news that the city of Pittsburgh is getting younger.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

And speaking of WKST, I've noticed in the last five years that the more "youthful" radio formats are making pushes in the Pittsburgh market. It used to be that WDVE, KDKA, WWSW and WDSY were the top four stations in Pittsburgh, but the latter three have fallen to #5, #6 and #9, respectively, while WKST has matched WDVE atop the ratings, and WRRK, WXDX and WBZZ (née WZPT) have all gradually increased their ratings in the last few years. It dovetails pretty neatly with the news that the city of Pittsburgh is getting younger.

I wonder if any of that is related to WAMO going off the air, and what effect the reappearance of WAMO will have on their ratings.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

I wonder if any of that is related to WAMO going off the air, and what effect the reappearance of WAMO will have on their ratings.

Good point there. WKST does lean more toward hip-hop and R&B than WBZZ does. Either way, it's nice to see a modern music format at or near the top in the Pittsburgh market.

I don't think WKST will fall too far, though, because I've noticed the trend of modern music formats slowly rising. About five years ago, WKST had ratings from the high 4's to the mid-5's, and now they're in the mid-8's. WRRK had ratings in the mid-4's to low 5's, and now they're in the low 7's. WXDX had ratings from the mid-3's to low 4's, and now they're in the high 5's.

Conversely, WDVE had (non-football month) ratings from the high 10's to mid-11's, but now they're in the mid-8's. WWSW had ratings in the from the high 7's to mid-8's, but now they're in the low 6's. WDSY had ratings in the mid-6's to low 7's, but now they're in the mid-5's.

I just took a quick gander at Cleveland's Arbitron ratings. Cleveland has higher ratings in the Variety Hits, Classic Hits, Country and Sports formats while Pittsburgh has higher ratings in the Heritage Rock, Top 40, Alternative and Nostalgia formats. They're about even in the Adult Contemporary, Hot AC and Contemporary Christian formats. One format Cleveland has that Pittsburgh needs is Active Rock.

[HillsHollow]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Yeah, but he forgot to mention Donnie Iris!

Or the Clarks!