For two years, while 790 The Ticket was pounding WQAM-560 in the ratings (except morning drive, which was very close), one question remained unanswered:
To what extent was The Ticket benefiting from having two signals (790 AM and 104.3 FM), compared to one for WQAM? Because Nielsen Media Research combined the 790 and 104.3 ratings, it was impossible to know for sure.
Now that 104.3 has changed formats (to alternative rock), the playing field between The Ticket and WQAM has leveled in the past two months. And WQAM has capitalized.
In the October ratings book, WQAM had a 1.3 share compared with a 0.8 for The Ticket and 0.4 for WINZ, which owns radio rights to the Dolphins and Marlins. It marked the first time that WQAM beat The Ticket at least two consecutive months since September through November 2012.
In the key male 25 to 54 demographic group, WQAM’s Joe Rose; Orlando Alzugaray; and Marc Hochman, Channing Crowder and Zach Krantz all beat The Ticket in their respective day parts.
The Ticket beat WQAM, and handily, from 6 to 10 p.m., which included an hour of The Ticket’s Ethan Skolnick and Israel Gutierrez, often three hours of Josh Friedman and Chris Wittyngham, plus Heat preseason games and postseason baseball.
“I’m skeptical of the numbers,” Ticket general manager Doug Abernathy said of the October ratings overall. “We had a lot of disruptions at one time [the format change, Dan Le Batard moving hours, etc.]. It will take a few months to get a true sense” of audience size.
WQAM management declined to comment.
Abernathy said he is “really impressed” with The Herald’s Skolnick and ESPN’s Gutierrez and anticipates them becoming the permanent afternoon drive hosts, while stopping short of saying it’s definite.
Read more at the Miami Herald where this story was originally published
