WRRM’s holiday delay pays off

Christmas came four weeks late for WRRM-FM (98.5), but folks there aren’t complaining.

The soft rock station - which held off playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, at the listeners’ request - jumped to third place in fall Arbitron ratings released last week.

WVMX-FM (MIX 94.1), which launched holiday tunes on Nov. 7, saw its audience share drop slightly among all listeners ages 12 and older from a year ago. Ho, ho, ho.

“Maybe they should have waited until the pumpkins were off the front porch before going all Christmas,” says T.J. Holland, program director for WARM98, WYGY-FM (country STAR 96.5) and “jammin’ oldies” WMOJ-FM (MOJO 94.9).

“I think it helped that we asked people when they wanted to hear Christmas music. We played Christmas at the right time, when people wanted to hear it. That makes a difference,” Holland says.

The move paid huge dividends with women, the station’s target. WARM98 was No. 1 with women ages 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and 35-64, according to Arbitron’s September-December report.

Talk-sports WLW-AM (700) and country music WUBE-FM (105.1) were the top two stations with listeners of all ages, and the 25-54 demographic that advertisers want most. WLW-AM has been the region’s top station for six years. B105 was tied for third a year ago, and fourth in the 25-54 money demographic.

WLW-AM again was No. 1 in mornings, midday and weekends. B105’s Duke Hamilton was No. in the afternoon. Rock station WKFS-FM (KISS 107.1) was the most popular station weekday evenings, followed by B105 and WLW-AM.

Other fall winners were country STAR 96.5, which rocketed from 12th a year ago to third place with listeners 18-34, and adult contemporary WKRQ-FM (Q102), which jumped from 13th a year ago to 10th.

Talk stations WSAI-AM (HOMER 1360), WDBZ-AM (BUZZ 1230) and WCKY-AM (1530) also showed fall audience gains.

Losers included talk radio WKRC-AM (550), which fell to sixth from second a year ago during the presidential election, and urban music WIZF-FM (WIZ100.9), which dropped from fifth a year ago to 10th.