It was business as usual for KOAM News during the May sweeps period, according to the Nielsen ratings.
The ratings for those 18 and over:
5:30 to 7 a.m.- KOAM 3.8, KSNF 0.8, KODE 1.2
'
Noon- KOAM 4.5, KSNF 1.2
5 p.m.- KOAM 7.4, KSNF 2.0, KODE 4.2
6 p.m.- KOAM 9.1, KSNF 3.4, KODE 5.0
9 p.m.- KFJX 3.5
10 p.m.- KOAM 9.0, KSNF 5.2, KODE 4.9
This post is not an attempt to claim KOAM does not have a better news product than the other two stations.
ReplyDeleteI just want to add a touch of balance to those numbers.
It is important to note that KODE & KSNF do not reach a number of the Kansas counties that are counted in the viewing area and that viewer diaries are mailed to.
Places like Barry County and other counties east of Joplin are not included although they count on Joplin stations for their local news. Those people have traditionally been KSNF & KODE viewers because for years before satellite they relied on over-the-air signal and KOAM's didn't come in clear.
In television ratings there are two important things to consider: Diary distribution and concentration of viewership in the metro area where the advertisers come from.
Those would be more important numbers to stations and those who advertise on them.
The bottom line is that none of the stations in Joplin are going broke--but for some reason KOAM has a history of paying the lowest wages despite their track record of ratings success.
What was KODE's number during 12 Noon running All My Children?
ReplyDeleteThe anonymous comment is entirely off base, in that KOAM does *not* pay the lower wages, comparative to other 140's market television stations.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to make a comment like that, have the decency to back it up before you slander others.
They pay their people less than the other stations in Joplin. There...backed it up.
ReplyDeleteDo you actually know the incomes of employees at all the stations? If you do, then state them. I'm not talking about some talk over a beer when a single employee of a station grumbles how they are not fairly compensated. If you indeed have access to all the personell files of employees at all the stations, share their incomes. I welcome you under the veil of anonimity to list the wages of the staffs of all the stations. Only then can you even be considered credible.
ReplyDeleteAnother question to the wage comment. How does KOAM, who alledgedly pays so little, hire such good people? I only make the quality comment based on the ratings. Is it that they actually pay more? Is it that people would rather work for KOAM at low wage than the others for high wages? I don't have a clue what any of them earn, but your comment goes against common sense. Could you explain?
ReplyDeleteas for their pay, working at a competing station, while speaking to a photog, i will NOT disclose salary amounts that were discussed, however, there is a significant difference (at least one to two thousand dollars difference) between the amount one makes on-air at koam and the amount one makes on air at one of the competing stations. also, the conversation deepened, the benefits package, isn't all that great either.
ReplyDeletethat's neither here nor there at this point, the ratings numbers speak for themselves, and it does fascinate me how KOAM not only is in the lead, but pretty much stomped the crud out of KODE/KSNF. it seems there may be some unbalanced numbers there- perhaps viewers who likely don't even pick up KSNF/KODE. see, while storm chasing last year in indpendence, ks, a fire station was picked up, on cable, KJRH (NBC, Tulsa) KTUL (ABC, Tulsa) KOTV (CBS, Tulsa) and KOAM (CBS, Joplin/Pittsburg) so if you rank them, of course KSNF/KODE aren't even going to rank, because they don't watch them, because they don't get them. the joplin DMA is a joke, in that it is severely over-run in coverage from Springfield (Carl Junction gets KY3 Weather Plus, Neosho gets KY3, and i can't recall if it's KOLR or KSPR as well) Northeast OK stations are offered Tulsa stations, as well as some residents in southeast Kansas. The Joplin DMA focuses further north than it did years ago, and KSNF/KODE are too far to the south to matter. Also, this is just a guess, but it seems the DMA area monitored by Neilson is based soley on where KOAM reaches, not the others, and could that be because they were the first station on the air in this market, and just happened to place themselves in a cornfield in Kansas?
* Independance is in Montgomery County and NOT part of the Joplin DMA, so their viewership is not included in DMA numbers.
ReplyDelete*The Joplin DMA has always went as far North as it does now which is a line across the north edge of Bourdon and Vernon Counties.
*The DMA has nothing to do with where any station reaches and has never. A county becomes part of a market DMA when the viewers in that county watch the market more than any other. Montgomery watches more Tulsa TV than Joplin, so it is in the Tulsa DMA. Benton County watches more Fort Smith stations than Joplin stations so it goes to Fort Smith. The counties in the Joplin/Pittsburg DMA are there because they watch more Joplin/Pittsburg Television than any other Market.
*This also makes the point about Springfield on Cable moot. If the Springfield stations ever start getting more viewers in Newton, Jasper or wherever than Joplin/Pittsburg stations, they will become Springfield DMA counties also. There was a time when Benton County was in the Joplin/Pittsburg DMA and that made the market rank 119. Because over time Benton county viewers started watching more Fort Smith, it changed.
I guess that points out that the market used to go further South than it does now but do to local stations inability to appeal as well as Fort Smith, it went the way of Fort Smith.
Mr Wage expert.
I wonder if the wage person is as mis-informed on wages as they are on DMA info?
I agree with the last post.
ReplyDeleteDMA definition is *not* subjective.
A county is assigned a DMA based upon the city / market that at least two of the top three-rated stations hail from.
For example, KOAM *could* be #1 in Independence, KS, but if the #2 and #3 slots are held by Tulsa stations, then Montgomery County is tabulated as part of the Tulsa market.
It is not a subjective process.
I agree -- the lack of DMA understanding may well speak to the outspoken "salary slanderer's" overall judgment of truth.
I have cable in Carl Junction, and don't get KY3. I only get local news stations from Joplin & Pittsburg.
ReplyDeleteI can't back it up with numbers...but I too have had several people tell me KOAM pays much less than the Nexstar stations (which isn't saying much!) To be honest, I always thought it was the KOAMers thinking the grass was greener on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI am an on-air employee of KOAM, and I don't know what KODE or KSNF pay.
ReplyDeleteTelevision salaries vary tremendously, even within a single station.
I can only speak for myself. This is my first job in commercial television, and I applied to many stations before I took this job. It's a competitive field, and people will work for little, just to take their first steps toward living their dream.
I turned down multiple offers from other parts of the country before gladly accepting my current position with KOAM & FOX 14. I turned down the previous offers partly because they wouldn't have paid enough to keep me out of unnecessary debt. KOAM's offer, however, was a few thousand dollars more than each of the other full-time offers.
The cost of living in SW Missouri & SE Kansas is lower than most of the other locations I was offered jobs in - so KOAM seemed - and is - comparatively generous.
I have no complaints, early in my career.
It is quite possible that Nexstar, a very large corporation that owns KSNF & KODE may have a benefits package with a little more firepower, or Nexstar may start a couple of the reporters or photog's a little higher than KOAM does. This may just be the nature of working for a smaller company. (KOAM is owned by Saga Communications of Michigan, and to my understanding, we are Saga's largest station. Saga primarily owns radio stations.)
I only wanted to speak out on behalf of the management here -- they're a great group of people. When I talk to other people in the industry, I learn that 'good management' is the exception, not the rule. We have it good here compared to many, many others.
Aside from a few very rare instances, small-market television is not a get-rich-quick way of life, no matter who you work for. If you love what you do, its easier to be patient for a more financially comfortable future, down the road.