As I predicted last month, CFMG-FM (Virgin, formerly Easy Rock) is back at a 5.3 or lower now that the big Christmas music bump is gone. The number being 4.5 indicates that the first three weeks of Virgin did not go well. But, in fairness, few stations get big numbers when they launch with no "prior warning" or the promotion that goes with it. Especially into a market where the target audience already has two stations serving them.
As always, it will be next month's ratings that indicate whether the numbers are going up, and how fast, as listeners find the station. Of course, everyone at Astral's worst nightmare is if they go down, or even stay relatively steady.
So, where did the Easy Rock listeners go? Although the numbers make it look like less than half of them went to Capital-FM and UP, did the rest really turn off their radios? My guess is "No", that the two stations captured most of the Easy Rock listeners, but they are just listening less than they used to.
It will be interesting to see how LITE 95.7 (CKEA-FM) fares in the next ratings, if they prove me wrong and pick up that missing 3.5 SHARE, let alone steal from Capital or UP. Although I see a few billboards -- OK, only one rotation on an electronic one, so far -- I don't see Harvard yet spending the money they will need to, especially given the relatively large time gap between Easy Rock's signoff and LITE's signon.
Despite all I hear about Edmonton being an overcrowded radio market, it still seems to be a healthy market, given the fact that you have to go to the 14th rated station to get below a 4.5 SHARE.