Rumba: no ratings, but ad money?

[Bob Nelson]

It was noted that in the latest 12 plus ratings, Rumba 1200 y 1430 didn't show up at all. 
But maybe they still could make a few bucks despite that?

It may sound weird that stations which don't show up in the ratings still make money
but supposedly formats like (all-syndicated) sports, religion, and
maybe even ethnic supposedly bill well despite lackluster ratings or
none at all. If anything these are low budget operations and somehow
they find the money from advertising.

Why is WWZN still doing sports if it doesn't show up in the ratings?
(Is Paul Allen enjoying wasting his money, or do they actually rake in
a few bucks from running Sporting News Radio?) WTTT has never shown in
the ratings with its conservative talk format but Salem Comm.
apparently hasn't had a problem with that. Just run those national
spots for "rich, chocolate Ovaltine" and Tanya Roberts inviting you to
"get out of Dodge--stir up some romantic passion in the most
exciting city on Earth. Las Vegas is calling!"

You've heard those ads too, eh? ...constantly.

I get the feeling Clr Chnl didn't have any sales managers working for
WKOX/WXKS exclusively (as prog talk); they were probably shared with other stations
in the cluster, and maybe they didn't make an effort to sell local
advertising. (It's also possible that the company made so much money
with Jamn 94.5 and Kiss 108, that they could run the 2 AMs as a
break-even or even lose-money proposition with AAR and now with Rumba.
Whether they have sales people dedicated to those 2 AMs now, I don't
know, but some AM stations can at least break even with specialty
formats like this.

Again, had CC put on local hosts, waited for the signal of 1200
to improve (should be done in a few months), promoted the station,
and perhaps had some sales people go out there to sell spots,
it could still be prog talk today. Do you get the feeling that CC
was just running AAR as a placeholder format: if it works, great,
if not then change format or even try to sell the 2 stations--
but didn't quite make any effort to promote the station OR
sell ads for it? (Or maybe they were trying to stave off the
Fairness Doctrine coming back...)

Just turn on the "computer in a closet" while we concentrate
on the FMs...

By the way I gotta laugh. Go to the Clear Channel site and type in
WXKS under station search. Apparently WXKS runs "nostalgia" with a
logo saying "Boston's Original Hits".

A format they abandoned on Oct 4, 2004...nice they updated the site.

As for WKOX, type in those calls and you get the Rumba logo...
and the format "Progressive Talk". Seriously...