Toledo slips in Nielsen market list
9/1/2003Putnam County is Toledo's loss and Lima's gain.
Nielsen Media Research, the company best known for its television ratings, has switched Putnam County -- and its 12,190 TV households -- from the Toledo market to the Lima market for the 2003-04 season.
As a result, Toledo has dropped one spot, to No. 69, on Nielsen's list of 210 television markets. According to Nielsen, there are 425,770 TV households in the market -- a decrease of 7,000 from last year.
Meanwhile, the Lima market is moving up nine spots, to No. 185. It has 70,850 TV households -- an increase of 13,290 from a year ago.
If Putnam County would have stayed put, Toledo still would be Market No. 68. (Instead, that position belongs to Green Bay, Wis., which was No. 69 a year ago.)
When David L. Zamichow became general manager of WTVG-TV, Channel 13, nearly a dozen years ago, Toledo was Market No. 64.
“The lower you go, the harder it is to maintain your income level,” he said.
As far as revenue is concerned, the key is to stay among the Top 75 markets. If Toledo fell to No. 76, it would drop to “the next tier of budgeting for the national [advertising] agencies,” according to WTOL-TV, Channel 11, general manager Bob Chirdon.
National advertising accounts for about 40 percent of a station's revenue. When buying air time, national advertisers often lump markets 51 through 75 together.
What's the difference between Market No. 69 and Market No. 76? About $4 million in revenue for the market annually, Zamichow estimates.
Next year, Toledo is likely to drop to No. 70; fast-growing Fort Myers, Fla., which is currently No. 70, trails Toledo by 4,640 households. Tucson (No. 71) and Honolulu (No. 72) are closing in fast.
Toledo is likely to stay in the Top 75 for at least another decade.
“We're safe for awhile,” Chirdon said.
DIFFERENT ROLE: WTVG is making Theresa Pollick a full-time employee. She has been working as a meteorologist on an as-needed basis, but starting a week from today her main duties will be off the air -- as night assignment editor. She will continue to fill in as a meteorologist. She is leaving her job as promotions administrator and webmaster for WTO5-TV.
NEW REPORTER: WTOL has hired Jonathan Walsh as a reporter. Walsh, an Ohio University graduate, currently works for KXLT-TV in Rochester, Minn. His starting date at WTOL is Oct. 6.
MOVING ON: Former WTVG news anchor Greg Johans says he will leave WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pa., when his contract expires at the end of October. Johans, 48, joined WHP in 2000 after four years in Toledo.
CONTENDER: For the second year in a row, WKKO-FM (99.9) is one of the five finalists for the Country Music Association's radio station of the year in medium markets. The other finalists: KFDI (Wichita, Kan.); WGNA (Albany, N.Y.); WIVK (Knoxville, Tenn.); and WWGR (Fort Myers, Fla.).