Market Profile: Cincinnati

-By Eileen Davis Hudson

Cincinnati is a city in transition. while it is home to leading corporations across a wide swath of sectors, it continues to battle social woes including high crime and racial tension, with the five-year anniversary of the city's race riots approaching in April. "Cincinnati, as a city, is going

through some growing pains," says Bill Fee, vp and general manager of ABC affiliate WCPO-TV, owned by EW Scripps Co., which is based in Cincinnati. "A lot of people are leaving the city and moving to the outer counties."

The fastest-growing area of the market is the northern suburban counties, like Butler and Warren. But Mark Mallory, who took office last November as the city's first directly elected African American mayor, is working to change the city's image and accentuate the positive.

Queen City is home to a number of the nation's Fortune 500 businesses, including Procter & Gamble, Kroger, GE Aircraft Engines, Federated Department Stores, Cinergy, Fifth Third Bank and AK Steel.

The city is in the midst of a $160 million expansion and renovation of the Cincinnati Convention Center. The renovated 750,000-square-foot facility, in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, will be renamed the Cinergy Center when it reopens in April. Plans are also afoot to develop the Ohio River riverfront to promote tourism in the region.

The DMA is considered a tristate market, spanning 25 counties in southeastern Indiana, southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky. Newspaper readers in the greater Cincinnati-northern Kentucky region could witness the end of an era next year; speculation abounds that one of the city's two competing daily newspapers will be silenced when a longstanding joint operating agreement between the two expires Dec. 31, 2007.

Gannett Co., owner of The Cincinnati Enquirer, informed EW Scripps Co. in January 2004 that it would not renew its JOA with Scripps' The Cincinnati Post. Although the two papers compete for news stories, the JOA handles business functions for both papers, including printing, advertising and distribution. The papers entered into the JOA back in 1977. However, no decisions about the Post's future after the JOA ends have been announced.

The Post began in 1881 as the Penny Post, although its name changed following mergers with other papers in the 1950s and 1970s. The Kentucky Post was created as an edition of the paper in 1885 to serve Cincinnati's suburbs across the Ohio River.

The Post has seen its circulation tumble steadily. For the period ended Sept. 30, 2005, its circulation dropped 12.7 percent to 32,204, compared to the same period ended Sept. 30, 2004, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. (The Post does not publish a Sunday edition.)

In the spring of 2004, the Post stopped circulating in the northern suburban counties of Butler and Warren to focus on Hamilton County and its Kentucky edition. Fifteen staffers accepted a buyout offer in September 2005. Then in January, the Post floated a five-person voluntary buyout proposal.

The Enquirer's average daily circulation remained flat at 189,210. Its Sunday circ declined 3.9 percent to 289,333.

While the Post has scaled back its coverage and distribution area, the Enquirer in recent years has ramped up its efforts, particularly in northern Kentucky, the fastest-growing part of the market. The Enquirer already published a Kentucky edition, called The Kentucky Enquirer. The paper launched nky.com, a Web site providing local news and information specifically for northern Kentucky. The Enquirer in 2003 launched CiN Weekly, a free weekly lifestyle magazine aimed at 25-34-year-olds in greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky.

As part of its 2005 purchase of HomeTown Communications Network, Gannett acquired a chain of 26 suburban weeklies in greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky.

Other local publications include the weekly Cincinnati Business Courier and alternative newsweekly CityBeat.

In local television, the Cincinnati market ranks 34th in the nation with 880,190 TV households. The spot market grew 10.2 percent from 2003 to 2004 to $162.3 million, according to BIA Financial Network. However, BIA estimates that revenue in 2005 weakened, falling to $150.9 million. The market is expected to rebound strongly in 2006, with a projected increase of 5.5 percent to $159.2 million, according to BIA.

The market's top biller is Clear Channel TV's CBS affiliate WKRC-TV, which generated $44 million in 2004, according to BIA estimates. Raycom Media's Fox affiliate WXIX-TV ranks as the No. 2 biller, taking in an estimated $37.6 million. It was followed by ABC affiliate WCPO-TV, which earned an estimated $34 million.

Four of Cincinnati's six commercial broadcast television stations produce local morning news and late news. The local news race is hotly contested in this tristate area.

"It's a very competitive market," says John Long, vp and gm of WXIX, which in recent ratings books won morning news in the key demographics, including the advertiser-friendly adults 25-54. "You've got three different stations carving out No. 1 positions in three different dayparts," said Long.

Since last November, WXIX, which typically does well against network programming from 7-9 a.m., has put up a strong challenge for the No. 1 ranking for 5-7 a.m. programming. In January and February, WXIX split the lead in the time period with WKRC-TV in delivery of adults 25-54.

WXIX is perennially one of the strongest Fox affiliates in the country during prime time. Its 10 p.m. late news consistently ranks in the top 10 of Fox affiliates, and is No. 2 in Cincinnati against the 11 p.m. rivals (again, in the delivery of adults 25-54).

Sports are also big on WXIX, particularly college events. The station produces University of Cincinnati sports, including a minimum of 15 men's basketball games, one women's basketball game, 26 coaches shows (including men's basketball and football) and 10 Big East football games. The station also carries eight Big East basketball games.

New general sales manager Ray Mirabella arrived at WXIX Jan. 1 from ABC affiliate WTVQ in Lexington, Ky., where he held the same post.

In both November and January, WKRC won at 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. in adults 25-54. For six of the last 10 major ratings periods, WKRC was also the No. 1 CBS affiliate in prime time (in households), says Christopher Sehring, regional vp and gm of WKRC (he also oversees the company's CBS affiliate, WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pa.).

WKRC has shuffled its morning team in an effort to reclaim its dominance in the daypart. Eighteen-year station veteran Cammy Dierking, who had co-anchored its Good Morning Cincinnati for the past 13 years, now co-anchors at noon, 5 and 5:30 p.m. Anna Townsend came aboard in June 2005 as the new morning co-anchor from ABC affiliate KSPR in Springfield, Mo.

In January 2006, WKRC started a marketing and news-sharing partnership with Cox Newspapers-owned The Hamilton JournalNews in Hamilton, Ohio. In spring 2004, WKRC launched a Spanish-language newscast called Nuestro Rincón (Our Corner). The 30-minute, locally produced program airs Saturdays at 5:30 a.m. and Sundays at 6:30 a.m. "There was no one else in the tristate serving the Hispanic market," says Sehring.

WCPO wins the local news race in households at noon, and at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m., and in adults 25-54 at 5 p.m. "It's a market that is not dominated by any one news operation," says vp/gm Fee.

In July 2005, WCPO hired new chief meteorologist Steve Raleigh, who previously worked at San Francisco's independent KRON-TV in the same capacity. In 2004, WCPO relocated to a new $28 million, 60,000-square-foot broadcasting facility. The city of Cincinnati acquired the station's former home to expand the convention center.

Hearst-Argyle TV's NBC affiliate WLWT-TV hopes some of its new initiatives will attract viewers. For instance, the station is upgrading its helicopter, the only one in the market. The chopper, expected to go back online in April, will now be used for breaking news, rather than just traffic reports, says Richard Dyer, WLWT president/gm.

As for talent changes, Sandra Ali, who arrived at the station in July 2004 from WJBK-TV in Detroit, was paired with Sheree Paolello in December 2005 to co-anchor 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Then in January, Paolello added the 11 p.m. co-anchor slot to her duties. The two are the Cincinnati market's first female anchor team.

Cincinnati native Elliott Block, through his company Block Broadcasting, owns UPN affiliate WBQC. Block says at this point, he doesn't know whether his station will return to being an independent outlet or sign on to the new CW network, which launches in September. He says officials behind the CW have been very tight-lipped about programming. "It's like buying a car and not knowing what the options are going to be," says Block.

However, Block says the change is coming at the right time for WBQC. The station is in the process of building a new broadcast facility that will house two 1,200-square-foot studios. Block says he plans to launch more local programming, regardless of what happens this fall. "That's something we can do uniquely that we can be competitive with," he says.

Executives at Sinclair Broadcast Group's WB affiliate WSTR-TV could not be reached for comment. The station discontinued its 10 p.m. late news in February.

In local cable, Time Warner Cable, Adelphia and Insight Communications are the main service providers. Time Warner, the dominant operator in the market, has 316,000 subs in the Ohio portion of the DMA and offers 47 insertable networks. Adelphia serves parts of Ohio and Kentucky, while Insight serves northern Kentucky and part of Indiana. Time Warner is awaiting regulatory approval for its announced joint purchase, with Comcast, of Adelphia.

Cable penetration in the market is 62 percent, slightly below the national average of 65 percent, according to Scarborough Research. Twenty-two percent of Cincinnati households subscribe to satellite service, equaling the national average (see Scarborough chart on p. 18).

Although it ranks 28th in terms of population, the Cincinnati radio market is the nation's 22nd-largest in revenue. The city generated an estimated $139.7 million in spot radio in 2005, and is projected to grow to $144.6 million in 2006, according to BIA.

The market will likely get a new player in the near future with yet another corporate acquisition. York, Pa.-based Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co., the largest privately held broadcast media company, is selling its radio and cable television divisions, including three Cincinnati radio stations. The family-run company is selling off its radio and cable properties in separate deals that total nearly $2 billion. Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, in partnership with a group of investors, is buying Susquehanna's radio assets for about $1.2 billion. The newly formed company is being called Cumulus Media Partners LLC.

The three local stations involved in the deal are heritage Soft Rock WRRM-FM, R&B Oldies WMOJ-FM and Country WYGY-FM. Once the deal closes—expected in the second quarter—Cumulus will compete in the Cincinnati market with three other major broadcasters: Clear Channel Communications, CBS Radio and Radio One.

Clear Channel owns the market's ratings and revenue leader, News/Talk outlet WLW-AM. The station earned a 9.3 average quarter-hour share in the fall book (among listeners 12 and older), and earned 2004 revenue of $26 million, according to BIA. WLW has been Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds' flagship radio station for decades. In December, the National Football League's Bengals re-upped with CC's WOFX and Sports WSAI-AM as the flagships for Bengals games. Those games will also be heard on WLW.

CBS' Country WUBE-FM is the No. 2 station overall with a 7.1 share, followed by Susquehanna's WRRM, with a 6.4 share. CC's Rock WEBN-FM ranks No. 2 in billings with $12.3 million in 2004 estimated revenues, while WUBE ranks third at $11.5 million.

Radio One is looking to bolster its Cincinnati roster by acquiring Country station WIFE-FM for $18 million in cash from Whitewater/Rodgers Broadcasting. Pending regulatory approvals, Radio One also plans to move the signal, which is currently licensed to Connersville, Ind., into the Cincinnati metro area. Radio One expects the deal, announced March 9, to close during the second half of 2006.

Cincinnati-based Norton Outdoor Advertising and Lamar Advertising are the region's principal outdoor advertising companies. Established in 1949, family-owned Norton offers an array of products, including 30-sheet posters, permanent and rotary bulletins, 8-sheet posters, Trivision billboards, and wallscapes.

Lamar also offers a mix of products, including rotary and permanent bulletins, posters and transit shelters.