The battle for listeners in radio’s top markets

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Clark-SmidtRadio veteran Clark Smidt is back with ratings results from some of America’s biggest media markets. Numbers from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and more.


Huge week: October Nielsen Audio ratings
By Clark Smidt, Media Connector
Here are the first results for kick off time, the pennant races and multiple news stories. Although publication rules permit only 6+ top line subscriber numbers, we’re seeing trends and an updated look at who’s got the connecting content. Again, minimum info on all stations, all channels in all markets will add to the facts: Radio is not a new gadget, but it is the best connector. Like the Energizer Bunny….it’s keeps going and going and going.

6+ shares are released 13x per year; this round is August/September/October, 2014:

1. NEW YORK, NY. 6+ population 15,697,400. CBS Radio Classic Hits WCBS/FM remains on top, 6.9-6.8-6.1 again with the 4th high Sept/Oct cume 3.55-3.52 million with a .7 lead over a 2nd place tie: iHeart MediA A/C WLTW, off 6.1-5.7-5.4 with their #1 cume inching down 4.9-4.8-4.7 million and Emmis Communications UrbanA/C WBLS 5.5-5.3-5.4. iHeart CHR WHTZ 5.0-4.8-5.1 is up to 4th, Spanish Broadcast System (SBS) Tropical WSKQ 5th, 5.2-5.1-5.0. Music. iHeart: Classic Rock WAXQ 4.4-4.5-4.2, RymA/C WKTU 3.9-3.5-3.4 ties Urban WWPR 3.2-3.3-3.4. Emmis RymCHR WQHT sticks 3.2-3.2-3.2, CBS HotA/C WWFS 3.2-2.8-2.9, CBS CHR WBMP 3.0-3.0-2.8, Cumulus HotA/C WPLJ 2.4-2.2-2.6 and Cumulus Country 2.0-2.2-1.8. WNYC Broadcasting Classical WQXR 1.2-1.3-1.5, Fordham University WFUV AA .7, Newark Public Radio Jazz WBGO .6, suburbans Pamal A/C WHUD .6 and Greater Media A/C WMGQ .5. Spanish: Univision CHR WXNY 3.4.3.3-3.5, SBS Hits WPAT 1.8-2.2-2.4. News/Talk/Sports: CBS Sports WFAN/AM-FM 3.5-3.5-4.5, CBS News WINS 3.7-3.7-3.6, CBS News WCBS/A 3.4-3.2-3.0, WNYC Broadcasting N/T WNYC/F 2.7-2.9-3.0, Cumulus Talk WABC 1.6-1.6-2.0, iHeart Talk WOR 1.6-1.7-1.6, Townsquare Media Talk WKXW 1.2, Univision SpanishN/T WADO .5 and WNYC N/T .5. Big Apple Stats: 52 stations, 71% are Nielsen subscribers. Ethnic: Spanish 23%, AfroAm 17%. Largest September/October Share Swings: +1.0 Sports WFAN, -.7 Classic Hits WCBS/F. Cluster Shares
August/September/October: iHeart 24.2-21.8-23.1, CBS 20.7-21.8-22.9, Emmis 9.0-8.7-8.9, Spanish Broadcast System 7.0-7.7-7.4, CMLS 6.0-6.0-6.3.

2. LOS ANGELES, CA. 10,860,300. iHeart has a #1 tie with CHR KIIS/KVVS 5.0-5.2-5.3 and a very close #2 cume 3.67 million with their own iHeart Hot A/C KBIG jumping 5.3-5.0-5.3 with #1 Cume 3.69 million. Emmis RymCHR KPWR holds 3rd 4.3-4.7-4.5, CBS ClassicHits KRTH 4.9-4.5-4.2 is 4th and a 5th share tie for CBS CHR KAMP 4.2-4.0-4.1 and iHeart A/C KOST 4.4-4.1-4.1. Music: Univision Romantica KLVE 3.8-4.3-4.0, Bonneville ClassicRock KSWD 3.3-3.0-3.2 ties CBS AdultHits KCBS/F 3.0-3.0-3.2. CBS ModRock KROQ 2.8-2.7-2.8, Cumulus ClassicRock KLOS 2.2-2.2-2.4, iHeart RymOldies KHHT 2.9-2.7-2.2, CBS SmoothA/C KTWV 2.1-2.2-2.2, Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters Country KKGO 2.1-2.4-2.1. So. Cal University ClassicalKUSC 1.5-1.9-2.0, iHeart ModRock KYSR/KSRY 2.2-2.0-1.9, Meruelo Media R&BOldies KDAY/KDEY 1.4, Salem Christian KSFH 1.4, Taxi Productions KLJH UrbanA/C .9, Mt.Wilson Jazz KKJZ .7. Spanish: SBS RegMex KLAX 2.6-2.9-2.9, Entravision SpAdult KLYY 1.4-2.4-2.6, Liberman RegMex KBUE trimulcast 3.1-2.6-2.5, Univision RegMex KSCA 3.1-2.8-2.4, Univison SpAdult KRCD/KRCV 2.4-2.6-2.3, SBS SpCHR KXOL 1.6, Liberman Ranchero KHJ 1.1, Entravision SpCHR KSSE .9, Liberman SpHits KWIZ .8. News/Talk /Sports: iHeart Talk KFI 32.3-3.3-3.5 CBS News KNX 2.7-2.7-2.9, So. California Public N/T KPPC 1.9-2.3-2.2, Santa Monica College N/T KCRW quad-cast 1.0, iHeart Sports KLAC 1.0, ESPN Sports KSPN 1.0, Cumulus Talk KABC .7, iHeart Talk KEIB .6, Salem Talk KRLA .6 and LAA 1 Sports KLAA .5. L.A. Stats: 72 stations, 61% Subscribe. Spanish 43%, AfroAm 7%. Tight Sept/Oct Swings +.3 HotA/C KBIG, -.5 RymOldies KHHT. Cluster Shares August/September/October: iHeart 23.8-20.3-23.9, CBS 19.9-19.1-19.6, Univision 9.3-7.1-8.7, Emmis, SBS & Lieberman tie at 4.5, Entravision 3.5, Bonneville 3.2, Cumulus 3.1.

3. CHICAGO, IL. 7,819,200. iHeart UrbanA/C WVAZ stays #1 5.9-5.9-5.7, again making the most their #13 cume. CBS follows with News combo WBBM/WCFS-F 5.4-5.5-5.6, Univision RegMex WOJO hops 5th share to 3rd 3.6-4.3-4.8, Hubbard HotA/C WTMX now ranks #4, while iHeart CHR WKSC has the #1 cume 2.32-2.34 million and 5th share 4.7-4.7-4.5. Music. CBS: Country WUSN 4.3-4.0-4.4, RymCHR WBBM/F 4.4-4.0-3.9, AA WXRT 3.0-3.3-3.2. ClassicHits: CMLS WLS/F 4.6-4.0-4.0, Hubbard WDRV/WWDV 3.7-3.9-3.4, CBS WJMK 2.7-2.8-2.6 ties Cumulus ClassicRock WLUP/F 2.3-2.4-2.6 and Cumulus ModRock WKQX 3.7-3.9-3.4. iHeart: HotA/C WLIT 3.8-3.6-3.7, Urban WGCI 3.6-3.3-3.4, RegMex WNUA 2.1-2.0-1.5, Gospel WGRB .8. Hubbard A/C WILV 2.3-2.6-2.8, Crawford Broadcasting Urban WPWX 2.1 and Crawford UrbanA/C 1.1. Windows to the World Classical WFMT 1.0, Moody Bible Religious WMBI .9, Digity ClassicHits WERV and Country WCCQ both .7. College of DuPage Jazz WDCB ties Digity Hot A/C WSSR and Matrix Media AC WZSR, all .5. News/Talk/Sports: Tribune Talk WGN 3.7-3.6-3.2, Chicago Public Media N/T WBEZ/WBEQ 1.9, ESPN Sports WMVP 1.6, Tribune Sports WGWG .5. Spanish: Univision WPPN 1.6, SBS RegMex WLEY 1.6, iHeart RegMex 1.5, Univision SpUrban WVIV/WVIX. 1.1. Chicagoland Stats. 83 stations, 52% subscribe. Spanish 20% AfroAm 18%. Tight share swings: +.5 RegMex WOJO, -.5 ClassicHits WDRV. A/S/O Cluster Shares: CBS 21.5-21.7-22.3, iHeart 19.5-19.9-19.3, CMLS 11.8-11.3-11.4, Hubbard 10.8-11.1-10.9, Univision 6.9-7.0-7.5.

4. SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 6,131,500. Sports/News/Talk stations are win, place & show. CMLS Sports KNBR adds to a homerun #1 share 5.2-5.7-6.6 on the #7 cume. CBS News KCBS-KFRC/F holds #2 by holding 5.3-5.3-5.3 and NPR News/Talk KQED moves up 4.7-4.5-5.0. #1 cume and #4 share Entercom A/C KOIT, gains 1.43-1.51 million and 4.4-4.1-4.9, CBS CHR KMVQ/F ranks 5th, 4.5-4.2-4.5. Music. iHeart: Urban KMEL 4.9-5.0-4.4, HotA/C KIOI 4.1-4.0-3.7 ties RymCHR KYLD 3.6-3.5-3.7, RymOldies KISQ 3.0-3.0-3.4 and ClassicHits KOSE 2.2-2.6-2.8. CBS: HotA/C KLLC 3.3-3.0-2.8 and ModRock KITS 2.2-2.1-2.1. Cumulus Classic Rock KSAN 1.7-2.1-2.4, Entercom UrbanA/C KBLX 2.5-2.4-2.2, U. So.Cal Classical KDFC trimulcast 2.0, CMLS AA KFOG/KFFG 1.8, Digity HotA/C KEZR 1.7, Digity A/C KBAY 1.6, Entercom Classic Rock KUFX 1.3 ties ETM RymA/C KRBQ 1.3 and Coast Radio has three separate A/C’s KUIC, KKIQ and KKDV totaling 1.3. News/Talk/Sports: CMLS News KGO 1.7-2.1-2.4, CMLS Talk KSFO 1.9, ETM Sports KGMZ 1.3, iHeart Talk KKSF 1.0, CMLS Sports KTCT .6 and iHeart KNEW Business News Bloomberg LMA .4. Spanish: Univision SpAdultHits KBRG 3.5-3.9-3.0, Univision RegMex KSOL/KSQL stays 2.3, SBS RegMex KRZZ 1.9, Lazer Broadcasting RegMex KXZM .7. Bagdad by the Bay Stats: 34 stations, 71% subscribe. Spanish 22%, AfroAm 7%. Swings +.9 Sports KNBR, -.9 SpanishAdultHits KBRG. A/S/O Cluster Shares: iHeart 19.2-19.7-19.4, CMLS 13.3-13.8-15.7, CBS 15.3-14.6-14.7, ETM 10.3-9.3-11.0.

5. DALLAS, TX. 5,301,200. iHeart CHR KHKS once again #1 and #1: shares 6.1-6.6-7.0, cume 1.84-1.85-1.99 million. Cumulus Country stations show KPLX 5.7-5.7-5.1 in 2nd place and KSCS 4.0-4.5-4.5, 4th. Salem Communications Christian KLTY is 3rd & steady 4.4-4.7-4.7 and CBS Classic Hits KLUV 3.7-4.0-3.9, 5th. Music. A 6th ranked tie between Spanish Broadcasting (SBC) Urban KKDA 3.3-3.3-3.8 and RadioOne RymCHR KBFB 3.3-3.3-3.8 while Service Broadcasting UrbanA/C KRNB is 3.3-2.9-3.3 and Radio One UrbanA/C KSOC 2.1-2.6-2.9. Spanish: Univision RegMex KLNO 3.1-3.4-3.4, CBS RegMex KMVK 3.2-2.8-2.3, Univision SpanHits 1.5, Univision RegMex 1.2. News/Talk/Sports: CBS N/T KRLD 2.4-2.6-2.7, CBS Sports KRLD/F 1.5-1.8-2.5, CMLS Sports KTCK 2.2-2.3-2.2, North Texas Public Broadcasting N/T KERA ties Cumulus N/T WBAP at 2.1, CMLS Sports KESN 1.6, Salem Talk WSKY .4, CMLS N/T KLIF .3. Big D Stats: 67 stations, 46% subscribe. Spanish 26%, AfroAm 16%. Swings: +.7 Sports KRLD/F, -.7 AdultHits KJKK. Cluster Shares: iHeart 20.0-19.9-19.9, CMLS 18.0-16.5-17.7, CBS 16.8-16.8-16.3, Service Broadcasting 7.3-6.9-7.1.

6. HOUSTON, TX. 5,025,800. #1 Share belongs to Radio One UrbanA/C KMJQ 6.4-6.7-6.9 on the market’s #11 cume. ROIA also has #4 RymCHR KBXX 5.6-5.6-5.9. iHeart Soft A/C is 2nd, this time 6.8-6.7-6.2 with the #1 cume growing 1.92-1.98-2.04 million. Cox Media holds on to 3rd with Country KKBQ/F 6.1-6.1-5.9 and ties Radio One RymCHR WBXX 5.6-5.6-5.9. Univision RegMex KLTN is a close 5th 5.3-5.1-5.8 Music. Cox Media ClassicHits KGLK/KHPT 6.2-5.2-5.3 and Cox ClassicCountry KTHT 1.6. iHeart ModRock KTBZ 5.2-4.6-4.6, iHeart Urban KQBT 3.7-4.4-4.4, Christian Educational Foundation KSBJ/KUBJ 4.3-4.5-4.3 and co-owned ChristianRock KYBJ .2. CBS: Country KILTY/F 3.3-4.0-4.1, HotA/C KHMX 3.9-3.4-3.0, CHR KKHH 3.6-3.1-2.8. University of Houston Classical KUHA .5. News/Talk/Sports: iHeart N/T KTRH 3.1-4.4-5.0, CBS Sports KILT 1.9-2.2-2.4, University of Houston N/T KUHF 3.0-1.9-2.1, iHeart Sports KBME1.2, Radio One (final News trend) KROI 1.0, Gow Communications Sports KFNC .8 and Gow Sports KGOW .3 ties iHeart Talk KPRC .3. Spanish: Univision SpanishAdult KOVE 3.5-3.9-3.9, CBS SpanishHits KLOL 3.7-3.4-3.2, Univision SpanishHits KAMA/F 2.0-2.1-1.9, Univision SpanishN/T KLAT .2. Houston Stats: 58 stations, 50% subscribe. Spanish 34%, AfroAm 18%. Swings: +.7 RegMexican KLTN, -.5 SoftA/C KODA. A/S/O Shares: iHeart 20.2-21.7-20.2, CBS 16.4-16.1-15.5, ROI 12.9-13.2-13.8 Cox 14.1-12.9-12.8, Univision 11.5-12.2-12.8.

 8. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 4,493,700. Jerry Lee A/C WBEB retakes the #1 – #1 win by a decisive .9 margin: share jumps 6.5-6.6-7.1 and cume back up 1.60-1.57-1.62 million. iHeart UrbanA/C WDAS/F slides back 5.5-6.7-6.2. Beasley Country (soon to be CBS) WXTU moves into 3rd 5.5-5.6-5.9 as CBS ClassicHits WOGL dips to #4 at 4th 6.2-6.4-5.7 as CBS Sports WIP/F makes a major jump into 5th place share 3.3.-3.7-5.3. Music. Greater Media ClassicRock WMGK 5.1-5.5-5.0 ties co-owned Rock WMMR 5.1-5.1-5.0 while ClassicHits WBEN/F slips 3.6-3.2-2.9. iHeart: Urban WUSL is off 5.2-4.8-4.2, CHR WIOQ steady 3.6-3.6-3.7, ModRock WRFF 4.5-4.1-3.6, RymCHR WISX 3.5-3.1-3.2. Radio One scores R&BOldies WRNB 4.3-4.1-3.6, RymCHR WPHI/F 2.3-2.3-1.9 ties Gospel WPPZ-F 2.1-1.9-1.9. Beasley RymCHR WRDW/F is down 3.2-2.6-2.4, Temple U. Classical WRTI 1.6. Connoisseur HotA/C WPST 1.0 and U. Penn. AA WXPN .9. News/Talk/Sports: CBS News KYW 4.1-4.0-4.7, WHYY, Inc. News/Talk WHYY 6 station simulcast 3.0-3.6-3.7, Greater Media Sports WPEN up 2.0-2.3-2.9 (Greater Media’s PEN ties BEN), CBS Talk WPHT 2.3-2.0-2.3 and Townsquare Talk WKXW .7. BroLove Stats: 52 stations, 62% subscribers, AfroAm 21%, Spanish 8%, Swings +1.6 Sports WIP/F, -.7 ClassicHits WOGL. Shares: iHeart 22.3-22.3-20.9, CBS 16.0-16.1-18.0 (adding Beasley makes CBS #1, 26.3), Greater Media 15.8-16.1-15.8, Beasley 8.7-8.2-8.3, RadioOne 8.7-8.3-7.7, Jerry Lee 6.5-6.6-7.1.

9. ATLANTA, GA. 4,322,100. Cox Media Group News/Talk WSB/WSBB repeats as #1 gaining 6.4-7.2-7.6 as cume moves 9th to 7th. CBS Urban WVEE up 6.3-7.0-7.1. Cox A/C WSB/F holds 3rd 6.4-6.4-6.8 with the #1 cume 1.35-1.28-1.30 million and 297k ahead of the pack. Cox Urban A/C WALR 6.8-6.1-5.9 stays #4, and Salem Christian Fish WFSH/F 5th 4.7-5.3-5.6. Music. iHeart Country WUBL 6.5-6.0-5.3, Radio One UrbanA/C WAMJ/WUMJ 4.3-5.2-4.9, Cox ClassicHits 5.2-5.5-4.7 and a 3-way tie for Radio One Urban WHTA 4.2-4.5-4.1, Radio One Gospel 3.8-3.5-4.1 and Cumulus CHR WWWQ 4.6-4.2-4.1. iHeart: CHR WWPW 3.9-3.7-3.9, ModRock WRDA/WRDG 3.1-2.6-2.8, RegMex WBZY1.4. Lincoln Financial HotA/C WSTR 3.7-3.3-3.5, Cumulus Country WKHX/F 3.6-3.2-3.2, CMLS ClassicRock WNNX 2.1-2.1-2.0, Clark Atlanta University Jazz WCLK 1.1, Radio Training Christian WVFJ/F 1.0. HD: CMLS WWWQ-HD3 Classic Hits .6, WWWQ-HD2 Country .2. News/Talk/Sports: City of Atlanta Board of Ed N/T WABE 3.5-3.4-3.7, CBS Sports WZGC gains 1.0-1.7-2.1, CMLS N/T WYAY 1.5, Lincoln Financial Sports WQXI .5, iHeart Talk WGST .4 and a 3-way tie at .3 for Georgia State N/T WRAS, CBS N/T WAOK and Salem Talk WGKA. Big Peach A-Town Stats: 68 stations, 43% subscribe. AfroAm 34%, Spanish 10%. Swings: +.6 Gospel WPZE, -.8 ClassicHits WSRV. Shares: Cox 24.8-25.2-24.8, iHeart 15.6-14.5-13.4, Radio One 12.3-13.2-13.1, Cumulus 12.4-11.9-11.6, CBS 7.6.-8.9-9.5.

19. LONG ISLAND, NY. 2,423,700. Connoisseur Media has the #1 share as former iHeart A/C WALK/F jumps 7.0-7.0-8.1with 3rd cume in the shadows of NYC. CBS Sports WFAN-A/F leaps 4.7-4.7-5.9, iHeart CHR WHTZ 5.1-4.7-5.5 has #1 cume 735k, local Cox Media CHR WBLI 5.1-5.7-4.9 and Connoisseur A/C WKJY 5th, 2.9-4.4-4.2. Other LI Locals: Connoisseur ClassicHits WBZO flat 3.1-3.3-3.2 & Rock WWSK 1.5-1.8-1.8; Cox ClassicRock WBAB/WHFM 3.3-3.0-3.0. Island Stats: 57 stations, 63% subscribe; the 21 who don’t are licensed to Long Island, likely not affording Top 20 market rates. Spanish 15%, AfroAm 9%. Swings +1.2 NYC Sports WCBS, +1.1 LI A/C WALK; -.8 LI CHR WBLI, -.4 NYC RymCHR WQHT. Shares: Long Island Connoisseur 17.3, Cox 7.9. NYC: iHeart 19.9, CBS 18.4, CMLS & Emmis 5.5.

Game On! Tailgating, Halloween Spending, 2015 models, clutch hits in baseball and for politicians using radio’s down to the wire, real, one-to-one, cost-efficient message. And, I don’t mean dubbing TV audio. Quick Hits: * We’ve gotten ahead of ourselves with gadgets; new channels without new content. * Spread sheet formats and lack of local connects appear to be hurting the bigs; the smalls get it. * Terrible to see wasted full power metro signals. * Are operators getting caught up in format handles rather than delivering compelling presentation? * Be careful, we watch TV that doesn’t come from transmitters because the shows are great. * Cover the details and remember that new thinking doesn’t cost money, it makes it.

Broadcast Advisor Clark Smidt connects clients with Content & Business Development through branding, new media strategy and insights from Research Director, Inc, Annapolis, MD. Boston management since ’71, original Softrock for CBS/FM: The Eagles. Without the turkeys, ’77. Advising Radio/TV/Ad clients since 1982, owner/operator 1988- 2012. A certified broadcast boomer, Clark implements positioning, presentation, positive presence, political messaging, sponsored local service and new business. * Cover details, hit refresh and be clear with your delivery. www.broadcastideas.com. 978 470-2120 [email protected].