Nielsen Audio has released Day 2 of its monthly four day sweep of ratings in PPM markets.
Today’s releases include Washington DC, Boston, Miami, Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis, San Diego, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Denver, Baltimore, and St. Louis.
All the numbers can be found at RadioInsight.com/Ratings.
Just like the Day 1 numbers, the coronavirus impacts were swift across the country over the March ratings period.
The Seattle market in particular may be useful as guide for what other markets will see in the April monthlies as it was the first area to be greatly affected by COVID-19. It was also one of two markets where Spoken Word information stations took the top three spots in the market along with Washington DC.
Bonneville News/Talk 97.3 KIRO-FM rose 4.8 to 6.0 to take the lead with Public News/Talk 94.9 KUOW jumping to second with a 4.8 to 5.5 gain. Sinclair All-News 1000 KOMO/97.7 KOMO-FM has a three month trend of 3.2 – 4.1 – 5.4 up to third. Usual market leader CHR “Movin 92.5” KQMV fell 6.5 to 5.4 to finish fourth.
Classical 98.1 KING-FM Seattle also jumped from a 3.1 to 4.2 as people perhaps searched for a way to tune out the bad news surrounding them and look for something to relax.
In Washington DC, Public News/Talk 88.5 WAMU rose to the sole possession of the lead with a 7.8 to 8.7 gain, while Hubbard News 103.5 WTOP fell to second with a 7.8 to 8.2 gain. Cumulus Conservative Talk 105.9 WMAL remained in third with a 7.3 to 7.8 rise.
Tom Brady gave one last gift to Beasley’s “98.5 The Sports Hub” WBZ-FM Boston on his way to Tampa. The hubbub surrounding his departure from the Patriots allowed WBZ-FM to be the rare Sports talker to rise this month with a 5.4 to 5.8 gain. Entercom’s 93.7 WEEI-FM was not as lucky as it slid 3.5 to 3.2.
Throughout the remainder of the markets the same similar trends as yesterday could be seen. All News and Public News/Talk were the biggest winners, while Sports and most commercial music stations saw declines.
Like WSKQ New York and KLTN-FM Houston yesterday, a few Spanish language stations bucked the decline trend. Entravision’s “La Tricolor” 103.5 KLNZ Phoenix has trended 2.4 – 3.8 – 4.5 over the past few months. Uniradio’s “Invasora 99.7” XHTY San Diego was up similarly 2.6 – 3.1 – 3.7. Entravision’s Denver duo of “Suavecita 92.1” KJMN (3.8 – 4.5) and “La Tricolor” 96.5 KXPK (2.7 – 3.3) and Univision’s “Amor 107.5” WAMR Miami (5.8 – 6.2) also rose.
Other News stations showing big gains include iHeart’s 1030 WBZ Boston up 5.6 to 6.4 and Entercom’s 950 WWJ Detroit from 4.8 to 5.8. Commercial News/Talk rises of note include 1090 WBAL Baltimore from 4.4 to 5.1, 830 WCCO Minneapolis 3.6 to 4.6, 92.3 KTAR-FM Phoenix 3.8 to 4.6, 970 WFLA Tampa from 3.0 to 3.9, and 600 KOGO San Diego 4.5 to 5.5. 640 KFI Los Angeles rose in the San Diego market from 1.9 to 2.4 as well,
Public News/Talkers on the upswing include the Boston duo of 90.9 WBUR (2.9 – 3.7) and 89.7 WGBH-FM (2.9 – 3.6), 88.1 WYPR Baltimore from what ratings expert Chris Huff noted was a station record 4.5 last month to 5.7, and 91.1 KNOW Minneapolis 7.0 to market leading 8.1. 90.1 KCFR Denver took a share of the market lead with a 5.2 to 6.3 gain. The following were the leading spoken word station in its markets: 91.3 WLRN-FM Miami with a 3.2 to 3.7 jump, 89.5 KPBS-FM San Diego rising 6.0 to 6.9, while 89.7 WUSF Tampa surged 3.1 to 4.1.
Also of note on the spoken word side was the lack of real growth at iHeartMedia’s News/Talk 850 KOA Denver. After months of ratings lows, KOA only rebounded 1.6 to 1.9 while new Conservative Talk sister 760 KDFD fell 3.6 to 3.4.
St. Louis also bucked a lot of the national trends. Classic Rock 94.7 KSHE held onto the lead while down just 10.8 to 10.6. It was Entercom’s Conservative Talker that gained the biggest as 97.1 KFTK-FM rose 4.6 to 5.5 while co-owned News/Talk 1120 KMOX rose just 5.1 to 5.4 and Public News/Talk 90.7 KWMU fell 3.4 to 3.3.
A handful of commercial music stations avoided the loss of CUME this month. Three were in cities that were late in responding to the pandemic: Rock 97.9 KUPD and Regional Mexican “Que Buena 105.9” KHOT Phoenix and CHR “Hot 101.5” WPOI Tampa. The other was Country 93.1 WDRQ Detroit, which relaunched in February as “New Country 93.1” and rose from a 2.0 to 2.6 share.
It may also be time to wonder what will be the next format for Entercom CHR “103.3 Amp Radio” WODS Boston as it slides 1.9 to 1.4, while iHeartMedia’s crosstown competitor “Kiss 108” WXKS-FM reclaimed a share of the market lead with a slight 6.9 to 7.0 gain. After this survey, Entercom parted ways with WODS’s morning show in its massive layoffs.
