The fourth and final day of Nielsen Audio’s PPM releases bring Austin, Raleigh/Durham, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Providence, Norfolk, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Greensboro, Memphis, and Hartford.
All the numbers can be found at RadioInsight.com/Ratings.
A trio of stations set records atop their markets, two of which were easily attributed to the shift to News/Talk programming during the pandemic. Cox Media’s News/Talk 104.5 WOKV-FM Jacksonville FL rose 10.4 to an 11.8 to overtake Renda AC 96.1 WEJZ, which slid 12.0 to 11.1. University of Texas’ Public News/Talk 90.5 KUT-FM Austin rises 9.5 to 10.3. The third, Cumulus R&B 103.5 WRBO Memphis rises 9.1 to 11.0 to pull away from iHeart’s “V101.1” KJMS-FM’s 8.8 to 8.5 slide.
Emmis News/Talk 93.1 WIBC-FM Indianapolis was up 8.0 to 8.8, but iHeartMedia Classic Rock “Q95” 94.7 WFBQ-FM had a bigger 7.2 to 8.6 rise, which also set a station record according to ratings expert Chris Huff.
Elsewhere in Austin, a pair of slides can be attributed to programming changes. A swap of morning and afternoon shows at Rock 93.7 KLBJ-FM sees it drop 4.6 to 3.5, while the shift of “Star 93.3” KGSR from Soft AC to Hot AC continues a 2.6 – 2.1 – 1.7 trend.
iHeartMedia Classic Hits “95.7 Big-FM” WRIT-FM continues to lead Milwaukee despite a 8.9 to 7.7 slide. Most music stations in the market were down but a pair of suburban Country signals showed growth as Magnum Media’s combo of “92.5 Buzz Country” WMBZ rose 1.3 to 2.1 and “92.1 VTY” WVTY doubled from 0.8 to 1.6. iHeartMedia Country 106.1 WMIL slid 6.5 to 6.0. News/Talk grew with iHeartMedia’s 1130 WISN up 5.2 to 5.8, while Good Karma’s 620 WTMJ was right behind with a 5.1 to 5.7 gain. Public News/Talker’s 89.7 WUMW and 90.7 WHAD added a 4.5 and 1.4 respectively.
It was a pair of music stations growing atop Providence with iHeartMedia Rock 94.1 WHJY up 10.2 to 10.6 and Cumulus AC “Lite Rock 105” WWLI rising 8.5 to 9.8. It was a pair of Boston stations showing the News/Talk growth in Providence as iHeartMedia News 1030 WBZ was up 1.6 to 2.2 and Public News/Talk 89.7 WGBH-FM rising 2.8 to 3.2. Providence’s 630 WPRO/99.7 WEAN was up slightly 3.7 to 3.8 and Rhode Island Public Radio’s combo of 89.3 WNPN (0.9 to 1.4) and 88.1 WELH (dropping 0.6 to 0.4) adding a few percentage points.
Entercom R&B 95.7 WVKL Norfolk continues to dominate its market with a 12.9 to 13.6 rise. iHeartMedia Hip Hop “103 Jams” WOWI holds in second despite a 6.7 to 6.4 drop.
An Entercom trio dominate Greensboro with R&B 97.1 WQMG (up 10.5 to 10.8), Hip Hop “102 Jamz” WJMH (steady at 8.1), and Variety Hits “98.7 Simon” WSMW (down 8.9 to 8.1) . iHeartMedia Conservative Talk 94.5 WPTI rises 4.7 to 5.1.
Public News/Talk 91.5 WUNC-FM Raleigh becomes the top talker in the market with a 6.8 to 7.1 rise, while iHeartMedia’s “Talk 106.1” WTKK falls 7.6 to 6.9. Radio One R&B “Foxy 107/104” WFXC/WFXK remains on top with an 8.9 to 9.2 gain though Curtis Media Country 94.7 WQDR rebounds massively from 5.2 to 7.1.
A trio of stations land atop West Palm Beach at 7.7 shares. Hubbard Classic Hits “Sunny 107.9” WEAT rises from 7.6 as does iHeartMedia AC “Kool 105.5” WOLL, while Hubbard Hot AC 97.9 WRMF falls from an 8.7. Two other Hubbard stations took steep drops as R&B “X102.3” trends 6.8 – 4.5 – 3.0 and Country 103.1 WIRK 4.4 – 3.7 – 2.7.
rockmenagerie
WFBQ’s 8.6 was not an all-time high, but was their highest since an 8.8 in Summer 2005 quarterly ARB report. “Q95” was routinely above a 10 share throughout the 1990’s including a 15.2 in Spring 1990. Going back into the 1980’s, WFBQ achieved a 16.5 in Summer 1987 which by my records is their all-time high.