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.

We’ve launched our newly enhanced ratings pages. With the assistance of Ratings Expert™ Chris Huff our ratings tables now feature the monthly ratings for the past six months, current CUME, station owner, format, and brand name. The ratings pages will also feature Huff’s exclusive HuffNotes spotlighting records, trends, and changes.

The day 4 markets continue the trends set across the first three days on Nielsen Audio ratings releases this month. Many News/Talk and Public News/Talk stations surged, Classic Hits, Variety Hits and Classic Rock did quite well, while a few CHRs and Hip Hop stations struggled. Three heritage CHR’s dropped to record lows.

Austin was a microcosm of all of the trends. Waterloo Media Variety Hits “103.5 Bob-FM” KBPA surged 8.1 to 10.4 to regain the market lead from Public News/Talk 90.1 KUT-FM (down 10.2 to 9.6). Waterloo’s News/Talk 590/99.7 KLBJ trended up 5.5 – 6.0 – 6.1 to place third.

Waterloo Regional Mexican “La Z 107.1” KLZT jumped two share points 3.6 to 5.6. iHeartMedia’s combo of Rhythmic CHR “102.3 The Beat” KPEZ (3.7 – 3.5 – 3.0) and CHR “96.7 Kiss-FM” KHFI (4.0 – 3.5 – 2.7) skidded downward with Huff noting that it was the lowest share ever for a station sporting those call letters (98.1 until 1990 and CHR on 96.7 since). Waterloo Media’s brief attempt at CHR on 93.3 KGSR led to a drop from 1.0 to 0.7. The station has since reverted back to Hot AC.

The Country battle between iHeartMedia’s two stations narrowed as 98.1 KVET-FM falls 4.5 to 3.9 and 100.7 KASE rises 2.8 to 3.8.

Cox Media Group News/Talk 104.5 WOKV-FM Jacksonville rises 10.7 to 11.7. Following Renda AC 96.1 WEJZ (9.5 to 9.8), Cox sees Classic Rock/Hits “Eagle 96.9” WJGL rise 9.0 to 9.1 and Soft AC “Easy 102.9” WEZI trend up 4.7 – 5.2 – 5.7.

It wasn’t all sunshine for Cox in Jacksonville. CHR 95.1 WAPE dropped 4.3 – 3.9 – 3.4 for what is the lowest share in the history of its brand (both original AM Top 40 incarnation and since its 1986 resurrection on 95.1). iHeartMedia’s competing “97.9 Kiss-FM” WKSL drops 4.0 to 3.6.

The third CHR negative record setter is Entercom’s “Z104” WNVZ Norfolk. For the third month in a row the station fell to a new record low for the 38 year history of the brand dropping 2.5 – 2.2 – 2.0. Max Media’s competing CHR “Hot 100.5” WVHT slipped 2.7 to 2.4.

Atop Norfolk Entercom’s Adult R&B 95.7 WVKL rises 11.3 to 12.0. WVKL also more than doubles the share of the second ranked station as iHeartMedia Hip Hop “103 Jamz” WOWI slides 6.3 to 5.9.

Radio One Adult R&B “Foxy 107.1/104.3” WFXC/WFXK Raleigh rebounds 8.5 to 9.5 to hold onto the Raleigh market lead. iHeartMedia Conservative Talk “Talk 106.1” WTKK breaks its format record set last month to trend up to second (7.0 – 7.7 – 8.5) with Public News/Talk 91.5 WUNC-FM up 7.0 to 8.3.

The Country battle also narrows in Raleigh as Curtis Media’s 94.7 WQDR slips 6.1 to 4.8 and iHeartMedia’s “B93.9” WNCB rises 2.6 to 3.5. Trending upwards in Raleigh is iHeartMedia CHR “G105” (3.8 – 4.0 – 4.5), while moving downward is Radio One Hip Hop “K97.5” WQOK (4.3 – 3.5).

Emmis News/Talk 93.1 WIBC-FM Indianapolis takes the market lead with a 9.2 to 10.9 gain. Huff notes that this is the highest share for WIBC since Fall 1993 when it was on 1070. Cumulus Classic Hits 104.5 WJJK falls to second 9.3 to 9.0, while Emmis AC “B105.7” WYXB slides 9.2 to 7.7.

Both Country stations slide this month in Indianapolis with Cumulus’ 95.5 WFMS down 7.2 – 6.8 – 6.2, while Emmis’ “97.1 Hank-FM” WLHK drops 5.7 – 5.3 – 4.1. Also trending downward is Radio One Adult R&B 106.7 WTLC-FM (5.6 – 4.8 – 4.6) while co-owned Hip Hop “Hot 96.3” WHHH bucks the format trends with a 2.6 – 2.9 – 3.6 rise.

Cumulus Country “95.5 Nash Icon” WSM-FM Nashville has a huge 7.0 to 4.2 drop. The performance of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans leads to a 2.9 – 5.3 – 6.0 gain for Cumulus’ “104.5 The Zone” WGFX. Also trending up in Nashville are Crowmell Media Rock “102.9 The Buzz” WBUZ (2.5 to 4.0), Cumulus News/Talk “99.7 WTN” WWTN (5.6 – 6.8 highest share ever) and Public News/Talk 90.3 WPLN-FM (4.8 to 5.8).

In its final monthly before today’s flip to AAA, Classical 91.1 WFCL rises 1.3 to 1.9.

iHeartMedia Conservative Talk 1130 WISN Milwaukee continues its unprecedented surge over the course of 2020. Over the past five months, WISN has become the dominant leader in the market rising 6.8 – 8.6 – 10.2 – 11.2 – 12.7 in the hotly contested state for the presidential race. Huff notes it is the highest share for WISN since 1969! iHeartMedia Classic Hits “95.7 Big-FM” WRIT rebounds 7.5 to 8.7 to move back to second, while Good Karma News/Talk 620/103.3 WTMJ slips 8.0 to 7.1.

Slipping down in Milwaukee is Entercom Hot AC “99.1 The Mix” WMYX as it falls 4.7 to 3.2. In its first monthly, Entercom’s new Hip Hop “Hot 105.7” W289CB debuts with a mere 0.2 share.

Huff notes that iHeartMedia Rock 94.1 WHJY Providence sets a new station record with an 11.6 to 12.1 rise to lead the market. Hall Country “Cat Country 98.1” WCTK slips 10.4 to 8.8.

Public News/Talk 89.7 WGBH-FM Boston sets a record high for itself in the Providence market with a 2.9 to 3.6 gain, while the local “The Public’s Radio” 89.3 WNPN is up 1.8 to 2.0.

Cumulus’s PRO’s are moving in opposite directions. News/Talk 630 WPRO/99.7 WEAN trends up 4.0 – 5.1 – 6.0, while CHR “92 Pro-FM” WPRO-FM is down 7.4 – 6.6 – 5.9.

Dick Broadcasting Classic Rock “Rock 92” WKRR takes the lead in Greensboro up 8.8 to 10.2 for what Huff notes is its largest share since 1990. He also states this is the first time it has ever led the market. Entercom Adult R&B 97.1 WQMG falls to second 9.3 to 9.6.

iHeartMedia Conservative Talk 94.5 WPTI continues to set format records with a 5.9 to 6.5 jump. Huff notes it is the highest for the station since it was Alternative WXRA in 1995.

With iHeartMedia’s “100.3 Kiss-FM” WMKS relaunching as “Hits 100.3” on the next to last day of the monthly, the station rose from a 1.9 to 2.5. Dick Broadcasting CHR 107.5 WKZL was also up 4.9 to 5.6.

Despite the flip of Flinn’s “Q107.5” WHBQ-FM Memphis from CHR to Classic Hits, iHeartMedia CHR “101.9 Kiss-FM” KWNW was unable to capitalize as it slips from 0.9 to 0.8. WHBQ-FM does not subscribe, but Entercom Hot AC “FM 100” WMC-FM rises 4.6 to 5.2.

Trending upward in Memphis are iHeartMedia Adult R&B “V101” KJMS (7.4 to 9.1) and News/Talk 600/92.1 WREC (4.9 to 5.7). Moving downward as Cumulus’ duo of Country “Kix 106” WGKX (4.6 – 3.8 – 3.0) and Classic Rock “98.1 The Max” WXMX (6.9 – 5.8 – 5.4).