Nielsen begins its monthly release of PPM ratings with today’s Day 1 update including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston/Galveston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Long Island, Riverside/San Bernardino, San Jose, and Middlesex/Somerset/Union.
All the numbers can be found at RadioInsight.com/Ratings.
Nielsen has revealed its market size adjustments for Fall 2020 with two markets in today’s releases affected. Atlanta rises from market #8 up to #7 pulling ahead of Washington DC. San Jose drops from market #37 to #38 falling behind Raleigh/Durham NC.
With the election behind us in the December monthly (which really is most of November with the survey running from November 5th through December 2nd), two trends emerged this month. One is the annual rise of many of the All-Christmas music stations, the other was the continued growth at some Public News/Talk stations as listeners awaited the election results. However, the same growth was not found at Conservative Talk.
iHeartMedia AC “106.7 Lite-FM” WLTW New York rose 5.7 to 8.7 to take a commanding lead thanks to the start of Christmas Music. SBS’ Spanish Tropical “Mega 97.9” WSKQ-FM rose back to second 5.2 to 5.7, while MediaCo Adult R&B 107.5 WBLS (5.3 – 5.2) placed in a tie for third with Entercom Classic Hits 101.1 WCBS-FM (6.1 – 5.2) which fell from first.
The big gainer was Public News/Talk 93.9 WNYC-FM, which moved up to fifth overall with a 3.7 – 4.5 – 5.1 trend. Ratings expert Chris Huff notes that this ties the station record that WNYC-FM set in April of this year.
iHeartMedia AC 103.5 KOST Los Angeles more than doubles its share from last month thanks to its launch of Christmas music moving 4.9 to 10.7. In December 2019, Huff notes that KOST’s Christmas music generated a 9.3 share. Entercom Classic Hits “K-Earth” 101.1 KRTH drops 5.4 to 5.1. iHeartMedia News/Talk 640 KFI is third 4.5 to 4.6, Entercom Rhythmic AC “94.7 The Wave” KTWV drops 5.1 to 4.5 and iHeartMedia Hot AC “104.3 My-FM” KBIG rises 3.9 to 4.0.
Public News/Talk 89.3 KPCC jumps 2.5 to 3.1. The Hip Hop battle moves in opposite directions. iHeartMedia’s “Real 92.3” KRRL rises 2.0 to 2.4, while Meruelo Media’s “Power 106” KPWR falls 1.9 to 1.5 for what Huff notes is the lowest share for the 105.9 frequency since it was “Magic 106” KMGG in Summer 1983.
iHeartMedia AC “93.9 Lite-FM” WLIT Chicago lights up with a 4.6 to 9.5 gain. iHeart’s Adult R&B “V103” 102.7 WVAZ falls to second 8.9 to 8.4, while Entercom News 780 WBBM/105.9 WCFS rises 6.5 to 6.8. Public News/Talk 91.5 WBEZ ties for fourth (4.7 to 4.4) with Hubbard Classic Rock “97.1 The Drive” WDRV (5.0 to 4.4).
Public News/Talk 88.5 KQED San Francisco breaks its own records in two markets. In San Francisco itself it trends up 8.4 – 9.0 – 10.1 for an all-time frequency high, while in San Jose it breaks the record it set last month with a 12.3 to 12.5 gain.
Entercom News 740 KCBS/106.9 KFRC remains in second with a big 7.8 to 9.1 jump in San Francisco. Bonneville AC 96.5 KOIT moves up to third with a Christmas fueled 4.4 to 6.3 gain.
The big dropper this month in San Francisco was Cumulus Classic Rock “107.7 The Bone” KSAN with a 4.3 to 2.6 slide.
Salem Media Christian AC 94.9 KLTY holds onto its Dallas market lead with a 6.4 to 6.7 rise. iHeartMedia AC “Star 102.1” KDGE jumps 3.5 to 5.7 to place second, while co-owned CHR “106.1 Kiss-FM” KHKS places third down 5.2 to 4.8.
Entercom’s “Alt 103.7” KVIL drops 1.5 to 1.2 with Huff noting it its the lowest share for the frequency since 1970.
iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA Houston rises just a mere 7.0 to 7.6 thanks to Christmas music. Co-owned News/Talk 740 KTRH holds in second with a 7.4 to 6.7 slide. Univision Regional Mexican “Estereo Latino 102.9” KLTN rises to third 5.8 to 6.5, while Cox Classic Rock “107.5/106.9 The Eagle” KGLK/KHPT slides to fourth with a 6.0 to 6.1 rise. Entercom Variety Hits “95.7 The Spot” KKHH surges 4.6 to 5.7 for fifth.
Cox Media Group continues to hold four of the top five spots in Atlanta. News/Talk 750 WSB/95.5 WSBB remains in the lead but falls 11.5 to 9.7. Adult R&B “Kiss 104.1” WALR is second up 6.7 to 7.5. Classic Rock “97.1 The River” WSRV ranks third 7.2 to 6.6, while AC “B98.5” WSB-FM trends up 3.7 – 4.3 – 4.7 despite being one of the few major market AC stations to not regularly go all Christmas. Entercom Hip Hop/R&B “V103” WVEE ranks fourth down 5.3 to 5.1.
Public News/Talk 90.1 WABE rises 2.5 to 3.3, while Entercom Sports “92.9 The Game” WZGC trends up 3.1 – 3.6 – 4.0 despite a poor season from the NFL’s Falcons.
iHeartMedia Adult R&B 105.3 WDAS-FM rebounds 7.4 to 8.3 to retain the Philadelphia market lead. Entercom AC “B101” WBEB jumps 4.8 to 7.2 to place second which Huff notes is down from the 8.9 share it held in December 2019.
With Radio-One’s sale of “Hip Hop 103.9” WPHI to Entercom to become a simulcast of News 1060 KYW halfway through the monthly, we see 103.9 drop 1.2 to 1.0, while 1060 rises 4.6 to 4.9. The Hip Hop format moved to 100.3 WRNB after simulcasting 103.9 for a week, which dropped 3.0 to 2.6.
