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.

The bottom fell out in the April monthly. CUME for many stations dropped up to 40% from where it was in February. Shares for female friendly stations, in particular AC, Hot AC and CHR plummeted. As Westwood One noted in its blog recapping Nielsen’s recent client webinars, the worst may behind us as listenership began rising in Week 4 of the April monthly back to 82% of pre COVID-19 levels by May Week 2.

There were positives for some formats. Shares for Classic Rock, Adult R&B, Classical and many Spanish language stations were up. Among the biggest gainers were SBS Spanish Tropical “Mega 97.9” WSKQ-FM New York which has trended 5.9 – 6.5 – 7.7 since February, iHeartMedia R&B 105.3 WDAS-FM Philadelphia surged 6.3 to 9.2 this month, Cox R&B “Kiss 104.1” WALR Atlanta rose 5.9 to 9.3, and multiple Classic Rockers including iHeartMedia’s “Q104.3” WAXQ New York as it rose 4.0 to 5.3, Hubbard’s “97.1 The Drive” WDRV Chicago from 5.1 to 6.4, Cox’s “107.5/106.9 The Eagle” KGLX/KHPT Houston from 5.8 to 7.0, and Cox’s “97.1 The River” WSRV Atlanta from 6.4 to 7.4.

Many CHRs saw historical drops. Ratings expert Chris Huff notes that iHeartMedia’s 102.7 KIIS-FM Los Angeles’ 3.9 to 3.0 drop brings it to its lowest share since 1981 and “Z100” WHTZ New York’s 3.6 is its lowest since the Spring of 1997. Other CHRs falling were “Amp 97.1” KAMP Los Angeles 1.9 to 1.0, “99.7 Now” KMVQ San Francisco 3.7 to 2.7, “Wild 94.9” KYLD San Francisco 2.3 to 1.8, “106.1 Kiss-FM” KHKS Dallas 6.0 to 5.3, 104.1 KRBE Houston 4.5 to 3.5, “Power 96.1” WWPW Atlanta 3.7 to 3.1, “Q99.7” WWWQ Atlanta 3.4 to 2.3, “Q102” WIOQ Philadelphia 3.1 to 2.1 and “96.5 TDY” WTDY-FM Philadelphia 2.2 to 1.4.

The AC drops included “106.7 Lite-FM” WLTW New York from 6.7 to 6.1, 103.5 KOST Los Angeles 5.1 to 4.5, “Star 102.1” KDGE Dallas from 4.7 to 3.8 and big plummets from “B98.5” WSB-FM Atlanta from 5.1 to 3.3 and “B101” WBEB Philadelphia from 4.8 to 3.4.

Classical music saw gains in multiple markets as listeners sought something to relax. 105.9 WQXR New York rose 2.2 to 3.3, 90.1 WRTI Philadelphia set a station high with a 2.5 to 3.4 gain, 91.5 KUSC Los Angeles was 1.9 to 2.3, and 98.7 WFMT Chicago rose 1.1 to 1.5.

Other numbers of note include:

• Entercom News 1010 WINS New York moved up to third with a 3.6 – 4.7 – 5.7 trend, while co-owned 880 WCBS was up 2.4 – 2.9 – 3.4 in same period. Chris Huff notes that Public News/Talk 93.9 WNYC-FM’s 4.0 to 5.1 gain sets a new station record high, while iHeartMedia Conservative Talk 710 WOR rises 1.9 to 3.0.
• The surge of spoken word programming in New York didn’t help the Sports talkers with the lack of sports. 660 WFAN/101.9 WFAN-FM dropped 2.1 to 1.4, with “ESPN 98.7” WEPN-FM down 1.5 to 1.2.
• iHeartMedia News/Talk 640 KFI Los Angeles rose 4.2 to 5.5 to take the market lead.
• The morning show change at Entercom Alternative 106.7 KROQ has led the station to trend down 2.5 – 2.0 – 1.4, while iHeartMedia’s “Alt 98.7” KYSR fell just 2.6 – 2.5 – 2.2.
• Entercom News 780 WBBM/105.9 WCFS Chicago surged to a 2 share lead in the market with a 7.7 to 8.4 gain. Other Talk gains were seen by Nexstar’s 720 WGN from 4.5 to 5.6, Public News/Talk 91.5 WBEZ from 4.3 to 5.4, and Cumulus Conservative Talk 890 WLS from 2.1 to 2.4.
• Regional Mexican “La Ley 107.9” WLEY-FM rose 2.4 to 3.1.
• Alpha Media Classic Hits “94.5 Bay-FM” KBAY San Jose rose 8.1 to 9.3 in its home market, but in San Francisco it jumped to eighth overall 2.4 to 3.0.
• The San Francisco market lead became a tie between Entercom News 740 KCBS/106.9 KFRC which held steady at 9.9, while Public News/Talk 88.5 KQED-FM rose 8.1 to 9.9. Hot AC “Alice 97.3” KLLC took a big hit from 4.2 to 3.3.
• Service Broadcasting Hip-Hop/R&B “K104” 104.5 KKDA-FM Dallas rose 3.6 to 4.3. Entercom Variety Hits “100.3 Jack-FM” KJKK was up 2.4 to 3.7, although co-owned Classic Hits 98.7 KLUV fell 5.1 to 4.1.
• Univision Regional Mexican “Que Buena 102.9” KLTN Houston continued its surge with a 5.7 – 6.7 – 8.4 gain. iHeartMedia News/Talk 740 KTRH rose 4.6 to 6.3 and co-owned Alternative “94.5 The Buzz” KTBZ from 4.3 to 5.3.
• Cox News/Talk 750 WSB/95.5 WSBB Atlanta continued its gains with a 12.9 to 13.9 rise. Public News/Talk 90.1 WABE-FM fell 3.3 to 2.2.
• EMF’s “K-Love” 106.7 WAKL Atlanta has begun showing growth after a year on the air with a 1.0 – 1.9 – 3.1 trend. Salem’s “104.7 The Fish” WFSH-FM rose 3.8 to 4.1, while Radio Training Network’s “The Joy-FM” 93.3 WVFJ slid 1.7 to 1.4.
• Entercom Hot AC “Star 94.1” WSTR dropped from a 2.1 to 1.6 share.
• Entercom News 1060 KYW Philadelphia has grown 4.7 – 6.6 – 7.3 to tie Beasley Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK in second following the big gain from WDAS-FM. Entercom Sports 94.1 WIP was one of the few in its format to hold most of its audience with a slight 5.8 – 5.7 – 5.6 trend down. Beasley’s “97.5 The Fanatic” WPEN-FM has lost half its audience in the same timeframe with a 2.9 – 2.1 – 1.4 trend. Beasley Variety Hits “95.7 Ben-FM” WBEN-FM dropped 4.1 to 2.4.
• iHeartMedia Conservative Talk 710 WOR New York has a massive surge on Long Island with a 3.8 to 6.7 gain. Both Classic Rockers in that market also jumped with WAXQ New York up 4.4 to 6.2, and Cox’s 102.3 WBAB up 4.7 to 6.2.