Day 3 of Nielsen Audio’s PPM releases are now available for Portland, Charlotte, San Antonio, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Cleveland and Columbus.
All the numbers can be found at RadioInsight.com/Ratings.
iHeartMedia AC “K103” KKCW Portland surged from a 12.9 share in 2020 to a 17.0 in 2021. Audacy Variety Hits “97.1 Charlie” KYCH also rebounds from a 4.9 to a 6.4 this year. Salem Christian AC “104.1 The Fish” KFIS-FM falls from a 3.1 last year to just a 1.4 this year.
Beasley AC “K104.7” WKQC Charlotte falls steeply from its 15.6 in 2020 to 10.2 this year. That can be all attributed to iHeartMedia Variety Hits “102.9 The Lake” WLKO, which went all-Christmas after not doing so in 2020 and was rewarded with a 3.3 to 8.2 year-to-year gain.
iHeartMedia AC “Q101.9” KQXT San Antonio surges up from an 11.3 in 2020 to a 15.9 share this year. That mark gives it the highest share in the market since 1977 per Ratings Expert Chris Huff.
Bonneville AC “Mix 96” KYMX Sacramento is on a three year growth streak as it rises 12.9 – 13.6 – 15.8 year-to-year.
Bonneville AC “FM 100” KSFI Salt Lake City is on a five year downswing since registering the all-time PPM high of a 23.2 share in 2017. KSFI has since trended down 21.8 – 21.1 – 18.5 – 16.3. Part of that can be attributed to iHeartMedia AC “My 99.5” KJMY as it was up from a 3.1 in 2020 to 6.8 this year.
iHeartMedia AC “Magic 107.7” WMGF Orlando slipped from a 17.0 in 2020 to a 12.8 in 2021.
iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 106.5” KSNE Las Vegas is up from a 14.2 to 14.7 year-to-year. SOS Radio Christian AC 90.5 KSOS falls from a 5.4 in 2020 to 3.9 in 2021. KSOS also has the rare misstep of dropping month-to-month following a Christmas music shift as it trends down 7.1 – 5.0 – 3.9.
iHeartMedia Classic Hits “94.5 3WS” WWSW Pittsburgh jumps up from a 13.3 in 2020 to an 11.5 share in 2021. Renda AC “Wish 99.7” WSHH was also up year-to-year with a 9.0 to 9.3 gain.
Cumulus AC “Warm 98.5” WRRM Cincinnati continues on a downward trend generating only a 10.4 share this year after slipping 14.6 – 13.1 – 12.3 the previous three years. Pillar of Fire Christian AC “Star 93.3” WAKW does not subscribe.
Kansas City is one of the rare markets where the all-Christmas station does not rank at the top. Cumulus Classic Rock “101 The Fox” KCFX holds on to the monthly top spot down 9.7 to 8.5. Cumulus Classic Hits 94.9 KCMO-FM was second with Christmas music but continues its downward trend 12.8 – 10.4 – 8.5 year over year. Steel City Media AC “KC 102.1” KCKC was also down 7.1 to 6.3 from last year.
For the fifth straight year, the two stations that consistently go all-Christmas in Cleveland swap spots atop the market. Audacy AC “Star 102.1” WDOK leads in 2021 up from a 10.0 to 12.4. iHeartMedia Classic Hits “Majic 105.7” WMJI is down slightly 11.6 to 11.5. Salem Christian AC “95.5 The Fish” WFHM does not subscribe.
iHeartMedia Variety Hits “93.3 The Bus” WODC Columbus rebounds from an 8.9 share in 2020 to 10.1 in 2021. Saga AC “Sunny 94.7” WSNY-FM holds an additional 5.9 share after not subscribing to Nielsen in 2020, however WSNY-FM held a 9.7 in 2019 when it led WODC’s 9.4 share.
Public News/Talk 91.5 KOPB-FM trends up 6.9 – 7.2 – 8.3. The bigger story may be KOPB-FM’s stream adding an additional 2.7 share, which places it ahead of five full market commercial FMs (KXJM, KRSK, KWJJ, KNRK and KKRZ).
One of those FMs, iHeartMedia CHR “Z100” KKRZ trends down 3.5 – 2.9 – 2.1 for what Huff notes is the lowest share since its current identity was adopted in 1984.
Classical 89.9 KQAC Portland jumps up 3.8 to 5.5 to set a new station record. KQAC made a similar surge in Holiday 2020 jumping up 3.9 to 5.2 last year.
Radio One News/Talk 1110 WBT/99.3 WBT-FM Charlotte trends down 4.5 – 3.8 – 2.9.
Cox Adult R&B “Star 94.5” WCFB Orlando jumps up 5.7 to 7.2 to go against the grain of most non-Christmas stations dropping. iHeartMedia CHR “XL 106.7” WXXL was also up in Orlando 6.5 to 7.1.
Hubbard CHR “Q102” WKRQ Cincinnati also trends up significantly 5.4 – 7.1 – 7.7.
It was an ugly monthly for most Country stations. Four taking huge dips are iHeartMedia’s “96.9 The Kat” WKKT Charlotte (7.0 to 4.2), Bonneville’s 105.1 KNCI Sacramento (5.6 – 4.9 – 3.3), iHeartMedia’s “95.5 The Bull” KWNR Las Vegas (5.0 – 3.1 – 2.2.) and 99.5 WGAR Cleveland (6.3 – 5.8 – 4.4).
One avoiding the fall was Audacy’s “106.5 The Wolf” WDAF-FM, which used its platform as home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs to rise 3.8 to 4.5.
