Spring Radio Ratings Recap

WLW-AM (700) continues to rock, but not most of the rock stations, in the spring quarter Arbitron ratings that came out last week during my vacation. (Sorry, still catching up to stuff.)

The 50,000-watt news-talk-sports station extended its No. 1 streak to 7-1/2 years, with what operations manager Darryl Parks called "our second-best book since 2002."

Setting the pace was strong April-June evening ratings April-June for the Cincinnati Reds. The station had heavily promoted "Brennamania," the new Reds radio father-son team of Marty and Thom Brennaman, with billboards, banners near Great American Small Park, and online vidoes. (As great as Marty & Thom are, should some credit for increased ratings go to Jeff Brantley's candor in the booth?)

Most of the rock stations, however, lost listeners compared to a year ago. Classic rock WOFX-FM (92.5 The Fox) fell from No. 7 to No. 11, while contemporary hits WKFS-FM (Kiss 107.1), soft rock WRRM-FM (Warm 98.5), rocker WEBN-FM (102.7) and WVXM-FM (Mix 94.1) also dropped. Even newcomer progressive rook WSWD-FM (94.9 The Sound) slipped in only its second quarterly report.

A notable exception was the "Cincinnati's greatest hits" format on don't-call-us-oldies WGRR-FM (103.5), which jumped to No. 4 from No. 6 in the overall rankings and to No. 3 in the 25-54 demographic bought by most advertisers. The classic rock on WOXY-FM (MAX 97.7) also jumped from No. 21 to No. 15.

The area's new FM talk station, WFTK-FM (SupertalkFM 96.5), also lost momentum in its second quarter, falling from No. 19 to No. 21. Andy Furman, the former WLW-AM "SportsTalk" host who does 4-7 p.m. on SupertalkFM, attributed the ratings drop to "growing pains.” Most new formats need 15 months (five quarterly ratings surveys) to establish listener habits, he says. Things should pick up when the station adds the "Two Angry Guys" morning show (in late November, I hear). Morning is prime-time for radio, and the Two Angries will give the station a strong local morning presence and a fighting chance. (Question: Will the Two Angries just talk sports, as they have on Clear Channel, or will they do general talk, to fit the station's format? What do you think?)

Below are the rankings and audience percentage for listeners ages 12 and older in April-June. You won't find WSAI-AM (1360) on the list, which is why Clear Channel dropped the talk reruns and picked up ESPN Radio in June.
1. WLW-AM (11)
2. WUBE-FM (6.9)
3. WRRM-FM (6.4)
4. WGRR-FM (6.3)
5. WIZF-FM (5.1)
6. WEBN-FM (4.9)
7. (tie) WMOJ-FM, WKFS-FM (4.0)
9. WKRC-AM (3.7)
10. WKRQ-FM (3.6)
11. WOFX-FM (3.1)
12. WSWD-FM (2.8)
13. WAKW-FM (2.2)
14. WVMX-FM (2.1)
15. WOXY-FM (1.4)
16. (tie) WHKO-FM, WPFB-FM (1.3)
18. WDJO-AM (1.2)
19. WCKY-AM (1.0)
20. WYGY-FM (0.9)
21. (tie), WDBZ-AM, WFTK-FM (0.8)
23. (tie), WGTZ-FM, WLQT-FM (0.7)
25. (tie) WMMX-FM, WTUE-FM (0.6)
27. (tie) WCIN-AM, WFCJ-FM, WIOK-FM (9.4)