January radio ratings: Slippage at the top, except for KDWB
We're finally past the Christmas-music distortions, and the January Arbitron numbers show an interesting long-term trend: with the exception of KDWB, the Twin Cities music behemoths are showing a long-term decline in the 10-month-old Portable People Meter era.
Top-ranked KQRS posted its lowest PPM share ever: 8.5 percent of the listening audience age 6 or older. (We tossed out 2009's so-called "13th month" that Arbitron instituted to sequester Christmas music spikes. And as always, these numbers only measure the broadest listening audience; Arbitron is more protective of details involving ad-favored 25-to-54-year-old demographic.) The number three station, country K102, also posted a new low (7.4) as did fifth-ranked KS95 (6.1).
The winner is new number two, KDWB, whose 8.4 share is the highest of the PPM era. As you can see in this table, KDWB had about 60 percent of KQ's share in May; now, it's second by a tenth of a share point, and its ratings have risen four months in a row. (MPR stations are in green; talk stations are in blue.)
Other January winners: Cities 97, a new PPM high (5.7, good for sixth place); KFAN, whose 4.4 reflects Vikings mania; Christian station KTIS, whose 3.9 is also a ten-month high; and the newly rechristened MyTalk107, the women-oriented talker that posted a 2.0.
Another station that renamed itself, KHTC, formerly B96, saw a slight falloff in its share to 3.4. Overall, that number remains in the ten-month range. Ditto for WCCO, KNOW and The Current, whose shares bounced back into the normal range after a December decline.
KSTP-AM, which blew up its line-up earlier this month to go all-sports, posted a 1.9 in its old incarnation, good for only 19th place, and evidence that something needed to be done, given that its lineup was pricier than corporate sibling MyTalk107.
The biggest losers, as you might expect, were the Santa-clutchers, WLTE and KOOL108.
Here's the spaghetti graph of share trends:
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Comments (2)
KQ losing listeners? Is there hope yet for our civilization?
I am an unemployed, over 50 Baby Boomer. I have found it very difficult to even get an interview, let alone find work, after being laid off. I am competing against younger workers who cost employers less insurance dollars, salaries, etc. All of that nonsense about "transferable skills", is just that, nonsense. It might look good on paper, but not in real life when there are hundreds competing for one job.
The point is, I am not in my car on the way to work in the morning and listening to Tom B and the crew at KQ anymore. My son is in the car in the morning on his way to college and he is listening to KDWB.
By the way, my husband was also laid off, cannot find a job, and is not in his car in the morning listening to KQ anymore either.
Makes perfect sense to me why KQ is down in the standings. There are not as many listeners in their cars on the way to work since the over 50 crowd cannot find a job!