Posted by Bud on November 06, 2010 at 12:49:50:
The Arbitron ratings for the Chicago radio market for the "October" period (9/16/10-10/13/10) were released recently. The following is an in-depth study of those statistics, including looks at the all ages numbers, the 25-54 demographic, the 18-34 demographic, daypart races and key stories.
In the all ages/all day ratings numbers, the top three stations remained in the same ranking, but with very different shares. WBBM-AM is again #1, but its share is now ballooned up to a 6.2, thanks in part to the all-news station also being the Chicago Bears flagship station and bringing in fantastic weekend ratings. WVAZ-FM perfectly maintains its audience for another month keeping the same 5.2 share and the #2 spot. WGN-AM is again #3, however, its shares have been steadily falling for the last four months now, thanks in part to a declining Chicago Cubs team, whose games are broadcast on that station, but also to some wildly unpopular programming moves. WGN now has a 4.6 share, down from a 6.5 share just a six months ago -- almost two full points down from when it was #1 in the spring. WLS-AM seems to have taken some of those listeners and has rebounded in the ratings again, moving back into the #4 spot with a 4.3 share, tied with WTMX-FM, who is also seeing a slight resurgence. WGCI, who was #3 just two months ago, slips again, down to #6 with a 4.1 share. The balance of the Top 10 are WUSN-FM & WBBM-FM in a tie for #7, each with a 3.8 share. WDRV-FM at #9 with a 3.7 share, and WLS-FM at #10 with a 3.5 share.
Besides WBBM-AM, WLS-AM & WTMX-FM, another notable increase belongs to WLEY-FM, who stopped a few months of skidding last month with a .6 increase and adds another .4 increase this month, bringing it back to #15.
Yet another increase worth noting is a .4 increase for WMVP-AM. The sports talker with mostly syndicated programing had been slipping for a few months. It rebounds this month back up to #25 and a 1.7 share. It still drags behind its chief competitor, WSCR-AM, who is down to #18 and a 2.3 share, but it is closing the gap.
Besides WGN-AM, the other notable decline belongs to WXRT-FM, who dropped .5 and landed at #16. This comes after three months of strong increases. However, this doesn't come as a huge surprise, as WXRT has always been a ratings roller coaster, even going back to Arbitron's old diary system. When viewed as a larger picture (3-6 month averages), WXRT still does fine for itself.
The Morning Drive daypart of 6:00am-10:00am saw some shifts. WBBM-AM remains strong at #1 with a 7.8 share. WGN-AM, the longtime king of this daypart in the all ages numbers, has fallen again, now down to #3 and a 6.7 share. Greg Jarrett's morning ratings has been one of the stations few highpoints, but with the odd programming move of ending his show at 8:30 to put on a very unpopular talk show, the WGN Morning Drive numbers continue to drop. Jarrett's early morning ratings (his shift starts at 5:00am) continue to be strong, but the last couple hours of the Morning Drive daypart have been killing WGN's ratings. Don & Roma (with a one-hour assist by Cisco Cotto) and WLS-AM have now moved past WGN-AM and into the #2 spot with a 7 share.
The top FM morning show is still Eric & Kathy on WTMX-FM, who again come fourth place with a 6 share.
The lion's share of listener share each morning is done by the top 4 stations, mentioned above. The four stations combined equal well over one quarter of every single radio listener in all of Chicagoland (27.5%). All of the rest of the stations have tiny percentages of rest of the pie.
WLEY-FM's syndicated morning show El Chulo de La Manana bounces back toward the top with a fifth place morning show ranking and a 3.8 share.
For the Midday daypart of 10:00am-3:00pm in the all ages numbers, WBBM-AM and WLS-AM are in a tie for first place -- each with a 5.4 share. WBBM-AM's strong lunchtime news listeners have helped keep it at #1. WLS-AM is boosted up by increased interest in Cisco Cotto's show, Rush Limbaugh's syndicated talk show, and the first hour of the strong "Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper." WDRV-FM is in third with a 4.7 share, followed by WOJO-FM in fourth, and WVAZ-FM & WILV-FM tied for fifth.
WILV-FM, a station that has been surging upward in every key demographic for months, has its best month in a great many years. More on that station later, though...
In the Afternoon Drive daypart of 3:00pm-7:00pm, WBBM-AM is still #1, with WVAZ-FM still at #2. WTMX-FM and WGN-AM tie for third place. WGN-AM picks back up the listeners it loses in Middays, thanks in part to the end of the Chicago Cubs season and Garry Meier's show. WGCI-FM & WBBM-FM tie for fifth place.
As it was last month, The Evening daypart (7:00pm-Midnight) are dominated by Clear Channel Chicago's one-two punch of Urban programming, WVAZ-FM & WGCI-FM, who are once again #1 and #2 respectively at nights. WBBM-AM remains at #3. WKSC-FM & WBBM-FM round out the rest of the evening's Top 5.
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Looking now at the 25-54 demographic, the highly desired range for many advertisers, and thus, most radio station owners. For many, these ratings mean more than any of the other demographics, including, and sometimes especially, the all ages numbers.
After losing its throne for the first time in a long time last month, Bonneville is again King of the Hill of the coveted 25-54 demo. WTMX-FM is again #1 overall, with a 5.6 share. WVAZ-FM slips just enough to fall to #2, with a 5.5 share. The WDRV-FM/WWDV-FM combo takes third place, while WGCI-FM and WOJO-FM tie for fourth.
The most impressive jump in the 25-54 demo belonged to WLEY-FM, which is now back up high in the rankings and tied for eighth place overall.
Also in eighth place is WILV-FM, which is now Chicago's AC format leader, pulling well ahead of WLIT-FM and light-years ahead of the floundering WCFS-FM. The station has seen steady growth ever since it re-branded as Rewind 100.3 a few months ago. This gives Bonneville three of the strongest radio stations in town, with all three of the stations they own in the top eight stations in the top demographic. The great progress has to do with having a strong, LIVE & LOCAL 24/7 airstaff, including some stability in that regard, with the same weekday personalities in their time slots for years. The station's main competitors have seen turbulent changes in its airstaff, much of which is syndicated, voice-tracked or even jockless. A tip of the hat must also go to Program Director Barry James who has been able to pull this long-term project together, oversee the music changes and the new marketing campaigns. WILV's strong showing and solid beating of WLIT in pretty much every category*, makes it seem more likely that WLIT will flip to Holiday music sooner than later. It is doubtful they will wait until it gets closer to Thanksgiving, as they have done in years past, but instead make the switch any day now. (*Nights and weekends are the only areas where WLIT beats WILV. In all of the "Prime" dayparts, WILV now wins easily.)
Here is how the top of the Persons 25-54 rankings looked for last month:
Monday-Sunday 6:00am-Midnight:
1 WTMX-FM
2 WVAZ-FM
3 WDRV-FM
4t WGCI-FM
4t WOJO-FM
6t WBBM-AM
6t WUSN-FM
8t WILV-FM
8t WLEY-FM
10 WLS-FM
11t WXRT-FM
11t WLIT-FM
13 WBBM-FM
14 WLUP-FM
15 WSCR-AM
Once again, the busy Morning Drive radio race ends with the usual winner: WTMX-FM and the "Eric & Kathy Morning Show." Not only is the show by far #1, it increased its share by .5, now up to 8.4 share. WLEY-FM's syndicated morning show, El Chulo de La Manana, jumps up to nab second place with a 5.3 share. Third place belongs to Pat Cassidy & Felicia Middlebrooks and the WBBM-AM morning news crew, bringing in a 5 share. WDRV-FM takes the #4 spot, WVAZ-FM takes #5, WBEZ-FM is in the #6 spot, and WOJO-FM comes in seventh. WUSN-FM & WXRT-FM tie for eighth place and WMVP-AM is in tenth place.
Middays has WDRV/WWDV remaining in the #1 slot, where it has been the last couple of months, with a 6.1 share. The #2 slot goes to WOJO-FM with a 5 share, up from third place last month. The often-mentioned WILV-FM jumps up to third place with a close 4.9 share. With Women 25-54, WILV-FM and Megan Reed are #1 in Middays. WTMX-FM comes in fourth place. The rest of the top Midday station rankings are WVAZ-FM, WLEY-FM, WXRT-FM, an eight place tie between WUSN-FM & WLS-FM, and WGCI-FM in tenth.
In the Afternoon Drive time slot, WVAZ-FM is again #1 with a 5.7 share. WTMX-FM is back up to second place with a 5.5 share, followed by WDRV-FM in third place with a 4.8 share. WGCI-FM takes fourth and WILV-FM moves up to fifth, while WBBM-AM & WUSN-FM tie for sixth place. WLS-FM, WLEY-FM, and WXRT-FM round out the afternoon Top 10.
For whatever reason, the key battle that gains the most interest is not one between top stations, but the one between WLS-AM & WGN-AM. Specifically that of Roe Conn's Show vs Garry Meier's show, each former partners of each other. Looking strictly at the Afternoon Drive hours of 3:00pm-7:00pm for the 25-54 demographic, WLS-AM is in 22nd place with a 2.5 share, while WGN-AM is in a tie for 19th place with a 2.6 share. Only .1 of a share point separates the two stations. However, that does not tell the whole story, because that is the ratings for the stations, not the shows. WGN-AM airs two shows during that same time slot depending on certain days, Garry Meier's program and Chicago Cubs broadcasts, so not all of those ratings can be claimed by Meier's show. With WLS-AM, Roe Conn's show ends at 6:00pm and the low-rated, syndicated, and tape-delayed Sean Hannity show begins at 6:00pm, which hurts WLS-AM's overall numbers for that daypart, so all of those ratings cannot be claimed by "The Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper." There is no easy way to actually compare the two shows, especially during the baseball season, even though the two shows by the former partners often overlap.
For Garry Meier, the good news is his show continues to grow in popularity, even though it often loses to Roe Conn's in head-to-head hours. In October of 2009, Meier's time slot only had a 2 share, whereas this October it had a 2.6, showing that his popularity has risen (because the Cubs popularity sure hasn't). For Roe Conn, the good news is that his show has also grown incredibly this year. In November 2009, his show, airing from 2:00pm-6:00pm, had a 1.6 share. Those same hours during this October 2010 period brought in a 2.9 share, giving the show 14th place overall. The amount of listeners and cume the show brings in makes it the #1 local talk show in Chicago, of any daypart.
In Evenings, WVAZ-FM is #1 yet again, with sister-stations WGCI-FM in second place and WLIT-FM in third place. WTMX-FM is in fourth place and WKSC-FM is in fifth. Sixth place is a tie between WUSN-FM & WOJO-FM. Eighth place is another tie between WLUP-FM & WLS-FM. Tenth place is yet another tie, this time between WDRV-FM & WBBM-AM.
The Weekend ratings (Saturday & Sunday, 6:00am-Midnight) show a lot of the same names as in previous months, but with WBBM-AM much higher than usual, thanks largely to monster ratings for the "Monsters of the Midway." Newsradio 780 moves up into a tie for seventh place and a 4.3 share.
First place on weekends is again WVAZ-FM with a 6.7 share. That is followed by WTMX-FM in second place and WOJO-FM in third. WGCI-FM & WUSN-FM are tied for fourth place and WLIT-FM in sixth. Seventh place is a tie between WBBM-AM and WDRV-FM. WLS-FM and WLUP-FM are #9 and #10 respectively.
In the always hotly battled contest between Chicago's two sports talkers, WSCR-AM and WMVP-AM are almost tied, with a slight advantage to WSCR in the Persons 25-54 demographic. Except for mornings, where WMVP now beats WSCR with a 3.4 share compared to a 3.1 share, The Score is slightly ahead in every other daypart. The only place they are far ahead is in Middays with The Score owning a 2.8 share over ESPN1000's 2 share. In the station's targeted demographic of Men 25-54, overall WSCR now has a 4.2 share versus WMVP's 3.8 share.
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Now, here is an in-depth look at the younger side of the Arbitron ratings for the Chicago radio market for the "October" period... this time the 18-34 demographic.
Two ratings periods ago, WBBM-FM became the big story of the month, posting up incredible ratings and the #1 overall spot. WOJO-FM claimed #1 last period, but for these October ratings, WOJO-FM has fallen down to #4 and WBBM-FM has once again become #1. B96 claims the top spot with a strong 7.1 share.
WGCI-FM moves up from third place to second place with a 6.5 share and WKSC-FM takes third with a 6 share. As mentioned in the paragraph above, WOJO-FM falls to fourth place with a 5.9 share. Fifth place was taken by WTMX-FM with a 5.4 share.
The Top rankings for the October ratings period for the Persons 18-34 demographic in the Chicago market look like this:
Monday-Sunday 6:00am-Midnight:
1 WBBM-FM
2 WGCI-FM
3 WKSC-FM
4 WOJO-FM
5 WTMX-FM
6t WVAZ-FM
6t WLEY-FM
8 WKQX-FM
9 WDRV-FM
10 WPPN-FM
11t WUSN-FM
11t WXRT-FM
13 WNUA-FM
14t WILV-FM
14t WLUP-FM
14t WPWX-FM
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