Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 15, 2009 at 10:03:28:
WBBM-AM 780, WGN-AM 720 remain Chicago's top-billing radio stations
Phil Rosenthal | Chicago Tribune Media
April 15, 2009
Good times and bad, some things just don't change in Chicago.
Year after year, the news never stops and people keep tuning in to hear the Cubs not win the pennant.
CBS Radio's WBBM-AM 780 and Tribune Co.'s WGN-AM 720 remain Chicago's top-billing radio stations, the two perennial AM powerhouses accounting for 17 percent of the market's 2008 revenue, according to BIA Financial Network, which tracks radio business.
"You'd be hard-pressed to find another market where the top two are AM stations," said Mark Fratrik, BIAfn vice president.
Nationally, the radio business was off 8.5 percent, compared with 2007. Chicago slipped only around 6 percent, Fratrik said, dropping in 2008 to $522 million from $555.2 million.
Newsradio 780 remained the No. 1 station in town, with $44.9 million, followed by Cubs flagship WGN, which took in $44.5 million.
Tribune Co. owns WGN and, for now, the Cubs, as well as the Chicago Tribune.
After that, the numbers drop off. Bonneville International's WTMX-FM 101.9 remained third at $34.8 million. Clear Channel's WGCI-FM 107.5 was still No. 4 with $29.7 million.
Univision's Spanish-language WOJO-FM 105.1, which in '07 was sixth behind Clear Channel's WLIT-FM 93.9, traded places to take fifth at $22.9 million.