Radio AM to FM - April 30, 1999

Radio AM to FM: April 30, 1999

Winter Arbitrons

A continued increase in popularity that began one year ago propelled KIIS-FM to its best ratings in five years. According to the Winter Arbitron Ratings book released last week, the station was up to a 4.3 share from Fall's 3.6 and last Summer's 3.3. This puts KIIS in a tie for third place overall and first among the English-language Los Angeles radio stations with Power 106 (KPWR), which was up from 4.1 last quarter.

At the same time, the major Spanish-language stations were down. KSCA and KLVE still took first and second place respectively overall -- and with a fairly large margin, by the way -- but both were down fairly substantially: KSCA to 6.0 from 6.9, KLVE to 5.4 from 6.5. One-time leader and now ninth-place KLAX also declined almost a full point from last quarter (to 3.3 from 4.1).

KRTH won the oldies race once again, earning a 3.2 share, up 0.2 from Fall, versus Mega 100.3 (KCMG)'s flat 2.8. Arrow 93 (KCBS-FM), however, was nipping at the heals with its 2.6 share, up 0.3.

In the talk wars, KFI came in on top with its 3.6 share, down from 3.9; while KABC held steady at 2.4. KLSX -- stung by a continued decline in the popularity of Howard Stern's Morning Zoo (now 7th in the city; once number one) -- earned its lowest rating in recent memory, dropping to 1.9 from 2.4, while sister KRLA was up to 1.0 from its format debut of 0.6. KIEV was a distant fifth with 0.6, a decline of 0.2 from last quarter.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the talk arena when former KFI afternoon stars John and Ken start their morning show on KABC July 1st. The loss of John and Ken from afternoons (and the awful replacements currently found on KFI) may just have an effect on all three major talk stations.

Sports radio? Right. X-TRA Sports 1150 (KXTA) came in flat at 0.4; X-TRA Sports 690 (XTRA) dropped to 0.5 from 0.8 (note that San Diego's station is still ahead of L.A.'s). One on One Sports KCTD's ratings did not appear on my report.

Here are the radio ratings for Los Angeles, as determined by Arbitron. Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners aged 12 and over tuned to a station between the hours of 6 am and 12 midnight.

1. KSCA (6.0) 2. KLVE (5.4) 3. (tie) KIIS-FM, KPWR (4.3) 5. KKBT (3.8) 6. KROQ (3.7) 7. KFI (3.6) 8. KTWV (3.5) 9. KLAX (3.3) 10. KRTH (3.2)

11. (tie) KOST, KYSR (3.0) 13. KCMG (2.8) 14. (tie) KCBS, KBUA/KBUE (2.6) 16. (tie) KBIG, KNX (2.5) 18. KABC (2.4) 19. KLAC (2.3) 20. (tie) KKGO, KLOS, KZLA (2.1)

23. (tie) KFWB, KLSX (1.9) 25. KSSE (1.8) 26. KTNQ (1.6) 27. (tie) KKHJ, KACE/KRTO (1.0) 29. (tie) KRLA, KJLH (1.0) 31. KLYY (0.9) 32. (tie) KACD/KBCD, KIEV (0.6) 34. (tie) KFSG, KKLA, XTRA (0.5) 37. (tie) KDIS, KWKW, KXTA (0.4) 40. (tie) KGIL, KWVE (0.3)

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