Oct. 21

Airwaves: October 21, 2005

Summer Arbitrons

Urban top-40 station KIIS-FM earned the top spot for the second time in a row in the Summer Arbitron Ratings released this week, coming in with a 4.4 share of the Los Angeles metro audience. Right on its heals was Spanish contemporary KLVE, and "spanglish" KXOL, which both earned 4.2 shares. Rounding out the top five were KFI and Power-106, both earning a 4.0 share.

That 4.2 from KXOL is an amazing jump from last Spring when the station sat at 18th with a 2.0. What made the difference? A change in May to a mixed English-Spanish music format designed to appeal to young Latinos.

Also making a huge jump after its own format change: Jack-FM, formerly Arrow 93, which is now at 3.4 compared with the previous format's 1.7 and Spring's 3.0. Which means for the second quarter in a row, Jack has earned the highest ratings for the 93.1 FM frequency in literally years.

For the most part the rest of the ratings list was same-old, same-old. KOST was down a bit, while KBIG was up a bit. Talk stations all retained their relative positions: KFI leading, followed by KABC, KLSX, KRLA, and KTLK. KNX went back to beating sister station KFWB, though both stations are in the mid ones.

One station that did surprise me was XTRA 690, which currently plays the adult standards format formerly heard on KLAC. The standards are going away by the end of the year (no date is given yet) when the station is sold to a group from Madrid, but listeners seem to be leaving sooner, for some reason. For the quarter, XTRA earned a 0.5 share, down from Spring's 0.7 and WAY down from the 1+ shares the music earned on KLAC.

Does it have something to do with the 690 frequency? Perhaps. KLAC, which now runs the sports format formerly heard on XTRA, earned a 0.7 share, taking the lead for LA sports stations. The 690 frequency hasn't earned really good ratings in Los Angeles since it played top-40 music at fast speeds in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Or does it have more to do with name confusion? KLAC is still thought of as the music station; 690 is still thought of as sports. Calling KLAC "X-TRA Sports" and XTRA "The Lounge" adds to the confusion. I guess we'll find out when 690's standards go away. if KLAC's ratings hold as sports, there was no confusion. If they drop, there was.

The full story: 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. Ratings are Copyright 2005, Arbitron, Inc., and may not be quoted or reproduced without prior written permission of Arbitron.

Station: Spring-Summer

KIIS-FM: 4.6-4.4; KLVE: 4.0-4.2; KXOL: 2.0-4.2; KFI: 3.9-4.0; Power 106: 4.2-4.0; KROQ: 3.7-3.8; KLAX: 4.0-3.7; KSCA: 4.0-3.5; Jack-FM: 3.0-3.4; KBUE/KBUA: 3.1-3.1

KOST: 3.7-3.1; Hot 92.3: 2.9-3.0; The Wave: 3.8-3.0; KRTH: 2.5-2.7; KABC: 2.1-2.5; The Beat: 3.2-2.5; KLSX: 2.3-2.5; KRCD/KRCV: 2.6-2.5; KBIG: 1.9-2.3; KSSE: 2.4-2.3

KLOS: 2.0-2.1; KZLA: 1.8-1.9; Star 98.7: 1.9-1.8; KNX: 1.5-1.7; K-Mozart: 1.6-1.6; KJLH: 1.4-1.5; KFWB: 1.6-1.4; KLYY: 1.7-1.3; KRLA: 0.7-1.0; KTLK: 0.8-0.9

KHJ: 0.7-0.8; KDAY: 0.9-0.7; KDLD/KDLE: 1.0-0.7; KLAC: 0.6-0.7; KFSH: 0.7-0.6; KSPN: 0.6-0.6; KTNQ: 0.7-0.6; KKLA: 0.4-0.5; KWVE: 0.5-0.5; XTRA: 0.7-0.5

KKGO/XSUR: 0.0-0.4; KWIZ: 0.4-0.4; KWKW: 0.0-0.4; KEBN: 0.4-0.3; KGGI: 0.4-0.3; KLTX: 0.4-0.3.
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