Aug. 3

Airwaves: August 3, 2007

Spring Ratings

Spanish music powerhouse KSCA (101.9 FM) grabbed the top spot once again in the Spring Arbitron ratings released last week. Coming in with a 5.1 share, the station set a personal record for the quarter and beat 2nd place KIIS-FM by 0.3.

KIIS-FM's 4.8 was not only a strong showing for second place, it is also the best rating KIIS has earned since last Summer, when it also earned a 4.8. Rounding out the top five were KFI, flat at 4.2; KLVE, down 0.3 to 4.1; and KLAX, down 0.1 to 4.1.

It wasn't a good book for various forms of rock and roll music, be it oldies, mainstream or alternative, as KROQ, KOST, KRTH, Star 98.7, and Jack-FM were all down to some degree. Jack, in fact, came in the lowest it has seen in over a year: 2.7, a 0.7 drop from last quarter. KROQ was down a half point to 3.2.

It was a very good book for KKGO Go Country 105, which just five months into its format already has a 1.8 share, an increase of a full point from Winter and a 0.3 share above the last full book as classical. It was also a good book for liberal talk station KTLK, which increased a half point to 1.1. See what happens when you get rid of Al Franken?

Other stations to watch: KMVN Movin' 93.9, up to 1.2 from 0.9; KDAY, which is rumored to be ready for a format and name change due to it's 0.2 drop to 0.8; KXOL making a huge 0.6 jump to 3.2; KABC with a half point increase to 2.3; and KFWB finally breaking a losing streak with a 0.3 increase to 1.5 ... tying with sister news station KNX.

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 2007 Arbitron, and may not be quoted or reproduced without prior written permission from Arbitron.

Station: Winter-Spring

KSCA 4.8-5.1; KIIS-FM: 4.6-4.8; KFI: 4.2-4.2; KLVE: 4.4-4.1; KLAX: 3.9-3.8; Power 106: 3.7-3.7; KBUE/KBUA: 3.6-3.6; KOST: 3.7-3.3; KTWV: 3.1-3.3; KROQ: 3.7-3.2

KXOL: 2.6-3.2; KRTH: 3.5-3.1; KRCD/KRCV: 2.6-2.9; Jack-FM: 3.4-2.7; Hot 92.3: 2.2-2.4; KABC: 1.8-2.3; KLOS: 2.0-2.0; KKGO: 0.8-1.8; Star 98.7: 2.0-1.8; KBIG: 1.7-1.6

KLSX: 1.5-1.6; KFWB: 1.2-1.5; KHJ: 1.5-1.5; KNX: 1.6-1.5; KRBV: 1.4-1.5; KLYY: 1.5-1.4; KSSE: 1.8-1.3; Movin' 92.3: 0.9-1.2; KJLH: 1.1-1.1; KTLK: 0.6-1.1

KRLA: 0.8-1.0; KTNQ: 0.9-1.0; KDAY/KDAI: 1.0-0.8; KLAC: 0.7-0.8; KSPN: 0.8-0.8; KDLD/KDLE: 0.8-0.7; KFSH: 0.8-0.7; KWIZ: 0.5-0.7; KWKW: 0.4-0.5; KFRG: 0.6-0.4; KKLA: 0.6-0.4; KTLX: 0.6-0.4; KWVE: 0.5-0.4; KMZT: 1.0-0.3

Why Aren't Public Stations Listed?

I periodically get asked why public stations such as KCRW and KUSC are not listed in the Arbitron ratings, and it is an excellent question.

Commercial stations sell advertising, and need to show potential advertisers what sort of audience they have to offer. Public stations, on the other hand, rely on direct listener funding -- if the format is popular, more listeners will donate more money. For that reason, public stations, unlike most commercial stations, do not subscribe to Arbitron.

So while Arbitron does indeed collect the data on all stations, the public stations are pulled out of the list as the data is compiled. That may change in the future but for now unless the numbers are "leaked" to me, I can't even get access to the public radio station ratings.

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