July 23.cwk

Airwaves: July 23, 2010

Los Angeles Arbitrons

KIIS-FM dominated the June Los Angeles Arbitron ratings released last week, both in audience share and total number of listeners.

In case that seems a little confusing, in a nutshell the total number of listeners, or “cume” for cumulative listeners, is a measure of how many people tune in during a typical week. Combine cume with the amount of time a person spends listening to a station and you get the audience share, in this case for all listeners aged 6 and over.

In other words, not only does KIIS have a boatload of listeners, those listeners listen for a long time.

KIIS’s 5.9 share was more than a point higher than second-place KRTH’s 4.6. But the more interesting fact is that KIIS-competitor Amp Radio was a “relatively” close third place at 4.0.

What makes Amp’s finish so interesting is that it didn’t affect KIIS at all and brings up a weird paradox in radio: competing formats often seem to bring in more total listeners to that format. While one may have thought KIIS would have been hurt by the debut of Amp Radio, having Amp around seems to have actually helped -- KIIS’s ratings for the past year have been higher, on average, than before Amp came on the scene.

All those changes at The Wave don’t seem to be helping much in once sense; the station has been hovering in the mid 3 shares since February, June was no different, with the Wave earning a 3.5 share, the same as February. Competitor KOST, however, is down from February, and has seen a decline every month since The Wave started making changes to more closely align with KOST’s format: 4.8 in February and now 3.7 in June. Wow.

KABC continued its trend of earning the lowest ratings in the station’s history, but hey, they maintained ... their 1.4 share is the same as May’s. But to beat for the second month in a row by sports-formatted KSPN (1.8 share) is probably the reason David G. Hall is no longer the programmer ... even if the station is co-owned.

Frighteningly, eight of the top-10 stations in town are owned by Clear Channel or CBS ... how’s that for a concentration of power?

Here are the Los Angeles Arbitron ratings for June:
1. KIIS-FM (5.9) 2. KRTH (4.6) 3. Amp Radio (4.0) 4. KFI (3.8) 5. KOST (3.7) 6. KYSR (3.6) 7. KROQ, The Wave (3.5) 9. KLVE, KPWR (3.4)

11. Jack-FM (3.2) 12. KLOS (3.1) 13. KBIG (3.0) 14. Hot 92.3 (2.8) 15. KLAX (2.7) 16. KBUE (2.6) 17. KSCA (2.5) 18. KNX, The Sound (2.3) 20. KLYY, KRCD (2.2)

22. Go Country 105 (2.1) 23. KPCC (2.0) 24. KDLD, KSPN, KXOL (1.8) 27. KUSC (1.7) 28. KSSE (1.5) 29. KABC, KXOS (1.4)

31. KCRW (1.3) 32. KDAY (1.2) 33. KFSH, KJLH (0.9) 35. KFWB, KHJ, KLAC (0.8) 38. KRLA (0.7) 39. KKJZ, KWKW (0.6)

41. KTLK, KTNQ, KWIZ (0.5) 44. KKLA, KLAA, KOLA (0.4) 47. KFRG, KGGI, KGIL, Jill-FM, KWVE (0.3)

52. KKZQ, KTLX, KPFK, XKAM (0.2) 56. KCAQ, KDIS, KGBB, KGMX, KLKX, KMRO, KMVE, KOGO, KFSV (0.1)

Next week: Riverside and San Bernardino

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