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Airwaves: February 3, 2012

Holiday Arbitrons

As is usual, the holidays were kind to KOST (103.5 FM), which once again found itself at the top of the ratings due to their continuous Christmas music format they run every year during November and December. The station more than doubled it’s typical rating share and attracted an amazing 8.5 percent of the radio audience in Los Angeles during the holiday season.

LA’s other Christmas music station, KTWV (94.7 FM) The Wave -- which actually got a jump on KOST by about a week -- benefitted a bit by the temporary format but not nearly as much. For the season The Wave found itself at with a 3.7 share, roughly half a point above it’s typical share.

The big news for the holiday ratings season was the ascendance of Amp Radio (KAMP, 97.1 FM) to a 4.5 second place, beating out perennial top-40 leader KIIS-FM (102.7) which declined to 4.0 from it’s typical share in the 5s. Amp tied with KFI and Power 106 (KPWR, 105.9 FM), meaning that KIIS-FM earned its lowest share -- and place -- in years.

The holidays were not good to classic rock stations. Jack (KCBS-FM, 93.1), KLOS (95.5 FM), and The Sound (KSWD, 100.3 FM) were all down in varying degrees. Even KRTH (101.1 FM) was affected. It would appear that KOST took from all of them, since most other music stations were generally the same. A one month anomaly? Most likely. They, along with Go Country 105 (KKGO) will probably see an upswing next month.

In the talk battle, KFI led the pack as it has for years. One-time talk leader KABC (790 AM), which just went through an overhaul that brought in some good but left much of the bad, was down once again this time to 0.6 from last month’s 0.7. Will the most recent changes reverse their fortunes? We’ll see. KTLK (1150 AM) came in at 0.7 while KRLA (870 AM) and KFWB (980 AM) were at 0.5.

KFI continues to prove its popularity not only through its regualr ratings but also through its success streaming on the internet and through such apps as I Heart Radio and StreamS Hi-Fi Audio. The popular talk staton’s 0.2 streaming share is above many regular broadcast signals and helps propel it into a solid second place overall when the stream share is added to the regular station ratings.

The full story: Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners aged six and older tuned to a station between the hours of 6 AM and 12 midnight:

1. KOST (8.5) 2. (tie) Amp Radio, KFI, Power 106 (4.5) 5. KIIS-FM (4.0) 6. (tie) KLVE, The Wave (3.7) 8. KBIG (3.5) 9. KSCA (3.2) 10. (tie) Hot 92.3, KNX, KRTH (3.2)
13. KLAX (3.0) 14. (tie) KBUE, KROQ (2.6) 16. Go Country (2.5) 17. (tie) KLOS, KYSR (2.3) 19. Jack-FM (2.1) 20. (tie) KPCC, KXOL (2.0)

22. KHJ (1.9) 23. (tie) KRCD, The Sound (1.6) 25. (tie) KDAY, KSPN (1.5) 27. KUSC (1.4) 28. (tie) The Fish, KXOS (1.3) 30. KLYY (1.2)

31. (tie) KDLD, KSSE (1.1) 33. (tie) KJLH, KLAC (0.8) 35. KTLK (0.7) 36. (tie) KABC, KCRW, KWIZ (0.6) 39. (tie) KFWB, KKJZ, KRLA, KWKW (0.5)

43. Jill-FM (0.4) 44. (tie) KDIS, KFRG, KGGI, KOLA, KTNQ (0.3) 49. (tie) KCAQ, KFI online stream, KKLA, KLAA, KLTX, KFSV, KTPI, KWVE (0.2) 57. (tie) KGBB, KGMX, KIFM, KMYI, KPFK, KQIE, XEWW, XPRS (0.1)

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