Oldies are still immensely popular in Los Angeles, according to the Nielsen ratings released earlier this month.
For the month of September, KRTH (101.1 FM) took the top spot with a 6.4 share of the listening audience, almost one full point above 2nd-place KLVE (107.5 FM), which plays a Spanish-language adult contemporary format and earned a 5.5 share. KRTH has dominated the local ratings most of the past year.
A third-place tie between sister stations KBIG (104.3 FM) — My FM — and KOST (103.5 FM), with a 5.4 share, followed by KIIS-FM (102.7) at 4.9 rounded out the top five.
Truth be told, I am a bit late in reporting the September ratings, but I wanted to make sure they got to you prior to the start of the annual holiday music launch sometime in November, so as to not inundate you with ratings columns all at once. I am predicting that KOST will go holiday mode beginning November 8th … the beginning of its yearly November-December domination.
The top-rated talk station in town is KFI (640 AM), which was tied for 8th place at a 3.3 rating with KCBS-FM (93.1) and KLOS (95.5 FM). If you follow the trends, it was not a good month for KFI, though, as it had a 4.0 share just two months prior and 3.8 one month ago. Does this signal trouble? It might, but probably is an anomaly … we’ll see over the next few months. The next highest-rated talk general station was a tie between KEIB (1150 AM) and KRLA (870 AM), both earning 0.5 shares.
Alternative rockers KROQ (106.7 FM) and Alt (KYSR, 98.7) continue their statistical flip-tie … for September, the stations were 2.8 to 2.6 favoring KROQ. August had it 2.9 – 2.5 favoring Alt. July: 2.7 – 2.5 Alt. June: 2.9 – 2.7 KROQ… the takeaway? Both stations are actually doing fine and it’s nice to see healthy competition lift both … not too long ago, the future of KROQ was in doubt, even if just slightly.
The news was big in September. Besides the 3.5 share that KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) earned with its simulcast — the station does not break down the separate signals — the online stream adds another 0.2, for a combined 3.7 … among the highest rating the station has earned in many years.
Classical music still does well in town, with KUSC (91.5 FM) earning a solid 2.5 share and coming in as the area’s most popular public radio station. Other public stations include KPCC (89.3 FM) at 2.2, KCRW (89.9) at 2.1, KKJZ (88.1 FM) at 0.8, and KCSN (88.5 FM) at 0.2.
Since I always make fun of low-rated sports stations, I need to give credit where credit is due: KLAC (570 AM) is the first all-sports station to really make it here, earning a fairly solid 1.5 share. How do they do it? A consistent lineup of good hosts including highlights Fred Roggin and Rodney Peete every weekday from noon to 2 p.m., along with San Pedro’s own Petros Papadakis with Matt “Money” Smith from 3 to 7 p.m. Add in Dodgers play-by-play and you have a winner.
There was a decent number of stations showing up with the online streams (rated separate from the main signal due to less than 100% true simulcasts) and HD2 stations that can be received only on HD radios. Most are at the bottom of the list but they still showed. The Stream for The Wave KTWV came in at 0.3, better than some over-the-air stations.
Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners aged six and over, tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight.
1. KRTH (6.4) 2. KLVE (5.5) 3. KBIG, KOST (5.4) 5. KIIS (4.9) 6. KTWV (4.1) 7. KSCA (3.7) 8. KNX AM/FM (3.5) 9. KCBS-FM (Jack), KFI, KLOS (3.3) 12. KRCD (3.0) 13. KLAX (2.9) 14. KROQ (2.8) 15. KYSR (Alt) (2.6) 16. KUSC (2.5) 17. KLLI, KXOL (2.4) 19. KLYY, KPCC (2.2) 21. KCRW, KRRL (Real) (2.1) 23. KPWR (2.0) 24. KJLH, KKGO (1.8) 26. KKLQ (1.6) 27. KLAC (1.5) 28. KBUE (1.4) 29. KDAY (1.2) 30. KFWB, KKJZ (0.8) 32. KFSH (0.6) 33. KEIB, KRLA (0.5) 35. KYLA (0.4) 36. KDLD, KTWV Stream (0.3) 38. KCSN, KKLA, KNX Stream, KTNQ, KWKW (0.2) 43. KBIG HD2, KCBS-FM Stream, KHJ, KKLQ HD2, KNX HD2, KROQ HD2, KZNO (0.1)
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email [email protected]
