Research Director, Inc.: Exclusive Holiday PPM Analysis For Houston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston

Markets #6-10

Here we are in late JANUARY. A time when SANTA is sitting on a beach somewhere, toes in the water, ample butt in the sand. Yet, we are left to sift through the ratings carnage he gifted us. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC., in partnership with the extrapolators from XTRENDS, bring you the latest and greatest in NIELSEN information. The HOLIDAY survey, in all its glory, spanned 12/7 through 1/3 and was mostly about those dreaded CHRISTMAS tunes. How’d they do and how’d they compare to last year? The truth is out there somewhere …

HOUSTON: Sunny Santa

SANTA cut a wide swath through the market as iHEARTMEDIA AC KODA (SUNNY) remained atop the 6+ chart for the second straight survey (8.9-12.5) and smashed last year’s 10.3 share. The rest of the ranks were jostled a bit. URBAN ONE Urban AC KMJQ (MAJIC) remained at #2 but with its lowest mark since APRIL (7.5-6.9). URBAN ONE Top 40/R KBXX (THE BOX) was up a couple of slots to #3 with its best book in over a year (4.6-5.1). A couple of stations made a mad dash up the ranks to meet at #4. iHEARTMEDIA Alternative KTBZ (THE BUZZ) advanced four squares (4.4-4.7) with its best book in over a year, while CUMULUS Top 40/M KRBE jumped five spots (4.3-4.7) with its best book since JULY. COX RADIO Classic Rock KGLK (THE EAGLE) had its lowest score in over a year (5.3-4.3) to drop to #6 where it was tied with KSBJ EDUCATIONAL Christian Contemporary KSBJ (4.5-4.3). COX RADIO Country KKBQ (93Q) fell to #8 as it ended a modest three-book surge (4.7-4.2).

Last year KODA was #1 25-54 but failed to crack through the double-digit barrier. That was not an issue this time as the station was over two shares stronger and led the pack by a comfortable margin. KTBZ moved up to #2 with its second straight solid gain, which nudged KMJQ back to #3 as it lost a bit of its, uh, magic. KBXX moved up two places to #4 with its third up book in a row while UNIVISION Regional Mexican KLTN dropped to #5 with its third straight down book. iHEARTMEDIA Urban KQBT (THE BEAT) was only up slightly but still moved from #10 to #6. KGLK dropped seven slots to #12.

The mind-numbing rat-a-tat of that little drummer kid was not enough to propel KODA to the #1 spot 18-34. That was reserved for KBXX, which won the demo for the fifth straight survey and with a double-digit share to boot. KODA was up to #2 and almost matched last year’s number. KQBT slid back to #3 with its lowest total in exactly a year while KTBZ remained in place at #4 with a slight increase. ENTERCOM Hot AC KHMX (MIX) moved up four places to #5 with its best performance in over a year while ENTERCOM Spanish Contemporary KLOL (MEGA) fell to #7 with its first down book since SEPTEMBER.

The top three 18-49 stations remained unchanged from the previous survey. KODA was #1 and beat last year’s number by over two shares. KBXX repeated at #2 but with its highest share in over a year while KTBZ remained in third place with a small increase. KQBT moved up to #4 with a flat performance and this pushed KLTN, which had its lowest share in over a year, back to #5.

WASHINGTON, DC: Wash With The Elves

The audio portion of visions of sugar plums drove iHEARTMEDIA AC WASH to #1 6+ (7.8-9.7) though with a share that was a bit lighter than last year’s (10.4). HUBBARD News WTOP was seemingly unaffected by all this holiday folderol (9.4-9.3) except for the fact that it fell to #2 for the first time since AUGUST. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY N/T WAMU also stepped back – to #3 – with its lowest share in over a year (8.9-7.6). The Urban AC race got a bit tighter. HOWARD UNIVERSITY Urban AC WHUR slipped to #4 with its lowest score since MARCH (7.9-6.8) while URBAN ONE Urban AC WMMJ (MAJIC) remained at #5 but with its best book since JULY (5.0-5.7).

That elfin magic drove WASH to #1 25-54 though this year’s number was about a half share short of 2016. WTOP ended a two-book slide and moved up to #2 while WAMU saw its twelve-book winning streak end and fell to #3 with – again – its lowest share in over a year. #4 WMMJ continued to lead #5 WHUR but the gap widened. MAJIC had its highest score in over a year while its rival was down for the second straight survey. ENTERCOM Top 40/R WPGC was up for the third book in a row, a run that has taken the station from #14 to #6.

For the first time in exactly a year, WASH was #1 18-34. Wonder why that happened? This year’s number was about a share short of last year’s. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WIHT (HOT) slipped back to #2 for the first time in, well, a year, with its lowest total in over a year. URBAN ONE Urban WKYS (KISS) remained at #3 though it returned a good portion of last month’s gain. WPGC had its best outing since FEBRUARY to continue to hold down the #4 position. iHEARTMEDIA Alternative WWDC (DC101) held on at #5 but was down for the third straight survey. 

Thanks to a healthy dose of BING CROSBY, WASH completed the demo sweep by advancing to #1 18-49. This year’s final score was about a share and a half less than last. WAMU slipped back to #2 after twelve straight stays at #1 with its lowest share in over a year. Two arch rivals moved up and into a tie at #3. WKYS took one step forward with a flat performance while WPGC advanced from #5 with its best mark in over a year. WTOP advanced one slot to #5 with a small increase. WIHT had its lowest total in over a year and dropped to #6 where it was paired with WMMJ, which took three steps upward thanks to its highest number in over a year. 

PHILADELPHIA: A Santa Two-fer

The city famous for booing the big guy has proven it is also capable of supporting two CHRISTMAS stations. However, one is much more supported than the other. JERRY LEE RADIO AC WBEB (MORE) again dominated the 6+ arena (12.8-17.0) though it could not quite reach last year’s lofty 17.9 share. The other holiday player was ENTERCOM Classic Hits WOGL. It moved up to #4 (5.3-5.7) and was a bit better off than last year when it logged in with a 5.5. In between were ENTERCOM Sports WIP-F, which remained #2 (7.1-6.9) and iHEARTMEDIA Urban AC WDAS, which was up to #3 (6.1-6.0). BEASLEY Classic Rock WMGK dropped to #5 with its lowest share in exactly a year (6.2-5.2). 

Once again WBEB crushed it 25-54 with more than double the share of its closest competitor. Alas, though it did post a huge number, it was still about four shares shy of last year’s monster figure. WMGK was off slightly to remain at #2 while WDAS held steady at #3 with a small decrease. BEASLEY Active Rock WMMR took sole possession of fourth place with a slight decrease while the silver-and-green clad WIP-F slipped to #5 with its lowest share since SEPTEMBER. WOGL beat last year’s share and moved up four places to #6 where it was tied with iHEARTMEDIA Urban WUSL (POWER), which ended a two-book slide.

We are not allowed to give precise numbers when talking about 18-34 shares. Suffice it to say that WBEB was well into double figures this book and had more than three times the share of WUSL, which managed to move up to #2 as it ended a rather nasty two-book slide. WMMR held firm at #3 as it ended a three-book slide while iHEARTMEDIA Alternative WRFF (RADIO 104.5) fell to #4 with its lowest score in exactly a year. WDAS remained a fixture at #5 and posted its best number in over a year. WOGL moved from a tie at #12 to #10 and matched last year’s share when it was also #10.

It was another massive number for WBEB as it owned the 18-49 demo. Still, as impressive as it was, the station missed last year’s mark by over three and a half shares. WDAS had its lowest score since AUGUST but returned as the #2 station. WUSL inched up to #3 with a slight increase, which pushed a flat WMMR back to #4. WIP-F remained at #5 with a slight decrease and had a new partner in WMGK, which moved up from #7 with an even slighter decrease. WRFF dropped back to #7 with its second straight down book. WOGL moved from a tie at #13 to #9 and edged out last year’s share when it was #10.

ATLANTA: Santa’s Second Fiddle

It was a photo finish in the 6+ race but in the end COX RADIO Talk WSB-A won again though with its lowest score since JULY (9.1-8.6). Just a rounding error behind was SALEM Christian Contemporary WFSH (FISH), which remained at #2 (7.2-8.5) and easily outpaced last year’s 7.1 share. ENTERCOM Urban WVEE (V-103) moved up to #3 with its best showing since MAY (6.3-6.5) while COX RADIO Classic Hits WSRV (THE RIVER) inched up to #4 despite a down book (5.5-5.1). COX RADIO Urban AC WALR (KISS) fell to #5 with its lowest share in over a year (6.5-4.9). COX RADIO AC WSB-F (B98.5) was close behind as it rose to #6 from #10 with its best performance since AUGUST (3.9-4.7).

Flipping the Frosty switch paid dividends for WFSH 25-54 as the station moved to #1 and beat last year’s number by more than a share. For the first time since JANUARY, this meant that WVEE was not the #1 station in this demo. The station dropped to #2 despite landing its largest share in over a year. Life is cruel sometimes. WSRV remained at #3 as it returned all of last month’s gain and was sharing the space with WSB-A, which took a small step forward despite a down book. CUMULUS Top 40/M WWWQ (Q100) remained at #5 with a slight decrease and was partnered with WSB-F, which advanced from #8 as it ended a four-book slide.

The top five 18-34 remained unaltered from the previous survey. WWWQ was #1 for the fifth book in a row but, despite a down book, widened its lead over #2 WVEE, which posted its lowest score in over a year. WFSH swam in place at #3 with the exact share it had last year when it was #5. URBAN ONE Urban WHTA (HOT) was a constant at #4 but with its lowest total in over a year. It just edged out #5 iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WWPW (POWER), which posted a modest gain. Nipping at their noses was WSB-F, which advanced seven squares to #6 as it ended a tumultuous four-book slide.

WFSH jumped into the 18-49 lead and beat last year’s number by more than a share. This pushed WVEE back to #2 for the first time in over a year. WWWQ remained in place at #3 with a slight decrease while WSB-F vaulted five places to #4 with its best showing since AUGUST. WSRV ebbed to #5 as it returned most of last month’s increase while WHTA dropped to #6 with its lowest total in over a year.

BOSTON: Holiday Magic

There certainly was some magic in that old silk hat as ENTERCOM AC WMJX (MAGIC) remained the #1 station 6+. This year’s final tally (8.8-13.6) just edged out last year’s 13.4 share. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WXKS (KISS) remained at #2 but with its lowest total since MAY (7.2-6.4). BEASLEY Sports WBZ-F (THE SPORTS HUB) inched up to #3 with its best score in over a year (5.4-5.9). We would imagine that trend will continue for a while thanks to another Super Bowl run for the home team. BEASLEY Classic Hits WROR slipped back to #4 (5.7-5.5) while iHEARTMEDIA News WBZ-A remained at #5 (5.0-4.9). 

The top three 25-54 stations were the same as last survey. WMJX was a dominant #1 with a huge, hulking, ho-ho-ho stuffed share that did edge out last year’s massive, etc. WXKS held steady at #2 but with its lowest score since APRIL. WBZ-F returned as the #3 station as it regained all of last survey’s decline. A bit further behind was its format rival – ENTERCOM Sports WEEI-F – which moved up to #4 despite a slight decrease. WROR dropped back to #5 with its lowest share in over a year and was just ahead of a flat BEASLEY Country WKLB at #6.

The dreaded ghost of CHRISTMAS present accomplished two things this survey. It drove WMJX to #1 18-34 with a larger share than last year. And, it ended WXKS’ string of double-digit books at seven as KISS slipped back to #2. WBZ-F had its best book since JANUARY to move up two places in the standings to #3. BEASLEY Rhythmic AC WBQT (HOT) fell back to #4 while iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/R WJMN (JAM’N) dropped to #5. Both stations had slight decreases. ENTERCOM Top 40/M WODS (AMP) fell three places to #8 after posting its lowest share in over a year.

The usual suspects were atop the 18-49 leaderboard. WMJX moved up to #1, naturally, and almost matched last year’s number. WXKS slid back to #2 for the first time since MAY while WBZ-F remained at #3 with its highest score in over a year. WBQT inched up to #4 despite a small loss while WKLB took one step forward to #5 with a slightly smaller decrease. This pushed WODS down to #6 as it ended a two-book surge.

We are so bursting with the holiday spirit that The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. can’t wait to get back to our workshop to bring you another round of ratings hoopla. Next up on the docket are DETROIT, MIAMI, SEATTLE-TACOMA, PHOENIX, and MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL. We lead full and rich lives …

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