Exclusive August 2012 PPM Analysis: New York, Los Angeles And Chicago

August Numbers

ALL ACCESS presents AUGUST 2012 PPM market highlights, compiled by the Ratings Experts at RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. and powered by XTRENDS, radio's #1 PPM and diary analysis tool. All numbers reflect subscriber only data.

A New #2 In NYC

While CCM+E AC WLTW (106.7 LITE FM) continued to own the top spot 6+ (6.9-7.0). something they have done all this year, there was a new #2 in town -- YMF MEDIA Urban AC WBLS continued to climb (5.9-6.3) with its second consecutive up book and was over two-and-a-half share points higher than a year ago.  Meanwhile, CCM+E Top 40/M WHTZ (Z100) endured its second straight down month (6.3-6.1), though it was well ahead of where it was in 2011. Still, Z100 fell into a tie for third with CBS RADIO Classic Hits WCBS (5.9-6.1), which has topped a six share in eight out of the last nine books. Rounding out the top 5: CCM+E Top 40/M WKTU followed its best book of 2012 by dropping a half-share point (5.5-5.0), though it appeared to be in no danger of falling from the top 5. 

In the second half of the top 10 the news was ... the news.  CBS RADIO News WINS-A (3.6-4.1) was up for the fourth consecutive book and posted its best ratings of 2012.  On the other hand, CCM+E Classic Rock WAXQ (Q104.3) answered its best performance of 2012 by dropping from #7 to a tie for the #8 spot (4.4-3.7).

In the highly valued 25-54 contest, WLTW duplicated its 6+ performance by continuing to put a stranglehold on the top position, while WBLS zoomed into a tie for second with WHTZ.  WKTU took a bit of a hit and was well off its market-leading performance of a year ago.  They were joined on the down slope by SBS Tropical WSKQ (MEGA 97.9) and WAXQ.  Keep an eye on UNIVISION Spanish Contemporary WXNY (X96.3), which tied their best book of the year in this demo.

When it came to 18-34, the kids dug the hits and that made WHTZ very happy -- if being on top is your definition of happiness, that is.  The top-5 positions in this demo remained unchanged for the second straight book.  WXNY had its eyes on changing that, after its best in-demo performance of 2012.

Finally, in the 18-49 race, WHTZ was so far ahead of where it was last year that it probably didn’t mind that this was its second down book in a row.  Okay, maybe they did mind just a little.  The same five stations topped this demo for four straight books, but the battle was clearly for the wild card because WHTZ was setting up their rotations for the playoffs.

LOS ANGELES: CCM+E Goes Four For Four

If the DODGERS could hit as consistently as CCM+E Top 40/M KIIS (102.7 KISS FM) did in the ratings, MAGIC JOHNSON would be smiling a lot more -- as if that were possible.  This was the third month in a row that KIIS hit this number (5.5-5.5), those are merely stats when compared to the fact that they have also been #1 for five consecutive books.  In four out of five of those books, doctors recommended CCM+E Hot AC KBIG (104.3 MYFM) as the #2 station.  They did as the doctor ordered, even though they were off a tick (5.2-4.9).  Also for the fourth month in a row, CCM+E Talk KFI-A came in at #3 (4.7-4.8) with their best book since MARCH.  Completing cluster cycle, CCM+E AC KOST had its second straight up book (4.1-4.3) and worked its way up to #4, flip-flopping (consider that a SoCal beach reference and not a political statement) with EMMIS Top 40/R KPWR (POWER 106), which continued a strong six-month run of consistency (4.3-4.0).  The only real moving and shaking in the other half of the top 10 was coming from CCM+E Rhythmic AC KHHT (HOT 92.3), which enjoyed its best book of 2012 (3.0-3.6) and jumped from a tie for #10 to #8 overall.

When it came to 25-54s, KBIG became the #1 starter, while relegating sister station KIIS to the back-up position.  This has been going on for five of the last six books.  However, CBS RADIO Alternative KROQ may be crashing this party, as they surges into third place with easily its best book of 2012 -- and then some.  While not a threat to dethrone the champs, KHHT is showing some strong growth as they, too, posted their best adult numbers of the year.

Things have gotten quite interesting with 18-34s, as KPWR turned in its second straight dominating performance.  It would be safe to say that, at this point , POWER 106 is crushing the competition.  This was actually the eighth month in a row where the same five stations were in the top 5.  While the order may change on occasion, there was no question that KIIS had a pretty comfortable hold on #2.  The race for the bronze position had been KBIG’s to lose -- and they did just that by suffering its worst in-demo performance since APRIL.

When you’ve been #1 with 18-49 for seven straight books, doing it for the eighth time must become routine.  You’d have to ask the folks at KIIS how they feel about that.  KPWR hopped back to the second spot due largely to the fact that KBIG lost some of its ratings mojo.  As we saw in 25-54, both KROQ and KHHT had their best in-demo books of 2012.

CHICAGO: Two In A Row For The Top Three

For the second book in a row, the top-three stations in Chicago remain unchanged.  If only the CUBS could be that consistent.  CCM+E Urban AC WVAZ (V103) duplicated its best 2012 performance (6.4-6.4), which also happened to be its best numbers in, like, forever -- or at least for the last 13 books. While cluster sister CCM+E Top 40/M WKSC (103.5 KISS FM saw its shares (5.5-4.9) fall to a three-book low, KISS still managed to hold on to #2., and was still way ahead of where it was 13 books ago.  The news is good for CBS RADIO News WBBM-A, which had a second consecutive up book (4.7-4.8) that kept it a solid #3 and just "this" much from being the second-biggest station in The Second City.  HUBBARD Hot AC WTMX (THE MIX) inched up to #4 by being startlingly consistent at (4.5-4.5). 

This just in, for the sixth time in 2012 there are officially six stations in the top 5.  While the math may seem impossible, the numbers don’t lie (think about that for a minute).  CUMULUS Oldies WLS had been a model of consistency but it slipped from its 2012 high by going 4.6-4.3 and found themselves in a dead heat with TRIBUNE News/Talk WGN-A,  which used the communal suffering of CUBS baseball to go 4.5-4.3.  Unfortunately, the station was well off its performance of a year ago.  In the bottom half of the top 10, which, if you’ve been keeping track, includes only four stations, the only one to show an actual increase was CBS RADIO Country WUSN (US 99.5).  They leapt from a tie for #9 to a tie for #7 (3.9-4.1).

While the top 4 stations with 25-54 remained unchanged, every single stinkin’ one of them had a down book.  WKSC, WVAZ, WTMX, and HUBBARD Classic Hits WDRV (97.1 THE DRIVE) led for the third straight book.  WUSN made the move into the top five, while CBS RADIO Top 40/M WBBM-F suffered its worst book since MARCH.

The youth vote is in and WKSC remained the 18-34 leader for the third book in a row, even though it saw a huge drop from a record JULY.  CCM+E Urban WGCI jumped up to #2, thanks to a substantial hit taken by WBBM-F.  Keep an eye on CCM+E Regional Mexican WNUA (95.5 EL PATRON), which had its best book of 2012 and is on an up-trend.

As we saw with 25-54, the top 5 stations with 18-49 all had down books.  That didn’t really change the rankings, though.  WKSC continued to lead by a large margin, with WTMX holding tightly to second place. WBBM, WGCI, and WVAZ rounded out the top 5.  WDRV was the one station outside the top 5 to take a significant hit.

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