Research Director, Inc.: Exclusive Sept. PPM Analysis For Washington DC, Boston, Detroit, Miami, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis

7 Major Markets

We’re back with the extended-play version of our exclusive ratings analysis. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC., along with the numbers crunchers from XTRENDS, bring you – SEPTEMBER. Well, actually most of this survey took place in AUGUST. The precise dates were 8/13 through 9/9. This was a time of back-to-school shopping, the LABOR DAY weekend, and pennant races. The NFL season was not officially underway at this point but there was plenty of deflategate chatter. Since we’ve supersized this edition of the analysis, let’s get right to the markets …

WASHINGTON, DC: The TOP Story

Seeing that this is the most powerful city in the free world, it is natural that “news” is standard currency. After
all, if you live in this town the goings on of the Federal Government actually qualify as local news. Perhaps that is why HUBBARD News WTOP was #1 6+ for the ninth book in a row (8.0-8.3). It was closely followed by a station that has a longer-form take on the news – AMERICAN UNIVERSITY N/T WAMU. The station just notched its tenth consecutive #2 book (7.7-8.0). And then, there was everyone else. iHEARTMEDIA AC WASH remained at #3 with a slight share loss (6.4-6.0) while cluster sister iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WIHT (HOT) moved up to #4 just by being flat (5.9-5.9). One of the interesting sub-plots from this survey was the return of the man, the myth, the legend, DONNIE SIMPSON. He took over the afternoon slot on RADIO ONE Urban AC WMMJ (MAJIC). That may have been part of the reason why HOWARD UNIVERSITY Urban AC WHUR slipped to #5 with its lowest total in over a year (6.4-5.4). At exactly the same time, MAJIC had its highest share in exactly a year (3.5-4.5) to climb five places to a tie at #7. CBS RADIO Top 40/M WPGC remained at #6 but checked in with its best book in over a year (4.5-5.0).

For the second straight survey, two stations were knotted together atop the 25-54 leaderboard. Both WIHT and WTOP paced each other with small gains. WASH was up slightly to remain in place at #3. WPGC advanced one square to #4 with its best performance in over a year while its arch rival – RADIO ONE Urban WKYS (KISS) – moved up two slots to #5 with, yup, its best showing in over a year. WAMU was forced to take a step back to #6 as it was off for the second book in a row. WHUR dropped three places to #7 with its lowest total since MAY. WMMJ only moved up one spot to #13 but did post its highest score since MARCH.

The top three spots 18-34 remained unchanged from the previous survey and contained the types of stations you would expect to excel in this demo. WIHT was #1 for the ninth book in a row – all of those being double-digit shares. WKYS was flat at #2 while WPGC was off slightly at #3. The next two spots in the pecking order were filled by a couple of surprises. WAMU moved up five spots to #4 with what was easily its best book in over a year. iHEARTMEDIA Classic Rock WBIG (BIG) moved ahead one square to #5. Actually, this station has been floating in and out of the top five for most of the year. iHEARTMEDIA Country WMZQ was off slightly and stepped back to #6. WASH posted its lowest number since APRIL and slid three places to #7.

WIHT continued to lead the way 18-49 with its ninth straight win and was almost two shares clear of the duo at #2. That would be WPGC – which remained in place with a small increase – and WKYS, which moved up a slot with a slightly larger increase. Two other stations rushed in to fill the void at #4. WTOP moved up from #5 with a slight increase while WASH advanced from #6. WHUR dropped four places to #8 with its lowest share in over a year while WMMJ moved up to a tie at #11 with its best showing in exactly a year.

BOSTON: P-A-T-S … You Get The Rest

I think that we can all agree that the NFL exhibition season is not meaningful. However, we can think of no other reason why both sports properties had strong books. It can’t be the RED SOX because of the year they’re having. Perhaps it was all the brouhaha surrounding deflategate. Either way, both CBS RADIO Sports WBZ-F (THE SPORTS HUB) and ENTERCOM Sports WEEI-F had stellar books. The former moved up three spots 6+ to #3 with its highest score since
JANUARY (4.9-6.0). The latter moved up a spot to a tie at #6 with its best showing in over a year (4.6-5.4). It was likely all those deranged, uh, passionate PATRIOTS fans calling ROGER GOODELL names were listening. As for the rest of the story, GREATER MEDIA Classic Hits WROR was #1 for the eighth book in a row (7.6-7.2). Cluster sister GREATER MEDIA AC WMJX (MAGIC) moved up to #2 with its highest total since APRIL (6.1-6.3). Two stations were sharing space at #4. CBS RADIO News WBZ-A remained in place (5.8-5.6) while GREATER MEDIA Country WKLB fell from the #2 position (6.2-5.6). It was very odd not to see iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WXKS (KISS) in the top five. The station had its lowest share in over a year (5.7-5.4) to fall into a tie at #6 with WEEI-F.

For the third month in a row, WBZ-F was in first place 25-54. However, the station experienced a large jump in share as it posted its best score since JANUARY and opened up a sizeable advantage over #2 WROR, which was down a bit. WXKS remained at #3 but again landed its lowest number in over a year. CBS RADIO Classic Rock WZLX had its best performance since JANUARY to climb six places to #4. WMJX took a step back to #5 with a small decrease. ENTERCOM Active Rock WAAF took one on the chin as it dropped from #5 to a tie at #11.

WKLB continued to run roughshod over the competition in the 18-34 arena. The station was off slightly but still managed to cop its fourth straight #1 book. WXKS remained at #2 but drifted farther off the pace with its lowest share in over a year. GREATER MEDIA Rhythmic AC WBQT (HOT) had its best book since OCTOBER to remain at #3. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/R WJMN (JAM’N) dropped back to #4 despite a small increase. It was joined in that position by WBZ-F, which took one step forward. WMJX had its largest share since MARCH to climb one place to #6. iHEARTMEDIA Country WBWL (THE BULL) made some noise. The station moved up four slots to a tie at #8 with its beefiest performance in over a year.

WXKS saw its seven-book winning streak with 18-49 come to an end as it took a step back to #2 while WBZ-F took over first place with its best play since JANUARY. WKLB remained at #3 with a small decrease while WMJX advanced two places to #4 with a slight increase. WBQT had its hottest output in over a year to move forward three paces to #5 where it was joined by WROR, which dropped back one slot. GREATER MEDIA Alternative WBOS (RADIO 92.9) had its smallest total since MARCH as it slid three places to #7.

DETROIT: They’re Not Grrreat!

That’s likely what one famous breakfast-eating tiger might say about the local MLB franchise. However, despite a lackluster performance from the local nine, CBS RADIO Sports WXYT-F (THE TICKET) held on to the #1 spot 6+ (7.6-6.8). However, two other stations were very close behind at #2. CBS RADIO Classic Hits WOMC remained in place (6.9-6.7) while GREATER MEDIA Classic Rock WCSX moved up a spot with its best book in over a year (6.1-6.7). CBS RADIO News WWJ-A bounced back from a down book (5.5-6.0) to move up to #4 while GREATER MEDIA Active Rock WRIF slipped back to #5 (5.9-5.7). iHEARTMEDIA AC WNIC has been on a roll of late. The station was up for the fourth book in a row with its best Frosty-free share in over a year (5.3-5.6). Keep an eye on RADIO ONE Urban AC WDMK (KISS). The station advanced to #7 with its highest share in over a year (4.3-5.0).

Last month’s logjam at #1 was broken as WRIF took control with its highest share in over a year. WXYT-F stepped back to #2 (still a much higher placement than the TIGERS) with its lowest share since MARCH. WCSX remained at #3 with its best book since APRIL. CBS RADIO Country WYCD marched forward four paces to #4 with its highest total since NOVEMBER. WNIC moved up two spots to #5 thanks to its best book without the benefit of that annoying ELMO AND PATSY song. Two stations from the same cluster exited the top five. iHEARTMEDIA Urban WJLB slipped back to #6 with a slight decrease while iHEARTMEDIA Urban AC WMXD (MIX) fell three spots to #7 with its smallest number in over a year.

The top five positions 18-34 remained unaltered from last month. WRIF didn’t hit double digits this time but did land its third straight #1 book. WJLB remained at #2 with a healthy increase. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WKQI (CHANNEL 955) was flat and steady at #3. WGPR INC Urban AC WGPR (HOT) was up slightly at #4 while CUMULUS AC WDVD remained at #5 with a small increase. Both WYCD and WNIC had strong books to tie at #6. And, though CBS RADIO Top 40/M WDZH (AMP) only moved up one spot to #8, the station did post its best score in over a year.

WRIF landed its fourth straight #1 18-49 book despite a small decrease. The station had nearly a three-share lead over WJLB, which moved up to #2 with a small increase. WXYT-F dropped back to #3 while WNIC zoomed forward three places to #4. Last month’s #4 duo fell apart. WKQI dropped back to #5 with a slight increase while WCSX was flat and down to #6. WYCD moved up to #7 with its highest total since NOVEMBER.

MIAMI-FT.LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD: Less Lite

Actually, there was less for all the top three stations 6+. Though all three remained well ahead of the rest of the pack, they all experienced down books. ENTERCOM AC WLYF (LITE) had the most dramatic drop (7.5-6.2) but remained #1 for the fifth book in a row. COX RADIO Urban AC WHQT (HOT) moved up to #2 but with its lowest share in over a year (6.2-6.0). COX RADIO AC WFEZ (EASY) fell back to #3 (6.6-5.9). UNIVISION Spanish Contemporary WAMR (AMOR) remained at #4 (5.0-5.1) while SBS Tropical WXDJ (EL ZOL) moved up three slots to #5 with its best book since FEBRUARY (4.2-4.7). UNIVISION Tropical WRTO (MIX) slipped back to #6 (4.8-4.6). Two stations posted solid numbers to move up into a tie at #8. iHEARTMEDIA Spanish Contemporary WMGE (MEGA) posted its largest number in over a year (3.8-4.4) while CBS RADIO Top 40/R WPOW (POWER) did the same (3.9-4.4).

The top five 25-54 was both topsy and turvy this month. WHQT was off slightly but managed to return to #1 after a one-book hiatus. WRTO’s reign was short-lived as its three-book surge came to an end, and the station dropped back a notch to #2. WXDJ moved up two spots to #3 with its highest share since FEBRUARY while WFEZ stepped back to #4 with a small decrease. WMGE bounced back from last month’s down book and moved back to more familiar turf at #5. WLYF had its poorest outing in over a year and was sent back three squares to #7.

For the sixth book in a row, COX RADIO Urban WEDR (99 JAMZ) was #1 18-34. This time the station turned in its best performance since DECEMBER. iHEARTMEDIA Urban WMIB (THE BEAT) remained at #2 though it did post its highest share in over a year. WPOW was #3 again but with its best book since JUNE. WXDJ moved up three spots to #4 with its highest total since FEBRUARY. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WHYI (Y100) was steady at #5 with a flat performance. WFEZ lost a painfully large chunk of share and dropped five spots to #9.

The 18-49 race got a lot more interesting. WRTO was #1 for the third book in a row but was also down a bit. That small drop allowed WEDR, which was flat, to move into a tie for #1. WPOW powered its way forward from #9 to #3 with its highest share since DECEMBER. WFEZ, on the strength of a five-book surge and its highest share since FEBRUARY, advanced to #4. WMGE moved up two spots to #5 with a small increase while WHQT stepped back to #6 by being flat for the second book in a row. WFEZ took it a little hard as it fell from #3 to #8.

SEATTLE-TACOMA: The Jet Set

A little over a year ago, BOB RIVERS left iHEARTMEDIA Classic Hits KJR-F (THE JET). At that time the station changed its name. The station sank as low as #16 and was at #10 as recently as MAY. More recently, the station has been on a nitro-fueled tear that has taken it to #1 6+ (5.7-6.5). HUBBARD Top 40/M KQMV (MOVIN) remained a close #2 as it ended a three-book slide (5.8-6.3). BONNEVILLE Talk KIRO-F was chatting about its best book in over a year (5.4-6.2) as it moved up three slots to #3. CBS RADIO Classic Rock KZOK saw its two-book run at #1 come to an end as the station slid three spots to #4 (6.1-5.6). ENTERCOM Active Rock KISW fell to #5 with its lowest share in over a year (5.7-4.7). The Country battle suddenly got interesting. CBS RADIO Country KMPS popped its best number in over a year (3.6-4.5) to advance six spots to #6. Meanwhile, ENTERCOM Country KKWF (THE WOLF) was handed its lowest grade in over a year (5.1-4.1) to slip to a tie at #8. HUBBARD AC KRWM (WARM) also had its lowest share in over a year to drop two places to #7 (5.5-4.4).

There was a new 25-54 sheriff in town. KQMV moved back to the top spot it last visited in MARCH. This sent KISW back to #2 as the station posted its lowest number since BURL IVES was in heavy rotation. KJR-F jetted up to #3 with its best book in over a year while KZOK slid back to #4. KKWF dropped back to #5 with its smallest number in over a year. It was tied with KIRO-F, which moved up from #10 with its best outing since MARCH. Though KMPS only moved up two notches to #15, it did have its highest total since JANUARY.

Much like the previous demo, KQMV and KISW traded places 18-34. The former bounced back from a down book to reclaim its #1 title while the latter shed some share and returned to its customary #2 spot. ENTERCOM Alternative KNDD (THE END) remained at #3 while KKWF was off slightly but stable at #4. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/R KUBE had its best performance in over a year to move up to #5, which bumped KZOK back to a tie at #6.

For the third demo in a row, KQMV and KISW swapped positions. This time it was 18-49 and MOVIN ended a three-book slide to secure top honors. KISW had its smallest share since DECEMBER to slide back to #2. A year ago KJR-F was #17 in this demo. It has doubled its share since then, and this time moved up five places to #3. Once again, KKWF had its smallest number in over a year as it dropped back to #4. Two stations moved up and met at #5. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M KBKS (KISS) advanced from #9 with its highest share in over a year while KNDD inched forward from #6 with a small decrease. KZOK dropped four slots to a tie at #8 with its lowest total since MARCH.

PHOENIX: Turn It Up To Eleven

For the eleventh book in a row, iHEARTMEDIA AC KESZ (99.9KEZ) was #1 6+ (6.7-6.5). And to think, CHRISTMAS is only three months away. Two stations moved into a tie at #2. HUBBARD Classic Rock KSLX remained in place (5.8-5.9) while CBS RADIO Classic Hits KOOL moved up from #4 with its best performance since MAY (5.3-5.9). iHEARTMEDIA Talk KFYI-A slipped back to #4 (5.7-5.4) while HUBBARD Active Rock KUPD jumped up to #5 as it ended a three-book slide (4.6-5.0). iHEARTMEDIA Hot AC KMXP (MIX) dropped to #6 (5.0-4.9).

The ties that bound two stations together at #1 25-54 last month were broken. KUPD ended a three-book slide to remain in the top spot for the fifth book in a row. KESZ slid back to #2 with a slight decrease. iHEARTMEDIA Adult Hits KYOT (THE MOUNTAIN) remained at #3 with a small increase. KSLX was steady at #4 with a small increase while KOOL moved up a couple of places to #5 with its highest share since OCTOBER. KFYI-A dropped two spots to #7, which is still pretty good considering the station was in a tie at #20 a year ago. UNIVISION Regional Mexican KHOT advanced five places to a tie at #8 with its best showing since MARCH.

KUPD was #1 18-34 for the sixth consecutive survey but the times they are a-changin’. As recently as JUNE the station hit double digits and led the market by five shares. It has moved backwards since then and just posted its lowest number of the year. Its lead has shrunk to less than half a share. That is partially due to the great month CBS RADIO Top 40/M KZON (LIVE 101.5) had. The station went from #7 to #2 with its highest share in over a year. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M KZZP (KISS) moved up to #3 despite a down performance and was tied with KESZ, which lost share but remained in place. RIVIERA Top 40/R KKFR (POWER) jumped four spots to #5 with its best book since MAY. KMXP also had a strong book as it advanced five spots to a tie at #6 with its highest total since FEBRUARY. It was not a stellar month for the country format. iHEARTMEDIA Country KNIX dropped to a tie at #6 with its lowest number since MARCH. CBS RADIO Country KMLE moved from #13 to #2 last month but dropped back to a tie at #10 this survey.

Last month’s tie atop the 18-49 leaderboard was broken as KUPD assumed control with a solid increase. KESZ slipped back to #2 with a slight decrease while KYOT remained at #3 with a slight increase. Two stations moved up to join forces at #4. KMXP moved up one spot with its highest share since MAY while KSLX advanced from #7 as it ended a two-book slide. A couple of other stations took hard falls out of the top five. KZZP dropped four spots to a tie at #9. Just four books ago it was #3. KMLE dropped eight stories to #13 with its lowest share since DECEMBER.

MINNEAPOLIS-ST.PAUL: One Small Change

The players occupying the top five positions 6+ remained the same; just the positions were changed to protect the innocent. HUBBARD Hot AC KSTP (KS95) returned to the top spot as it rebounded from a down book (7.4-8.4). It had been there in JUNE and JULY but this time debuted as a solo act. iHEARTMEDIA Classic Hits KQQL (KOOL) couldn’t quite match last month’s monster share (9.3-8.3) and fell back to #2. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M KDWB also took a step back to #3 though it did end a long seven-book slide (7.6-7.8). iHEARTMEDIA Country KEEY (K-102) moved back to #4 (7.5-7.3) while its primary competition – CBS RADIO Country KMNB (BUZ’N) remained in place at #5 (6.5-6.5).

KSTP proved it is no one-demo wonder as it ran its 25-54 winning streak to six. It also ended a three-book slide. KEEY had its best book in over a year – for the second straight survey – to remain at #2. KDWB was flat but moved up to #3 while iHEARTMEDIA Sports KFXN (KFAN) leapt two places to #4 with its highest point total since DECEMBER. KOOL slipped two spots to #5 with its lowest score since JANUARY. KMNB moved up to #6 with its best performance in over a year.
For the previous eight surveys, two stations totally dominated the 18-34 genre. They packed a devastating one-two punch as they both consistently hit double digits. That streak remained alive – for one of the stations. KDWB had its lowest share in exactly a year but remained a strong #1. The other half of that powerhouse duo – CUMULUS Active Rock KXXR (93X) – fell back to #2 with its smallest share since DECEMBER. It was tied with KEEY, which advanced two spots with its best book in over a year. KSTP took one step back to #4 despite posting its best score since MAY. MPR AAA KCMP (THE CURRENT) experienced a huge increase in share as it jumped from #8 to #5. KFXN remained at #6 but scored its best book in over a year. KMNB was flat but fell two slots to #7.

Last month saw KDWB’s string of double-digit 18-49 books come to an end. It was unable to begin a new streak this time as it was flat. Still, the station had almost a full share lead over KSTP at #2. KEEY took over sole possession of the #3 slot with its finest performance in over a year while KFXN moved up to #4 with its highest score in over a year. KXXR dropped two places to #5 with its smallest number in over a year. KMNB moved up to #6 with its highest total since NOVEMBER.

Thank you for enduring this director’s cut version of our day two analysis. That does it for this survey. Fret not, the OCTOBER survey is only a few weeks away. In the meantime, The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. stand ready and able to help you win in the ratings game. Try us and see.

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