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Research Director, Inc. Presents Exclusive March PPM Analysis For Houston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston
April 14, 2015
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. HOUSTON-GALVESTON: Forecast – Sunny
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Welcome to round two of exclusive ratings analysis from The Ratings Experts at RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. Hopefully, our second round will be as fruitful as JORDAN SPIETH’s was. Either way, with able assistance of our caddy -– XTRENDS –- we’re certain we can shoot par.
As a reminder, this is all about the MARCH survey, which covered 2/26 through 3/25. Check your scorecard for accuracy.
HOUSTON-GALVESTON: Forecast – Sunny
Proving the station don’t need no stinkin’ SANTA CLAUS, iHEARTMEDIA AC KODA (SUNNY) captured the 6+ flag for the sixth book in a row (6.9-6.9). Last month, it shared that position with RADIO ONE Urban AC KMJQ (MAJIC) but there wasn’t any magic in that old silk hat this time as the station dropped back to #2 (6.9-6.3) with its lowest share since JULY. UNIVISION Regional Mexican KLTN (ESTEREO LATINO) was also occupying space at #2 as it moved up from #3 despite a flat book (6.3-6.3). That matched the best book out of the last 14. COX RADIO Classic Rock KGLK (THE EAGLE) soared to #4 with its best performance since AUGUST (5.4-5.7). Cluster stablemate COX RADIO Country KKBQ (93Q) returned to the top five thanks to a slight increase (5.3-5.4). KSBJ EDUCATIONAL Christian Contemporary KSBJ ended a three-book run as it fell back to #6 (5.8-5.1). It seems that RADIO ONE Urban Oldies KROI (BOOM) has bottomed out. The station was flat (1.7-1.7) and remained at #22.
The top three 25-54 were as they were last month. KLTN was on top with its best showing in over a year while KODA remained in the back-up position with a small decrease. iHEARTMEDIA Alternative KTBZ (THE BUZZ) was resting comfortably at #3 with a slight decrease. KGLK advanced one square to #4 with its highest total since MAY while KKBQ took the bold step to #5 just by maintaining the ratings status quo. Thanks to its lowest share since APRIL, KMJQ slipped back to #6. Keep an eye on CBS RADIO Country KILT-F (THE BULL). Though the station remained at #9, it had a strong increase and posted its best number in over a year.
There was a bit of order rearrangement 18-34. What didn’t change was KLTN’s position. It was #1 for the second book in a row with its biggest book since NOVEMBER. RADIO ONE Top 40/R KBXX (THE BOX) was down for the sixth straight survey. It remained at #2 despite logging in with its lowest share in over a year. KTBZ inched up to #3 despite losing a chunk of share while iHEARTMEDIA Urban KQBT (THE BEAT) dropped back to #4 after losing a larger share chunk. KKBQ remained at #5 with a small increase.
Flat was the word of the month 18-49. First, the top five stations remained unchanged. Second, three of the five had flat books. KLTN was not one of them. It remained at #1 with its third straight up book and opened up a wide lead over the rest of the field. KTBZ and KODA were flat and steady, at #2 and #3, respectively. KBXX was down slightly at #4 while KKBQ was flat at #5. KGLK had its best showing since MAY as it advanced four spaces to #6.
WASHINGTON, DC: Preserving The Status Quo
That’s not a political statement; it is merely an observation of the latest 6+ standings in your nation’s capital. The top seven stations are pretty much where they were a month ago. We blame it on the special interests. HUBBARD News WTOP led the way again with another large number (9.3-9.1) and held a rather healthy advantage over AMERICAN UNIVERSITY N/T WAMU, which remained in full control of the #2 position (7.5-7.2). HOWARD UNIVERSITY Urban AC WHUR was again #3 as it ended a two-book run (6.9-6.3). One of the formats that took it on the chin from the most recent Santa barrage was CHR. It appeared that iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WIHT (HOT) has recovered from the skirmish (5.8-6.1) as it landed its largest share since NOVEMBER, remaining at #4. Cluster sister – the source of that holiday-driven angst – iHEARTMEDIA AC WASH hung in at #5 (5.4-5.6). There were two stations sharing the moment at #6. CUMULUS Talk WMAL moved up a spot with its best showing since DECEMBER (4.5-4.8) while iHEARTMEDIA Classic Rock WBIG remained in place (4.6-4.8).
Four of the five stations that topped the previous demo decided to hang out together 25-54. WTOP led the way for the third book in a row but was hearing the precisely choreographed footsteps from WIHT, which moved up to #2 and closed the gap between the two stations. Alert readers will recall that HOT spent most of 2014 at #1 in this demo. WHUR ended a three-book run and fell back to #3. iHEARTMEDIA Alternative WWDC (DC-101) was up slightly at #4 while WASH performed the same feat while remaining at #5. WMAL had its highest share in over a year and advanced two places to #8.
Over the last 14 surveys only one force was strong enough to keep WIHT from being #1 18-34. Since he’s off tinkering with the elves, that meant that HOT hit double digits again – that makes 13 out of the last 14. RADIO ONE Urban WKYS (KISS) was at #2 for the third book in a row but trails the leader by almost five shares. WWDC was off slightly at #3 while CBS RADIO Top 40/R WPGC remained at #4 though it lost a chunk of share. There was a dead heat at #5. WBIG moved in from #6 despite losing share while iHEARTMEDIA Country WMZQ moved up from a tie at #8 with its best book since SEPTEMBER. WASHINGTON ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY Christian Contemporary WGTS saw its momentary appearance in the top five end quickly, as it sank back to more familiar turf at #10.
There was little movement atop the 18-49 leaderboard. WIHT was #1 for the third book in a row with its highest total in exactly a year. WHUR repeated at #2 with a down book while WTOP held on at #3 by being flat. WWDC and WASH traded spots. The former moved up to #4 with a small increase while the latter moved back to #5 thanks to a slight decrease.
PHILADELPHIA: More Of The Same
For the seventh book in a row, WEAZ-FM RADIO AC WBEB (MORE FM) was #1 6+. The station was off a little this time (6.9-6.6) but saw its lead over #2 CBS RADIO News KYW-A expand as NEWSRADIO 1060 dropped some share (6.8-6.1). Still, three straight 6-plus share books was well ahead of what the station landed for most of last year. iHEARTMEDIA Urban AC WDAS inched up to #3 (5.6-5.8), which dropped GREATER MEDIA Classic Rock WMGK back a spot to #4 (6.2-5.7). CBS RADIO Classic Hits WOGL remained at #5 with a slight increase (5.5-5.6). CBS RADIO Sports WIP-F had its best book since DECEMBER (4.0-5.0) to jump five places to #6. Could that be related to PHILLIES spring training? Have you looked at their line-up lately? This was the last survey before the impending Top 40 battle. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WIOQ (Q102) had its best book in over a year (4.1-4.7) as it moved up to #8. Meanwhile, the station formerly known as WIRED – CBS RADIO Top 40/M WRDW (AMP) – was down slightly (2.4-2.3) and slid back to a tie at #18.
Over the last 14 surveys, GREATER MEDIA Active Rock WMMR has been #1 25-54 for 11 of them. Two of those non-#1 books were tainted by that evergreen scent. Though the station was flat this time, it held a solid lead over WBEB, which claimed sole control of #2 despite a slight decrease. iHEARTMEDIA Alternative WRFF (RADIO 104.5) and WMGK moved in opposite directions to meet at #3. The former was up with its best book in over a year while the latter was down from a tie at #2. WDAS ended a three-book slide as it inched up to #5. GREATER MEDIA Adult Hits WBEN (BEN FM) was off slightly but that was enough to drop it three slots to #7. WIP-F ended a three-book slide to jump six places in the standings to #9.
Though it was down for the third straight survey, iHEARTMEDIA Urban WUSL (POWER) was #1 18-34 for, wait for it, the third book in a row. WRFF came in at #2 again with its highest share since SEPTEMBER while WBEB was off slightly but secure at #3. Last book three stations were locked in arms at #4. They went their separate ways this time. WIOQ remained in place with its highest share in over a year. CBS RADIO Country WXTU slid back to #5 even though it was up a bit. WMMR dropped to #6 with a small decrease. WRDW’s swan song had the station down a spot to #9.
WMMR was up slightly 18-49 to remain #1 for the third book in a row. WBEB narrowed the gap a bit at #2 with its increase while WRFF was flat at #3. WIOQ had its highest share since NOVEMBER as it moved up a spot to #4. This dropped WUSL back to #5 as it landed its lowest number since OCTOBER. WBEN slid back to #6 with a small decrease.
ATLANTA: V for Victory
For the fourth time in the last five surveys, CBS RADIO Urban AC WVEE (V-103) was #1 6+. Though the station was off slightly (8.0-7.8), it held a solid lead over COX RADIO Talk WSB-A, which replicated its #2 performance from last book (7.1-7.0). Cluster sister COX RADIO AC WSB-F (B98.5) was up for the second straight month (6.2-6.5) to hold on to its #3 standing. There must have been something in the water at SALEM Christian Contemporary WFSH (THE FISH). The station had its best tannenbaum-free book since OCTOBER (4.6-5.6) as it moved up four spots to #4. COX RADIO Urban AC WALR (KISS) was flat and immovable at #5 (5.4-4.5). iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WWPW (POWER) ended its one-book flirtation with the top five. It fell two places to #6 (5.5-5.2).
In case you are keeping score, mark down another 25-54 victory for WVEE. That makes it eight in a row. WSB-F had a solid gain as it moved up to #2. This dropped CUMULUS Top 40/M WWWQ (Q100) back to #3 as the station saw its three-book run come to an end. COX RADIO Classic Hits WSRV (THE RIVER) crested to its best book since SEPTEMBER and moved up three spots to #4. WWPW advanced to #5 with its fifth straight up book. WSB-A took one step back to #6 while iHEARTMEDIA Country WUBL (THE BULL) dropped its lowest total in over a year and trotted back three places to a tie at #7.
WVEE is just killing it 18-34. For the sixth time in the last seven surveys, the station landed double-digit shares. It led the new #2 station by over three shares. The runner-up was RADIO ONE Urban WHTA (HOT), which had its best showing since DECEMBER. WWPW remained at #3 with a flat performance while WWWQ ended a two-book run and fell back two spaces to #4. WSB-F also fell two spots and landed at #5. WFSH had its best non-holiday-influenced share in over a year and advanced from a tie at #10 to #6.
So, WVEE was down slightly 18-49 and WSB-F was up a bit. The only thing that affected was V-103’s lead. It shrunk to under three shares. WWWQ slid back to #3, ending a nice two-book run. WWPW was off slightly but maintained its hold on #4 while WHTA was flat and stable at #5. WSRV posted its best number since NOVEMBER as it moved up three places to #6.
BOSTON: Classic Hit Me Baby One More Time
Do something once and it could be an aberration. Do it twice and it’s the beginning of a trend. So goes the story of GREATER MEDIA Classic Hits WROR. The station was #1 6+ for the second book in a row (7.8-8.1). Three books ago it had a measly 5.4 share. That’s quite a journey in a short period of time. GREATER MEDIA AC WMJX (MAGIC) moved up to a stable, if distant, #2 with a flat performance (6.6-6.6). Two stations were alone together at #3. CBS RADIO News WBZ-A dropped from #2 (7.6-6.3). Perhaps New Englanders were just tired of hearing about snow. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/M WXKS (KISS) moved up from #4 with its highest share since DECEMBER (6.0-6.3). GREATER MEDIA Country WKLB was flat and content at #5 (5.8-5.8).
WROR continued its surge 25-54 as in moved into the top spot. Since the HOLIDAY book, the station has added three full shares to its total. WXKS remained at #2 with a slight decrease. CBS RADIO Sports WBZ-F (THE SPORTS HUB) felt the full effects of the post “big game” hangover as it dropped from the top to #3 with its lowest score since OCTOBER. WMJX padded its total enough to move up to #4 while WKLB used its third straight up book to advance to #5. WBZ-A ended a five-book run and dropped four places to a tie at #8.
For the first time since MAY, WKLB assumed command of the 18-34 power structure even though it was off slightly from the previous survey. WXKS had a Santa-like number and dropped back to #2. iHEARTMEDIA Top 40/R WJMN (JAM’N) was flat and unmovable at #3 while WMJX was up slightly at #4. GREATER MEDIA Rhythmic AC WBQT (HOT) was down for the third consecutive survey but held on to its #5 position. CBS RADIO Top 40/M WODS (AMP) showed some signs of life. The station posted its best number since SEPTEMBER to move up to #6. WROR even did well with the younger set. It had its best book in over a year and moved up to a tie at #8.
The same quintet was leading the 18-49 pack as before. WXKS was off slightly at #1 while WKLB was flat but moved up to #2. WBZ-F dropped some share weight and slid back to #3. WROR was close behind at #4 after landing -– once again –- its best book in over a year. WMJX fell back to #5 with its third down book in a row.
Round two is in the books. Thanks for reading. Remember, The Ratings Experts at RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. can help you win in the ratings. Imagine your call letters gracing this page. Reach us via the platforms below and stay tuned for our next riotous episode when we dissect DETROIT, MIAMI, SEATTLE, PHOENIX and MINNEAPOLIS.
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