from the NY Radio Message Board
June 13, 2003
Arbitrend Stuff:
First-- WNEW went from a .4 in the previous Trend to a .6 both in the overall ratings and in 25-54. I suppose the optimists will call that a big jump. In the real world it means very little. It’s still way too early but since everyone is interested, that’s it.
In other movements--
In the overall numbers the top 4 stations are still WLTW, Hot 97, WINS and Power 105 (same order as the last Trend). WABC moved up to #5 from #7 in the last Trend (and up from #9 in the Winter Book). CBS-FM is even at #6, Z 100 even at #7, Kiss up to #8 (it was #10 in the last Trend) and is tied with WBLS. WSKQ dropped a bit from #5 to #10 (down .4). WKTU is number 11, CD 101.9 next, K-Rock, WPAT-FM, WCBS-AM (#15), Q 104, WQXR/WPLJ tie, WCAA/WFAN tie, WOR, a bunch of others, WNEW at #29, a bunch of others, and WEPN (WEVD) makes the list this time—but barely at #40.
Not a whole lot here that should surpise anyone other than WABC which continues to gain at night and thus moves higher. "1050 ESPN Radio" is back on the list after dropping off last month.
In 25-54, WLTW is on top, WBLS moves to #2, WSKQ moves down to #3 tied with Kiss, and ‘KTU (up .3). Q 104 moved down a little to #6, the WINS, K-Rock, CBS-FM, WPLJ (up .4 to #10), CD 101.9, Power 105 (#12), WPAT-FM, Hot 97, WCAA, WABC, Z 100 ( down .2 to #16), WFAN, WCBS-AM, WLIB, then a bunch of stations, then WOR (#29 with a .7), WMCA, WKJY, then WNEW (30th), WBZO, and WEPN/WEVD (33rd).
In mornings overall WINS is on top, then Stern on K-Rock, WSKQ (it has dropped a share in AM Drive since the Winter Book), WLTW, Hot 97, WCBS-AM, Z 100 (dropped .5 since the Winter Book), CBS-FM (holding steady after Harry Harrison’s departure), WABC (#9 up .2), Kiss (up .4 since the Winter Book with its now local AM Drive show), WFAN (Imus up a little to #11) tied with Power 105, WBLS, WPLJ (holding steady), WKTU, WCAA, WOR (steady at #17), WPAT-FM, WQCD, Q 104 (down .2 to # 20), WQXR, then a bunch of stations then WNEW (no change at #35 with a .3).
In mornings 25-54, Stern on K-Rock is on top, the WSKQ, WINS, WLTW, WPLJ (important to note for all you ‘PLJ bashers), WRKS, WBLS/WKTU ties, WCBS-FM, WCAA, Hot 97, Z 100, Power 105, Q 104 (down .3 to #13), WCBS-AM, WFAN, WABC, WPAT-FM, CD 101.9, WLIB, then a bunch of stations, then a tie between WOR and WEVD/WEPN (how embarrassing is that to WOR!), then a bunch of stations to WNEW (#39).
Other stuff:
In evenings, Michael Savage/Batchelor and Alexander on WABC is up to a 5 share (#4) overall and a 3.9 (#8) in 25-54. Compare that to WOR’s 1.6 overall and a .9 in 25-54 and you can understand why WOR is making changes. WABC must be thrilled to be getting these kinds of evening numbers, which, thus far are beating WCBS-AM with the Yankees. Who would have figured WABC would do BETTER without the Yankees!
In the battle for younger demos (18-34), Hot 97 and Power 105 rule at #1 and #2 respectively. Z 100 and ‘KTU follow with K-Rock next. Interestingly WPLJ has been moving up here lately up to #10 (up .7 since the Winter). For oldies fans, CBS-FM is toward the bottom at #21. This is significant because it demonstrates how strong it is with older demos to get as high as it gets in the overall ratings to compensate for what it doesn’t get with younger listeners.
from the NYRMB
May 16, 2003
--snips--
In mornings, WINS leads, Stern is #2 (his numbers were the same as the last Book but WSKQ dropped thus pushing Stern up from #3). WSKQ is now #3, followed by Hot 97, WLTW, WCBS-AM, WHTZ, WCBS-FM, WABC, WRKS, WWPR, and Imus on WFAN. WBLS follows, then WKTU, WPLJ (#15), WOR, WCAA, WPAT then Q 104 (Gold is even with the last Book at #18). WQCD follows, then a bunch of stations, then WNEW (#37).
--snips--
from the New York Daily News
May 13th, 2003
Steve Kingston, a city radio veteran who had programmed WXRK (92.3 FM) since it switched to alternative rock in 1996, is moving over to become operations manager at sister station WNEW (102.7 FM, "Blink").
The new operations manager at K-Rock will be Robert Cross, who started in Arizona and has spent the past three years at KROQ in Los Angeles.
Cross, who has also had a weekend show at KROQ under the name Chuck Roast, will take over by the end of the month.
"He's a bright guy with good organizational skills who comes highly recommended," says Tom Chiusano, WXRK vice president.
Sean Ross, editor in chief of Billboard Airplay Monitor, says KROQ's music is in the same ballpark as WXRK's, with a few different nuances.
"When WXRK was going through its heavy-metal phase, KROQ rocked hard, but it never went through the same Ozzy/ Van Halen stage," says Ross. "KROQ has been faster in acknowledging the neogarage acts and has always had a heavier power/punk component."
Radio fans have debated for years whether WXRK, the only New York station that focuses on current rock, is maximizing its audience in what is not generally considered a rock town.
WXRK is in the top 10 in all major rating demographics, and in the national top 10 for ad billings. A lot of that, however, is due to its nonmusic morning host, Howard Stern.
Stern averages 6%-9% of the morning audience, while the station averages 2%-2.5% the rest of the day.
Chiusano, a frequent on-air target of Stern, says K-Rock is doing fine and plans no big change in direction.
"I'm very happy with our music," he says. "You have a demographic you're trying to serve, and I think we've done it well. There's no question there's a market for rock here, and this station has been well respected and well programmed for a long time.
"The only reason for the change is that both stations needed more of Steve's time. So now each one can have a full-time programmer of its own."
Parent company Infinity Broadcasting has a big investment in Blink, which plays a mostly rhythmic pop music mix and is still filling out its airstaff. Kingston, who programmed WHTZ in the '80s, has worked all along on its music.
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
April 22, 2003
Radio listeners wanting to escape war rumblings this winter gave WLTW (Lite-FM) the highest ratings in its history, while many who wanted to get deeper into news talk turned to WABC - and especially to afternoon host Sean Hannity.
The January-March Arbitron ratings, released yesterday, had Lite boosting its No. 1 position overall and among advertiser-coveted 25- to 54-year-olds.
The station averaged 6.8% of the overall audience, its highest share ever.
"The weather was awful, we were on the verge of war," says WLTW program director Jim Ryan. "We were a place you could turn to get away. We just did what we do."
WABC program director Phil Boyce said his station's news-and-talk coverage of the buildup and then the war itself was just an industrial-strength dose of what WABC always does.
"We've become the place people turn when that's what they want," said Boyce. "That's our format, and we don't apologize. We go into it full-blast."
WABC jumped from 3.2% to 3.7%, with Hannity at a personal-best 4.6%.
No other news or talk stations saw any big jump. Hannity's counterparts on WOR, Bill O'Reilly and Bob Grant, dropped from 2.7% to 2.4%. "'The Factor,'" said Boyce of O'Reilly, "is a nonfactor."
WXRK morning host Howard Stern dipped from 6.9% to 6.1%, behind all-news WINS and "El Vacilón de la Mañana" with Luis Jimenez and Moonshadow on WSKQ. Stern remained No. 1 among 18- to 34-year-olds, though WQHT's Star - who was ahead of Stern last winter - is closing in again.
--snips--
Following are the winter Arbitron ratings. The number in parentheses represents the percentage of total listeners tuned in to that station in an average quarter hour.
OVERALL: WLTW (6.8), WQHT (5.1), WSKQ, WHTZ, WINS (4.2), WCBS-FM (4.0), WWPR, WKTU (3.8), WABC, WBLS (3.7), WRKS (3.6), WQCD (3.2), WXRK (3.1), WPAT-FM, WCBS-AM (2.8), WAXQ (2.7), WQXR (2.6), WPLJ (2.3), WOR, WFAN (2.2), WCAA (1.9), WADO (1.5), WLIB, WALK (1.1), WLXE (0.9).
MORNING DRIVE: WINS (6.6), WKSQ (6.2), WXRK (6.1), WQHT (4.9), WLTW (4.8), WHTZ (4.4), WCBS-AM (4.2), WCBS-FM (3.7), WABC (3.4), WKTU (3.2), WOR (3.0), WFAN, WBLS, WRKS, WWPR (2.9), WPLK (2.8), WAXQ (2.3), WCAA, WQCD (2.1), WADO, WPAT-FM, WQXR (2.0), WALK (1.3), WLIB (1.0), WKXW (0.9).
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
March 24, 2003
--snips--
RATINGS GLIMPSE: The ratings that really count don't come out until next month, but the interim monthly Arbitrends have WLTW (106.7 FM) an easy No. 1 overall and WINS (1010 AM) on top in the morning. WSKQ (97.9 FM) surged to third overall and second in the morning, slightly ahead of Howard Stern.
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
March 19, 2003
--snips--
SUPER BOWL WINNER: WLTW (106.7 FM) has been No. 1 in city audience for years, and now it's No. 1 in the only rating that counts more: ad revenue.
BIA Financial released its annual estimate of radio ad revenues yesterday, and Lite-FM moved from second to first place in the whole country, with $65.1 million.
Top-40 KIIS in Los Angeles was second with $60.5 million.
Other New York stations in the top 10 are WINS (1010 AM), fourth with $53.6 million; WFAN (660 AM), fifth with $52.3 million, and WXRK (92.3 FM), eighth with $46.2 million.
from the NY Daily News
February 26, 2003
--snips--
RATINGS HOLD STEADY: Arbitron has released the monthly numbers that take radio's temperature between the quarterly ratings that really count, and the landscape is relatively quiet.
WLTW (106.7 FM) increased its overall lead and WINS stayed slightly ahead of Howard Stern in the morning. WSKQ took a jump, and WEVD (1050 AM, ESPN Radio) made it onto the radar for the first time doing sports. It averaged 0.4% of the audience - well below WFAN's 2.5%, but on the board.
--snips--
from the New York Daily News
January 8th, 2003
WINS general manager Scott Herman doesn't think his station is still benefiting from listeners who tuned in for 9/11 news.
He thinks it's just the station's long established core, plus the usual cold-weather boost, that propelled WINS to No. 1 this past fall in the crucial morning drive.
All-news WINS averaged 7% of the morning audience, against 6.9% for Howard Stern. About 2.62 million New Yorkers tuned in WINS at some point during the average week - the highest cumulative audience of any station in the country.
"I don't think many people 'discovered' us after 9/11," says Herman. "But some of those weeks, we had close to 3 million listeners a week. It's hard to compare anything to that."
Last spring and summer, WINS averaged 2.4 million a week, then went back up in the fall.
"The ratings didn't start until the 9/11 memorials were over," he says. "So they weren't a factor. We had the election and the sniper story. But mostly it was just what we see every fall - people's lives returning to normal patterns, kids back in school, more interest in the weather."
All-news rival and sister station WCBS-AM dropped after the Yankee season ended, but Herman says he doesn't think WINS gains when WCBS-AM slips.
"They have their audience, and we have ours," he says. "There isn't much back-and-forth or shared audience."
INFINITY IN THE MORNING: The combined overall audience share for Infinity's six New York stations is down from a year ago, thanks largely to the current limbo at WNEW (102.7 FM). But they're getting listeners where they count most for ad dollars: in morning drive.
Many stations make 50% of their ad money from morning drive, because that's the heaviest listening period.
Infinity has the No. 1 and No. 2 stations in the morning with WINS and Stern on WXRK. WCBS-AM and WCBS-FM are sixth and ninth, and WFAN's Imus, in 14th place, is a cash machine.
Even without much from WNEW, Infinity has 24.7% of the morning audience, well above its 17.5% overall share.
--snips--
from the New York Daily News
January 7th, 2003
--snips--
Following are the fall Arbitron 2002 ratings, October-December. The number in parentheses is the percentage of the radio audience listening to that station in an average quarter hour.
OVERALL: WLTW (6.5), WQHT (4.8), WHTZ (4.4), WINS (4.2), WRKS and WKTU (4.1), WSKQ (4.0), WQCD, WBLS and WWPR (3.7), WCBS-FM and WXRK (3.6), WABC (3.2), WPAT (3.1), WQXR (2.8), WCBS-AM (2.7), WPLJ (2.6), WAXQ (2.4), WCAA, WOR and WFAN (2.2), WADO (1.3), WLIB (1.2), WBLI (1.1), WHLI (1.0).
MORNING DRIVE: WINS (7.0), WXRK (6.9), WSKQ (5.6), WLTW (4.9), WHTZ (4.6), WCBS-AM (4.5), WQHT (4.4), WRKS (3.6), WCBS-FM (3.3), WKTU (3.1), WPLJ (3.0), WABC and WBLS (2.9), WFAN and WWPR (2.8), WOR (2.6), WQCD (2.5), WCAA and WPAT (2.4), WQXR (2.1), WAXQ (1.9), WADO (1.8), WLIB (1.2), WALK, WKXW and WBLI (1.0).
AFTERNOON DRIVE: WLTW (6.9), WQHT (5.4), WHTZ (4.8), WBLS and WKTU (4.5), WWPR (4.2), WQCD (4.0), WABC and WRKS (3.7), WCBS-FM (3.5), WINS (3.2), WSKQ (3.1), WXRK and WAXQ (2.9), WQXR (2.8), WOR, WPAT and WFAN (2.7), WPLJ (2.6), WCAA and WCBS-AM (1.8).
25- TO 54-YEAR-OLDS: WLTW (7.4), WKTU (5.1), WRKS (5.0), WSKQ and WBLS (4.6), WXRK (4.2), WQCD (4.0), WAXQ, WPLJ, WHTZ and WINS (3.7), WCBS-FM (3.5), WPAT (3.4), WQHT (3.1), WWPR (3.0), WCAA (2.6), WFAN (2.5), WABC (2.2), WCBS-AM (1.9), WLIB (1.5).
18- TO 34-YEAR-OLDS: WQHT (9.4), WHTZ (7.9), WKTU (7.3), WXRK and WWPR (6.8), WLTW (5.8), WSKQ (5.5), WBLS (5.0), WPAT and WPLJ (3.8), WRKS (3.8), WCAA (2.9), WAXQ (2.7), WQCD (1.9), WINS (1.8), WBLI (1.6), WCBS-FM (1.4), WABC and WNEW (1.3), WFAN (1.1).
According to Drudge report:
HOWARD STERN ROCKS NEW YORK CITY IN JUST RELEASED FALL RATINGS [OCT-DEC '02]... 9.2 SHARE OF AUDIENCE AGES 25-54 IN AM DRIVE: #1 IN TOP RADIO MARKET... WINS-AM NEWS TOPS IN ALL LISTENERS WITH 7.0 TO STERN'S 6.9; WABC'S CURTIS/KUBY 2.9; WFAN'S DON IMUS FADES AT 2.8 RATING; WOR 2.6...
from the New York Daily News
January 6th, 2003
Lite-FM dominated city radio again this fall, while all-news WINS edged Howard Stern in the critical morning drive slot.
In the October-December Arbitron ratings released yesterday, WLTW averaged 6.5% of the overall audience, well ahead of second-place WQHT (Hot-97) with 4.8%.
WINS, helped by an election and early winter, averaged 7% of the audience in the morning, slightly ahead of Stern on WXRK with 6.9%.
"It was a good book for us," said WINS general manager Scott Herman. "We're only a whisker ahead of Howard, but it's always nice."
Stern actually went up from his summer ratings, and he remains first with his target listeners, 18- to 34-year-olds and 25- to 54-year-olds.
Over the whole day, WLTW keeps a wide lead among 25- to 54-year-old listeners, the most coveted group for advertisers.
"This was our best fall ever," said WLTW program director Jim Ryan. "Our sales department is delighted."
The other high rankings among 25- to 54-year-olds underwent some changes, with WKTU second, up from 10th a year ago; WRKS third, up from 12th a year ago, and WBLS fourth, up from 10th in the summer.
"This is very satisfying," says program director Toya Beasley of WRKS, which also rose from 13th to fifth overall. One factor, she says, was "staying on top of the Central Park jogger case, which was very important to the community. Plus, of course, playing the best music."
Less successful this quarter was WCBS-FM, which for the first time in years fell out of the top 10 overall and among 25-to-54s. Its share of 25-to-54s was 3.5%, down from 4% --though this could be a ratings aberration, which most stations periodically suffer depending on who fills out Arbitron diaries that quarter.
Hot-97's hip-hop rival WWPR slipped a touch, finishing eighth overall with 3.7% of the audience.
WCBS-AM, WPLJ and WAXQ also slid, while big gains were registered by WPAT, to 3.1% from 2.2%, and WQCD, to 3.7% from 2.9%.
Overall, no radio group did better than Emmis, whose WRKS, WQHT and WQCD all finished in the top eight on the day when longtime general manager Judy Ellis turned over the reins to Barry Mayo.
"It's a nice welcoming present for Barry," Beasley said.
News-talk WABC and WOR were off a tick in the fall, while WFAN was up a bit. Sports rival WEVD has not yet registered in the Arbitrons.
WNEW continued drifting to the bottom of the pond, with 0.7% of the overall audience and a microscopic 0.2% in the morning. It is expected 'NEW will start a new format soon.
from the NY Daily News
December 12, 2002
Radio
--snips--
RATINGS: In the new Arbitron ratings for September-November, WLTW (106.7 FM) remains a comfortable No. 1 overall and with the vital 25- to 54-year-old age group. Howard Stern and WINS are tied for first in the morning. WBLS, WPAT and WKTU are up a bit, WCBS-FM, WAXQ and WPLJ are down a bit. WNEW (102.7 FM) has a 0.7 rating, astoundingly low for a major city FM.
These September-November ratings are a progress report toward the full fall ratings, which come out next month.
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
December 5, 2002
David Hinckley
--snips--
... Inside Radio's Tony Sanders says his nationwide ratings analysis finds Howard Stern and Tom Joyner are the only two syndicated morning personalities who, at the average minute on the average morning, have more than a million listeners.
from the NY Daily News
November 13, 2002
Ever wondered how many other people in America are actually listening to, say, Howard Stern at the same time you are?
Tony Sanders, who crunches national numbers for the trade publication Inside Radio, says it's around 1,490,000.
Standard radio ratings, designed for advertisers, use a figure called "cume," which is the cumulative number of persons who tune to a given show or station at some time during an average week.
That's obviously a much higher figure. The national weekly "cume" for Stern has been estimated by the trade mag Talkers at "8 million-plus."
By comparison, Rush Limbaugh is rated at 14.5 million-plus per week, Sean Hannity at 10 million-plus and Dr. Joy Browne and Imus at 5 million-plus.
The numbers of people listening to those hosts at any one time presumably are proportionate to Stern's numbers.
Stern's numbers also mean more than 10 times as many people are listening to him at any given time than are, say, watching cable news channels on television.
Sanders has also tracked Stern's ranking in all of his markets for summer 2002 - though this is just based on his share of the total audience. Like most hosts, Stern scores higher among his specific target audiences, which for him includes younger men.
Overall, Stern is No. 1 in New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Syracuse and York, Pa.
In other cities, it goes like this: Philadelphia, second; Washington, D.C., fourth; Los Angeles, seventh; Baltimore, 16th; Cleveland, second; Buffalo, fourth; Chicago, 10th; Dallas, 11th; Detroit, ninth; Hartford, sixth; Las Vegas, second; Boston, second; San Diego, third; Pittsburgh, third; Seattle, fourth; Rochester, seventh; Miami, fourth; San Francisco, fifth.
--snips--
from the New York Daily News
October 14th, 2002
With WLTW and Howard Stern holding their familiar top positions in the city's overall and morning radio ratings, the hottest race of the summer again was between hip-hop leader WQHT (97.1 FM, Hot-97) and upstart WWPR (105.1, Power-105).
While Hot-97 finished slightly ahead in the July-September Arbitron ratings out Friday, both sides say they're happy.
"It's clear we're No. 1, no matter what some other station's promotions may say," says Tracy Cloherty, program director of WQHT. "We put our best product forward and the audience responded."
"We're pretty ecstatic," says WWPR program director Michael Saunders. "We're just settling in, and if you see how Hot has flooded the air with marketing and promotion, it's clear they consider us a force to be reckoned with."
While WLTW averaged 6.2% of the overall audience, WQHT finished second with 4.8%, up from 4.3% in the spring. Power finished fifth with 4.1%, down a tick from 4.2% in the spring. Hot-97 leads among 18- to 34-year-olds, Power among 25- to 54-year-olds. Hot's Star and Buc Wild morning show has a substantial lead and the rest of the day is close.
"We'll continue this battle," says Saunders. "It's good for everyone."
Except maybe R&B stations WRKS and WBLS, both of which slipped a bit.
So did WNEW, which lost Opie & Anthony and is now mulling what to do next. But summer was good to WQXR, WHTZ, WKTU, WCBS-FM and WPLJ.
And every quarter seems to be good for WLTW, where program director Jim Ryan notes that Lite did better this summer than last summer, when it was also No. 1.
"I'm upset about the Yankees losing," jokes Ryan. "Otherwise, I'm happy."
Here are the summer Arbitron results. The figure in parentheses is the percentage of total radio listeners tuning in to that station in the average quarter hour:
Overall: WLTW (6.2), WQHT (4.8), WHTZ (4.7), WCBS-FM (4.5), WWPR (4.1), WSKQ (3.9), WINS (3.7), WKTU (3.5), WABC, WXRK & WCBS-AM (3.4), WBLS (3.3), WQXR, WRKS & WPLJ (3.0), WQCD (2.9), WAXQ (2.8), WOR (2.5), WCAA (2.3), WPAT (2.2), WFAN (2.1), WADO & WNEW (1.3), WFME (1.1), WLIB (1.0).
Mornings: WXRK (6.6), WINS (6.3), WSKQ (6.0), WCBS-AM (4.7), WQHT & WLTW (4.5), WHTZ (4.3), WCBS-FM (4.1), WPLJ (3.8), WABC (3.2), WWPR (2.9), WOR (2.8), WBLS & WKTU (2.6), WCAA & WRKS (2.5), WFAN (2.4), WQXR (2.3), WQCD (2.2), WADO (2.1), WAXQ (2.0), WPAT (1.5).
25- to 54-year-olds: WLTW (7.1), WSKQ (4.6), WKTU & WPLJ (4.4), WXRK & WHTZ (4.2), WAXQ (4.1), WCBS-FM (4.0), WRKS (3.9), WBLS (3.8), WWPR (3.4), WQCD (3.3), WQHT (3.1), WCAA & WINS (3.0), WCBS-AM (2.6), WFAN (2.4), WPAT (2.3), WABC (2.0), WNEW (1.6).
Around the dial: WBAI (99.5 FM), feeling a surge of energy as a local center for anti-war activism, is fund-raising through Oct. 30. That means lots of specials, including a four-hour "Building Bridges" tonight at 7 on Fidel Castro.... Tom Marr is the new 7-9 p.m. host on WOR (710 AM).... Sabrina Lamb, last heard on WWRL, yesterday sat in on "Open Line" on WRKS (98.7 FM). Kiss public affairs has sought a female voice since Ann Tripp left for WLIB/WBLS.
from the New York Daily News
October 12th, 2002
WQHT (97.1 FM, Hot 97) opened a little distance on WWPR (105.1 FM, Power 105) in radio's hip-hop battle this summer, while WLTW cruised along in the No. 1 position and Howard Stern stayed slightly ahead of all-news WINS in the mornings, according to the Arbitron ratings released yesterday.
WNEW, which lost its ratings anchor when afternoon hosts Opie and Anthony were fired after the "sex in St. Patrick's" stunt, dropped all the modest gains it spent the last two years building.
The Arbitrons also showed top-40 WHTZ moving up into a strong third place. WCBS-FM, WKTU, WQXR and WPLJ went up, while urban stations WBLS and WRKS as well as smooth jazz WQCD all slipped.
WFAN's Don Imus took a big drop, which he usually does in the summer.
In the hip-hop race, Hot 97 averaged 4.8% of the audience in the average quarter hour, to 4.1% for Power 105. Hot 97 has a big lead in the morning, while most of the rest of the day is competitive.
WLTW averaged 6.2% of the overall audience, well ahead of second-place Hot 97.
Frat boy fined: Greg Tyndorf, known to WHTZ Morning Zoo listeners as Greg T The Frat Boy, has been fined $500 in Carteret, N.J., for a "human billboard" stunt in which he was fastened to a utility pole with duct tape. Police said the stunt created a potentially dangerous distraction for motorists. Tyndorf said he didn't know the site, across from Exit 12 of the New Jersey Turnpike, was heavily traveled.
from the NY Radio Message Board
October 11, 2002
--snips--
"WXRK up a little. Stern on top in mornings"
--snips--
"WFAN down some. Bad book for Imus"
from the NY Daily News
July 16, 2002
Lite-FM is cruising along on top and Howard Stern is back to No. 1, but the noise in New York radio is coming from the hip-hop dogfight between veteran Hot-97 and newcomer Power-105, which in just three months has pulled almost dead even, according to the latest Arbitron statistics.
WQHT (Hot-97) still held a narrow lead in the spring Arbitron ratings released yesterday. In the overall ratings, Hot-97 averaged 4.3% of the audience, second to WLTW. Power averaged 4.2%, tied for third place with WHTZ.
Among the hip-hop target of 18- to 34-year-olds, Hot led with 9% and Power was second at 8.4%.
But since Power came on the air in March, it has shrunk Hot's audience by a third and nibbled some fans from WBLS, making it a hot property.
"We never expected to get this far this fast," said WWPR program director Michael Saunders. "From Lover and Dre in the morning to Big Tigger at night, it's all working."
But WQHT program director Tracy Cloherty said her station is doing fine.
"We expected this," she said. "It's tough when a competitor comes into the market playing your music. People will try it out. But we're still No. 1."
The hottest spot may be afternoon drive, a three-way contest among Angie Martinez of WQHT, Colby Colb of WWPR and Wendy Williams of WBLS.
Martinez averaged 4.6% of the audience, after a 6.9% in the last ratings. Colb has 4.5% and Williams has 4.3%.
WWPR also took about a third of the audience from Hot-97's nighttime powerhouse Funkmaster Flex, who is still No. 1, but fell to 6.6% of the audience from 9.5%. Power-105 is averaging 6.3%.
Hot-97 has a wider lead in the morning, where Star holds 4.2% of the audience - down from 5.7% in the last ratings quarter - to 3% for Dre, Lover and Lisa G on Power.
But Power officials said the best lies ahead. "We're still going up," said Saunders. "Our goal is No. 1."
Cloherty urges caution.
"A new station makes its biggest impact right away," she said. "If it doesn't beat you in the first 90 days, it probably won't. Hot-97 has the best product and time will prove it."
Meanwhile, WLTW was an easy No. 1 overall (6.4%) and with advertiser-coveted 25- to 54-year-olds (7.4%).
WXRK's Stern returned to the top in morning drive, averaging 6.5% of the audience, and WNEW finally got some good news. Afternoon drive team Opie and Anthony were No. 1 for the first time with 18- to 34-year-olds, while evening hosts Ron and Fez averaged a respectable 2.7% overall. That boosted WNEW from 1.2% to 1.7% -- not great, but going up.
WFAN morning man Imus reentered the top 10 with 3.5% of the audience and WCBS-AM surged in the evening with Yankees broadcasts, rising to 4.9% from 1.9% a year ago.
The ratings don't yet reflect Bill O'Reilly's new 3-5 p.m. show on WOR.
from the NY Post
July 16, 2002 -- POWER 105.1 hip-hopped to the top tier of New York's radio market - moving from 13th to 3rd place in the quarterly Arbitron ratings report.
And K-Rock's Howard Stern has reclaimed his morning throne.
Power 105.1, once known as Jammin' 105, pulled a 4.2 rating - just a hair behind its hip-hop competitor, Hot 97, which grabbed a second-place 4.3.
It's more remarkable because Power 105.1 switched formats from oldies to hip-hop last March.
"Success this quick frightens me," Power 105.1 program director Michael Saunders told The Post.
"I want to make sure I keep the focus and not assume that this is the norm. Now the real work begins."
Topping the list in total listeners (April to June) was, as usual, Lite-FM (WLTW, 106.7) with a 6.4 rating. Lite-FM also finished first in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults 25 to 54 with 7.4 rating.
Power 105.1, which features the popular morning team of Doctor Dre and Ed Lover, appears to be drawing listeners away from Hot 97, according to the report.
"Ed and Dre are cornerstones in this market and New Yorkers absolutely adore them," Saunders said. "New Yorkers have again risen to the occasion. They've said, 'We love Ed and Dre and any radio station that they're on, that is playing music for our taste - we will definitely support them.' "
Last spring, when Power 105.1 launched, radio industry observers suggested that the new hip-hop station would help its sister station Lite-FM by taking listeners from Hot 97 so Hot 97 could no longer challenge Lite for the top spot.
The strategy, pre-meditated or not, seems to be working.
Yesterday's report also found that Stern has reclaimed his crown as the king of morning radio.
Stern, who ranked third last winter to all-news WINS (1010 AM) and Spanish-language radio station WSKQ (La Mega 97.9 FM), clobbered the morning drive this past quarter with a 6.5 rating.
Also, according to Arbitron, WNEW's (102.7 FM) afternoon yakkers Opie & Anthony leaped from 10th place to 5th place overall - and are dominating the valuable men 25 to 44 demographic.
"Sometimes they dominate more and sometimes they dominate less," said Jeremy Coleman WNEW's program director. "But they've been doing this streak of really good shows lately and - boom - it bumped 'em up to 5th.
"It's such a horse race at the top of the rankings since there's a cluster of stations that are neck and neck," said Coleman, "but one of 'em."
WNEW's nightwe're happy to be time talkers, Ron & Fez, also snatched top slot with men 25 to 44 - beating several stations in that demo including WNEW's sister station, CBS AM (880).
The Arbitron rating is an estimated percentage of the total audience listening in an average quarter hour.
from the NYRMB
Posted by Allan Sniffen on July 15, 2002
Spring Numbers Rumors...
From what I'm hearing... NOT official. Treat this as rumor:
As usual, WLTW is the big ratings winner. Book after book after book. While there's nothing new with that, it should be pointed out while we chew over the rest of the numbers of stations that are all behind Lite.
The big news you hear from the overall ratings is Power 105. It jumped to #3 in the overall ratings. But they shouldn’t pop the champagne corks too early since the station was actually down in 25-54. And, while WPLJ gets trashed here all the time, keep in mind that it beats WWPR in the money demo.
Other points of interest, Stern is back to number one. WCBS-FM had a down book. WQHT was also down at WWPR’s expense as was WBLS. WRKS is unaffected-- actually up a little. WKTU is down a little-- probably giving up some to sister WWPR in younger listeners.
Z100 had a solid book and continues to maintain its terrific position.
WABC was generally even although down a little in a couple of dayparts. WINS still beats WCBS-AM but not by as much. WINS is down while WCBS-AM is up so that only .4 separate the two in 12+ and 7 separate them in 25-54.
WNEW should be happy with both O&A and Ron and Fez. Don and Mike’s last ratings were up slightly. Mornings are still terrible.
Q 104 remains solid but getting no help at all from Leslie Gold as mornings stay even.
No guarantee of accuracy in what follows. Treat this as unverified rumor and is absolutely NOT official.
--snips--
Mornings 12+
WXRK (Stern back to #1), WINS, WSKQ, WLTW, WHTZ, WCBS-AM, WQHT, WCBS-FM, WFAN, WRKS, WABC, WOR (up to a 3.1 from a 2.6), WWPR (up .8), WPLJ, WBLS, WQCD, WKTU, WCAA, WAXQ (even over the last year), WADO, WPAT-FM, WQXR, WLIB-.. WNEW (.5 at #33-up .1)
Mornings 25-54
WXRK, WSKQ, WLTW, WINS, WPLJ, WHTZ, WRKS, WCBS-FM, WBLS, WCBS-AM, WAXQ (even), WKTU, WQHT, WFAN, WQCD, WCAA, WWPR (down .2 in this demo), WPAT-FM, WABC (down .6 to #19), WLIB. WOR (.8 at #26), WNEW (.7 at #29).
--snips--
Go to the NYRMB Main Page.
Thanks to Anon Guy for this one:
New York Times
Sunday, July 14 2002
LI Section
Long Island Journal
SNIP - Article on local Long Island stations WBAB and WBLI.
Referring to male-oriented WBAB:
The latest trend report showed their weekday morning drive show in second, just behind Howard Stern on WXRK.
from the NY Daily News
June 17, 2002
Power-105 is making noise in the city radio ratings.
The next Arbitron ratings that really matter, the April-June quarter, don't come out until next month. Those numbers determine advertising rates.
But Arbitron's interim monthly report was released Friday, and WWPR (105.1 FM) is clearly taking listeners from the city's long-established hip-hop leader, WQHT (Hot-97, 97.1 FM).
Among all listeners 12 and older, WQHT dropped from averaging 6.1% of the audience in the January-March ratings to 5.1%. WWPR is averaging 3.7% of the audience.
WBLS, another potential WWPR target, is holding steady at 4% of the overall audience.
WWPR is a tick ahead of WQHT among listeners 25-54, 3.3% to 3.2%, while WQHT is well ahead among listeners 18 to 34 - averaging 10.4% of that audience to 6.7% for Power. Still, Hot-97 is down from 11.7%.
When a new station signs on, particularly one with the promotion of Power-105 and a well-known morning team like Doctor Dre and Ed Lover, it's not surprising it does well. The question is how things will settle in after the initial surge.
Elsewhere in Friday's report, WLTW (106.7 FM) was comfortably No. 1 both overall and with the advertiser-coveted 25- to 54-year-olds. It had been suggested that among other things, Power-105 would help its sister station Lite-FM by taking enough listeners from Hot-97 so Hot could no longer challenge Lite for No. 1. So far that seems to be prophetic.
WXRK's Howard Stern, who made news when he slipped from No. 1 in the morning, is back there now, a tick ahead of WINS and WSKQ.
Jazz Fest Opens: WBGO (88.3 FM) helps launch the JVC Jazz Fest with a live show tonight at 6 from the lawn of Gracie Mansion with the Mickey Bass Quintet.
WBGO continues its festival coverage through June 29, with another live broadcast Wednesday at 8 p.m. from Iridium featuring the Jackie McLean Quintet.
--snips--
from the NYC Radio Message Board
June 14, 2002
Posted by Allan Sniffen on June 14, 2002 at 14:31:32:
Power 105-1 is off to a hot start... at the expense of Hot. According to what I'm hearing, it jumped to a 3.7 (from a 3.1) while Hot 97 dipped to a 5.1 (from a 5.9) in the overall 12+ numbers. In the meantime, WBLS held even at a 4.0. So, thus far it seems that WWPR is pulling from WQHT and not WBLS.
12+ Trend numbers showed WLTW on top, then WQHT, WSKQ, WCBS-FM, WBLS, WHTZ, WINS, WWPR, WABC, WRKS, WKTU, WQCD, WXRK, WCBS-AM, WQXR, WAXQ, WPAT, WFAN, WPLJ, WOR, WCAA, WNEW, WADO, WLIB, WFME, WALK, WBAB, WBLI.... (no WEVD).
25-54... WLTW, WSKQ, WBLS (up.2), WRKS, WKTU, WCBS-FM, WAXQ, WQCD, WPLJ, WWPR (in 25-54 it was actually down from the Winter--a telling number even though 12+ is significantly up), WQHT (down a full share from the Winter), WHTZ, WINS, WPAT, WFAN, WCAA, WCBS-AM, WNEW, WABC, WQXR, WLIB...., WOR (no WEVD)
18-34: WQHT, WWPR (yes, #2 up from a 3.0 in the Winter to a 6.7!), WXRK (tied with WWPR), WHTZ, WKTU, WSKQ, WLTW, WBLS (down .7), WPLJ, WNEW, WPAT, WRKS, WCAA, WAXQ, WQCD, WINS, WCBS-FM, WFAN, WBLI, WLIB, WCBS-AM, WABC, WLIR.....WOR.
Mornings overall: WXRK (Stern #1), WINS, WSKQ, WLTW, WQHT, WCBS-FM, WHTZ, WCBS-FM, WABC, WBLS, WRKS, WOR, WFAN, WPLJ, WWPR, WKTU, WQCD, WQXR, WAXQ (still flat since Winter), WPAT, WADO, WCAA..... WNEW (#33 with a .5).
Middays: WLTW, WCBS-FM, WABC, WQCD, WBLS, WKTU, WQHT, WSKQ, WAXQ, WRKS, WWPR, WINS, WHTZ, WPLJ, WQXR, WXRK, WFAN, WOR, WPAT, WCBS-AM, WCAA, WADO, WNEW-FM (.8 in the Winter to a 1.1 now).
Afternoons: WLTW, WQHT, WBLS, WHTZ, WKTU, WNEW (O&A up from a 3.2 in the Winter to a 3.9 now), WCBS-FM, WWPR, WABC, WQCD, WRKS, WSKQ, WAXQ, WINS, WFAN, WPLJ, WQXR, WCBS-AM, WOR (down .4 since Winter), WXRK, WCAA
Evenings: WQHT, WLTW, WWPR (big jump here from a 2.9 in the Winter to a 5.4), WBLS, WHTZ, WQCD, WRKS, WKTU, WCBS-AM, WINS, WABC (up from the Winter... Savage helping), WPAT, WCBS-FM, WSKQ, WQXR, WXRK, WNEW (up to a 2.4 from a 1.7 in the Winter), WFAN, WAXQ, WOR, WLIB, WPLJ...
Please note, this is what I have heard. No guarantee of accuracy so treat this accordingly.
from the NY Daily News
May 20, 2002
The new Power-105 (WWPR, 105.1 FM) has started to make some ratings noise, but so far it doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on hip-hop rival WQHT (97.1 FM, Hot-97).
In the Arbitrend ratings for February-April, which include the first six weeks of Power-105, WWPR was up to 4.7% of the audience in its primary target group, 18- to 34-year-olds.
That figure includes the last six weeks of the previous format, Jammin' 105, so Power's numbers will rise once the ratings reflect only the new format.
But WQHT didn't lose anything among 18- to 34-year-olds, where it is No. 1 by a wide margin with 11.7% of the audience.
"We're very pleased," says Tracy Cloherty, vice president of programming at WQHT. "Considering that, obviously, there are some new obstacles now."
Conversely, WBLS (107.5 FM), the other station some think could be affected by Power-105, dropped from 7.4% of 18-to-34-year-olds to 6.7%.
Elsewhere in these new Arbitrends, a different morning show moved into first place: Luis Jimenez and Moonshadow on WSKQ (97.9 FM). WINS is second and Howard Stern third.
WLTW (106.7 FM) increased its lead both in the overall ratings, averaging 6.5% of the audience, and in the key 25- to 54-year-old age group, with 7.5%.
With Jammin' gone, WRKS (98.7 FM), WPAT-FM (93.1) and WQCD (101.9 FM) all gained - though WCBS-FM did not.
The next ratings that really matter, the April-June quarter, come out in July.
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
April 22, 2002
After heavy news and talk listening through the fall, New York radio listeners are returning to music, judging from the winter Arbitron ratings released Friday.
Perennial winner WLTW finished first both overall and in the critical, advertiser-coveted demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds. All-news leaders WINS and WCBS-AM dropped from the fall, though WINS was still No. 1 in morning drive and both WINS and news/talk WABC had higher ratings than they did a year ago.
Music stations WQHT, WCBS-FM, WKTU, WRKS, WAXQ, WPLJ and the late WTJM all went up - which also reflects some work on their parts.
"Music changes and you must be constantly aware what the listener wants," says Jim Ryan, program director of WLTW. "Two years ago, our new music included a lot of boy bands. Now we have Enrique Iglesias, Marc Anthony, Lone Star, The Calling and Luther Vandross."
WCBS-FM ran a heavy TV ad campaign this winter. WRKS brought back veteran Barry Mayo as a programming consultant. WKTU hired Baltazar as Goumba Johnny's partner in the morning and Vic Latino for nights, where his audience share went way up.
"The listeners tell us what they want," says WKTU program director Frankie Blue. "And the staff made it happen."
The ratings were bittersweet for Blue, who programmed WTJM before Clear Channel made it Power-105 last month.
"I understand why the change was done, and Power will do well," says Blue. "But we lost a station that was unique and on the rise. I feel bad for listeners."
Judy Ellis, vice president at Emmis, said her company is "very pleased" with WRKS, which returned to the top 10 as morning host Tom Joyner leapfrogged over rival Doug Banks on WBLS.
Ellis said WQHT is ready for Power-105, which converted to hip-hop after the winter ratings ended in mid-March.
"Hot-97 has proven it's a very strong station," says Ellis, noting that Funkmaster Flex rules the evenings, Angie Martinez remains ahead of WBLS' Wendy Williams in the afternoon and the morning team Star and Buc Wild finished fourth overall while beating Howard Stern among listeners 18 to 34.
WBLS, which has surged recently, held most of those gains while remaining tied for second among 25- to 54-year-olds.
Stern also maintained his big lead with that crucial group, though he slipped a little overall. WNEW's ratings remained dismal, with afternoon team Opie & Anthony, its only stars, falling to 10th place.
While WAXQ took a nice overall jump, its morning show went up only a tic with the addition of the Radio Chick. This quarter also ended before the new evening lineup at WOR took effect.
Here are Arbitron ratings for winter 2002, January-March. The number is the percentage of the total audience listening in the average quarter hour.
Overall: WLTW (6.3), WQHT (6.1), WCBS-FM (4.5), WSKQ (4.3), WBLS (4.2), WHTZ (4.1), WINS (4.0), WABC & WKTU (3.6), WRKS (3.4), WXRK (3.3), WQCD (3.2), WTJM & WAXQ (2.8), WQXR (2.7), WPLJ & WCBS-AM (2.6), WPAT (2.5), WFAN (2.4), WOR (2.3), WCAA (1.8), WLIB (1.3), WNEW (1.2), WADO (1.1), WBLI (0.9).
Morning Drive: WINS (7.0), WSKQ (6.0), WXRK (5.9), WQHT (5.7), WLTW (4.9), WCBS-FM 94.3), WABC (3.5), WBLS (3.4), WRKS (3.2), WFAN & WPLJ (3.0), WOR (2.6), WKTU (2.5), WTJM (2.2), WQXR, WQCD & WAXQ (2.1), WPAT (1.9).
Afternoon Drive: WLTW (6.9), WQHT (6.6), WBLS (5.1), WHTZ (4.6), WCBS-FM (4.2), WKTU (4.1), WABC (3.8), WSKQ (3.4), WQCD (3.3), WNEW (3.2), WAXQ (3.1), WTJM & WRKS (2.9), WOR (2.8), WFAN, WPLJ & WINS (2.7), WQXR (2.6), WXRK & WCBS-AM (2.3).
25- to 54-Year-Olds: WLTW (7.1), WSKQ & WBLS (5.0), WCBS-FM (4.4), WQHT & WKTU (4.2), WRKS & WAXQ (4.1), WXRK (3.9), WTJM (3.6), WHTZ (3.3), WINS (3.2), WPAT (3.0), WFAN (2.4), WABC (2.3), WCAA (2.2), WCBS-AM (1.6), WLIB & WNEW (1.5).
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
April 20, 2002
For the winter, covering January-March, news and talk stations took their expected dip after an extraordinary fall. WINS dropped from averaging 4.8% of the audience to 4%. WCBS-AM dropped from 3.6% to 2.6%. WABC fell from 4% to 3.6%.
Music stations rebounded, with big jumps for WQHT, WCBS-FM, WKTU, WRKS, WAXQ and even the late WTJM, which is now Power-105.
In the morning, Howard Stern continued to slip with the overall audience, from 6.3% to 5.9%, but he remained a strong third behind WINS (7%) and WSKQ (6%). He remained a strong No. 1 among 25- to 54-year-olds, the key group for advertisers.
WLTW finished first overall by averaging 6.3% of the audience, holding off WQHT at 6.1%. WLTW remains way ahead among 25- to 54-year-olds, with 7.1% of that group.
WBLS slipped a bit after a strong year, but still is tied for second with WSKQ in the 25-to-54 group. WCBS-FM, WQHT, WKTU, WRKS and WAXQ all had big jumps in that demographic.
WAXQ's morning show, which added the Radio Chick, went up slightly.
The survey period ended too soon to reflect changes at WOR.
David Hinckley
from the NY Radio Message Board
April 19, 2002
Posted by Allan Sniffen on April 19, 2002 at 12:46:10:
--snips--
12 + Morning things:
WINS number one, WSKQ number 2, WXRK number 3 (Stern down AGAIN. . ), then Hot 97 (up .6--again this is what Clear Channel is looking at in shifting 105.1 to R&B), WLTW, WCBS-FM (Harry Harrison had a nice jump up to a 4.3-- best he’s done in a long time), Z 100 number 6 tied with CBS-FM, WCBS-AM is next, then WABC at number 9 (Curtis and Kuby down slightly to a 3.5). WBLS next, then WRKS (two stations with syndicated morning shows that are about even with each other leaving an opening for both Hot 97 and the new Power 105-1). WFAN next (Imus is #12 with a 3.0), WPLJ tied with WFAN (Scott and Todd were up .3). WOR’s Ed Walsh about the same as the Fall at #14, WKTU next, WTJM, WQXR, WQCD. WAXQ was about the same as the Fall at a 2.1 (no impact from Leslie Gold one way or the other), WPAT, WCAA, WADO------(a bunch of others). WNEW way down at the bottom, again, at number 33 (0.4---truly embarrassing).
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
January 8, 2002
News, talk and soothing music seemed to be the ticket on New York radio during a troubled autumn, as Lite-FM (WLTW) regained the overall No. 1 spot in the Arbitron ratings and all-news WINS was the listeners' choice in the morning.
But the biggest single surge came at WBLS, which leaped from 10th place to fourth as its share of the audience rose from 3.2% in the summer to 4.6% in the fall.
WBLS also jumped from eighth to second place among listeners 25 to 54, the age group advertisers covet most. WLTW was No. 1 in that age group for the 10th consecutive ratings quarter.
News/talk WABC took eighth place with 4% of the audience, its highest share since 1995, and all-news WCBS-AM returned to the top 10 after several years, with 3.6% of the audience.
WXRK morning man Howard Stern was third overall in the mornings for the second consecutive ratings quarter. While his share has declined 10%-20% over the last two years, he remains No. 1 among his target listeners, 18 to 34 and 25 to 54.
The WNEW afternoon team of Opie and Anthony, which went into syndication last year, fell from 4.4% of the audience to 3.6%, though they remained strong with younger males. WNEW's evening ratings went up with Ron and Fez, but overall the station tumbled from 1.6% to 1.3%, the lowest rating of any major city station.
Outside of WLTW, WBLS and WQXR and WQCD, which took a nice jump, most music stations were down slightly, in some cases reflecting a normal falloff from summer listening and in other cases the increased interest in news and talk this fall.
"When something like [9/11] happens, frankly, we should do better," said Scott Herman, general manager of WINS. "So it's gratifying that we did."
Herman noted that WINS is only now reinstating some of its normal features, like entertainment news, after dropping them to cover the terrorism story.
The number of people who listened to WINS at least once a week in the fall was 2.914 million, about half a million more than the cumulative audience for second-place WHTZ.
"That's not the result of one event," said Herman. "That's the result of 36 years establishing ourselves as New York's radio news source."
"News and talk obviously did very well," said Jim Ryan, program director of WLTW. "And I think our station also responded to Sept. 11 by offering an oasis from the trauma. I think it helped New Yorkers to have familiar music."
A lot of New Yorkers also turned back to a familiar station, WBLS. The biggest splash came from new afternoon host Wendy Williams, whose 5.2% audience share virtually doubled WBLS' summer share, but program director Vinny Brown said the whole station was on a roll.
"We put together a strategic plan a year ago," he said. "It came together faster and better than we had hoped." In an unusual situation for an "urban" station, which usually targets one segment of the crowded market, WBLS went up with both younger and older listeners.
Noting that Inner City Broadcasting sister station WLIB also showed a healthy increase, from 0.9% to 1.4%, Brown joked, "There are no Inner City Blues today."
* * *
The Winners Are . . .
Here are Arbitron results for fall 2001. The number shows the percentage of total radios in use that are tuned to a station in the average quarter hour:
Overall: WLTW (6.4), WQHT (5.7), WINS (4.8), WBLS (4.6), WHTZ (4.3), WSKQ and WCBS-FM (4.1), WABC (4.0), WCBS-AM (3.6), WQCD (3.4), WXRK (3.2), WKTU (3.0), WQXR (2.8), WRKS (2.7), WFAN (2.6), WTJM (2.5), WPAT-FM and WAXQ (2.4), WOR and WPLJ (2.3), WADO and WCAA (1.6), WLIB (1.4), WNEW (1.3), WBLI (0.9).
Mornings: WINS (7.6), WSKQ (6.4), WXRK (6.3), WQHT and WCBS-AM (5.1), WLTW (4.7), WHTZ (4.3), WBLS (3.9), WABC (3.7), WCBS-FM (3.5), WFAN (3.1), WPLJ (2.7), WOR and WQCD (2.5), WKTU (2.4), WRKS (2.3), WQXR and WAXQ (2.0), WADO (1.9), WPAT-FM and WTJM (1.8).
Afternoons: WLTW (6.7), WQHT (6.4), WBLS (5.2), WHTZ (4.9), WABC (4.4), WCBS-FM and WINS (3.9), WNEW (3.6), WQCD (3.5), WKTU (3.1), WCBS-AM (3.0), WOR and WSKQ (2.9), WFAN (2.8), WQXR and WAXQ (2.6), WPLK (2.5), WXRK (2.4), WRKS (2.3), WTJM (2.2).
25- to 54-Year-Olds: WLTW (7.0), WBLS (5.3), WSKQ (4.9), WQCD (4.3), WINS (4.2), WCBS-FM (4.0), WXRK (3.8), WHTZ (3.7), WQHT (3.6), WAXQ and WKTU (3.4), WTJM, WRKS and WPLJ (3.3), WABC and WFAN (2.9).
18- to 34-Year-Olds: WQHT (11.9), WBLS (8.0), WHTZ (7.2), WXRK (6.8), WKTU (6.0), WSKQ (5.7), WLTW (5.6), WPLJ (3.9), WPAT-FM and WRKS (2.9), WCAA (2.6), WNEW (2.5). WAXQ (2.4), WINS (1.9), WFAN and WQCD (1.7).
from the NYRMB
Posted by Allan Sniffen on January 07, 2002 at 15:57:30:
--snips--
Morning Drive stuff:
WINS is number one, WSKQ #2, Stern #3.
Stern was down slightly from the summer but is down over a full share from last Fall. In 25-54, Stern is still #1 but has slipped almost 2 ratings points since last Fall.
Hot 97 is #4, WCBS-AM, WLTW, WHTZ, WBLS, WABC (Curtis and Kuby now a 3.7), WCBS-FM, WFAN (yes, C&K beat Imus), WPLJ, WOR (Walsh down again... now a 2.5), WQCD, WKTU, WRKS (syndication in AM Drive is REALLY hurting Kiss), WQXR, WAXQ (Bob Buchmann is still a 2.0 (#17)), WADO, WPAT-FM, WTJM (flat at a 1.8 over the last year), WCAA, WLIB, WKXW, WALK, WBBR (0.9).
Stern still big... but not as big as he used to be.
Good book for both news stations, and a great book for Curtis and Kuby who keep trending up for WABC. Also a good book for Z 100 (Elvis Duran), WBLS. Imus was up a little on WFAN. Scott and Todd (WPLJ) even over the last year.
from the NY Daily News
October 15, 2001
Neither WLTW nor morning man Howard Stern of WXRK is too concerned about being bumped from first place in radio's summer Arbitron ratings -- Lite by WQHT and Stern by WINS and WSKQ.
The winners are still happy.
"Beating Howard is great," says Carey Davis, vice president at WSKQ. "People said we couldn't, but this shows the strength of our market."
"Since we got a solid morning show, we've done well," says Tracy Cloherty, programming vice president at Hot-97. "Summers are good for us."
"I congratulate Tracy," says Jim Ryan, program director of WLTW. "But we'll be back." Ryan notes WLTW is still first by a wide margin among advertiser-coveted listeners 25 to 54.
Stern is also first with listeners 25 to 54, and he's the main reason WXRK is one of the country's top five stations in ad revenue.
"Unless those numbers drop, I don't think I'd be too concerned about Howard," says Tom Taylor of the trade mag M Street Journal.
This rating quarter included the first nine days of attack coverage, which helped WINS.
For the fall ratings, which are critical because they set ad rates, several changes are in place: Jeff Foxx on WTJM, Wendy Williams at WBLS and Paco at WPAT-FM, where he is taking over afternoons.
Here are the July-September Arbitron ratings. The number is the percentage of the total audience listening in an average quarter hour.
Overall: WQHT (6.6), WLTW (6.0), WHTZ (4.6), WSKQ (4.4), WCBS-FM/ WINS (4.3), WKTU (3.8), WABC (3.7), WRKS (3.3), WQCD/WBLS/ WXRK (3.2), WCBS-AM (2.9), WAXQ (2.6), WFAN/ WPLJ (2.5), WPAT-FM/ WOR (2.4), WQXR (2.2), WTJM (2.1), WCAA (1.7), WNEW (1.6), WADO (1.3), WYNY (1.1), WFME/WLIB (1.0).
Mornings: WINS (7.4), WSKQ (6.6), WXRK (6.4), WQHT (5.4), WCBS-AM (4.8), WLTW (4.5), WHTZ (3.9), WCBS-FM (3.7), WABC (3.5), WOR/ WBLS/ WRKS (2.9), WFAN/ WPLJ/ WKTU (2.7), WQCD (2.4), WADO/WAXQ (2.0), WPAT-FM (1.9), WTJM (1.8).
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
October 13, 2001
|
| The King of All Media is seeing a little rust on his scepter these days. |
That was one of two surprises in the July-September Arbitron ratings released yesterday. In the overall ratings, WQHT (97.1 FM) -- perhaps helped by the controversy over the suspension of morning show host Star -- leapfrogged over perennial winner WLTW (106.7 FM) to finish No. 1.
Stern trailed both WINS (1010 AM), which like other news stations saw a huge surge in listenership after Sept. 11, and WSKQ (97.9 FM, La Mega). La Mega's morning show, "El Vacilon de la Manana," with Luis Gonzalez and Moonshadow, had been nipping at Stern's heels for years and was ecstatic yesterday over finally finishing ahead of him in a ratings quarter.
Stern went to No. 1 in New York soon after he took over the morning show on WXRK (92.3 FM) in 1986. In the handful of ratings periods where he hasn't finished No. 1 since then, he has been beaten only by WINS in quarters when there was unusually heavy news-radio listenership. The most recent time that happened was last winter, when WINS finished ahead of him by one-tenth of a point.
But Stern's ratings generally have declined over the last year, though his remains the single biggest show in the city.
In the late '90s he averaged more than 8% of the total audience that was listening to the radio in an average quarter-hour. As recently as last summer, he was getting 7.8% of the audience. This summer he averaged 6.4%, which was actually up a tick from the 6.3% he averaged in the spring.
WINS averaged 7.4% of the audience this summer and WSKQ averaged 6.6%.
In the overall ratings, WQHT averaged 6.6% of the audience to 6% for WLTW. But WLTW maintained a substantial lead over everyone else among listeners 25 to 54, who are the most important for the stations because they're the ones advertiser pay the biggest money to reach.
from Newsday
July 17, 2001
After tweaking their playlists, adult contemporary Lite FM (WLTW/106.7 FM) is back on top in New York, and Long Island's adult contemporary WALK/97.5 FM strengthened its hold among listeners aged 12 and up, according to the spring Arbitron ratings.
But the more interesting stories concern Howard Stern's continuing weakness, even though his morning show is back at No. 1; the strong showing by classic rock Q-104 (WAXQ/ 104.3 FM) among all age groups; and the power of talk WABC/770 AM.
Stern's 6.3 share continues a long- term decline; he earned a 6.5 in the winter, and a 7.8 last summer. That slide was also reflected among the vital listeners 25 to 54, where his 8.6, still good enough for No. 1, was also down, from 10.3 last summer. And among listeners 18 to 34, the core of the core, Hot 97's Star and Buc Wild beat Stern 11.6 to 11.3.
Meanwhile, WABC tied with contemporary hit WKTU/103.5 FM for No. 5 among 12 and up with a 3.9, its best share in years. And Q-104 tied with Spanish WPAT/93.1 FM for No. 13, with 2.9; in the 25-54 crowd, the station did its best yet, reaching No. 3 with 4.4.
Here are the top 10 ratings for listeners 12 and up, compared with the previous quarter's numbers:
New York: 1. WLTW, 6.2 (up from 5.7) 2. WQHT, 5.9 (down from 6.0) 3. Contemporary hit WHTZ/100.3 FM, 4.3 (4.4) 4. Oldies WCBS/101.1 FM, 4.1 (4.0) 5. Tied at 3.9, WABC (2.9), WKTU (3.9) 7. Tropical WSKQ/97.9 FM, 3.8 (4.4) 8. Urban WBLS/107.5 FM, 3.5 (3.1) 9. All-news WINS/1010 AM, 3.4 (3.7) 10. Urban WRKS/98.7 FM, 3.3 (3.0) Long Island: 1. WALK, 5.7 (unchanged) 2. WXRK, 4.8 (4.5) 3. WBLI/106.1 FM, 4.5 (4.8) 4. WABC, 4.4 (3.3) 5. WHTZ, 4.1 (5.2) 6. Tied at 3.9, WCBS/101.1 FM (3.5), sports WFAN/660 AM (3.7) 8. Rock WBAB/102.3 FM, 3.8 (3.4) 9. Tied at 3.4, oldies WBZO/103.1 FM (2.5), WLTW (3.8)
from the NY Daily News
July 16, 2001
WLTW and Howard Stern regained their number-one rankings in radio's spring Arbitron survey, but they were no happier than WABC, which leapt from 13th to fifth place, or WAXQ, the classic rocker that's now third among advertiser-coveted 25- to 54-year-olds.
WLTW's real score was a huge win in that 25-to-54 group, averaging 7.4% to 4.6% for second-place WSKQ.
WLTW program director Jim Ryan credited, in part, TV ads "that remind people we aren't the Lite of 10 years ago. We play Marc Anthony, Matchbox 20, Faith Hill, Eric Clapton."
WABC, which jumped from 2.9% of the audience to 3.9%, got a big boost from the Yankees, but also saw its Curtis and Kuby morning show rise. "We have our old listeners back and we may be taking from other shows," says WABC program director Phil Boyce.
These ratings do not yet fully reflect some recent changes, including Tom Joyner coming to WRKS, WTJM tweaking its music and WABC putting John Gambling into Dr. Laura's morning slot.
These are Arbitrons for April-June, with the percentage of the audience tuned to that station in an average quarter hour.
OVERALL: WLTW (6.2), WQHT (5.9), WHTZ (4.3), WCBS-FM (4.1), WABC and WKTU (3.9), WSKQ (3.8), WBLS (3.5), WINS (3.4), WRKS (3.3), WXRK (3.2), WQCD (3.0), WPAT-FM, WAXQ (2.9), WCBS-AM (2.8), WFAN (2.6), WQXR (2.5), WOR, WTJM, WPLJ (2.4), WCAA (1.8), WNEW (1.7), WADO (1.6) WLIB (1.1), WYNY, WALK (1.0).
MORNINGS: WXRK (6.3), WINS (6.0), WSKQ (5.5), WQHT (5.1), WLTW (5.0), WHTZ (4.5), WCBS-AM (4.4), WCBS-FM (4.1), WBLS (3.3), WABC (3.2), WRKS (3.0), WOR, WKTU (2.8), WFAN, WPLJ (2.7), WAXQ (2.2), WADO, WPAT-FM (2.1), WQXR, WQCD (2.0), WTJM (1.8).
AFTERNOONS: WQHT (6.9), WLTW (6.2), WHTZ (4.8), WNEW, WKTU (4.5), WCBS-FM (4.1), WABC (3.9), WAXQ (3.3), WBLS (3.2), WRKS (3.1), WQCD (3.0), WFAN (2.9), WSKQ (2.8), WINS (2.7), WOR, WPAT-FM, WPLJ (2.6).
25 TO 54: WLTW (7.4), WSKQ (4.6), WAXQ (4.4), WKTU (4.3), WBLS, WCBS-FM (4.2), WRKS (4.0), WXRK (3.9), WQCD, WQHT (3.6), WHTZ (3.4), WPAT-FM, WPLJ (3.3), WTJM (3.2), WINS (2.9), WFAN (2.7), WCAA (2.4), WNEW, WABC (2.2), WCBS-AM (1.7).
from the NY Post
July 16, 2001
July 16, 2001 -- On Radio
HOWARD Stern managed to reclaim his morning drive crown - but dropped to his lowest ratings in recent history.
Stern's total audience share for spring was down 13 percent from a year ago and a jaw-dropping 28 percent from the spring of 1998, according to Arbitron ratings released Friday.
"There is a lot more ‘bad boy' radio around these days, diluting the uniqueness of Howard," said a radio researcher who asked not to be identified.
"The Stern show has become too predictable for many listeners," the researcher said. "They tell us, ‘Lesbians, dwarfs and the usual assortment of freaks. There is nothing new.' "
Stern's latest ratings continues a downward trend that started a year ago last winter and intensified, with the exception of an uptick last summer that quickly evaporated.
Three months ago, all-news WINS (1010 AM) toppled Stern from his wakeup-show perch for the first time in seven years and, in interim ratings between winter and spring, both WINS and Spanish-language WSKQ (97.9 FM) managed to do it.
Elsewhere in the ratings, all-talk WABC (770 AM) made the biggest jump by far - climbing an impressive 34 percent between winter and spring.
WABC's biggest gains came from Curtis & Kuby in the morning and the Yankees at night.
And Lite FM (106.7) regained top-dog status by swapping places with last quarter's champion, Hot 97 (97.1 FM).
from the NY Daily News
July 14, 2001
David Hinckley Column
Lite averaged 6.2% of the audience, to 5.9% for WQHT.
Even better for Ryan, WLTW racked up a huge lead among listeners 25 to 54, the group most coveted by advertisers. Lite averaged 7.4% of that audience, compared to 4.6% for second-place WSKQ.
Howard Stern regained the number-one spot in the morning, though his ratings actually slipped a bit. Stern averaged 6.3% of the morning audience from April to June, compared to 6.5% from January to March.
Maybe the happiest station of all was WABC, whose ratings soared a startling 37%, from 2.9% of the audience to 3.9%. That put WABC in a fifth-place tie with WKTU, trailing Lite, Hot, WHTZ and WCBS-FM. WABC's Curtis and Kuby morning show beat rival WOR for the first time in years.
Other stations that went up included WBLS, WRKS and WAXQ. Dropping were WQCD, WQXR, WSKQ and WOR.
from the NYC Radio Message board
Howard Stern...Why the ratings slide?
Posted by Ken S. on May 18, 2001 at 16:50:23: Howard is now 3rd 12+ with a 5.7 from a 6.5
from NY Radio Guide
May 18, 2001
The Latest Trends: (May 18) The monthly Arbitrends covering the months of February, March, and April (Spring Phase I) were released on Friday, May 18th, showing some moderation from the volatility of last month`s Winter book.
Hot 97 (WQHT, 97.1 FM) remains in the top spot with a 6.1 audience share, again leading Lite-FM (WLTW, 106.7 FM) by 0.3 share points. Both Kiss-FM (WRKS, 98.7 FM) and WBLS (107.5 FM) recouped some of their Winter book losses, while Howard Stern and K-Rock (WXRK, 92.3 FM), CD101.9 (WQCD) and WOR (710 AM) lost listeners. WNEW-FM (102.7) remains in the cellar with a 1.5 share. The full Spring Arbitron report will be released in July.
from the NY Daily News
May 16, 2001
Station manager Carey Davis said his irreverent wake-up jocks Luis Jiminez and his sidekick Moonshadow -- who've been known to invite male listeners to a "flattest butt contest" -- have a strong shot at grabbing Stern's longheld title of morning drivetime talk king.
"We've got a real chance at beating Howard Stern," Davis said. "We've never been this close."
Davis has reason to be hopeful: Stern's ratings on Viacom-owned WXRK (92.3 FM) have fallen 17% since last year in the most recent Arbitron ratings period, when Stern lost his No. 1 title to all-news station WINS (1010 AM).
At the same time, Mega morning show "El Vacilon de La Manana" -- "Good Times In the Morning" -- has surged 28%, putting the show just one tenth of a ratings point behind Stern.
While WINS, which is also owned by Viacom, remains a formidable factor in the race for No. 1, its victory in the last ratings period can be traced to listeners tuning in during the winter season for weather updates.
Winning in the morning has always been crucial -- morning drive accounts for as much as 50% of a station's revenues -- but it's especially important for WSKQ, which is owned by Hispanic radio chain Spanish Broadcasting System.
The station has been working hard to convince advertisers of the buying power of New York's growing Hispanic population. "Its not just can we beat Howard Stern, but what its means psychologically," Davis said. And the station can use help: its parent company, Spanish Broadcasting, is blaming the slow New York ad market for a recent dip in profits.
from Newsday
May 10, 2001
SOMETHING UNUSUAL happened this winter. Howard Stern fans broke out of their morning routine. They spun their radio dials, and Stern lost.
This is serious. Howard Stern lost his No. 1 spot in New York (a position he held for seven years) and has slipped in a number of other markets. Could it be that "Generation X" is finally fading? Could this be the end of Howard Stern? The 2000 Census suggests that "classic" radio programs should expect some loss of market share to Spanish-language broadcasts-especially among the younger crowd, who need not be native speakers to enjoy the shows. (Shall we call them the Fiesta Generation?). In New York, "El Vacilon de La Mañana," the madcap show on "Mega 97" (WSKQ/97.9 FM) otherwise known as "The Morning Goof-Off," is nipping at Howard's heels. This suggests that Stern may be out of touch with the younger crowd.
But Stern is also losing fans in his own age group, indicating a more serious problem with the former King of All Media's marketing strategy. His fans are getting older, and he isn't.
This doesn't necessarily mean he'll be gone anytime soon. Until radio finds a new magic formula, the cheap and easy programming Stern has spawned will be around for some time to come.
No amount of reasoned discussion can diminish the sheer joy that Gen-X Howardites get from hearing him reduce women to eye candy-living, breathing, playgrounds for phallic fantasies. But if you want to change the heart of a 25-year-old white boy on the matter of women's full humanity, get a nurse's uniform and hand him his first baby daughter. For more fun, try to sell his daughter a push-up bra when she turns 14.
From a marketing perspective, this phenomenon is a real disaster. Just when his fans get old enough to settle into the steady jobs and the spending habits that make advertisers happy, they start having children and ruin some of that Howard Stern appeal. Although Stern still does well in the 25- to 54-year-old age group, he's slipping there too and hasn't managed to accommodate their life changes.
But could this really be the end of Howard? I think it's unlikely at this juncture. First, some of those fans will eventually return. The issue here is, why did they spin that dial in the first place? Gradual slippage aside, this winter saw a sudden drop in ratings. Something happened. If Howard Stern fans are like me (though I like to think they are not), it was the election.
Stern didn't ignore the election completely, but he was too engrossed in his own self-promotion (contract negotiations with Viacom) to notice the gold mine before him. Using the election as fodder for the comedy mill did not require taking sides, or even taking politics seriously. It was a fully contained knock-down, drag-out fight complete with bells and whistles, and it played constantly on all-news WINS/1010 AM, the station that moved to No. 1 in the New York morning slot. But all that was temporary. My radio dial has since returned to its original position, and I assume others have as well.
The other reason Stern fans may have gone shopping for alternative morning entertainment is that he lost an important member of his morning team- Long Island's own radio personality and writer Jackie Martling. Now, let's be honest: Jackie wasn't providing all the important material and leaving the mindless stuff. It's all mindless. But producing five hours of original material every day is no picnic. Television late shows give us 25 minutes, minus commercials, and their production costs are much higher than Howard's.
Morning shows of this genre are mindless out of necessity. The only alternative is to hire other minds to fill the time.
But with the exception of the election drama, Howard Stern provides the one thing almost everyone needs in the morning-coffee. By this, I mean that he gets the blood pumping.
I learned the underlying principle from a trucker. When darkness sets on our nation's highways, the bigots come out of hiding. By 4 a.m., Channel 19 on CB radio is usually abuzz with belligerent disputes about which types of people have a right to drive on our roads and which do not. Once it gets going, there are representatives on all sides. But starting the fight requires something offensive. I'd been listening to that ongoing train wreck for more than a year when it happened. Someone asked why the instigator chose to start such an argument, given that he was, as usual, completely unprovoked. To everyone's surprise, the instigator sprang out of character and answered, "I was falling asleep." Those late-night racist and xenophobic battles prevent highway crashes and save lives. Of course, it's not the first time people with a little power saved something of their own at the expense of already disadvantaged groups, and it won't be the last.
Howard Stern titillates and infuriates his groggy audience into consciousness of the purely physical sort. He does it at the expense of almost everyone else, and it makes him rich. Perhaps he will lose advertising revenues and retreat at some point, but unless radio stations are willing to put a lot more money into programming, his genre will not disappear anytime soon.
from the NY Daily News
April 24, 2001
One of the things that always frustrated Joey Ramone is that the Ramones never had hit records, and that was partly because their machine-gun music rarely fit any commercial radio format.
Which was, of course, one of the main reasons they got together in the first place.
"When I first saw the Ramones at CBGB, plenty of us were not connecting with what was all over the radio," says veteran deejay Meg Griffin, who is now with Sirius radio. "Overproduced, slick stuff that had nothing to do with the rock 'n' roll we had grown up with - the sounds rooted in Buddy Holly, the Beach Boys or the MC5."
The Ramones, Griffin says, made "brave music, fun music, music with a sense of humor. It made me smile and want to dance. I felt less alone in the world because of them."
When Griffin started around 1976 at WRNW in Westchester, Howard Stern and the other jocks called her "Mary Ramone" because she was such a fan.
The day after Joey Ramone died on April 15, Stern devoted part of his WXRK show to the Ramones, talking with Griffin among others. Stern always had that look-alike connection to Ramone, but it was gratifying that even though the Ramones still generally fall through radio's format cracks, a number of stations did remember him.
Not surprisingly, WFMU (91.1 FM) led the local pack. Hova, Dave the Spazz, Joe Belock and Douglas all devoted most of their shows to Ramones music, including live tracks and covers. WFMU archives most of those shows, which Internet listeners can access through wfmu.org.
Jerry Rubino jumped on the case at WFDU (89.1 FM) and also helped the memorial action at WDRE (92.7 FM). Besides Stern and WXRK, classic rock WAXQ (104.3 FM) played Ramones blocs and had the jocks play their Ramones faves.
Vin Scelsa noted his passing Saturday night on WFUV (90.7 FM).
IMUS RAISES MILLIONS: WFAN morning man Imus' annual radiothon to help children with cancer raised a record $3.1 million last week. Imus may not have the biggest audience on radio - but the millions who do tune him in are obviously a group that's got some clout and some bucks.
STERN QUIET: Howard Stern didn't say much yesterday about the winter ratings in which, for the first time since 1994, he wasn't No. 1 in the city.
But WXRK program director Steve Kingston says it's no big thing: "He's set such a high standard for 15 years that even if he dips a little once, he's still way ahead of the pack. His biggest problem is that he gets compared to himself. No one is jumping out any windows here."
AROUND THE DIAL: Cousin Bruce Morrow of WCBS-FM (101.1) will be inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame tonight in Vegas. - Starting last night, former WABC morning man Lionel can be heard weeknights 10-11 on WEVD (1050 AM).
from the NY Post
April 21, 2001
SOURED ON HOWARD: Shock jock Howard Stern's radio ratings are down 14 percent. Listeners "are not terribly stimulated by his preoccupation with interviewing dumb girls and losers," one industry observer says. - Reuters
April 21, 2001 -- "King of All Media" Howard Stern forfeited his wake-up radio crown for the first time in seven years. Stern, whose K-Rock (92.3 FM) fan base started to diminish early last year, was topped by all-news station WINS (1010 AM) - the first time that's happened since spring 1994.
The reason Stern is losing audience is because he is afraid to grow with the people who have been listening to him all these years," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine.
Ratings for radio's baddest boy dropped 14 percent from fall to winter. Stern's total audience share dropped by more than one-fourth - from 8.7 percent to 6.5 percent - from a year ago, according to Arbitron quarterly ratings.
Stern's listeners "are not terribly stimulated by his preoccupation with interviewing dumb girls and losers," said Harrison. "You cannot expect the new crop of young people to respond to Stern the way the older crowd did 15 years ago."
"Maybe as the bar gets raised he's become less shocking," said one-time WPLJ programmer Larry Berger.
Stern's employer, CBS/Infinity - which also operates WINS - says Stern still rules where it counts.
"The show continued to lead in all key demographics that advertisers covet," a company spokesman said, referring to the 18-to-34 and 25-to-54 age groups that Stern still dominates.
Stern couldn't be reached yesterday. The ratings were revealed too late in the morning to become a topic on his radio show.
Some industry observers speculated that this winter's severe weather might have helped all-news WINS topple Stern.
But a Post check of WINS' ratings history showed the station's audience basically flat in recent years - and even higher last summer - while Stern has inched downward.
The ratings had shocks for other stations, too.
Longtime top dog Lite-FM (106.7) was bumped out of first place by urban/Top 40 Hot 97 (97.1 FM), although it's still dominant among 25-54 adults.
Talk station WABC (770 AM) lost the election in more ways than one, being voted down from seventh to 13th place without the ratings boost it got from last fall's presidential squeaker.
"We had a lot going for us in the fall that made it pretty hard to hold onto," said programmer Phil Boyce. "We're still the No. 1 talk station in the nation."
All-talk upstart WNEW-FM (102.7), which did not enjoy a boost from the elections, dropped anyway - shedding a quarter of its audience to finish in 23rd place.
WNEW's fast-rising Opie & Anthony retreated in the afternoons, backing off from third to seventh place in total audience - but the rowdy duo remains tops with men and second with adults, 25-54.
"We're still No. 1 in all the demos we were hired to be No. 1 in," said Opie. "Men love us."
from Newsday
April 21, 2001
Have the mighty fallen? Howard Stern and adult contemporary Lite FM (WLTW/106.7 FM) were both knocked out of the No. 1 spot in the winter Arbitron radio ratings released Friday. The erstwhile King of All Media had been No. 1 among listeners aged 12 and up for as long as anyone can remember, and the last time any radio station even tied Lite was in the spring of 1999.
So who was No. 1 in the morning? All-news WINS/1010 AM, with a 6.6 share, up from 5.9 in the fall, when it was No. 2. And who beat Lite overall? Contemporary hit Hot 97 (WQHT/97.1 FM), with 6.0, up from 5.5. As it happens, Hot 97 was the station that tied WLTW two years ago.
Although Stern is still getting good ratings, the trends are ominous. The 6.5 share he earned among listeners 12 and up this winter is down two full shares, from 8.7 last winter. Even worse, his morning show lost almost 25 percent of its audience among the prized 25-54 age group, garnering 8.7 instead of last winter's 11.5. That's still good enough for No. 1 in that group, but the gap between Stern and the No. 2 show, "El Vacilon de La Mañana" on Mega 97 (WSKQ/97.9 FM) is shrinking; the popular Hispanic program earned a 7.8.
Stern appears to be in trouble on Long Island, too. He's still No. 1 in both age groups, but his audience share is falling: 9.4 among listeners age 12 and up, down from 10.2 last winter; 11.5 among listeners 25-54, down from 14.6 last winter.
On Long Island, adult contemporary WALK/97.5 FM clawed its way back to the top, with a 5.7 share among listeners 12 and up, compared with a 5.2 in the fall. K-Rock, the previous No. 1 (which depends heavily on Stern), fell to No. 4, with a 4.5, down from 5.4 in the fall.
Here are the top 10, aged 12 and up, for New York and Long Island:
New York:
No. 1: WQHT; No. 2: WLTW, 5.7 (up from 5.6); No. 3: a tie at 4.4 between WSKQ (up from 4.0) and contemporary hit WHTZ/100.3 FM (down from 4.2); No. 5: oldies WCBS/101.1 FM, 4.0 (4.1); No. 6: contemporary hit WKTU/103.5 FM, 3.9 (3.5); No. 7: WINS, 3.7 (unchanged); No. 8: soft jazz WQCD/101.9 FM, 3.6 (3.2); No. 9: WXRK, 3.3 (3.7); No. 10: urban WBLS/107.5 FM, 3.1 (3.4).
Long Island:
No. 1: WALK; No. 2: WHTZ, 5.2 (4.4); No. 3: contemporary hit WBLI/106.1 FM, 4.8 (4.7); No. 4: WXRK; No. 5: WLTW, 3.8 (3.1); No. 6, tie at 3.7 between sports WFAN/660 AM (4.3) and news WCBS/880 AM (3.8); No. 8: WCBS/101.1 FM, 3.5 (unchanged); No. 9: rock WBAB/102.3 FM, 3.4 (3.8); No. 10: news WABC/770 AM, 3.3 (4.3).
from the NY Daily News
April 21, 2001
The morning drive-time crown went to WINS-AM, which grabbed 6.6% of listeners 12 and up.
Howard Stern's show on WXRK averaged 6.5%.
WSKQ-FM got 6.4%.
However, with the advertiser-targeted adults between the ages of 18 and 34, Stern's show was tops, grabbing 12.4% of those listeners, just ahead of 97.1's Star and Buc Wild show.
--snips--
from NY Radio Guide
April 20, 2001
Day of the Book: (April 20) The Winter, 2001 Arbitron ratings, covering the months of January, February, and March, were released today, containing a large number of ratings swings and changes in category leaders.
Perennial overall front-runner Lite-FM (WLTW, 106.7 FM) settles for second place behind a surging Hot 97 (WQHT, 97.1 FM), while long-time ratings leader Howard Stern, heard on K-Rock (WXRK, 92.3 FM), suffers a 1.2 drop in audience share to place second to all-news WINS (1010 WINS).
Gainers this quarter include WKTU (103.5 FM), WQCD (101.9 FM), and WQXR (96.3 FM), while decliners include Kiss-FM (WRKS, 98.7 FM), WABC (770 AM), and the Opie & Anthony show on WNEW-FM (102.7 FM), down 1.5 this quarter.
A full analysis and ratings will follow.
...and here's that analysis...
from NY Radio Guide
April 20, 2001
Two perennial ratings leaders have fallen from the top spot this quarter. Howard Stern, long the king of morning ratings on K-Rock (WXRK, 92.3 FM), ended a nearly seven-year run at the top as all-news WINS (1010 AM) picked up listeners in AM Drive. Stern's audience share declined from 7.6 in the Fall Arbitron book to a 6.5 share this quarter. While Stern's rating often display volatility of a full share or more, this quarter's share represents a long-time low and the first time Stern has placed second since the Spring of 1994. Increased morning listenership for 1010 WINS propelled that daypart's ratings from 5.9 in the Fall to 6.6 this quarter. The decline in Stern's ratings also pulled down K-Rock's overall standing, from 3.7 to a 3.3 share.
The other long-time ratings leader, Lite-FM (WLTW, 106.7 FM), lost its #1 perch to Hot 97 (WQHT, 97.1 FM), which enjoyed its strongest quarter since Summer 1997. Lite-FM, which gained slightly this quarter (up 0.1 to 5.7), has held or tied for the 12+ lead for nine consecutive quarters. Its last finish below first place was Summer 1998. Hot 97 has held the #2 spot for some time, but surged this quarter, moving from a 5.5 share in the Fall book to a 6.0 share. All of its dayparts did well, especially afternoons and evenings.
In Contemporary Hit Radio, both Z-100 (WHTZ, 100.3 FM) and WKTU (103.5 FM) rebounded somewhat from weak showings in the Fall book. Z-100, tied for third place overall, was up 0.2 to 4.4, still lower than it is accustomed to finishing. WKTU followed a record-low 3.5 share in the Fall with a 3.9 share this quarter; it enjoyed gains in all dayparts. WPLJ (95.5 FM) declined from a 2.6 share in the Fall to a 2.3 share, with lower shares throughout its broadcast day. WPLJ has not seen a 2.3 share since Fall 1998.
The classic competition between Urban rivals Kiss-FM (WRKS, 98.7) and WBLS (107.6 FM) continues to surprise. Kiss declined substantially this quarter, falling from a strong 3.8 share in the Fall to a long-time low of 3.0 this quarter. The Isaac Hayes morning show, which is being replaced by the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show at the end of this month, fell sharply, down to a 2.5 share from 3.6 in the Fall. WBLS also declined this quarter, down 0.3 to an overall 3.1 share. Its showing was enough, though, to pull out in front of Kiss. BLS' syndicated Doug Banks Morning Show lost listeners this quarter, moving down from a 3.4 share in the Fall to a 2.8 share.
The talk radio rivalry between WABC (770 AM) and WOR (710 AM) has revived after WABC took a substantial lead last quarter. With the election and post-election behind us, the political talkers at WABC have been drawing fewer listeners; the station's ratings declined from 3.7 in the Fall to a 2.9 share. WABC's Curtis & Kuby morning show saw a 0.7 share decline, to 2.3. WOR, conversely, picked up listeners this quarter after a drop in the Fall; it was up 0.2 to a 2.8 share. Its morning show, featuring Ed Walsh, is recovering from the departure of John Gambling and saw a ratings gain from 3.1 in the Fall to a 3.5 share. Hot talker WNEW-FM (102.7) appears to have lost much of the momentum it had been building in 2000. The station's overall share dropped back from 2.0 in the Fall to 1.5, and the ratings for its anchor show, Opie & Anthony, fell sharply from 5.2 in the Fall to 3.7. NEW's morning show, the Sports Guys, draws but a mere 0.6 share.
Other ratings notes: Jammin' 105 (WTJM, 105.1 FM), which experienced a weak showing in the Fall book, regained ground this quarter, moving up 0.4 to a 2.7 share. Its Jay Thomas morning show remains flat at a 1.8 share. Two stations which rarely move much in the ratings were up this quarter. Smooth jazz CD101.9 (WQCD) rose 0.4 to a 3.6 share, its best showing in many years. Classical WQXR (96.3 FM) rose 0.5 to a 3.0 share, its best quarter since Spring 1998. And debuting in the quarterly book for the first time is Spanish all-news station WNNY (1380 AM); it pulled in a 0.3 share.
For a more detailed look at the Winter 2001 Arbitron ratings numbers, visit the NYRG Ratings Page: http://www.nyradioguide.com/ratings.htm
from the NY Daily News
February 26, 2001
--snips--
Rating Trends: In between the quarterly Arbitron ratings that matter, radio also gets interim monthly figures.
The new survey covering November-January has WLTW and Howard Stern even more solidly entrenched as the No. 1 station and No. 1 morning show. The hot WNEW afternoon team of Opie and Anthony slipped back a bit, while WOR's Walsh regained some of the audience the station lost when John Gambling left.
Spanish news WNNY (1380 AM), debuted with 0.3 percent of the audience. In the morning it has 0.5 percent, which means it has almost caught up to the WNEW morning "Sports Guys," who have 0.6 percent.
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
January 9, 2001
Radio's fall Arbitron ratings came out yesterday, and as expected, WOR paid for firing John Gambling - losing 20% of its morning audience.
Elsewhere, WABC, WFAN's Imus and WCBS-AM rode high on the World Series and the election, WQHT's morning show rose some more, top-40 WHTZ and WKTU fell, WRKS bounced up with a new music mix, WCBS-FM opened up ground on WTJM, and WNEW's Opie and Anthony kept surging in the afternoon.
But in the end, the OctoberDecember ratings told a familiar tale. Howard Stern dominated the morning, and WLTW (106.7 FM) won the overall ratings and the advertiser-coveted 25 to 54-year-old demographic.
That's nine in a row for WLTW, though WQHT made it close, averaging 5.5% of the audience to 5.6% for Lite.
"Believe it or not, we're celebrating," said WLTW program director Jim Ryan. "With the election and baseball, this was a quarter tailor-made for AM."
WOR averaged 3.9% of the morning audience in the summer with Gambling. It averaged 3.1% in the fall. On WNEW, the just-fired Radio Chick, Lesley Gold, rose from 2% in the summer to 2.6% in the fall.
Here are some fall Arbitron shares (the figure is the percentage of the total audience listening in an average quarter hour):
OVERALL: WLTW (5.6), WQHT (5.5), WHTZ (4.2), WCBS-FM (4.1), WSKQ (4.0), WRKS (3.8), WABC, WXRK, WINS (3.7), WKTU (3.5), WBLS (3.4), WQCD (3.2), WCBS-AM (3.0), WFAN (2.8), WOR, WPLJ (2.6), WPAT, WQXR, WAXQ (2.5), WTJM (2.3), WNEW (2.0).
MORNING: WXRK (7.6), WINS (5.9), WSKQ (5.5), WQHT (4.5), WHTZ, WCBS-AM (4.4), WLTW (4.3), WCBS-FM (3.8), WRKS (3.6), WBLS (3.4), WFAN (3.3), WOR (3.1), WABC (3.0), WPLJ (2.8), WKTU (2.6), WADO (2.5), WQCD (2.3), WAXQ (2.0), WQXR (1.9), WTJM (1.8).
AFTERNOON: WQHT (6.4), WLTW (5.8), WNEW (5.2), WHTZ (4.7), WABC (4.4), WKTU (4.0), WCBS-FM (3.9), WRKS (3.5), WQCD (3.4), WOR (3.3), WFAN (3.0), WSKQ, WBLS (2.9), WINS (2.8), WAXQ, WPLJ (2.7), WCBS-AM (2.5), WXRK (2.4), WPAT, WTJM (2.3).
25-54: WLTW (6.1), WSKQ (4.9), WCBS-FM (4.6), WRKS (4.5), WXRK (4.3), WQCD (4.0), WBLS, WQHT, WAXQ, WKTU (3.8), WPLK (3.7), WHTZ (3.6), WFAN, WINS (3.1), WTJM (3.0).
18-34: WQHT (12.5), WXRK (7.6), WHTZ (7.3), WKTU (6.7), WBLS (5.9), WSKQ (5.8), WLTW (4.4), WNEW (4.3), WPLJ (4.3), WRKS (3.7).
from the NY Post
January 9, 2001
LAST fall's Bush-Gore election squeaker was good news for political radio junkies Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Don Imus.
According to Arbitron's quarterly report released yesterday, all three talk-show hosts notched landslide ratings gains.
WABC (770 AM) jumped from 12th to seventh place among listeners 12 and older, led by Limbaugh, who ranked second in his timeslot.
WABC afternoon driver Hannity, who also co-hosts "Hannity & Colmes" on Fox News Channel, rocketed 50 percent to climb from 10th to fifth.
Likewise, Imus' Beltway-bent of recent years paid dividends for WFAN (660 AM) as the I Man rebounded from ratings valleys and nearly returned to the Top 10 in prime-time morning drive.
Ed Walsh, the legendary John Gambling's replacement at WOR (710 AM), debuted 20 percent below the numbers he inherited - good news for rival WABC, which just signed Gambling.
Struggling talk station WNEW-FM (102.7) got a mixed bag of news in yesterday's ratings, remaining stuck overall in 21st position.
Ironically, one of 'NEW's the gainers was the just-dispatched Leslie "The Radio Chick" Gold, who recovered from a severe summer sag, jumping from 20th to 15th place.
Morning radio king Howard Stern's 7.6 percent total-audience share - and his runaway 10 percent share among 25 to 54 - more-than-justifies the roughly $100 million he'll reportedly collect over the five years of his new contract.
from the NY Post
October 16, 2000
OPIE & Anthony broke new records.
Howard Stern rebounded - a little.
All-news WCBS plunged.
And long-time leader Lite-FM finally has a challenger breathing down its neck - according to Arbitron's just-released summer ratings report.
But the biggest news was in numbers that showed whether it would be thumbs up or down for a half-dozen new, high-profile morning shows.
"The general manager hugged me and said, ‘I love you guys,'" Opie told listeners Friday after learning that he and Anthony are now No. 2 among all listeners aged 25 to 54 - radio advertisers' favorite demographic - as well as No. 1 with men.
Their oft-heard complaint that they're "carrying" WNEW-FM/102.7 was even truer this time, as the only other ratings bright spot on the year-old talk station - Leslie "The Radio Chick" Gold - lost 25 percent of her total audience. She dropped from 14th to 20th place.
Meantime, wakeup-radio dominator Howard Stern (K-Rock/92.3 FM) recaptured some ground after record low spring ratings. But his 7.8 percent total-audience finish is still off from last year's 8.5 fourth-quarter average - which, in turn, was down from 9.1 in 1998.
All-news WCBS/880 AM, which over the past 18 months trimmed interview and feature segments - and jettisoned longtime copter pilot Neal Busch and three weather vets - plunged from 13th to 18th place for its lowest ratings ever.
"We saw this coming ... and we changed some on-air positioning [imaging] statements," said WCBS programmer Frank Raphael. "The summer book is basically old news and the fall book will show that we're stronger than ever."
Among this year's crop of new shows in radio's prime-time morning drive, WABC's (770 AM) Curtis & Kuby jumped the most - reversing the talker's recent trend by doubling the ratings of their most recent predecessor, Rocky Allen.
New-to-mornings Star & Buc delivered the goods for Hot 97 by finishing sixth. But TV personality Jay Thomas barely budged Jammin' 105.
Q104's Bob Buchmann, who is also the station's programmer, actually waved bye-bye to some listeners, especially in the 25-54 age group.
And WNEW's "Sports Guys" are talking to an empty stadium, with ratings just a notch better than Mason & Kolinsky's, the cellar-dwelling team they replaced.
In the overall station race, hip-hop Hot 97 widened its lead over Top 40 Z100 - which is also on the move - and is now less than a half-point away from perennial top dog Lite FM/106.7.
"It's a good time for hip-hop - a lot of hot artists - after all the attention that went to the boy bands and other genres," says Sean Ross, group editor of Billboard's Airplay Monitors.
"It's also a good time for Top 40, with strong artists like 3 Doors Down, Janet Jackson, Eminem ... to Destiny's Child and Christine Aguilera."
from the NY Daily News
October 16, 2000
WLTW made it seven in a row Friday, winning radio's summer Arbitron ratings. The last time Lite missed No. 1 was summer 1998.
"It's like shooting free throws for them," another programmer remarked, noting 'LTW has no direct competition in its format.
But you still have to make them. And Lite, like WCBS-FM for many years, has driven off a number of stations looking to nibble at its flanks.
WCBS-FM's current competition, meanwhile - Jammin' 105 - is hanging tough. Among listeners 25-to-54, WCBS' stronghold and the demographic most coveted by advertisers, Jammin' averaged 3.9% of the audience to 4.2% for WCBS-FM.
WQHT had its usual strong summer and WBLS in six months has jumped from 12th to fourth among 25-to-54s.
As WXRK's Howard Stern coaxes maximum mileage out of his will-he-sign-a-new-contract drama, Arbitron gave him more ammo: He averaged 7.8% of the audience after an uncharacteristic dip to 7.2% in the spring.
WNEW's Opie and Anthony are now second in the afternoon among 25-to-54s. John Gambling went up in the last ratings before WOR let him go, and WABC's Curtis and Kuby morning show averaged 2.7% of the audience, double what 'ABC got last winter with Rocky Allen.
Here are the summer Arbitron ratings. The number is the percentage of listeners tuned in during an average quarter hour:
OVERALL: WLTW (6.1), WQHT (5.7), WHTZ (4.9), WCBS-FM (4.4), WKTU (4.3), WSKQ, WBLS, WINS (3.7), WXRK (3.6), WRKS (3.3), WQCD (3.2), WABC (3.1), WOR (3.0), WPAT-FM, WTJM (2.7), WFAN (2.6), WPLJ (2.5), WQXR, WAXQ, WCBS-AM (2.3), WCAA (2.0), WNEW (1.9), WADO (1.5), WFME (1.0), WALK, WBLI and WLIB (0.9).
MORNINGS: WXRK (7.8), WINS (6.7), WSKQ (5.0), WLTW (4.7), WHTZ (4.5), WQHT (4.4), WCBS-FM (4.1), WOR (3.9), WCBS-AM (3.8), WBLS (3.2), WRKS (3.1), WKTU (3.0), WFAN, WPLJ (2.9), WABC (2.7), WQCD (2.4), WADO (2.3), WQXR, WTJM (2.0), WPAT-FM (1.9), WAXQ (1.8), WCAA (1.3), WFME, WALK, WEVD (1.0).
--snips--
from the NY Daily News
October 14, 2000
Radio - David Hinckley Column
They also brought good news to Howard Stern, who rebounded from a ratings dip in the spring. He averaged 7.8% of the audience, up from 7.2%.
WBLS rose from 11th place to fourth among 25 to 54-year-olds and sixth place overall - its best position in years.
WQHT had its usual strong summer, finishing second overall. Former morning host John Gambling of WOR showed an increase for the last ratings period before the station let him go. He averaged 3.9% of the audience, good for eighth place and up from 3.6% in the spring.
This is the overall top 10. The number is the percentage of the total audience listening in the average quarter-hour: WLTW (6.1), WQHT (5.7), WHTZ (4.9), WCBS-FM (4.4), WKTU (4.3), WSKQ, WBLS and WINS (3.7), WXRK (3.6), WRKS (3.3).
--snips--
from RadioDigest.com
September 19, 2000
--snips--
The Phase Two Arbitrends covering June, July and August were released Friday (Sept. 15). There's nothing terribly major to report as WLTW (106.7 FM) continues to dominate the 12-plus numbers. Hot 97 (WQHT 97.1 FM) and Z-100 (WHTZ 100.3 FM) continued to hold on to the No. 2 and 3 spots respectively with both stations moving up slightly. WCBS-FM moved up to take over the No. 4 spot while rhythm outlet WKTU (103.5 FM) dropped back to No. 5. WABC (770 AM) continued to advance as its Curtis & Kuby morning show remained strong.
Speaking of mornings, Howard Stern rebounded slightly and still leads the market. News outlet WINS (1010 AM) finished second, Hispanic Mega 97.9 (WSKQ FM) was third, WLTW fourth, Z-100 fifth and WCBS-FM moving up nicely to sixth place.
--snips--
from the NY Radio Message Board
September 17, 2000
Judging from the Board comments and my e-mail, there seems to be a great demand for comments from me concerning several items I have not commented on recently. Ok--since you asked... (G). These comments are based on the recent Arbitrends. I don't have the demo breakouts (25-54 is what really counts). Remember this is only an interim report. The summer ratings (the "book that counts") isn't out for another month:
--snips-- other stations
WXRK: Even (which means, as usual, it all comes from Howard).
--snips--
The only break out I have is for AM Drive.
Howard was even on WXRK compared to the Spring Book.
--snips--
Imus should be happy at WFAN. He's looking better (and sounding it). Never underestimate Imus. He always bounces back. In this whole O&A vs. Stern "war", he's the only guy coming out ahead. Remember that. There's a lesson there.
from Newsday
August 7, 2000
THERE WAS THE GUY who ate the mouse. There were the women stuffed into 55-gallon drums. There was the dominatrix kicking the masochist live in the studio. There was the unprintable word thrust into a television news feed. There was the woman who flashed the "Today" show-that was on "Whip 'em Out Wednesday," a stunt brought down from Boston that has given WOW a double meaning.
These are all the handiwork, as it were, of "Opie and Anthony," a pair of Long Island dudes who have taken New York radio by storm, and who may be the first real local threat to the longtime dominance of Howard Stern on the air.
Opie is Gregg Hughes of Centerport, clean-cut and blond, with a guileless smile and a hearty, helpless laugh. Anthony is Anthony Cumia of Elwood, who sports a dark goatee and a devilish grin, an inspired mimic whose Charlton Heston and Tom Brokaw ("Tom Brokenjaw") are staples of the pair's afternoon show on talk radio WNEW/102.7 FM.
Doublehandedly, Opie and Anthony have raised a station that had been hopelessly mired in the cellar up toward respectability (in ratings, not material). The two of them are now the highest-rated afternoon talkers in New York, and (even better, as far as their bosses and their advertisers are concerned) No. 1 among male listeners of every age.
And while they've been growing, the King of All Media has been sinking, to the point where, according to Vince Santarelli, editor of the monthly New York radio newsletter Apple Bites, Stern's ratings have fallen to their lowest level since 1995. In addition, the average age of their audiences is exactly the same: 32.5 years old.
Of course, Stern is on in the mornings and Opie and Anthony are heard in the afternoons, so there is no direct competition and, therefore, no direct comparison. But, with Howard sounding tired after decades of analyzing thousands of female bodies, and Opie and Anthony still sounding amazed that they're getting the chance, there is the inevitable suspicion that the king's crown may be slipping.
It's even gotten to the point that Stern has supposedly demanded that no one on any Infinity Broadcasting-owned station (his own K- Rock, WXRK/92.3 FM, and their WNEW are sister stations) be allowed to mention his name.
Stern has been complaining on the air that he isn't permitted to use the language that Opie and Anthony can. And recently, one of Stern's more strident fans was arrested after leaving a bomb threat on Opie's answering machine. (He was jailed for one night and released.)
Nevertheless, there's the inevitable suspicion that the whole thing is a put-on. While Stern's ratings are down, he is still miles ahead of all his morning competitors in New York. And radio feuds have been a publicist's dream since the days that Jack Benny dissed Fred Allen-which was before World War II.
That on-air ban is based on a newspaper story using anonymous sources, though WNEW staffers coyly refuse to comment on questions about it and Opie and Anthony's producers insert the words "radio edit" whenever Stern's name might be mentioned. And Stern himself can't be reached for comment. "Howard Stern does not give interviews," said his spokesman, Don Buchwald. "He says what he has to say on the air."
"The fact is, the same logo is on these guys' paychecks," said radio industry consultant Walter Sabo. "The fact is that they are both making shows. Whether the feud is real or not, isn't it a great show? It gets you to write about it."
Indeed, the entry of Opie and Anthony into New York is one of the hottest radio stories around. Hughes, 35, a graduate of Harborfields High School, and Cumia, 37, who attended John Glenn High School, first teamed up on Long Island rock station WBAB/102.3 FM in 1994. Opie was the evening personality and Anthony, whose day job was installing air conditioning, started off as a frequent guest.
Oddly enough, they never knew one another as kids; "We probably wouldn't have gotten along," Hughes said. When the station had no place for them as a team, the pair went up to Boston's WAAF/107.3 FM in 1995, where their outrageous stunts and parodies quickly made them the region's No. 1 show for men. They invented WOW in Boston, and it became so popular that the Massachusetts State Police, according to former station manager Bruce Mittman, asked them to lay off because it was causing highway accidents.
When they were fired in 1998 over an April Fool's joke (they reported that the mayor had been killed in an automobile accident), it didn't take long before stations around the country were on the phone. But when WNEW told them it would build its entire station around them, they were hooked.
"We even met the big guy, Mel [Karmazin, head of CBS, which owns Infinity]," Hughes recalled. WNEW, a classic rock station at the time, was only a shell of what it had been in the heady days of progressive and free-form FM radio during the 1970s. "Our decision was that no one wants to listen to this music, so we started talking on our own," Hughes said. Indeed, their acerbic remarks about the station's venerated DJs and the insults they threw at outraged callers quickly drove away what was left of the station's original audience.
Then they started to build a new one, primarily young men who enjoyed the kind of talk that was once limited to locker rooms and particularly nasty bars. Their humor is not strictly confined to sex, smells and excretion, however: On a recent afternoon there was a hilarious, nearly hour-long riff about waiting on line that segued to mishaps in movie theaters and culminated in a story by Opie about sitting in an audience that refused to leave a showing of "Independence Day," even though the theater was on fire.
It's very much the sort of thing that made Howard Stern famous a long time ago, and both men freely acknowledge that they grew up on his humor. But they've gone beyond him in vulgarity, which is hard to imagine. "Twenty years ago these guys probably would have been intolerable," said media critic Mark Crispin Miller of New York University. "Now they have enough people to listen to them. It takes a certain adaptation for people to stomach and even enjoy certain thrills."
Apparently, there are plenty of listeners with strong stomachs these days. "When you say we're so gross that you have to turn it off," Cumia said, "there are five or 10 people who just have to listen."
MOUTHING OFF
Howard Stern WXRK
Opie and Anthony WNEW
SPRING 1999: Stern 17.3% O&A 5.5% SUMMER, 1999: Stern 14.6% O&A 7.5% FALL, 1999: Stern 17.7% O&A 5.8% WINTER, 2000: Stern 17.6% O&A 7.1% SPRING, 2000: Stern 15.4% O&A 8.6%
NOTE: Based on males 25-54 listening during an average quarter hour.
from the NY Post
July 15, 2000
Radio listeners have deserted Howard Stern and Don Imus in record numbers, according to Arbitron's spring ratings released yesterday.
New York's two biggest wakeup-radio shock jocks had their worst ratings in memory.
Stern clung to his crown as No. l - but saw his lead over No. 2 all-news WINS (1010 AM) shrink to just 0.7 points.
The gap was more than 3 points in the fall ratings, and had shrunk to 2 points in winter, primarily because Stern's numbers fell.
Imus, meanwhile, dropped to 14th, just ahead of Spanish-language WADO (1280 AM).
"Both shows are now so painfully self-absorbed that there's not much left," says Jack Swanson, programmer of top-rated San Francisco talk station KGO.
Stern's 7.2 percent audience share for spring was significantly off his usual high-8s and 9s.
"Stern has gotten a little lazy and leaned too heavily on the increasingly antiquated idea that there's value in being a shock jock," says Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison.
Imus enjoyed 5 percent audience shares as recently as five years ago. He has sagged to the low 3s more recently, and hit a record low 2.6 yesterday.
"There may be some burnout, as far as some of the regular guests he has on, like [NBC's] Andrea Mitchell, and a few too many Andy Rooney routines," says Tom Tradup, VP of USA Radio Networks.
"The public doesn't have as much interest in politics and Beltway issues as many of us in senior management do," says Tradup.
"Most broadcasting companies wish they could have one of these two great radio franchises," said a spokesman for Viacom/CBS's Infinity Radio.
"We are fortunate to have both, both of whom are enjoying record demand from advertisers."
Where the Stern and Imus listeners have gone remains a mystery.
WABC's (770 AM) brand-new Curtis & Kuby show, which competes directly with Imus, showed a moderate initial gain.
from the NY Daily News
July 15, 2000
By David Hinckley
WLTW averaged a 6.4 share, meaning 6.4% of the total audience was tuned there in the average quarter hour. Second-place WQHT had 5.1%, while top-40 rivals WHTZ and WKTU finished third and fourth with 4.8% and 4.5%.
WXRK morning man Stern dipped from 8.7% to 7.2%, still ahead of second-place WINS at 6.5%. WRKS had a strong,quarter and so did WBLS. There was more good news for WNEW, whose talk format went from 1.5% to 1.9% and whose afternoon team of Opie and Anthony continued to rise, from 3.9% to 4.4%. WABC also rose, helped by its new morning team Curtis and Kuby, taking a 1.4 share and lifting it to 2.1.
--snips--
from the NY Radio Message Board
July 14, 2000
Total Persons 12+, Mon-Fri, 6-10 AM (Winter, 2000)
1. WXRK - 7.2 (8.7) 2. WINS - 6.5 (6.7) 3. WSKQ - 5.2 (6.0) 4. WLTW - 5.0 (4.8) 5. WHTZ - 4.8 (4.4) 6. WCBS - 4.4 (4.7) 7. WCBS FM - 4.1 (4.4) 8. WQHT - 4.0 (3.8) 9. WRKS - 3.8 (3.1) 10. WOR - 3.6 (4.1) 11. WKTU - 3.3 (3.1) 12. WBLS - 3.0 (2.5) 12. WPLJ - 3.0 (2.7) 14. WFAN - 2.6 (3.2)
--snips--
from NY Radio Guide
April 25, 2000
Strengthening its hold on the #1 position, Lite-FM (WLTW, 106.7 FM) earned a solid 6.4 audience share (up from 5.7 in the Fall), its highest share since the Winter 1998 ratings book. Lite-FM gained in all dayparts, particularly middays, where its 8.7 share reflects strong office worker appeal. While #1 among the key 25-54 age group demographic, the station is also #6 among younger (18-34) listeners. Lite's mix of current hits, mid-tempo recurrents and popular oldies continues to generate broad appeal.
Giving a boost to the otherwise slow-growing ratings of FM talker WNEW-FM (102.7), the no-holds-barred Opie & Anthony show picked up steam in the first quarter of the year, finishing with a 3.9 share for its afternoon daypart (up from 2.9 in the Fall). O & A placed #1 in all key male demographics, including a 9.2 share in Men 18-49. While the overall WNEW rating improved only slightly (1.5 share from a 1.2 share in the Fall), the station is doing better among listeners 18-34 (3.1 share, up from 2.2 in the Fall).
New York's long-time oldies station, WCBS-FM (101.1) had a successful quarter, finishing in the #5 spot with a 4.4 share (up from 4.1 in the Fall) and apparently no longer feeling the effect of competition from Jammin' 105 (WTJM, 105.1 FM). In the 25-54 category, CBS-FM is #3 with a 5.0 share, up from a 4.3 share in the Fall. Special mention should be made of Harry Harrison, the "Morning Mayor", who gained 0.7 of a ratings point this quarter to finish with a 4.4 audience share. Over at Jammin' 105, listenership continues to build steadily, as the station picked up a 2.9 share, up from 2.7 in the Fall. The Jay Thomas morning show, however, does not appear to have caught on as yet with listeners, picking up only a 2.0 share.
Howard Stern continues to dominate mornings, finishing the quarter with an 8.7 share, down slightly from his Fall share of 9.0, but significantly better than the last two monthly trends. Stern's strong showing led K-Rock (WXRK, 92.3 FM) to an overall #6 position, with a 4.0 share.
After a solid showing in the Fall (4.0 share), Urban AC Kiss-FM (WRKS, 98.7 FM) slipped back to a 3.1 share in the Winter, with losses for the Isaac Hayes morning show and throughout the day. Kiss returns to a tie with rival WBLS (107.5 FM), which also lost listeners, ending the quarter with a 3.1 share (down from 3.5 in the Fall). WBLS' Doug Banks morning show fell from a 3.3 share in the Fall to a 2.5 share.
Spanish music leader Mega 97.9 (WSKQ, 97.9 FM) slipped to third place with a 4.5 share, its lowest rating in a year. The station appears to be losing some of its younger listeners, possibly to WKTU (103.5 FM). Newer rival WCAA (105.9 FM) continues to steadily gain, moving to a 2.1 share, up from 1.8 in the Fall and 1.3 a year ago. Spanish news/talk station WADO (1280 AM) received a boost in the first quarter (up from 1.4 in the Fall to 2.2), with its long-running morning news show earning a 3.1 share (up from 1.8) as listeners tuned in to the Elian Gonzalez story.
In the hit music field, Z100 (WHTZ, 100.3 FM) and WPLJ (95.5 FM) lost listeners this quarter. Z100 moved down from a 5.1 share in the Fall to a 4.5 share, its lowest rating in a year. The station was down in all dayparts. WPLJ was down 0.2 to a 2.5 share, erasing more of its audience gains of 1999. Afternoons, with new dj Race Taylor, saw a drop from 3.2 in the Fall to 2.7 in the Winter. WKTU (103.5 FM) remained strong, with a 4.0 share overall and a big gain among listeners 18-34, where it placed #2 with an 8.3 share. The overall leader among 18-34 listeners remains Urban CHR Hot 97 (WQHT, 97.1 FM), with a 5.2 share (#2) overall and a 10.6 share 18-34.
On the AM side, traditional talker WOR (710 AM), with a 2.8 share, retained its lead over political talker WABC (770 AM), which pulled in a 2.4 share, its lowest rating in years. All-news WINS (1010 AM) had an excellent quarter, moving from 3.3 in the Fall to 3.8, and holding down the #2 position in the morning with a solid 6.7 share, up from 5.8 in the Fall.
Two stations have slowly but surely been picking up listeners over the past year: Q104 (WAXQ, 104.3 FM) and CD 101.9 (WQCD, 101.9 FM). Q104 finished with a 2.4 share this quarter, having climbed from a 1.9 share a year ago and a 1.5 share two years ago. CD 101.9 gained a 3.2 share this quarter, up from a 2.7 share a year ago.
For a more comprehensive look at the Winter 2000 Arbitron ratings, visit the NYRG Ratings Page.
from the NY Daily News
April 26, 2000
Lite-FM (WLTW) was the heavy hitter in radio's winter Arbitron survey released yesterday, dominating the overall ratings, workplace listening and the advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-old group.
"It's clear we're the mass-appeal radio station in New York," said program director Jim Ryan. Lite-FM has been No. 1 for five consecutive surveys.
Midday hosts Al Bernstein and Valerie Smaldone have 8.7% of the audience -- the same percentage with which Howard Stern of WXRK dominates mornings. Stern has more total listeners, because more people listen in the morning.
The January-March survey also saw WKTU take a big across-the-board jump, particularly among 18-to-34 listeners, and it smiled on oldies rivals WTJM and WCBS-FM. Both were up, with 'CBS still ahead.
"We're happy here," said WCBS-FM's program director, Joe McCoy. "You get tired of people writing you off, so it's nice to kick some major-league butt."
"We're where we want to be," said WTJM program director Joel Salkowitz. "We aren't the same station as 'CBS. They're 45-plus, we're 35-plus. They're more '60s, we're more '70s."
All-news WINS and Spanish news/talk WADO also did well. "There were good local stories this quarter, as well as the story from Miami," said WADO program director Daniel Ortiz.
Classic-rock WAXQ continued upward. WNEW afternoon team Opie and Anthony rose from 2.9% of the audience to 3.9%, and were No. 1 almost across the board in their time slot among young males.
"Opie and Anthony are doing everything right," said program director Jeremy Coleman. "They're entrenched and getting the audience we want." That's 65% to 70% male, Coleman said - though midday host Leslie Gold also rose, 1.1% to 1.7%.
Rocky Allen's last quarter at WABC fell from 1.7% to 1.4%, but Dan Neer's last quarter at WAXQ grew, 1.6% to 1.9%. WKTU's new morning show rose 3.6% to 3.8%.
While WTJM rose overall, its Jay Thomas morning show was flat at 2%. WFAN was down overall, but Don Imus held at 3.2%.
WSKQ and WHTZ each took a dip. Urban stations WRKS and WBLS both fell, which may suggest the distribution of listener diaries was not favorable.
Here is the winter 2000 Arbitron list. The numbers represent the percentage of radios in use in an average quarter-hour:
OVERALL: WLTW (6.4), WQHT (5.2), WSKQ and WHTZ (4.5), WCBS-FM (4.4), WXRK and WKTU (4.0), WINS (3.8), WQCD (3.2), WBLS and WRKS (3.1), WPAT-FM (3.0), WTJM and WCBS-AM (2.9), WOR (2.8), WPLJ (2.5), WAXQ and WABC (2.4), WQXR and WFAN (2.3), WADO (2.2), WCAA (2.1), WNEW (1.5), WLIB and WYNY (1.0).
MORNINGS: WXRK (8.7), WINS (6.7), WSKQ (6.0), WLTW (4.8), WCBS-AM (4.7), WCBS-FM and WHTZ (4.4), WOR (4.1), WQHT (3.8), WFAN (3.2), WADO, WRKS and WKTU (3.1), WPLJ (2.7), WBLS (2.5), WQCD (2.2), WPAT-FM (2.1), WTJM (2.0), WAXQ (1.9), WQXR (1.5), WABC (1.4), WCAA (1.2), WKXW (1.1), WYNY (0.9).
--snips--
from Radio Digest
April 26, 2000
Daily Grind
--snips--
Stern Support
As is the norm, Howard Stern has enjoyed yet another banner book in the nation's two largest markets. In addition to ruling the Big Apple morning roost from New York's K-Rock (WXRK 92.3 FM), where his show originates, Stern also was the most popular morning host among Los Angeles listeners between the ages of 25 and 54 -- the demographic that causes advertisers to drool uncontrollably.
--snips--
from the NY Radio Message Board
Posted by Vince on April 25, 2000 at 11:20:54:
Total Persons 12+, Mon-Fri, 6-10 AM. (Fall, 1999 ratings)
1. WXRK - 8.7 (9.0) 2. WINS - 6.7 (5.8) 3. WSKQ - 6.0 (6.2) 4. WLTW - 4.8 (4.3) 5. WCBS - 4.7 (4.6) 6. WCBS FM - 4.4 (3.7) 6. WHTZ - 4.4 (5.0) 8. WOR - 4.1 (4.2) 9. WQHT - 3.8 (3.6) 10. WFAN - 3.2 (3.2) 11. WADO - 3.1 (1.8) 11. WRKS - 3.1 (4.1) 11. WKTU - 3.1 (2.9) 14. WPLJ - 2.7 (2.8) 15. WBLS - 2.5 (3.3) 16. WQCD - 2.2 (2.1) 17. WPAT FM - 2.1 (2.2) 18. WTJM - 2.0 (2.1) 19. WAXQ - 1.9 (1.6) 20. WQXR - 1.5 (2.0) 21. WABC - 1.4 (1.7) 22. WCAA - 1.2 (1.1) 23. WKXW FM - 1.1 (0.9) 24. WALK FM - 1.0 (1.1) 25. WBBR - 0.8 (0.9)
from the NY Post
All-talk WNEW-FM (102.7) is raiding the Internet for a sports-talking team to anchor its struggling morning drive timeslot, The Post has learned.
The surprise move keeps peace in the CBS/Infinity radio family because it averts the expected "shock-on-shock" showdown with Howard Stern, whose top-rated wakeup show airs on K-Rock (92.3 FM) -- and who has expressed much displeasure over "those copycats on my sister station."
WNEW execs say they made a conscious decision not to compete against the high-powered Stern.
"I don't want to compete with Howard. We'd lose," general manager Ken Stevens told The Post. "Howard owns New York. We hope to get the few who aren't listening to him."
"And we're not a threat to Don Imus (on co-owned sportstalk WFAN/660 AM)," adds programmer Jeremy Coleman. "We're going for an audience that Stern and Imus aren't after. Plus, Imus's audience is older, so there's a big demographic difference."
Rowdy 'NEW afternoon talkers Opie & Anthony and newly-arrived nightsiders Don & Mike had been teasing listeners over the past few weeks with speculation that one team or the other might go head-to-head with Stern on their six-month-old talk station.
Instead, WNEW has decided to enter risky, uncharted territory -- sports-heavy programming in morning drive -- by hiring Scott Kaplan and Sidney Rosenberg, who currently host an Internet-based show called "The Drive" on CBS's Sportsline.com.
"It's important that you know that we don't have signed contracts yet," stressed CBS spokesman Dana McClintock. "But we expect to by Monday."
Incoming 'NEW co-host Scott Kaplan insists that the new show will be a lot more than just sportstalk -- which has yet to prosper on radio in morning drive.
"We'll have the perfect mix of sports and entertainment," Kaplan promises. "Seventy-nine million watched the Oscars the other night. The same or more watched the Super Bowl. We'll do both."
Stevens says the fate of the duo's Internet show, which also airs in syndication on 30 radio stations, is still undecided.
from the NY Radio Message Board
Posted on March 24, 2000
Total persons 12+, Mon-Fri, 6-10 AM. (Nov-Dec-Jan #)
1. WXRK - 7.9 (8.2) 2. WINS - 6.5 (6.1) 3. WSKQ - 6.0 (6.2) 4. WLTW - 4.6 (4.1) 4. WHTZ - 4.6 (4.7) 6. WCBS - 4.5 (4.4) 7. WOR - 4.4 (4.1) 8. WCBS FM - 4.1 (3.8) 8. WQHT - 4.1 (3.9) 10. WRKS - 3.3 (3.9) 11. WADO - 3.1 (2.5) 12. WFAN - 2.9 (3.2) 12. WKTU - 2.9 (2.9) 14. WPLJ - 2.7 (2.8) 15. WBLS - 2.5 (2.7) 16. WPAT FM - 2.3 (2.2) 17. WQCD - 2.1 (1.9) 18. WAXQ - 2.0 (1.8) 18. WTJM - 2.0 (2.1) 20. WABC - 1.6 (1.7) 20. WQXR - 1.6 (1.9) 22. WCAA - 1.3 (1.2) 23. WALK FM - 1.1 (1.2) 24. WKXW FM - 1.0 (0.9) 25. WBBR - 0.8 (0.9) 26. WFME - 0.7 (0.8) 26. WBLI FM - 0.7 (0.8)
from the NY Radio Message Board
March 3, 2000
Nov-Dec-Jan 6-10 AM
Posted by Vince on March 03, 2000 at 11:45:41:
Total persons 12+, Mon-Fri, 6-10 AM. (Fall, 1999)
1. WXRK - 8.2 (9.0)
2. WSKQ - 6.2 (6.2)
3. WINS - 6.1 (5.8)
4. WHTZ - 4.7 (5.0)
5. WCBS - 4.4 (4.6)
6. WOR - 4.1 (4.2)
6. WLTW - 4.1 (4.3)
8. WRKS - 3.9 (4.1)
9. WQHT - 3.9 (3.6)
10. WCBS FM - 3.8 (3.7)
11. WFAN - 3.2 (3.2)
from the NY Post
Don & Mike, the new Stern sound-alike team that is coming to WNEW-FM, could challenge the original -- if the company that owns both shows lets them take the gloves off. NEW talk-station WNEW-FM (102.7) appears to be preparing to challenge the formidable Howard Stern.
All signs point to a major battle for radio's most lucrative time period -- morning drive -- in spite of the strife it could cause within the close-knit CBS/Infinity radio family.
As The Post reported exclusively last week, WNEW is bringing in the raunchy, top-rated team of Don & Mike from its Washington, D.C. sister station. CBS/Infinity execs refuse to reveal the timeslot they'll get.
Though it's widely speculated the duo will be parked initially in the evenings, it is unlikely that CBS/Infinity would leave such a high-powered -- and expensive -- team there for long.
Nights are the radio revenue pits, even in cities as large as New York. A more likely place for them would be mornings -- competing directly against Stern.
WNEW's current cellar-dwelling morning man Steve Mason, who will be leaving next month, points out the station's dilemma.
"The station has been a disaster since the day we started on the air [a year ago] ... What will WNEW do in the morning? Beats me," writes Mason on his website www.stevemason.com. "How do you do a show featuring t---s, ass and d---k jokes without ticking off Howard Stern?
"If you take a bite out of Howard's numbers, you hurt the company," he says. "If you don't take a bite out of Howard's numbers, you hurt the company."
Stern, who is by far CBS/Infinity's biggest moneymaker, was upset when sister-station WNEW shifted to all-talk last September -- even though the