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Talk Radio Scoreboard for Major Markets: January 2015

G

Gregg.

Talk stations recovered a bit from the holidays, where much upper-demo listening is diverted to All-Christmas formats. But then, harsh winter weather also diverts upper-demo listening to All-News stations in markets where those stations exist. WSB Atlanta was back to #1, with KFI Los Angeles, WGN Chicago, KTRH Houston and WMAL Washington all in the top 10 in their markets.

In Los Angeles, KABC has made a move to mostly non-political, locally-hosted lifestyle shows during the day, hiring Judge Christina Perez, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Jillian Barbarie, and getting rid of Larry Elder and Mark Levin. Let's see if that boosts the station's ratings.

In this edition, I move KGO San Francisco from the All-News Scoreboard to the Talk Radio Scoreboard. KGO still has All-News blocks in AM and PM Drive but most of the other dayparts are now devoted to Talk shows.


1. New York ... WABC (Cumulus) #19 ... WOR (iHeart) #20 tie ... WKXW(FM) (Townsquare) #20 tie
2. Los Angeles ... KFI (iHeart) #10 ... KEIB (iHeart) #38* tie ... KABC (Cumulus) #40* tie
3. Chicago ... WGN (Tribune) #7 ... WLS (Cumulus) #25 tie
4. San Francisco ... KSFO (Cumulus) #20 ... KGO (Cumulus) #21 ... KKSF (iHeart) #27
5. Dallas ... WBAP (Cumulus) #24 tie
6. Houston ... KTRH (iHeart) #9
7. Washington ... WMAL-AM-FM (Cumulus) #8
8. Philadelphia ... WPHT (CBS) #20
9. Atlanta ... WSB/WSBB(FM) (Cox) #1 ... WYAY(FM) (Cumulus) #19 tie
10. Boston ... WRKO (Entercom) #17

* I only include commercial Talk stations that scored at least a one rating, except for heritage Talk outlet KABC Los Angeles and Rush's LA outlet, KEIB.
 
Its a shame that talk radio is not relevant in Philadelphia, PA anymore. WPHT's current ratings reflect that. If WPHT does what KDKA, WBZ, WLS, WABC, WOR, KFI, etc. do, in terms of being a full service news/talk radio station with a in house news operation and a team of news reporters covering the stories (without any restrictions because of KYW), WPHT would be a lot more successful and relevant radio station. If they don't make the necessary changes, talk will be a thing of the past on 1210 AM. All of the other talk stations that are listed here have successful news operations and have reporters covering the news stories (whether is outsourced or in house ), WPHT doesn't. Their news is I think is outsourced with no reporters covering the stories and another thing, WPHT only has local news updates during the morning show Monday-Friday and I noticed on some occasions, they have the local news during the 3-6 PM Monday-Friday show.
 
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Glad to see the return of this analysis. I doubt that the KABC move will alter ratings much. If anything, I think the ratings will fall.
 
It will be interesting to see if/how much this rough weather here in the metro NYC area affects the talk and AM audience in-general. I would not be surprised to see a measurable and permanent drop attributable to this weather. The last time we had such a snowy and cold winter was '93-'94. That audience is 21 years older now.

One of "God's waiting rooms" must look even more inviting to gramps right now.

LCG
 
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