Minneapolis-St. Paul Radio Ratings: April 2023

[pjc1961]

Covering the survey period from Thu. 3/30/2023 thru Wed. 4/26/2023, age 6+ overall:

Minneapolis/St. Paul - RadioInsight (may not be updated immediately in all browsers)

and Radio Industry News, Radio Show Prep, Radio Promotions, Radio Station Data, Podcast News

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis via AllAccess.com will be available on Wed. 5/17/2023.

 

[pjc1961]

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis for ages 25-54, 18-34 + 18-49:

Research Director Inc., Exclusive April PPM Analysis For Seattle-Tacoma, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul

There were a lot of momentous events during the month of APRIL and The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with the intrepid numbers merchants from XTRENDS – are here to tell the story of their effect on the ratings. We had PASSOVER, EASTER, EARTH DAY, and tax day. But the most...

www.allaccess.com

25-54: 1. KSTP 2. KFXN 3. KXXR 4. KZJK 5T. KEEY 5T. KDWB 7. KQQL
18-34: 1. KDWB 2. KEEY 3T. KQQL 3T. KZJK (up from #8) 3T. KXXR 3T. KCMP 7. KSTP
18-49: 1. KSTP 2. KFXN 3. KDWB 4. KXXR 5. KZJK 6. KEEY

 

[Miss Tuned]

Christian AC KTIS is #1 in the 6+ numbers, but doesn't appear in the top 6-7 stations for 18-49, 18-34 or 25-54. Does that mean the vast majority of its listeners are <18 or >55?

 

[MarkW]

Congrats, Cumulus, on running KQRS into the ground.

 

[Gregg.]

It really is amazing that Classic Rock KQRS, once the solid #1 station, both overall and in 25-54, is now nowhere in the top 7 in the adult demo. Yet it's harder-edged sister station, KXXR, has no trouble scoring at #3 in the adult demo. I don't understand it. I look at KQRS's playlist and it looks like most other Classic Rock stations.

>>>25-54: 1. KSTP 2. KFXN 3. KXXR 4. KZJK 5T. KEEY 5T. KDWB 7. KQQL<<<

Here's what KQRS played in the last 90 minutes. Do you see anything wrong on this list?

Elton John--Tiny Dancer
Foghat--Slow Ride
.38 Special--Hold On Loosely
War--Low Rider
The Eagles--Life in The Fast Lane
Scorpions--Winds of Change
U2--Pride in The Name of Love
Led Zeppelin--The Immigrant Song
Golding Earing--Twilight Zone
Bad Company--Can't Get Enough of Your Love
Creedence Clearwater Revival--Fortunate Son
The Tubes--She's A Beauty
Kansas--Dust in The Wind
The Guess Who--American Woman
The Greg Kihn Band--The Break Up Song
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers--I Won't Back Down
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band--Turn The Page

It's also hard to understand how strong Classic Hits KQQL is in the overall ratings, #3 currently. Yet it barely makes the top 7 in 25-54.

And how about 830 WCCO? It's #11 overall and nowhere in the 25-54 demo top seven. I think it was always #1 overall and respectable 25-54 up until the 1990s. I imagine it still does well in billing.

 

[chrocket87]

And how about 830 WCCO? It's #11 overall and nowhere in the 25-54 demo top seven. I think it was always #1 overall and respectable 25-54 up until the 1990s. I imagine it still does well in billing.

How often do News/Talk stations ever rank highly in 25-54? Peruse through the free demo rankings through all top 15 markets, go back as far as you please, and you won’t find many examples of this format scoring in the top 5-7 in 25-54.

The audience for News/Talk aged out of the money demo loooooong ago.

 

[iKnowTC]

It really is amazing that Classic Rock KQRS, once the solid #1 station, both overall and in 25-54, is now nowhere in the top 7 in the adult demo. Yet it's harder-edged sister station, KXXR, has no trouble scoring at #3 in the adult demo. I don't understand it. I look at KQRS's playlist and it looks like most other Classic Rock stations.

>>>25-54: 1. KSTP 2. KFXN 3. KXXR 4. KZJK 5T. KEEY 5T. KDWB 7. KQQL<<<

Here's what KQRS played in the last 90 minutes. Do you see anything wrong on this list?

Elton John--Tiny Dancer
Foghat--Slow Ride
.38 Special--Hold On Loosely
War--Low Rider
The Eagles--Life in The Fast Lane
Scorpions--Winds of Change
U2--Pride in The Name of Love
Led Zeppelin--The Immigrant Song
Golding Earing--Twilight Zone
Bad Company--Can't Get Enough of Your Love
Creedence Clearwater Revival--Fortunate Son
The Tubes--She's A Beauty
Kansas--Dust in The Wind
The Guess Who--American Woman
The Greg Kihn Band--The Break Up Song
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers--I Won't Back Down
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band--Turn The Page

It's also hard to understand how strong Classic Hits KQQL is in the overall ratings, #3 currently. Yet it barely makes the top 7 in 25-54.

And how about 830 WCCO? It's #11 overall and nowhere in the 25-54 demo top seven. I think it was always #1 overall and respectable 25-54 up until the 1990s. I imagine it still does well in billing.

KQ's music is aimed at 55-65 year olds. For some reason Classic Hits does better than Classic Rock in most markets, as there are some younger people who like that playlist. I heard California Love on Kool, that's squarely aimed at 40 year olds. Kool also does better than many Classic Hits stations do because there's not a full-powered AC station here. If there was a real AC station, Kool would probably do considerably worse in the female demos and really put it in a bad situation. Yet we can somehow support two full signal country stations. The people who run these stations are not real smart.

 

[fmradioguy]

Congrats, Cumulus, on running KQRS into the ground.

They’ve completely destroyed KQRS. Everything about it is absolutely pathetic. Imaging, music, processing etc. (they also have dry imaging that will sweep the intro of the next song, which I’ve learned that is something you absolutely NEVER do on Classic Rock… I’ve seen numerous complaints about this from listeners on their FB page as well.) Somebody there doesn’t seem to understand the difference between “Classic Rock” and “Classic Hits” as well. I swear everytime I turn it on I hear “Africa” by Toto or “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood. Those are good songs, but not meant for heavy rotation on Classic Rock. My personal observation has been it all went to hell when they let Scott Jameson go.

 

[davideduardo]

Yet we can somehow support two full signal country stations. The people who run these stations are not real smart.

But one is a top 2 or 3 biller and the other is top 10. The reason both exist is that they make money. And Audacy does not do better because they have a tiny cluster and iHeart takes nearly 50% of the revenue and Hubbard, Cumulus and Audacy barely equal the iHeart revenue... combined.

 

[iKnowTC]

KMNB does not rank in the top 10, and I know KEEY is not a top 2 or 3 biller, and hasn't been since KMNB signed on. I would wager that KMNB now bills less than WLTE did when they turned it off, and KEEY is closer to #10 than #1.

 

[CassChopper96]

AC would never work in this market. KSTP-FM has a stranglehold in that audience. I would also assume that its also a top biller in the market

 

[Lester_the_NightFly]

I disagree, WLTE did very well in its day and if someone can program a straight AC correctly, it will show up.
Especially if Love 105, since it's still not doing well at all.

 

[MarkW]

Here's what KQRS played in the last 90 minutes. Do you see anything wrong on this list?

Elton John--Tiny Dancer
Foghat--Slow Ride
.38 Special--Hold On Loosely
War--Low Rider
The Eagles--Life in The Fast Lane
Scorpions--Winds of Change
U2--Pride in The Name of Love
Led Zeppelin--The Immigrant Song
Golding Earing--Twilight Zone
Bad Company--Can't Get Enough of Your Love
Creedence Clearwater Revival--Fortunate Son
The Tubes--She's A Beauty
Kansas--Dust in The Wind
The Guess Who--American Woman
The Greg Kihn Band--The Break Up Song
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers--I Won't Back Down
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band--Turn The Page

Too few titles from 1985 onward. I would also surmise whatever the station is doing in mornings these days isn't working well.

 

[davideduardo]

KMNB does not rank in the top 10, and I know KEEY is not a top 2 or 3 biller, and hasn't been since KMNB signed on.

Sorry, Miller-Kaplan data shows KEEY in pretty much a 3-way tie for 2nd in revenue. And KMNB is right around 10th.

Because of combo sales, it is really hard to be precise on billing, but we have to go with what each station or combo reports.

I would wager that KMNB now bills less than WLTE did when they turned it off, and KEEY is closer to #10 than #1.

And you'd lose that bet.

 

[fmradioguy]

I disagree, WLTE did very well in its day and if someone can program a straight AC correctly, it will show up.
Especially if Love 105, since it's still not doing well at all.

If Less-Cume had a bigger signal for Love... ONE signal that would cover the entire metro and suburbs, I think it would work very well, regardless of whether they would go Mainstream AC or stay with the brighter Soft AC format they are running now. The problem is, they have three pea-shooters, and for whatever reason Less-Cume has high expectations for them.

 

[iKnowTC]

Sorry, Miller-Kaplan data shows KEEY in pretty much a 3-way tie for 2nd in revenue. And KMNB is right around 10th.

Because of combo sales, it is really hard to be precise on billing, but we have to go with what each station or combo reports.

And you'd lose that bet.

And I'm sorry, because your numbers aren't anywhere near correct.

How about all these stations, which outbill KMNB...

KFXN
KSTP-F
KXXR
KDWB
KZJK
KEEY
KQRS
KQQL
KTCZ
WCCO

and likely KTMY and possibly KTLK.

I see Miller Kaplan every month, not sure where your numbers come from. I also saw Miller Kaplan when 102.9 was WLTE, and I'm 100% correct on that one.

And KEEY wasn't even #3 inside the iHeart building last year.

I stand by my assertion that this market does not need two full strength country stations.

As to the critique of KQ's mornings in another post, in truth the 25-54 #s in the morning are up year over year for the new guy over Tommy B. Went 11th to 7th... and I bet he costs a lot less.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Didn't KQRS and WCCO both lose their longtime high-profile morning show hosts recently? Losing beloved station anchors like that tends to be pretty disruptive to people's listening habits.

 

[Saladressing]

The KQRS playlist skews too old and too soft.

They should look at KSHE and see how they've evolved musically and model that.

After all, 93X is airing somewhat of a take on KPNT, albeit more active-rock-sounding.

While they're at it, move the 105s to a classic alternative format, resurrecting the old Zone/Drive 105 sound.

 

[Gregg.]

>>>The KQRS playlist skews too old and too soft.<<<

This may be true but I'm not hearing it. I guess you'd say a Classic Rock station shouldn't play Tiny Dancer by Elton John or Dust in The Wind by Kansas. Maybe not even She's A Beauty by The Tubes. But it seems the playlist is not unlike WAXQ NY or WDRV Chicago, both stations currently #2 in their markets. Yes, those stations are a bit more pop-oriented than KLOS LA or KSHE St. Louis. But it works.

I see in the last hour, KXXR has played Come As You Are by Nirvana, Seven Nation Army by White Stripes and Enter Sandman by Metallica, all staples on a Classic Rock station. Sure, KQRS can duplicate some of KXXR's playlist. But only some.

Remember that KQRS doesn't want to get too hard-edged since it co-exists with KXXR. That's where you go for the more recent, more rocking titles.

 

[Saladressing]

There was a time not too long ago that 'RS was playing 90s titles from STP, Nirvana etc. along with 80s hair rock Poison and the like. And their #s were much higher than present. Perhaps ownership has decided to focus on KXXR as a cash cow at the present time.