Chicago Radio Ratings: June 2023

[pjc1961]

Covering the survey period from Thu. 5/25/2023 thru Wed. 6/21/2023, age 6+ overall:

Chicago

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings Chicago (Market #3) Population: 8,004,000 Black: 1,343,100 - Hispanic: 1,913,500 Average Quarter Hour Share for

radioinsight.com

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

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis for ages 25-54, 18-34 + 18-49:
(scroll down to see Chicago market)

Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts

All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...

www.allaccess.com

25-54: 1. WLIT 2. WOJO 3. WUSN 4. WTMX 5. WBMX 6T. WKSC 6T. WXRT
18-34: 1T. WKSC 1T. WDRV (up from #6) 3. WUSN (up from #8) 4. WLIT 5. WOJO (down from #2) 6. WBBM-FM 7. WGCI (down from #2)
18-49: 1. WOJO 2. WLIT 3. WKSC 4T. WBMX 4T. WDRV 6. WUSN

 

[CTListener]

Classic rock and country music running 1st (tied) and 3rd in 18-34. I know country is surging and some old songs still click with people who weren't alive when they were hits, but if this doesn't indicate that a huge chunk of 18-34 isn't listening to FM anymore, I don't know what does.

 

[jt99]

Classic rock and country music running 1st (tied) and 3rd in 18-34. I know country is surging and some old songs still click with people who weren't alive when they were hits, but if this doesn't indicate that a huge chunk of 18-34 isn't listening to FM anymore, I don't know what does.

Could also indicate a possible struggle to find younger participants for the survey, particularly younger Hispanics (who probably wouldn't be listening to much country or classic rock) as alluded to in other threads.

 

[DrJerry]

The WBBM-AM numbers surely include those listening on 105.9 (WCFS) - but no ratings are published (at least not here) for WCFS. Does reporting exist to show how many are tuning to FM vs. AM? I'd think people would be interested in knowing.

As was commented for a previous ratings book, I find it interesting/surprising that WFMT (at 0.5) is so low compared to classicals in other large markets, for example:

KDFC 2.4
WRR 2.1
KING 2.0
WQXR 1.9

Sure, maybe Chicago isn't as much into classical music, but it's a big difference. IMHO, WFMT is well done and I suspect has a loyal following, even if not the largest.

 

[jt99]

The WBBM-AM numbers surely include those listening on 105.9 (WCFS) - but no ratings are published (at least not here) for WCFS. Does reporting exist to show how many are tuning to FM vs. AM? I'd think people would be interested in knowing.

Nothing public, unfortunately, though I'm sure the companies and advertisers have the numbers, and maybe that information is also accessible to people who pay for it.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

They do split for play-by-play so technically they can probably figure out the difference. They don't bother to mention 780 so I'm guessing most listen on 105.9, at least in the immediate area. Some parts of the market are in the fringe for 105.9 so there might be more static which would lead people to listen to 780, but in the areas where it matters I'm almost certain most are listening on 105.9 these days.

If 780 wasn't of some use to them, they probably would have changed it, likely to clear their BetQL network.

An example of this would be in Milwaukee, their Sports station WSSP had a translator, which was relayed via an HD2. They were able to run different programming on the HD2 and translator and figure out just how much of a difference it made. They decided it was not doing much for the AM to have the translator, so they flipped it and the HD2 to an Urban format and left the Sports programming on the AM side. I'm going to guess they have that ability with WBBM and WCFS, but the AM must do something for them to keep it as a simulcast of the FM. It seems the AM is considered a simulcast of the FM these days. Not the other way around.

 

[pjc1961]

Nothing public, unfortunately, though I'm sure the companies and advertisers have the numbers, and maybe that information is also accessible to people who pay for it.

Yes, stations/owners can pay Nielsen Audio a substantial amount to get a separate AM/FM simulcast breakout.

They do split for play-by-play so technically they can probably figure out the difference. They don't bother to mention 780 so I'm guessing most listen on 105.9, at least in the immediate area. Some parts of the market are in the fringe for 105.9 so there might be more static which would lead people to listen to 780, but in the areas where it matters I'm almost certain most are listening on 105.9 these days.

As long as station simulcasts are identical 95% of the time, the simulcast can still be listed on a single line for ratings purposes.
In a typical 28 day survey period, that would allow for 33 hours and 36 minutes of a broken simulcast (average of 8 hours 24 minutes per week).

This works fine for NFL games once a week, for example. Since WBBM/WCFS are no longer doing Chicago Bears game broadcasts, it's likely that the simulcast will be intact close to all of the time. (Unless they carry other programming that I'm unaware of that would break the simulcast.)

Back in 2015, the Cubs spent one season on WBBM 780 only - during the games, news would continue on WCFS 105.9.
Since the simulcast was often split, there were separate ratings/shares for both stations.
Typically, the AM would be in the 4.5-5.0 range while the FM would be in 2.0-2.5 range.
The 780 3-7 PM programming (news; Cubs games) had a 3.9 in July + 3.7 in June,
while the 105.9 3-7 PM programming (news only) finished below 10th place (~3.0 share and lower).

Memory lane trip: Robert Feder article from 9/7/2015 discussing August 2015 Chicago radio ratings
(covering July 16-August 12, 2015) - (also includes numbers for the previous July 2015 survey covering June 18-July 15, 2015):

The Mix tops Chicago radio ratings | Robert Feder

robertfeder.dailyherald.com

 

[davideduardo]

Nothing public, unfortunately, though I'm sure the companies and advertisers have the numbers, and maybe that information is also accessible to people who pay for it.

Subscribers get a database which can be sorted, literally, tens of thousands of ways. They can look at non-standard age ranges, individual days and dayparts, and all kinds of sort orders on cume, cume rating, AQH persons, share, and rating as well as daily and weekly TSL

Could also indicate a possible struggle to find younger participants for the survey, particularly younger Hispanics (who probably wouldn't be listening to much country or classic rock) as alluded to in other threads.

The sample is always proportional to the population in age groups, gender, ethnicity, geography, income and education... called "stratification variables". If they don't have perfect sample proportionality, they use mathematical weighting to achieve balance.

 

[davideduardo]

Yes, stations/owners can pay Nielsen Audio a substantial amount to get a separate AM/FM simulcast breakout.

That used to be very expensive, but is more reasonable now.

As long as station simulcasts are identical 95% of the time, the simulcast can still be listed on a single line for ratings purposes.
In a typical 28 day survey period, that would allow for 33 hours and 36 minutes of a broken simulcast (average of 8 hours 24 minutes per week).

But the non-simulcast times have to go by full hours. A station can not do non-simulcasts by stopset, for example. This exception to the simulcast was instituted because so many major league sports have restrictions on simulcasts and on streams.

This works fine for NFL games once a week, for example. Since WBBM/WCFS are no longer doing Chicago Bears game broadcasts, it's likely that the simulcast will be intact close to all of the time. (Unless they carry other programming that I'm unaware of that would break the simulcast.)

Interesting situation! I'm very glad you have specific examples to illustrate this.

Back in 2015, the Cubs spent one season on WBBM 780 only - during the games, news would continue on WCFS 105.9.
Since the simulcast was often split, there were separate ratings/shares for both stations.

Good example of how this works. Thanks for showing how it is done.

 

[davideduardo]

The WBBM-AM numbers surely include those listening on 105.9 (WCFS) - but no ratings are published (at least not here) for WCFS. Does reporting exist to show how many are tuning to FM vs. AM? I'd think people would be interested in knowing.

The only "people" interested in knowing the split would be station management. Stations don't really want or need advertisers to see the split, as they only sell the "combo" of AM and FM or a broadcast and its stream.

The owner, though, might want to know if the AM share of listening has declined so much that it is not worth continuing and the station can be sold or separately programmed.

 

[Mediafrog+]

As was commented for a previous ratings book, I find it interesting/surprising that WFMT (at 0.5) is so low compared to classicals in other large markets, for example:

KDFC 2.4
WRR 2.1
KING 2.0
WQXR 1.9

Sure, maybe Chicago isn't as much into classical music, but it's a big difference. IMHO, WFMT is well done and I suspect has a loyal following, even if not the largest.

I was the one who commented on that before. Perhaps the WFMT presentation style has become too outdated compared to what those other stations are doing? I’ll admit most of my familiarity with WFMT is from their “satellite superstation” years in the 1980s-90s, plus a few more recent trips to Chicago and very limited online listening.

 

[CassChopper96]

What happened to WVAZ

 

[pumpin73]

What happened to WVAZ

I noticed that too. For a while, they were at the top of the ratings. They are starting to dip lower. Has the music been tweaked, are there too many ads?