March 2025 Bay Area Radio PPM Ratings

[HenryOchs]

Here are the March 2025 San Francisco Radio PPM Ratings:

San Francisco

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings San Francisco (Market #6) Population: 6,600,600 Black: 430,500 – Hispanic: 1,605,200 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2024 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and...

radioinsight.com

And the March 2025 San Jose Radio PPM Ratings:

San Jose

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings San Jose (Market #39) Population: 1,648,900 Black: 47,200 – Hispanic: 403,500 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2024 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and data are...

radioinsight.com

Any thoughts or observations?

 

[Street Novelist]

I can't believe KDFC is pulling in those kind of numbers. Who knew so many people in the Bay listened to classical music?

 

[Signal Geek]

I can't believe KDFC is pulling in those kind of numbers. Who knew so many people in the Bay listened to classical music?

Classical has usually pulled good ratings in the Bay Area. But decades ago, it was on a 33kw signal, KDFC (and even earlier, also on the lower-powered but still Class B KKHI). Now, classical is on a collection of much smaller signals, mostly rimshots -- but getting the same or bigger shares. That may be the bigger surprise.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I can't believe KDFC is pulling in those kind of numbers. Who knew so many people in the Bay listened to classical music?

Too many PPMs being exposed to one or another of the Classical stations for at least three minutes.

 

[Weiserguy]

It could also be the dearth of musical alternatives for people who have exceeded the all-important 25-54 demo. Commercial radio no longer cares to service them, but USC (owner of the KDFC multicast) doesn't care, as long as enough listeners kick in the occasional contribution to help keep them financially solid.

One other reason might be that, if you're able to receive one of their signals clearly, it just sounds really good. Full fidelity, not over-processed, not over-modulated. It's the way FM used to sound. I have to believe a lot of other listeners have noticed the difference in audio quality.

 

[adradio]

Bay Area is home to a highly educated populace. Classical music works well with that demographic.

 

[sfradio]

Classical has usually pulled good ratings in the Bay Area. But decades ago, it was on a 33kw signal, KDFC (and even earlier, also on the lower-powered but still Class B KKHI). Now, classical is on a collection of much smaller signals, mostly rimshots -- but getting the same or bigger shares. That may be the bigger surprise.

How is it that much of a surprise? You can hear KDFC in many more places than you could with just one signal of 102.1. You could not hear it in Monterey or Ukiah before.

 

[Mark Roberts]

How is it that much of a surprise? You can hear KDFC in many more places than you could with just one signal of 102.1. You could not hear it in Monterey or Ukiah before.

And you can barely hear it in much of Oakland and Berkeley and not at all in the Tri-Valley, which means any reach into those areas is online only. With all due respect to Ukiah, this isn’t a great trade.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

Once upon a time, when KDFC still had the great signal on 102.1, and after it had dropped the technically amateurish automated programming it aired for decades (and which KLEF Anchorage ran, for some reason). . Do you remember it, where the anonymous announcer gave a year after announcing each piece... "1895" (is that the year the piece was written, or first performed, or what?). Well, I forget the year, but KDFC came in at least once or twice at the top of the San Francisco ratings for 12+.
Then a commercial operator took it over, didn't know how to program a classical music service, and USC starting piecing together its hodge- podge of secondary signals. There's a lot to be said for the hosts and programmers on KDFC to resonate with listeners, even when the broadcast signals are all over the dial, and it can be a challenge to listen to in the car.

 

[sfradio]

And you can barely hear it in much of Oakland and Berkeley and not at all in the Tri-Valley, which means any reach into those areas is online only. With all due respect to Ukiah, this isn’t a great trade.

You could barely hear 102.1 in San Jose, and now you can hear it better with 104.9.

 

[Weiserguy]

And you can barely hear it in much of Oakland and Berkeley and not at all in the Tri-Valley, which means any reach into those areas is online only. With all due respect to Ukiah, this isn’t a great trade.

There's a different way to look at this, Mark. The KDFC multicast puts a poor signal into the Tri-Valley, and parts of Oakland/Berkeley also are signal-challenged, AND YET KDFC still is the #4 station in the market. Maybe they're not as signal-challenged as you think. Or, if they didn't have signal challenges, might they be #2 or #3? If everyone who was open to KDFC's classical music programming had a strong, clean signal to tune to, how well might they be doing then?

 

[davideduardo]

It could also be the dearth of musical alternatives for people who have exceeded the all-important 25-54 demo. Commercial radio no longer cares to service them, but USC (owner of the KDFC multicast) doesn't care, as long as enough listeners kick in the occasional contribution to help keep them financially solid.

Commercial radio has not cared about persons either over 50 (Black and Hispanic campaigns) or over 54 (general market) for many decades. As has been said over an over, the vast and enormous majority of agency ad campaigns do not target older consumers.

Further complicating business for local old-leaning media is the fact that consumers are using "big box" stores or online sellers and abandoning local merchants. So there are fewer local direct accounts left.

A few radio operators have managed to carve out a niche serving older consumers, but the revenue is limited and not attractive to larger group owners.

 

[NoMoreLurking]

I don't recall seeing "KDFC Stream" showing up as a separate number; at least not recently. Is online listening swallowed up in their "single line reporting?" (Maybe that's a question for @Huff ?) KDFC has been pretty good about promoting their stream for several years.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Last time I checked, streams, provided the content is 100% identical to the broadcast, is combined into single-line reporting. Although it does not apply here, for commercial stations that includes the same spots (no "covering" on the stream).

 

[Huff]

I don't recall seeing "KDFC Stream" showing up as a separate number; at least not recently. Is online listening swallowed up in their "single line reporting?"

The numbers for KDFC-FM include listening to: KOSC-FM, KXSC-FM and the three streams of all the stations.

Stations have to request to be listed with Total Line Reporting, per Nielsen:
"To be eligible for TLR, the stations must be a Nielsen client in good standing and broadcast the same programming and commercials for at least 95% of all Quarter Hours during the survey / report period.
The simulcasting stations may break simulcast during the survey / report period and remain eligible for TLR under the following circumstances: 1) the stations break simulcast to broadcast different programming and commercials, and 2) each simulcast break is at least one hour, and 3) no single simulcast break is longer than 12 continuous hours."

 

[NoMoreLurking]

A big "thanks" to @Huff for weighing in with his ratings knowledge.

It begs the question "why don't other stations simply opt for Total Line Reporting instead of having their streams counted/listed separately?"

 

[Signal Geek]

And you can barely hear it in much of Oakland and Berkeley

I don't understand why you wouldn't receive KDFC well in Oakland and Berkeley. From the 90.3 tower site on Mt. Beacon, you clearly see all of Berkeley and almost all of Oakland as well.

 

[Signal Geek]

How is it that much of a surprise? You can hear KDFC in many more places than you could with just one signal of 102.1. You could not hear it in Monterey or Ukiah before.

I don't believe listeners in Monterey or Ukiah have ever been covered in the San Francisco ratings. In the area that IS covered, KDFC's collection of low-powered signals still misses a number of very populated areas, like Concord, Danville, Livermore (although I think a translator or booster for the latter city just went on the air).

 

[davideduardo]

I don't believe listeners in Monterey or Ukiah have ever been covered in the San Francisco ratings. In the area that IS covered, KDFC's collection of low-powered signals still misses a number of very populated areas, like Concord, Danville, Livermore (although I think a translator or booster for the latter city just went on the air).

Remember, Nielsen measures counties (or a part of one in a few rare cases). They don't measure cities.

You can expand this one: https://genmediapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024gmpmetromap.pdf