GSP Monthly ratings - May 2025 - 98.9 at an 8 share!

[101tm]

Greenville/Spartanburg

Nielsen Audio Monthly Ratings Greenville/Spartanburg (Market #53) Population: 1,143,400 Hispanic Population: 105,200 - Black Population: 190,200 Average Quarter Hour Share

radioinsight.com

I figured the other thread from early this year has run its course, so here’s a new one… some rather dramatic changes in the ratings (we get to see) for May. WYRD continues its unstoppable march to an EIGHT share - only a little more than half a point from toppling Jamz for #1, which I could see happening.

WSSL is down, but 92.5 WESC continues to crater - dropping below a 5 share, being beaten by WROQ and WFBC for 7th place.

Ouch @ The Planet which is on a downward trend. Are Dex and Barbie T suddenly popular, contributing to WFBC’s rise? </sarcasm> I have to admit, I did not expect La Raza 106.3 to do as well as it is, with an even 1 share.

The Fan is at a 0.1 share. For the local effort Audacy puts in to it for drive time shows, it seems to be undergoing a slow collapse…not that there was much TO collapse to begin with.

 

[AMRocks]

Nice to see that Magic on the two HD channels and a couple of far away translators is showing up a tiny bit. It's strange that, other than the toh ID, they never tell you what you're listening to.

As much as I despise WORD, they are probably killing it demo-wise. Older.

I'm curious why WESC is taking such a dive. Are they the more "traditional" country station? I can never remember (since I don't listen to country.)

 

[101tm]

WESC is classic country/country gold from iHeart’s Premium Choice. 80s-00s, they stop around 2010, occasionally a 70s song but very rare. WSSL is mainstream country with a sprinkling of 90s through today, more like a traditional mainstream country station a la WCOS or WKSF.

Considering WESC leans older, and male, I wonder if a lot of their listeners have switched to WYRD. I can see a LOT of demographic overlap.

I get it’s a blood red market, but I just can’t wrap my head around the success of WORD, even though most is probably 55+. I can understand the format being popular, but the hosts are just horrible.

 

[KyleSmith1988]

At least "The Fan" upstate is going by the actually namesake "WORD-AM" which is supposed to belong to WYRD 😂 maybe that station would be better off going to AM only (formerly occupied by the station now @ 98.9) and let Magic have / add the Translators at 97.1 & 97.7. If so then Magic could re-compete with 102.5 and especially now with Star 99.5 being a thing.

Fox Sports (104.9 & 98.3) is beating The Fan 3x with an 0.3 share 😂 and almost completely redundant / obsolete. Meanwhile, The Roar seems to have added enough Sports Enthusiasm well into this area already.

 

[AMRocks]

At least "The Fan" upstate is going by the actually namesake "WORD-AM" which is supposed to belong to WYRD 😂 maybe that station would be better off going to AM only (formerly occupied by the station now @ 98.9) and let Magic have / add the Translators at 97.1 & 97.7. If so then Magic could re-compete with 102.5 and especially now with Star 99.5 being a thing.

Fox Sports (104.9 & 98.3) is beating The Fan 3x with an 0.3 share 😂 and almost completely redundant / obsolete. Meanwhile, The Roar seems to have added enough Sports Enthusiasm well into this area already.

A few low power translators will never compete with Lake's 100kw. Never.

And the revenue they bring in from sports it's likely big, despite their low ratings. Plus, I'm SURE they are selling it in combo with WYRD-FM. The AM signals are crap. (I still will never understand why iHeart doesn't put BIN on one of their FM HD channels, especially now that they dropped the music formats from their HD.)

 

[101tm]

And the revenue they bring in from sports it's likely big, despite their low ratings. Plus, I'm SURE they are selling it in combo with WYRD-FM. The AM signals are crap. (I still will never understand why iHeart doesn't put BIN on one of their FM HD channels, especially now that they dropped the music formats from their HD.)

Audacy GVL is probably using in The Fan with WROQ and WTPT for sales purposes as well. Other than WFBC and The Block, it’s a heavily male cluster.

I’d love to see how 105.5 / 97.5 The Roar does. Ratings wise, I bet it outperforms iHeart and Audacy’s sports efforts significantly.

Every AM signal in this market is, frankly, trash for various reasons.

 

[KyleSmith1988]

A few low power translators will never compete with Lake's 100kw. Never.

Not sure why Audacy hasn't totally killed off the Magic Brand, Mayhe they will eventually move it to a full power channel once again.

(I still will never understand why iHeart doesn't put BIN on one of their FM HD channels, especially now that they dropped the music formats from their HD.)

Maybe the can at least swap / move it over to the stronger WESC-AM / 660 signal. I think that AM station its still the Best in the market, even though it was recently downgraded from 50kw.

The old WORD brand was 1330/950 but i would say 950 is 2nd best in the Upstate and best in Spartanburg. 910 is also ok but i think their 105.7 translator is a bit far away from the city center. 97.1 and 104.5 both share the 950 tower

 

[freqdev]

I’d love to see how 105.5 / 97.5 The Roar does. Ratings wise, I bet it outperforms iHeart and Audacy’s sports efforts significantly.

i can't imagine the roar does much better 12+ than the other sports talkers since gsp is not a sports market. my guess is they all have highlights in specific dayparts and demos but not enough to move the needle for 12+ total week numbers. college football which is important in the area will give them all a lift i suspect this fall

 

[101tm]

i can't imagine the roar does much better 12+ than the other sports talkers since gsp is not a sports market. my guess is they all have highlights in specific dayparts and demos but not enough to move the needle for 12+ total week numbers. college football which is important in the area will give them all a lift i suspect this fall

I would tend to agree with your analysis.

Speaking to WYRD-FM’s dominance, I spot checked a handful of other markets in the southeast to see if news/talk is currently as successful. The closest I could find was the evergreen WSB (AM) in Atlanta, and WTKK in Raleigh-Durham. In markets like Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, Columbia, Charleston, and basically all others, it’s hard or practically impossible to find a news/talk station in the top 5, or managing to get above a 5 share, and most are trending down. I just don’t get what listeners are seeing in these 98.9 hosts. Even if I don’t agree always (or in 98.9’s case, the majority of the time with hosts like Frady and Tara), I can recognize talent. Talent is not a specialty at 98.9. Charlie James is actually the best they have.

 

[genius]

The ratings for 98.9 aren’t surprising keep in mind it’s from April with the news about the tariffs and stock market drama on going at the time.

Had to laugh today because I only briefly heard Tara’s explosive scream about the latest Epstein drama.

And strangely @101tm 98.9 is having to run with all national fare as thanks to the hosts local politicians are avoiding them like the plague per my friend with SCETV. Heck Tara’s old pal state senator Josh Kimbrell has yet to appear since announcing his gubernatorial run, inside giving exclusive interviews down on WTMA in Charleston with notorious podcaster Corey Allen instead.

 

[101tm]

And strangely @101tm 98.9 is having to run with all national fare as thanks to the hosts local politicians are avoiding them like the plague per my friend with SCETV. Heck Tara’s old pal state senator Josh Kimbrell has yet to appear since announcing his gubernatorial run, inside giving exclusive interviews down on WTMA in Charleston with notorious podcaster Corey Allen instead.

Didn’t Nikki Haley even stop coming on Tara’s show when she was governor? Was Nikki even interviewed on 98.9 during the 2024 primary? I know she was on WVOC a lot and I believe? WTMA some but I don’t remember hearing about her being on WORD.

There’s so much going on in the region to be talking about national crap that’s covered all over the place. I’m surprised they’re not on the Spartanburg County sheriff’s race circus more.