Chicago Radio Ratings: Holiday 2023

[pjc1961]

Covering the survey period from Thu. 12/7/2023 thru Wed. 1/3/2024, 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

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https://ratings.****************/content/arb005

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https://www.urbaninsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CHICAGO.htm

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis from Research Director Inc.:

RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, HOLIDAY 2023, PART I | Research Director, Inc.

The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with our intrepid number crunching savants from XTRENDS – are back with another ratings

researchdirectorinc.com

25-54: 1. WLIT 2. WOJO 3. WVAZ 4. WBMX 5T. WTMX 5T. WLS-FM (up from #8) 10T. WXRT (down from #3) 10T. WCHI
18-34: 1. WLIT 2. WOJO 3. WVAZ 4T. WKSC 4T. WDRV (up from #7) 4T. WGCI (up from #11) 7T. WBMX 7T. WUSN (down from #3)
18-49: 1. WLIT 2. WOJO 3. WVAZ (up from #7) 4. WBMX 5. WKQX 11T. WXRT (down from #4) 11T. WUSN (down from #5)

 

[101tm]

WBBM-FM is an absolute embarrassment. My best guess is it’s still quite profitable, probably in part due to the heritage brand (much like KROQ in LA). However, that won’t last - and trying to resurrect music from their better days has possibly made things worse. The billing will eventually catch down to the numbers. A flip would be expensive and there aren’t really any format holes existing worth trying to fill.

IMO, if (when) Audacy sees CHR on 96.3 as no longer a significant revenue stream to justify running, or there starts to be erosion issues due to it being on AM, Score will start simulcasting on 96.3. They’re just continuing to profit off of B96’s CHR format as long as they can, which makes sense.

 

[CTListener]

They're doing what all CHR stations are doing: waiting for something fresh and new, with mass appeal, to hit pop music. Right now, pop is splintered among melodic pop, rhythmic pop, hip-hop, rock and even country factions. Everyone's in their own little musical silo and they all have other places to tune where they can hear their own narrow range of styles and performers without having to tolerate anyone else's. And quite a few have deserted radio in favor of streaming, where they never have to listen to a song they don't like because they pick all the songs.

 

[101tm]

They're doing what all CHR stations are doing: waiting for something fresh and new, with mass appeal, to hit pop music. Right now, pop is splintered among melodic pop, rhythmic pop, hip-hop, rock and even country factions. Everyone's in their own little musical silo and they all have other places to tune where they can hear their own narrow range of styles and performers without having to tolerate anyone else's. And quite a few have deserted radio in favor of streaming, where they never have to listen to a song they don't like because they pick all the songs.

I completely agree, but the worse issue here is they are a secondary CHR. A lot of markets are struggling to sustain one CHR (I refer to WBBM-FM as the “secondary” CHR since 103.5 won that war quite a while back).

I understand radio waiting, but this time, I’m not confident CHR is going to come back, even if it does, to an extent where a market can long term support two stations in the same format (plus WTMX). Audacy won’t let Score die on AM IMO. My prediction is still B96 will keep 96.3 warm and Audacy will collect the money stream until they feel Score has to have an FM presence. Chicago and Houston are the last large markets where they haven’t put sports on FM (Houston, if they even wanted/want to, has no FM station to sacrifice in the cluster).