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Jan 2026 Ratings

C

crainbebo

I have never seen Spirit 105.3 this high, maybe one Holiday book years ago. KUOW leads the charge, and 105.3 is #2 with a 5.7. Incredible season we're living in. Kudos to Erica, Sarah, and Taylor over at SPIRIT.
Seahawks boost puts KIRO-710 in the top 5 (just like the Mariners' playoff run). Big jump at KEXP and The Wolf, but of course, take it with a grain of salt given the holiday book (WARM dominated as they do every year).
Emma is unable to find her ground. Audacy shouldn't have blown up The Sound. I remember when they were in the top 3. And Jack FM is low as well. A few more bad books and they might end up flipping formats...

radioinsight.com

Seattle/Tacoma

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings Seattle/Tacoma (Market #12) Population: 4,137,900 Black: 311,600 – Hispanic: 469,600 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 radioinsight.com
 
crainbebo said:
Emma is unable to find her ground. Audacy shouldn't have blown up The Sound. I remember when they were in the top 3. And Jack FM is low as well. A few more bad books and they might end up flipping formats...
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My take on that is the Emma flip was based on demographics. The audience might be smaller, but more sellable. If broadcasters were only interested in 6+ ratings, you'd see more 60s oldies and soft rock stations. But somebody has to pay for them. The people paying want younger audiences.

As for flipping to something else, there really isn't another mass appeal music formal available.
 
Jack and Hank are both jukeboxes that have no talent costs. Jack is not going anywhere. And I would think Lotus is OK with Hank given the other two country outlets have to cost more to produce. Emma is targeting a primo demo, so the numbers we see may not tell the story very well. I suspect The Sound skewed far too old for them to sell well.
 
Here's what I've been seeing.

I've been hearing KSWD recently play more classic hip songs that I had heard on KHTP. I have also seen KJAQ play more 2000s songs with also some classic hip hop.

KQMV has been kind of weird in my opinion recently. Their jingles have changed. Last time ratings were talked about here, I mentioned them going in a more rhythmic direction. They were adding one song each week for a month including songs I didn't expect. For example, songs that were more hip hop / rap. They have back tracked on that. They haven't added much new. They constantly play same pop. Over and over.
 
One question I have is this, is Seattle just weird or do a lot of major markets behave this way? Here's why I ask:
If you look at cume numbers, the top stations look quite different. Both CHR stations pull well over 400K which puts them top 5, yet in share range they're middle of the pack. KJAQ pulls well over 500K most months, though a bit lower this month, yet hovers in the low 3 share. Emma and Hot both cume over 300K but are in the basement share wise. With cume numbers like that, I'd expect them middle of the pack. In Portland, cume numbers roughly follow the share numbers, especially if you follow the rule of talk stations always having lower cume than music stations with the same share. You don't see this disconnect between cume and share like you do in Seattle.
 
bobdavcav said:
You don't see this disconnect between cume and share like you do in Seattle.
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Nothing stands out to me that diverges from the norm. The music stations with low cume are CCM, AAA, and classical. They fit the profile of users who listen for long periods. Pop music is short attention span, thus higher cume. What you don't see is age demographics. Older listeners stick with stations longer than young people.
 
KJEB fires on all cylinders and seems to have pretty broad appeal across the market. This makes sense, given the fact that pop music from the 1980s appreciated by just about everyone. Classic hits performs extremely well in other markets as well (looking at you, KRTH 101).

I don't think Jack is in any sort of danger. Jack FM remains a very popular format, and the format fits in well with iHeart's portfolio of radio stations. Essentially, it allows them to control the entire classic hits and classic rock market. It underperforms compared to 95.7, but that doesn't matter. It's a cheap format to run and there's no reason to touch it.

KPLZ is also in a decent position. While the country music format is oversaturated in Seattle, 101.5 is the only place on the dial where you can hear 90's country tracks. That trait alone separates it from the battle between 100.7 and 98.9.

I'm more curious about how KZOK is doing, since it's hard to glean much from these numbers. As I recall, there's no local on-air talent left. I used to listen to KZOK all of the time but gradually stopped listening after station started to change. Classic rock (and the definition of "classic rock") must change and evolve over time, but KISM in Bellingham seems to be a better example of how to deliver this format effectively.
 
TheBigA said:
Nothing stands out to me that diverges from the norm. The music stations with low cume are CCM, AAA, and classical. They fit the profile of users who listen for long periods. Pop music is short attention span, thus higher cume. What you don't see is age demographics. Older listeners stick with stations longer than young people.
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Right, and I think I pointed that out. That in itself isn't surprising, but look at the top stations in cume in the two markets. Top in Seattle,
1. KRWM, #4 in share.
2. KJEB, #3 in share.
3. KNDD, #10 in share.
4. KZOK, #11 in share.
5. KBKS, #15 in share.
6. KJAQ, #19 in share.
7. KQMV, #13 in share.
8. KISW, #6 in share.
9. KHTP, #21 in share.
10. KUOW, leads the market in share.
Top in Portland,
1. KKCW, also leads in share.
2. KLTH, also #2 in share.
3. KKRZ, #8 in share.
4. KYCH, #12 in share
5. KINK, #4 in share.
6. KFBW, #7 in share.
7. KGON, #8 in share.
8. KBFF, #15 in share.
9. KXJM, #10 in share
10. KNRK, #13 in share.
Portland looks more like what I would expect for a healthy market.
 
TheDaChicken said:
It's basically impossible for all those people in cume numbers to listen to stations like KQMV for a long period of time. Same song over and over.
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Their current playlist has more than a dozen currents. That's a lot more variety than you'd get from the Jet.

Scanning their playlist on Mediabase, it gets updated and revised weekly.
 
I don't listen to KQMV but do listen to the Jet. I think why it has mass appeal is they hit on the songs which people don't mind be played over and over again. I've heard Fleetwood Mac's, Go Your Own Way thousands of times because it is a great song you can sing along to. Same goes for Don't You Forget About Me which gets a lot of airplay as well. My question is when do the Backstreet Boys (and for that matter Taylor Swift) take over the classic hits format.
 
DMK said:
I don't listen to KQMV but do listen to the Jet. I think why it has mass appeal is they hit on the songs which people don't mind be played over and over again. I've heard Fleetwood Mac's, Go Your Own Way thousands of times because it is a great song you can sing along to. Same goes for Don't You Forget About Me which gets a lot of airplay as well. My question is when do the Backstreet Boys (and for that matter Taylor Swift) take over the classic hits format.
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To answer your question: hopefully never, but I’m sure it’s inevitable. That’d probably when I stop listening though.

As for the playlist on 95.7: I feel the same way. There’s some heave rotation, but I can’t really pinpoint any specific songs that I dislike. Even the most “burnt to a crisp” tracks are still songs I want to listen to. Realistically, I think their (KJEB’s approach) is pretty much perfect.

I would argue that I probably hear a bit more variety on KJEB’s sister station in San Francisco (KOSF), but both stations are pretty good about mixing in some speciality tracks as well. KRTH in Los Angeles has also been pretty good at mixing in a decent amount of variety as of late too.

I would imagine that KQMV needs to rely on their morning show to hold the attention of the listener. I’m also a Jet listener and not a Movin’ listener, but I think streaming and individual taste has a lot to do with their performance. Everybody can agree on which songs from the 80’s they want to hear, and that’s why classic hits continues to be a smash hit. But is that true in 2026? Doesn’t really seem like it.
 
TheBigA said:
"Healthy" in what way? Do you understand the difference between share & cume?
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TheBigA said:
"Healthy" in what way? Do you understand the difference between share & cume?
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Yes, I do. I'm going to guess that if I did the same kind of breakdown for Atlanta, Philadelphia, and DC I'd have similar results to what Portland shows. Atlanta is a bit tricky since Cumulus doesn't seem to be buying local ratings at the moment and they have a sizeable cluster there, but from available data, I'm guessing that's what would happen. As for revenue, I have no idea whether a 1.8 or a 3.2 share would mean a thing with a cume of 300K assuming audience is exactly the same.
 
fordranger797 said:
I’m also a Jet listener and not a Movin’ listener
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I am probably showing my age since I listen to Movin'. Movin' is more towards a more younger demographic.

I don't have a basis of how long listener retention would be for the Jet. I do scroll through the band often to try to listen to other stations.
 
TheDaChicken said:
I am probably showing my age since I listen to Movin'. Movin' is more towards a more younger demographic.

I don't have a basis of how long listener retention would be for the Jet. I do scroll through the band often to try to listen to other stations.
Click to expand...
I’m 30, and The Jet is a station I’ve pretty much listened to throughout my entire life. When I was a kid, it was “Classic Hits of the 60’s and 70’s - 95.7 KJR,” and it’s gone through a couple of major changes over time. Indeed, some of the songs can get stale if you hear them over and over again, but it’s a radio station that fits the vast majority of my taste.

There’s not a lot that KQMV can do to change their situation, as it seems like they do everything right (from my perspective). For many years they benefited from being the main go-to location on the dial for CHR. But that’s not the case anymore in 2026, as 106.1 has made quite a comeback. They have to do everything it takes to have the competitive edge over a formidable challenger.
 
TheBigA said:
Let's put it this way: Advertisers don't buy cume. Or 6+ share.
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That makes sense. I have no idea if this is easy, but if I were Hot or Emma, I'd figure out why the audience I have isn't sticking around longer and work to get TSL up. The audience is there, they're just not sticking around. Does that mean a format change? I'm honestly not sure, but probably not.
 


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