Aug. 8, 2005, 1:27AM
TELEVISION-RADIO NOTEBOOK
KILT still commands slow-growing market
By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Radio station KILT (610 AM) continues to hold a substantial lead over KBME (790 AM) in the spring Arbitron book. But, once again, it's astonishing to note how sports talk continues to perform in this market compared to Dallas-Fort Worth.
For the April-June ratings period, KILT had a 1.7 rating, down a tenth of a point from the winter book, to .4 for KBME, also down a tenth of a point for adults age 25 through 54. For men 25-54, KILT climbed a tenth of a point to 3.1, and KBME declined two-tenths to .7.
In afternoon drive time, the main point of competition for the two sports talk stations, KILT with Marc Vandermeer and Rich Lord climbed two-tenths of a point to 2.1 in persons 25-54 while KBME with Charlie Pallilo dropped a tenth to .8.
In the target afternoon drive demo, men 25-54, the Rockets helped KILT climb nine-tenths of a point over the winter book to 3.9, seventh-best in the market, while KBME dropped a tenth to 1.4.
"Growth is still incredibly slow," said Ken Charles, program director for the Clear Channel Houston cluster that includes KBME. "It's tough going against the Rockets' flagship station (KILT) and the Astros' flag (KTRH).
"We don't expect to play in the ratings game until next year, so there's nothing that surprises me now."
If you combine the two Houston sports talk stations, you come up with a 3.8 total for men 25-54 weekdays from 6 a.m. to midnight.
In Dallas-Fort Worth, KTCK, the Ticket, is No. 2 in the market in the same demo at 7.8.
In the all-day, persons age 12-plus ratings that Arbitron releases to all interested parties (demos are provided to clients only), KTCK and its simulcast partner KTDK-FM rank 12th in Dallas to 23rd in Houston for KILT and 33rd for KBME.
In other markets, WEEI in Boston is tied for No. 1, KNBR in San Francisco is 11th, KFAN in Minneapolis-St. Paul ranks 12th, WDAE in Tampa-St. Petersburg ranks 17th, WFAN in New York is 17th and WEAE in Pittsburgh is 20th.>