Washington DC Radio Ratings: March 2023

[pjc1961]

Covering the survey period from Thu. 3/2/2023 thru Wed. 3/29/2023, age 6+: (may not be updated immediately in some browsers)

Washington DC

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings Washington DC (Market #8) Population: 5,162,900 Black: 1,388,300 – Hispanic: 928,500 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...

radioinsight.com

or (updated) RadioOnline Washington DC Ratings March 2023

Top 5+ demo rankings analysis for ages 25-54, 18-34 + 18-49:

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25-54: 1. WASH 2. WAMU 3. WGTS 4. WHUR (up from #7) 5. WPGC 11. WKYS (down from #4)
18-34: 1. WAMU 2. WPGC 3T. WGTS 3T. WIHT (up from #7) 5T. WHUR 5T. WWDC (up from #8) 5T. WKYS (down from #3)
------- 8. WASH (down from #5)
18-49: 1. WAMU 2. WASH 3. WGTS 4. WPGC 5T. WWDC 5T. WHUR (up from #8) 9T. WKYS (down from #4) 9T. WIAD

 

[Gregg.]

I don't see WMAL-FM listed in the ratings. Did Cumulus not subscribe? I also don't see a rating for Sports station 630 WSBN, the former WMAL AM, owned by Cumulus as well.

I guess Nielsen doesn't list non-subscribing stations? They had stopped for a while, then they resumed, now I guess they don't again.

 

[pjc1961]

Correction was made by Nielsen Audio on Fri. 4/21/2023 - WMAL added back in with a 4.0 share.

Corrected chart: Washington DC - RadioInsight

 

[Gregg.]

Nielsen restored WMAL-FM's ratings. It's #7 now. But there's still no listing for co-owned 630 WSBN, Washington's ESPN affiliate.

I'm sure it has some people listening. 980 WTEM, another AM sports station, is listed as tied for #25. And its streaming signal is tied for #27.

 

[TheBigA]

Wow, at one time WMZQ was a Top 10 station. Now it's under a 2 share.

 

[101tm]

Considering how massively popular classic hits has become in so many PPM markets, I’m surprised to see WIAD not doing more in any of the demos. WJFK doesn’t look as strong as a lot of its other Audacy sports counterparts.

DC has always interested me…it’s a unique market. It seems to lack the amount of commercial music signals that other markets of a similar size have, but if they had more, I don’t really know what void there would be other than maybe hot AC. Even some of the music stations don’t really appear to be doing that well. Dare I say, neighboring Baltimore seems to have better radio as far as variety goes.

 

[jt99]

Considering how massively popular classic hits has become in so many PPM markets, I’m surprised to see WIAD not doing more in any of the demos. WJFK doesn’t look as strong as a lot of its other Audacy sports counterparts.

DC has always interested me…it’s a unique market. It seems to lack the amount of commercial music signals that other markets of a similar size have, but if they had more, I don’t really know what void there would be other than maybe hot AC. Even some of the music stations don’t really appear to be doing that well. Dare I say, neighboring Baltimore seems to have better radio as far as variety goes.

Classic Rock isn't particularly popular in DC, either. It seems like no matter what Audacy or iHeartMedia do, neither WIAD or WBIG-FM have been able to become dominant stations, though at least WIAD is top 10 18-49. The DC radio market is definitely similar to the San Francisco radio market in this regard, as neither Classic Hits or Classic Rock have been consistently able to work there, either.

 

[TheBigA]

Classic Rock isn't particularly popular in DC, either. It seems like no matter what Audacy or iHeartMedia do, neither WIAD or WBIG-FM have been able to become dominant stations, though at least WIAD is top 10 18-49.

My view is that it's not that those formats aren't popular, because their cume numbers are higher than their ratings indicate. I think what hurts those formats in a conventional 6+ horserace is the size of the news and urban radio audience. I like your comparison to San Francisco, because that's another city where news radio is at the top of the ratings. What format doesn't exist at Spotify or Amazon or Apple? The all-news format. So people who want straight news, especially local news, can find it easily and cheaply on air.

 

[101tm]

Classic Rock isn't particularly popular in DC, either. It seems like no matter what Audacy or iHeartMedia do, neither WIAD or WBIG-FM have been able to become dominant stations, though at least WIAD is top 10 18-49. The DC radio market is definitely similar to the San Francisco radio market in this regard, as neither Classic Hits or Classic Rock have been consistently able to work there, either.

There are a lot of similarities between both markets, I actually thought about that a while back but never gave it much more thought. AC and talk/news/public radio are dominant, rock or classic hits don’t do that well either. San Francisco has a rimshot country station and it’s struggling in DC. The biggest difference would be alternative and contemporary Christian being more popular in DC, but DC101 has popular personalities and is a heritage station (and well programmed) which undoubtedly help it. Also, no hot AC definitely helps WASH and to a degree DC101, maybe.

I still think Hot AC (another format very popular in San Fran) could be an untapped gold mine in DC right now, but there’s really no station I see changing their current format right now. Mix 107.3 had been doing fairly well in its final couple of years and was helped with the flip of 94.7.

It’s probably best DC doesn’t have any additional frequencies that aren’t locked in to urban or all news/talk. There would just be more bottom dwellers. When did 105.9 start getting its best numbers? When they went to news/talk.

 

[TheBigA]

The biggest difference would be alternative and contemporary Christian being more popular in DC,

The biggest difference is the black population is 25% of DC, while it's less than 10% of SF. That 25% is extremely loyal to its heritage radio stations in DC. You don't have that kind of radio passion in SF. At one time, DC had TWO very popular country stations. The second one was on 105.9. What has happened is the audience for the format has moved further away from the city, to the west and south. So they listen to stations closer to them. The same could likely be said about the classic hits audience.

 

[101tm]

The biggest difference is the black population is 25% of DC, while it's less than 10% of SF. That 25% is extremely loyal to its heritage radio stations in DC. You don't have that kind of radio passion in SF. At one time, DC had TWO very popular country stations. The second one was on 105.9. What has happened is the audience for the format has moved further away from the city, to the west and south. So they listen to stations closer to them. The same could likely be said about the classic hits audience.

How do the demographics of the neighboring Baltimore market compare? It has a pretty large black population but it’s a very different looking market from DC. Country Urban, and Hot AC are strong, while CHR just sort of gets by (Baltimore went a while without even having a CHR). Adult Hits leads the Baltimore market while classic rock has similar issues to DC from the limited info I can see. 98 Rock seems to do fairly well.

 

[TheBigA]

How do the demographics of the neighboring Baltimore market compare? It has a pretty large black population but it’s a very different looking market from DC. Country Urban, and Hot AC are strong,

Black percentage is a little larger than DC. Country still does well because WPOC has retained its heritage local morning show, while WMZQ is syndicated. But also the Baltimore market is more concentrated and less transitional than DC. The southern suburbs for DC extend to Fredericksburg, and the west goes to Front Royal. Some people commute great distances to work in DC.

 

[MVB13]

Black percentage is a little larger than DC. Country still does well because WPOC has retained its heritage local morning show, while WMZQ is syndicated. But also the Baltimore market is more concentrated and less transitional than DC. The southern suburbs for DC extend to Fredericksburg, and the west goes to Front Royal. Some people commute great distances to work in DC.

Z104.3 has YMS radio for its morning show which is on Hot 99.5.

 

[Kelly A]

Some people commute great distances to work in DC.

And boy, don't I know that!
DC market is a confluence of two states and the District. To your point; because of the ethnic and socioeconomic makeup; residents of D.C. may not be big classic rock listeners, but someone commuting from Fredericksburg, VA likely is. There are also suburban classic rock/classic hits stations closer to home for those folks rather than D.C. proper.