Fun With Radio Ratings

In response to thunderous demand for radio ratings statistics — a task I find strangely titillating — the Slaughter offers these snapshots of what Twin Cities listeners say they were tuned to over the past summer.

The disclaimer I will always issue is that as they are currently handled, by volunteers filling in written diaries, the Arbitrons have about as much scientific validity as The Flat Earth Society. The game will change dramatically when the so-called Portable People Meters, devices that accurately record what people are actually listening to, as opposed to what they remember, or prefer to think they were listening to, hits this market. But until then, the radio industry lives and dies by these things, and the patterns — even with constantly shifting volunteers — are pretty static.

Here are the rankings for the top 15 local commercial stations, among adult listeners 25-54.

STATION…..2006…….2007

KQRS ………….11.1…….11.0
KS95……………5.9……..7.0
K102……………9.2……..6.7
JACK……………5.0……..5.8
Cities97………..4.3……..5.3
WLTE……………4.6……..5.1
93X…………….4.8……..4.8
(Tie)KOOL……….3.1……..3.8
(Tie)KSTP-AM…….3.4……..3.8
KDWB……………3.0……..3.7
KFAN……………3.5……..3.3
WCCO……………4.7……..2.9
KTTB……………2.9……..2.0
KTLK……………2.3……..1.9
KMNV(Spanish)……0.5……..1.5
(Tie)FM107………1.5……..1.3
(Tie)BOB106……..1.4……..1.3
LOVE-FM…………1.4……..1.2
(Tie)Air America…0.6……..0.7
(Tie)The Patriot…1.2……..0.7

The story here and in other demographic breakouts is that “free form” JACK-FM did very well over the summer, as did KS95, with Cities97, WLTE and KOOL108 bouncing back from a year ago

On the downside, K102, Twins-less WCCO and The Patriot took tough slides in audience levels. Speaking of the Twins though, KSTP-AM can’t be thrilled that their expensive “partnership” with the Twinkies netted them only a meager 0.4 increase in adult listeners. That ain’t good.

But money is made in drive time. Here are some numbers for morning drive (6 to 10 AM), again, adults 25-54 (not every station’s target demo, but what the hell?) Prominent hosts listed.

STATION … AUDIENCE SHARE
KQRS ……..22.9 (Barnard)
KS95……….9.3 (Greg & Cheryl)
KDWB……….5.4 (Dave Ryan)
93X………..5.4
K102……….5.1
WCCO……….4.4 (Dave Lee)
WLTE……….4.1
Cities97……4.0 (Turner & Valsvik)
JACK……….3.9
KFAN……….2.8 (Morris/PA and Dubay)
KOOL108…….2.1
AM1500……..2.0 (Willie & Jay/Davis)
LOVE……….1.3
KTTB……….1.2
FM107………1.2 (Punnetts/Burger)
BOB………..1.2
KMNV……….1.2
The Patriot…1.1 (Bennett/Ingraham)
KTLK……….1.0 (Hines/Conry)
AirAmerica….0.5 (Press/Miller)

And here are the adults 25-54 numbers for afternoon drive, (3-7 p.m.) I’ve included the talk show hosts for the period as well.

STATION AUDIENCE SHARE

KS95…..8.3
K102…..7.4
KQRS…..6.6
JACK…..6.2
Cities97.5.5
93X……5.4
AM1500…5.3 (Soucheray/Thomas)
KOOL108..4.4
WLTE…..4.4
KFAN…..4.0 (Hartman/Barreiro)
KDWB…..3.4
WCCO…..3.0 (Shelby)
KTTB…..2.5
KTLK…..2.3 (Hannity/Lewis)
FM107….2.2 (Lori & Julia)
LOVE…..1.7
BOB……1.4
KMNV…..0.9
AirAm….0.8 (Hartmann/Heaney)
Patriot..0.5 (Medved/Hewitt)

I’ll update this when I get my hands on numbers — usually only the broad, “All Listeners 12+” category — for the three Minnesota Public Radio stations.