Talk Radio Scoreboard for Major Markets: March 2015

[Gregg.]

Cumulus' experiment with lighter Talk Radio on two of its West Coast stations, at this early stage, has not yielded much results. KGO San Francisco, which shifted from mostly All-News to lighter Talk Radio outside of drive times, fell to what I think are its lowest numbers in PPM history, #24. Meanwhile, its fellow Cumulus Talk Radio station, KSFO, with its line up of Rush, Hannity, Beck, etc., scored its best numbers in recent memory. And KABC Los Angeles, which got rid of several Conservative Talk hosts, hiring Judge Christina Perez, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Jillian Barberie for daytime shows, also sank further.

I've said that Talk Radio can't rely on Limbaugh and his clones forever. But attempts to breathe new life into the format don't seem to be paying off either.

1. New York ... WABC (Cumulus) #19 .... WOR (iHeart) #21 tie ... WKXW(FM) (Townsquare) #21 tie
2. Los Angeles ... KFI (iHeart) #9 tie ... KEIB (iHeart) #33 ... KABC (Cumulus) #38
3. Chicago ... WGN (Tribune) #11 ... WLS (Cumulus) #26 tie
4. San Francisco ... KSFO (Cumulus) #15 ... KGO (Cumulus) #24 tie ... KKSF (iHeart) #27 tie
5. Dallas ... WBAP (Cumulus) #17 tie
6. Houston ... KTRH (iHeart) #10
7. Washington ... WMAL-AM-FM (Cumulus) #6 tie
8. Philadelphia ... WPHT (CBS) #20
9. Atlanta ... WSB/WSBB(FM) (Cox) #2 ... WYAY(FM) (Cumulus) #20
10. Boston ... WRKO (Entercom) #19

* I only include commercial Talk stations that scored at least a one rating, except for heritage Talk outlet KABC Los Angeles and Rush's LA outlet, KEIB.

 

[umfan]

With the Presidential election heating up, I think the next 20 months will be generally good ones for Talk Stations focused on politics. WOR is likely to rise in the next few months less because of its usual content and more because of the Mets. The rumor about WLS dropping Rush at the end of March has not come to pass, but he lost a somewhat high profile affiliate in Indianapolis. If that comes to pass, it could possible lead to changes in the big markets you compile for us, but I'm doubtful that it would happen now with the aforementioned election underway.

As always, thanks much for putting this list together.