OK - here are my non-expert speculations. Take them for what they're worth...nothing perhaps
Some surprises... KGMZ is an FM Sports station. That usually means success. But not in San Francisco, even though it is carrying a major league baseball team, the Athletics. #29 is pretty bad.
It's a new station, they've made a lot of adjustments and recently changed their branding to "The Game." Shouldn't we give them some time before we declare failure? And from what I understand, the Athletics have not been too exciting this year.
San Francisco has a much larger Latino community than African-American. Yet KMEL, which leans more Urban, beats KYLD, which is a Rhythmic Top 40 aimed at Hispanic listeners. But KYLD usually beats KMEL
I noticed that, too, but KYLD usually does better than KMEL, as you said. So maybe it's too soon to draw conclusions? It makes sense that Now 997 would be putting the hurt on KYLD more than KMEL.
And why is KBLX doing so poorly? Usually Urban AC stations have better ratings than Urban stations. Is its playlist too adventurous?
KBLX too adventurous? That's funny. Too "soft," maybe. I'd speculate its because Kiss-FM has stolen some of KBLX's audience by broadening their playlist, and including a lot of songs by popular non-soul artists of the 80s - George Michael, Madonna, etc.
I see KISQ is listed in the ratings as Urban Oldies but it really is Rhythmic Oldies. It plays Madonna, Miami Sound Machine, Lisa Lisa. I'd assume its audience is more Latin than African-American.
See above
Michael Savage does his nationally syndicated show from San Francisco. For local outlets, he's bounced from KSFO to KNEW to KTRB to where? Does he have any station near the Bay Area or do you have to try to pull in 1080 KSCO Santa Cruz to hear him? (Not that I would.)
The Weiner has no local outlet right now. He left KSFO voluntarily a few years ago for a better deal. Maybe he should have stayed - but from what I understand, station management (Disney then) and even his fellow right-wing talk hosts thought he was such a giant a**hole, they said "good riddance." And if you want to hear him, 650 KSTE from Sacramento comes in decently in the more northerly parts of the Bay, including SF in some neighborhoods..
Even though KGO has trouble these days making the Top 5 in the SF ratings, it remains consistantly #1 in the San Jose ratings... as it did before People Meters.
Does San Jose have a higher ratio of old people? ;D. Seriously though, I'm turning 60 next year and I've come to the conclusion that KGO skews too old for me. Some time in the last decade or so, traditional talk-radio shows started driving me almost comatose with boredom.
KKSF is tied for #12. Yet when 106.9 KFRC was an Oldies/Classic Hits station, it did very poorly in the ratings, ususally below a one-share. What magic has Clear Channel found that CBS could not?
Nothing. Oldies 103.7 is no better or worse than 106.9 KFRC. Perhaps listeners were more disillusioned with 106.9 because they were expecting more of it with that nostalgic "Big 610" pedigree. A lot was said about the 106.9 frequency being a problem because it had been a religious non-comm for so long. Or perhaps 103.7 is doing better because Classic Hits were gone for awhile, so listeners aren't as burned out on the format anymore. Maybe they even missed it a little.
