Radio stations flip flop positions in latest ratings

By Yvonne Teems

Scores of radio listeners moved down the dial to local Clear Channel stations last fall.

Clear Channel stations edged out several stations of competitor Cox Radio in the fall radio ratings released by Arbitron Inc. in January, with two of its stations topping the top 10 list.

Three media companies in the Dayton market — Clear Channel, Cox Radio and Radio One — are constantly doing battle for listeners. Prime advertising spots are the ones with the most listeners, and stations with higher ratings can charge a higher dollar for advertising space.

This year, stations likely will keep prices the same as they were last year and may even reduce them, said Rob Riggsbee, president of Cincinnati-based media buyer Inside Media Inc. Radio revenue will be flat or down 1 percent or 2 percent this year, which means advertising prices won’t go up, he said.

“It’s a buyer’s market,” Riggsbee said.

And buyers are watching the top-rated stations. Fall ratings show Clear Channel fared well, while the two stations Cox has in the top 10 slots fell a notch or two. Radio One’s stations made mild progress in fall 2006, compared with the year-ago period.

Clear Channel’s light rock station WLQT-FM 99.9 gained three percentage points to 10.6 percent of radio listenership, edging into the No. 1 spot in the fall. The station gained listeners because it played holiday music in December, which appeals to all demographics, said Sandy Collins, program director for Clear Channel Dayton stations WLQT-FM and WDSJ-FM 106.5.

Collins said she expects some listeners to fall off following the holidays, but because of the light rock station’s wide appeal, she expects the station to stay in the top couple of spots in the next ratings period.

Jarrett Hicks, research director for Inside Media, agrees and said it likely will drop to its typical 8 percent to 9 percent rating.

However, the station is a strong one and likely will maintain some of the ground it’s gained, said Linda Kahn, senior vice president of media at advertising firm Penny Ohlmann Neiman Inc. in Dayton.

WLQT’s popularity this fall pushed the stations that typically hold the top two spots — top 40 station WMMX-FM 107.7 and Cox Radio’s country station WHKO-FM 99.1 — into slots two and three.

Cox’s country station, now down to No. 3, generally holds its own because of the growth of country music’s popularity nationwide. Riggsbee said he expects the station to rebound this winter.

Not only did Cox see a drop with its country station, but its news/talk favorite WHIO-AM fell almost an entire share, from 6.3 in the summer to 5.5 in the fall. It also dropped from No. 4 in fall 2005 to No. 6 fall 2006.

The station, which features such hosts as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, was expected to fare well this fall in the run-up to the November elections, but listenership fell in all parts of the day except for the evening.

Hicks said WHIO trends in waves — up one season, down the next — and expects it to pick up this winter. The station added WHIO-FM 95.7 in the fall, which has the same content and may be taking some listeners from the AM station because of FM’s better sound quality, Riggsbee said.

Radio One stations, whose hip-hop sounds appeal to an urban audience, did well year-over-year. WDHT-FM 102.9, which plays hip-hop and rap music, took the news talk station’s No. 4 spot this fall, gaining more than a share and ending the season at 6.4 percent of listenership. Radio One’s only other station in the top 10, WROU-FM 92.1, fell a share to 4.2.

On down, it may be rock-and-roll stations that face a drop in listeners, Riggsbee said.

The rock demographic — men ages 18 to 34 — are the first expected to fall off the radio wagon because they’re the most likely to use iPods and Internet streaming to get their music. The top four stations expected to fall in the next six months are WXEG-FM 103.9, WTUE-FM 104.7, WGTZ-FM 92.9 and WMMX-FM 107.7, Riggsbee said.

Fortunately for Dayton radio, stations stay relatively stable, which makes it easier for media buyers to predict what stations are best for advertisers, Kahn said.