Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Chicago PPM results for November (updated)

The results from November's PPMs are here, just three days after the radio ratings period ended. Isn't it great to get results like this so quick? (Just don't ask WGN-AM...) Borrowing the formula from Marc Berman's Programming Insider from Mediaweek:

Winners:
WBBM-AM, WLS (AM and FM), The Drive (WDRV-FM), V103 (WVAZ-FM)

Honorable Mention:
Lite FM (WLIT-FM), WBEZ-FM, WIND-AM

Disappointing (like the Bears):
The Score (WSCR-AM), ESPN 1000 (WMVP)

Losers:
WGN-AM, Love FM (WILV), Q101, Power 92 (WPWX-FM), Jack FM (WJMK-FM)

The November PPM book certainly brought some surprises - like the decline of WGN-AM, which went from second in October to seventh in total-day 2+ numbers, and not ranking in the top 20 at all in adults 25-54. With this surprisingly poor performance, I'm sorry WGN - it's off to the loser's circle.

All news WBBM-AM took top honors in 2+ and in adults 25-54 cume, while V103 (WVAZ-FM) took first in total day 25-54 numbers. V103 also surged in midday (Troi Tyler) and afternoons (Doug Banks), finishing third and second, respectively. Citadel had a great book - WLS - both AM and FM, occupied the second and third spots in 2+, with WLS-FM finishing eighth in total day 25-54s.

Bonneville's WDRV is another winner - The Drive finished second in total day 2+ , total day 25-54s, in 25-54 cume, and second in morning drive in 25-54s. Its' sister station (WTMX) finished first in 25-54 in morning drive with Eric & Kathy - thanks to the strong female demo.

WLIT warmed up for its holiday music drive by showing increases in total day overall ratings, while V103 and WBEZ scored ratings increases across the board (though V103 was flat in total day 2+).

Also showing a healthy increase was WIND-AM, thanks to the recent election.

On the flipside, it's clear Chicago radio listeners don't want to hear callers bitch about how bad the Bears are as ratings for both sports radio stations took a dive after Chicago's baseball teams' playoffs were over, which itself was disappointing.

Aside from WGN, the losers were pretty much the usual suspects - and as for Steve Dahl's morning show - once again borrowing a phrase from Marc Berman - the axe is waiting to swing.

To read the total day PPM numbers click here. To read the 25-54 rankings, click here.

UPDATE: Here are the rankings in the adults 18-49 demo, and it shows Spanish-language WOJO-FM in the top spot in all but one of the dayparts (weekends went to WVAZ-FM), while WGN-AM once again, does not show up in the top 20 any of the rankings, while alt-rock Q101 (WKQX) shows up in the top 20 only on weekends. Ouch!

Updated 10:26 p.m. on 2008-12-04

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Tribune Broadcasting Suspends AM IBOC"

"WGN-AM in Chicago, Illinois is the latest 50kW station to drop continuous AM HD Radio broadcasts. Reportedly, WGN's self-induced contamination to the main channel analog audio interferes with the Arbitron People Meter (PPM) devices. This interference is one of many artifacts heard when using the HD Radio system on the AM medium-wave band."

http://meduci.com