Light Rock Rules LA

Oldies are out, light rock is in. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it is an interesting development in the March Nielsen radio ratings for Los Angeles released last week. Sister (twin? Can you tell the difference?) stations KOST (103.5 FM) and “My FM” KBIG (104.3 FM) packed a solid 1-2 punch, earning ratings of 6.5 and 5.9, respectively, pushing former leader KRTH (101.1 FM) to third place with a 5.0 share of the audience aged six and over.

Right behind KRTH was “Jack” KCBS-FM (93.1) at 4.9, and rounding out the top-5 was KLAX (97.9 FM) with a 4.4.

KROQ (106.7 FM) — written off by some, mostly me — has made a tremendous comeback in the Nielsens, tying for 9th place with KSCA (101.9 FM) at 3.7, beating competitor KYSR (Alt 98.7 FM)’s 3.4  by one finish place. That’s remarkable for two reasons, one just because KROQ beat Alt this time. More interesting to me is the fact that both stations are doing so well, proving the old adage that real competition brings out the best; both stations sound great these days, with solid shows both morning and afternoon, and a playlist just different enough that you can go to one or the other if a bad tune comes on.

Tying with Alt at 11th was KLOS (95.5 FM), which is showing growth as they open up the playlist somewhat … that’s good news. I’d still like to hear more new music on all three, but I know that’s a pipe dream.

KFI (640 AM) is still trying to find its place in the world. Yes, it was the top-rated AM station in town, and the top-rated talk station in town. But its still outside of the top-10, and longtime readers will note that it wasn’t that long ago that it was in the top-five consistently. I’m not writing the station off just yet — recent changes haven’t had a chance to pay off and part of that may be due to the station’s total lack of any advertising or promotions. I’d add way too many commercials per hour to the problems as well. But to have the most powerful station in Los Angeles, that can reach almost half of the country at night, at 13th place with a 3.2 share shows that a fix is still needed, in some way. 

That being said, a 3.2 rating is still worth quite a bit in Los Angeles.

Go Country (105.1 FM) had its best month in the history of the station … and the 105.1 FM frequency, going back to its launch in 1959. Country music radio in general seems to be on a roll with hits from the likes of Ella Langley and overall a lot of fun music; Go Country certainly took advantage of the trend by coming in at 15th place with a 2.9 share.

Here’s one I don’t get: KEIB (1150 AM). A station that once proved you can play music— standards at the time — and get really good ratings, now ties for 36th with KKLQ’s HD stream (100.3 HD2) with a 0.3 share of the audience. Of course I am more cognizant of the lack of AM music due to my repairing of old radios that only receive AM. But honestly, would anyone really notice if KEIB dropped talk? I think that would be a great station to run oldies or standards. Frankly, Saul Levine should do something like that with KMZT (1260 AM), which tied for 38th at 0.0. I assume that number is due to rounding.

And finally, while I wish there was a breakout of how much each frequency of the simulcast earns individually, all-news KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) earned an impressive combined 4.1 share, tying with The Wave KTWV (94.7 FM) and beating the one-time unbeatable KIIS (102.7 FM) which was right behind at 3.8.

Each rating is an estimate of listeners aged six and over tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight, as determined by Nielsen.

1. KOST (6.5) 2. KBIG (5.9) 3. KRTH (5.0) 4. “Jack” KCBS-FM (4.9) 5. KLAX (4.4) 6. KNX, KTWV (4.1) 8. KIIS (3.8) 9. KSCA, KROQ (3.7) 

11. “Alt” KYSR, KLOS (3.4) 13. KFI (3.2) 14. KLVE (3.1) 15. “Go Country” KKGO (2.9) 16. KPCC, KUSC (2.8) 18. KCRW (2.7) 19. “Real” KRRL (2.0) 20. KKJZ, KXOL (1.9) 

22. KJLH, “Power 106” KPWR (1.8) 24. KRCD (1.7) 25. KBUE (1.6) 26. KKLQ (1.5) 27. KLLI (1.3) 28. KLYY (1.2) 29. KLAC, KFWB KDAY (1.0)

32. KCSN (0.8) 33. KAIA (0.7) 34. KXOL Stream (0.5) 35. KDLD (0.4) 36. KEIB, KKLQ HD2 (0.3) 38. KWKW, KLAA (0.2) 40. KROQ HD2, KNX-FM HD2, KTLW, KWVE, KTNQ (0.1)

Ratings are copyright by The Nielsen Company and used by permission.

Old Technology

The response to my old radio repairs surprised me … keep your stories and photos coming; I’d like to feature them in an upcoming column.