BOSTON, NYC, LI & PHILADELPHIA LATEST RADIO UPDATE 6.15.2021

CLARK SMIDT (978) 502-6633 [email protected] www.broadcastideas.com

Please hear the New Connecticut Oldies format on 1220 WATX, Hamden/New Haven: https://live365.com/embed/player.html?station=a99527&s=md&m=dark#

Summer 2021, and we’re slowly getting back to normal with careful mask reduction. The MAY 2021 PPM survey (April 29-May 26) shows listening habits adjusting to more normal patterns with fluctuations of 1.4 or less, in these major Northeast markets. June numbers will cover May 27-June 23. July from June 24-July 21. Spring diaries for the smaller markets remain in the field from April 1 – into next week, June 23. The June PPM publishes July 13-16. Smaller Condensed Markets and 2 Book Diary Reports will be released July 21-August 12.

April/May used to be the year’s BIG Arbitron. Summer favored CHR, Fall was released close to the holidays and Winter was a short window. Here’s the detailed May Boston (10) Update & summaries for NYC (1), Long Island (20) & Philadelphia (9).  Washington DC (7), Baltimore (24), Providence (44) and Hartford (52), coming.

BOSTON. Market #10 6+ Population 4,366,400  Spanish 11.9% Urban 8.2% 34 of 80 stations subscribe for 42.5% getting published. BOSTON CLUSTER SHARES High & Low Months Underlined.

  Sept     Oct    Nov    Dec      Hol     Jan ’21  Feb    Mar    Apr    May ‘21

1. iHeart              33.5    35.3   35.7    34.8     37.5     33.4     33.8    32.3    33.9     32.0

2. Beasley            21.8    22.9   20.7    20.9     17.3     20.3     21.0    23.0    22.2     23.9

3. Audacy            15.2   14.0    14.7   15.5     23.7     15.3     14.3    14.7    15.8     14.6

 iHeart retains Boston’s top cluster honors, with KISS 108 holding the #1 share. iHeart is off 3.0 from May ’20; 3.1 of their total share comes from outside Boston. iHR is 5.0 ahead of Beasley in Boston as WROR and WBZ/FM take the 2nd & 3rd overall shares. The BBGI cluster is up 1.7 from last year, at a new high. Entercom, now Audacy, remains the #3 cluster, +2.6 over last year and ranks 6th with WMJX and 11, plus a 12th tie for its next 3 FMs.

Boston’s Non-Comms (WBUR, WGBH, WCRB, WERS, WUMB) total 11.4, WBUR takes back an 0 .3 lead over WGBH, tied with WRKO-AM. Boston Sports (February-May): WBZ/FM is #3: 6.1-6.9-6.9-7.0 while WEEI/FM dips-3.3-3.0-3.2-2.9 at #11; no share help from The Exciting 2021 Red Sox, yet. 

BOSTON STATIONS: May Change Range: + 1.2, - 0.8.  May Gainers: +1.2 WKLB Country, +0.8 WROR Classic Hits, +0.4 @ WZLX Classic Rock, WMJX A/C & WCTK Country. April Dippers: -0.8 WGBH/FM News/Talk, - 0.7 @ WBZ-AM News/Talk, WWBX Hot A/C, -0.6 WXLO Hot A/C. ClassicRock/Hits/AdultHits 17.4, News/Talk 14.7, All A/C 13.9, Sports 10.4.CHR 9.7, Rock/Alternative 4.9. BOSTON’S TOP 10 ENTRY SHARES for March/May 2021: 3.7-3.9-3.9. Top 20 entry March/May: 1.6-1.3-1.7. 

 BOSTON March/April/May ’21 Share/Cume Rank – calls/format/owner -- trends, local color.

3/1-1/1-1/1 WXKS-FM CHR iHeart 6.8-7.4-7.7. #1 Cume 878-932k. Strong; holding Top spot by just 0.1 share.

3/2-3/2-2/3  WROR-FM Classic Hits Beasley 7.7-6.8-7.6. Regains 2nd place with a 0.8 jump, 846-832k cume.

2/7-2/7-3/5 WBZ-FM Sports Beasley 6.9-6.9-7.0. Slips a notch, formidable lead over WEEI/FM: 3.9-3.7-4.1.

5/4-5/4-4/4 WZLX-FM Classic Rock iHeart 6.1-5.7-6.1. Cume up 574-614k but still 1.6-0.9-1.5 behind WROR.

4/9-4/9-5/10 WBZ-AM News/Talk iHeart 6.4-6.6-5.9. Steady 441-439k, #10 cume. iHeart places #1,4,5,& 9 tie.

6/3-6/3-6/2 WMJX-FM A/C Audacy 5.6-5.3-5.7. #2 cume 798-852k. Could have stronger TSL to gain share.

10/6-10/6-7/6  WKLB-FM Country Beasley 3.7-3.9-5.1. Cume 502-527k. +1.2 share jump, leads Bull 1.9-2.9.

7/13-9/14-8/13 WBUR-FM News/Talk Boston U. 4.6-4.1-4.2. Cume 387-398k. Surprise move ahead of WGBH.

8/16-7/17-9/14 WGBH-FM News/Talk WGBH Found. 4.4-4.7-3.9. Bad slip, cume 328-347k. Trails WBUR by 0.3

8/19-8/20-9/20 WRKO-AM Talk iHeart 4.4-4.3-3.9. Cume 223-221-207k. Stays Top 10 in a very tight talk race.

11/18-12/13-11/17 WEEI-FM Sports Audacy 3.0-3.2-2.9. Cume up 286-336k but Sox not adding shares, so far.

12/12-12/12-12/8   WBGB-FM Adult Hits Audacy 2.9-3.0-2.8. Cume up 422-456k, share dips, wide music list.

13/5-11/5-12/7    WWBX-FM Hot A/C Audacy 2.8-3.5-2.8. #7 cume 509-499k. Squeezed with lots of Hot A/C.

15/8-14/8-14/11   WBQT-FM Hot A/C Beasley. 2.6-2.9-2.5 Cume off 467-430k. Caught in the fray; could reset.

19/17-18/18-15/16 WBWL-FM Country iHeart 2.0-2.0-2.2. Cume 325-342k. Has gains but 1.9-2.9 behind WKLB.

16/14-16/15-15/15 WXRV-FM Adult Alternative Northeast 2.3-2.1-2.2 Cume 383-357-345k. About the same.

14/10-16-11-17/9    WJMN-FM Rhythmic CHR iHeart 2.7-2.1. Cume 403-357-454k. Once #1 big signal suffers.

17/15-15/16-18/18  WXLO-FM Hot A/C Cumulus 2.2-2.5-1.9. Cume 345-333-316k. Double dip, lost momentum.

18/11-19/12-19/12 WBOS-FM Classic Rock Beasley 2.1-1.7-1.7. Cume 398-393-427k. Not much happening. 24/25-20/25-19/23  WCTK-FM Country Hall 0.9-1.3-1.7. 114-148k cume/share gains. April #2 in Providence, 7.5.

20/22-20/22-21/24 WCRB-FM Classical WGBH Found 1.6-1.2-1.5. Cume 146-147k. Could be better for Boston.

21/21-21/20-22/21 WERS-FM Variety Emerson 1.3-1.2-1.4. Cume 178k. Nice signal, new chapter, good luck.

22/23-24/22-23/22 WGIR-FM Rock iHeart 1.0-1.1-1.1. Boston cume 155-161k. #1 share 9.3 Manchester, NH.

22/21-22/19-23/19 WKAF-FM FORMAT CHANGE Spanish Urban. iHeart 1.0-1.2-1.1. Cume 226k. Fills a gap.

26/27-25/26-25/26 WHJY-FM Rock iHeart 0.7-0.7-0.7 Boston cume 104-124k. Providence April #1, 9.2-8.4. 

25/24-25/24-25/25 WSRS-FM A/C Rock iHeart 0.8-0.7-0.7. Cume 121-139k, #1 Worcester Fall on an 8.0 share.

28/29-27/28-27/29 WUMB-FM (6 signals) Variety UMass 0.3-0.4-0.4, 47-48-41k cume. Big UMass potential. 29/37-30/30-28/30 WVEI-FM Sports Audacy 0.2-0.3-0.3. Boston cume 29-36-37k. April Providence #9 at 3.2.

29/30-30/29-29/28 WHEB-FM Rock iHeart 0.2-0.3-0.2. 70-44-42k cume in Boston. #1 Portsmouth, NH Fall ‘20.

29/31-27/27-29/27 WSNE-FM Hot A/C iHeart 0.2-0.4-0.2, 81-71k Boston cume, April Providence #8, 3.6-4.2.

32/30-32/31 WWFX-FM Classic Rock Cumulus 0.2-0.2-0.2. Boston cume 40-36-27k. Adding Worcester Rock.

32/32 WCOD-FM Hot A/C iHeart 0.0-0.0-0.1. Cape Cod. Boston cume 24k.

32/33 WEEI/FM Stream Sports Audacy 0.2-0.2-0.1 Boston cume 21-22-17k.

34/33-27/32-32/34 WXKS-AM Talk iHeart 0.1-0.4-0.1 Boston cume 29-29-11k.

Clark Smidt delivers Immediate Station Income, Increased Audience & Added Broadcast Tower Value. (978) 502-6633. www.broadcastideas.com

NEW YORK (1) 15,997,800. Hispanic 25.5%. Urban 16.7%. Top Clusters January/ February/March/ April/May: iHeart 20.0-16.1-18.9-22.8-23.5, Audacy 22.2-20.3-21.9-23.5-21.9, Emmis 9.0-7.5-4.1-10.2-10.6  Spanish Broadcast 9.7-10.1-10.4-9.4-9.5, WNYC 8.7-7.6-7.5-7.7-7.3. Top Cume: WLTW A/C 3.175-3.211-3.440 million. 15 NYC stations have million+ cumes. iHeart takes Top Cluster from Audacy by 1.6.  Same Top 5: WLTW A/C 6.5-6.8-7.1-6.3-6.7, WBLS Urban A/C 5.2-6.4-5.8-6.1-6.3, WCBS/FM Classic Hits 5.1-4.8-5.8-6.1-5.7, WSKQ Tropical 5.8-6.1-5.3-5.1-5.1, WAXQ Classic Rock 4.5-4.7-4.5-4.6. Small May Change Range: +0.4, -0.5. Gainers: +0.4 @ WLTW A/C, & WKTU Hot A/C, + 0.3 WPAT/FM Spanish Hits.  Dippers: -0.5 WINS-AM News,    - 0.4 @ WCBS/FM Classic Hits & WNYC/FM News/Talk, - 0.3 WCBS-AM News/Talk. Formats: News/Talkers WNYC/FM dips 4.3-4.3-3.9 leading WINS-AM 3.4-3.2-2.7, WCBS-AM 2.6-2.7-2.4, WOR-AM Talk 2.3-2.0-1.8, WABC-AM/WLIR-FM 1.9-1.8-1.7.  Classical WQXR 2.4-2.2 leads WNSH Country 2.2-2.1 and WNYL Alternative 2.0-1.8. 6 stations in the 2.1-2.8 range. A/C (Hot/Soft/Urban) 20.4-19.2-19.6-19.8-17.3, News/Talk 18.5-17.6-16.3-15.8-14.6, Spanish/Tropical 13.6-15.8-14.4-14.5-13.8, ClassicRock/Hits/Oldies 11.0-9.6-10.7-11.1-10.8, CHR 6.9, Sports 4.6-4.1-4.3-5.1-5.1, Classical 2.3-2.4-2.2, Jazz 0.5-0.7-0.8-1.0, Stream 0.9-2.0-1.7, HD still 0.0.

LONG ISLAND NY (20) 2,451,200. Hispanic 18.6%. Urban 10.1%. Top Clusters: Audacy 22.2-20.6-20.3-22.6-22.9, iHeart 21.1-16.5-20.1-20.0-18.9, Connoisseur 12.1-12.8-10.9-12.6-12.7, Apollo Cox 9.3-9.8-10.8-11.6-11.1. Top Cume: WHTZ 356-367-411k. 5 of the Top 10 are NYC stations. Same Top 5 with WCBS/FM and WFAN moving up: WBAB/WHFM Classic Rock 4.3-5.2-6.1-6.5-6.2, WCBS/FM 4.9-4.9-5.1-5.2-5.7, WAXQ Classic Rock 5.1-5.6-5.7-5.9-5.4, WFAN FM/AM Sports 4.0-4.0-4.7-5.3, WBLI/FM CHR 4.3-4.4-4.5-4.8-4.6.   May Change Range: +0.6, -0.8.  Gainers: +0.6 @ WSKQ/FM Tropical & WKTU Hot A/C, +0.5 WCBS/FM Classic Hits, + 0.3 @ WBLS Urban A/C, WEPN/FM Sports & WNSH Country.  Dippers: -0.8 WFAN AM/stream Sports,   -0.7 WNYC/FM News/Talk, -0.5 @ WAXQ Classic Rock & WHTZ CHR. Formats: Top 3 Classic Rock/Classic Hits, again. 10 of the Top 11 are music formats, exception WFAN Sports. WKYJ A/C still tops former #1 sister WALK A/C 3.7-3.7-3.9 vs 3.1-3.3-3.5. Classic Rock/Classic Hits 17.3-19.0-21.0-21.5-20.8, All A/C 19.0-19.2-17.8-18.9-19.9, News/Talk 15.3-9.4-8.5-9.1-11.0, Sports 7.2-6.0-6.6-7.3-7.4, Classical 0.7-1.0-1.0, Jazz 0.3-0.2-0.2. Stream 1.5-0.5-2.1-1.3. HD 0.1-0.2.

PHILADELPHIA (9) 4,635,500. Urban 20.8%. Hispanic 9.5%. Top Clusters: Beasley 22.1-21.0-23.6-24.5-25.2, Audacy 26.7-25.9-24.3-24.9-23.6, iHeart 22.6-21.0-21.8-20.8-18.7, WHYY 6.3-5.2-4.6-4.2-4.6, Radio One 3.2-3.1-3.5-3.0-3.3. Beasley takes the cluster lead from Audacy by 1.6. Top Cume: WBEB A/C 900-961-970k, but slips #7 to #8 share. Same Top 4 Stations; WXTU replaces KYW at #5: WDAS Urban A/C 8.6-8.0-8.1-8.6-7.2, WMMR Rock 6.3-7.6-7.0-6.8-6.9, WMGK Classic Rock 5.6-5.9-6.0-6.2-6.2, WIP-AM Sports 6.1-5.3-5.3-5.7-5.8, WXTU Country 5.0-5.4-5.4. May Change Range: +0.4, -1.4.  Gainers: +0.4 @ WHYY News/Talk & WBEN/FM Adult Hits, +0.3 WEMG-AM Tropical. Dippers: -1.4 WDAS/FM Urban A/C, -0.6 WBEB/FM A/C, -0.5 @ KYW-AM /WPHI-FM & WUSL/FM Urban Contemp.  Formats: WMMR is #2 share, #7 cume, WBEB is #8 on the #1 cume, WOGL is now #9 on the #3 cume, WBEN is tied for 9th on the 4th cume. WHYY News/Talk is #7 at 4.2 and trails KYW #6, 4.6. All A/C 22.2-19.8-21.2-20.7-18.5, Classic Rock/Classic & Adult Hits/Oldies 14.6-14.6-15.5-16.7-17.0, News/Talk 15.6-14.2-15.9-11.2-12.9. Sports 10.5-9.2-8.4-9.0-9.3. CHR 4.4. Classical 1.3-1.5-1.7. Stream 1.5-1.1-1.1-1.2. HD 0.1-0.0-0.2.

Cluster Leaders’ Scoreboard:  iHeart - NYC, Boston   Beasley - Philadelphia   Audacy - Long Island

FCC Licensed Radio continues to prove to be the most reliable, efficient and cost-effective media to deliver factual news, entertainment, sports, information and sponsored messages.  Content and Curation Creates Successful Communication.  Summer and the New Roaring ‘20s are poised to bring back excellent times and financial growth. Build it and they will come. Trend-setters, advertisers and the public interest will profit from creative broadcast service and renewed radio initiative.                                                        -30-