Chicago radio ratings: Rock 95.5 surges in ratings; WKSC sweeps demos
WLIT tops overall numbers
The August PPMs were an awesome one for iHeartMedia Chicago, with Rock 95.5 (WCHI-FM) surging, Kiss 103.5 FM sweeping the demo races, and WLIT topping the overall numbers.
Rock 95.5 moved from — to thirteenth with a 3.2, the highest share number in the station’s five-year history, and the highest for the frequency since the WNUA days. Rock 95.5 also showed tremendous key demo growth, with the Rock station jumping from nineteenth place to sixth in the 25-54s, and from sixteenth place to fourth, with its highest rating in that demo since November.
Rock stations have shown growth lately. Alternative Q101 (WKQX) also exhibited growth in key demos earlier this year. In August, Q101 finished third in the 25-54s and tied for fifteenth overall with WBEZ, which is changing its schedule on Monday and adding more local programming.
Of course, it’s unknown if Rock 95.5 can keep up this momentum given the fickleness of radio ratings. But at least for one month, Rock 95.5 can claim some successes.
Just as successful was Top 40 Kiss 103.5 FM, which pulled off a hat trick by sweeping all key demos, finishing first in every category in 25-54s, 18-34s, and 18-49s, with WKSC on top for the third consecutive month in the latter two demos. Overall, Kiss finished eighth.
iHeart’s WLIT topped the ratings overall, with the AC station finishing just ahead of Hubbard’s The Drive (WDRV), and finished third in the 18-34s. Even Hip-Hop WGCI did well, finishing third in 18-49s and fifth in the 25-54s, showing increases in each demo.
The only sore spot for iHeartMedia among major stations is Adult R&B was V103, which finished in a tie for ninth with Nexstar’s News/Talk WGN-AM, interesting considering WVAZ was once a top-three station. Ratings for V103 have dropped some 35 percent in the last few years, and the station did not finish in the top ten in any key demo.
Also taking it on the chin is Audacy’s Triple A outlet WXRT, which fell hard in the demos, from third to fifteenth in the 25-54s and fell to the same position in the 18-49s. Despite this, WXRT still finished third overall and saw only a slight month-to-month decrease.
Elsewhere, Hubbard’s Hot AC 101.9 The Mix (WTMX) finished fourth overall, and second in the 25-54s and 18-49s; WBBM-AM finished fifth (with its stream finishing in a tie for 28th with an 0.8 rating); and conservative talk WLS-AM finished 26th, but it’s stream finished 31st, giving them a cumed 2.1 rating as headlines involving crime in the city and the possible deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago are drawing listeners to the station, proving a conservative talker can draw an audience in a deep-blue market.