The Media Notepad: 101.9 The Mix wins, but it’s Power 92 who shines
Also: California and 11 other states sue to stop Paramount-WBD merger; syndicated version of GMFB comes to an end;
After tying Audacy’s WXRT for the top spot in the Nielsen PPMs in May, Hubbard’s Hot AC 101.9 The Mix (WTMX) have broken away and claimed it for themselves in June.
It was a banner survey for 101.9 The Mix, as the station finished with a year-high six share, ahead of WXRT, which remained flat from last month in second place. 101.9 The Mix also continued its dominance in the key adult 25-54 and 18-49 demos, finishing first for the sixth consecutive time (it was able to fend off iHeart’s Top 40 station WKSC, which stay in second place.) Among the adult 18-34 crowd, WTMX finished with its lowest rating since February, but still finished in the top five, landing in fourth place.
But the biggest story came from two radio stations with surprise surges.
Audacy’s Country outlet US 99 (WUSN-FM) scored its biggest overall numbers in a year, finishing fourth behind sister station WBBM Newsradio and iHeart’s AC outlet 93.9 The Lite, which came in fifth. US 99 was in the top five in all three demos: third in 25-54s (tying sister station WXRT), fifth among 18-49s, and an even better third among adults 18-34s. Credit the continued growing popularity of Country music, as Ella Langley’s hit song Choosin’ Texas topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the thirteenth non-consecutive week and currently holds three of the top four spots on the chart – not to mention the massive success of the Windy City Smokeout, which drew thousands of people to the United Center parking lots this past weekend.
Another surprise surge is truly a surprise. Power 92 – a Hip-Hop station based in nearby Hammond, Ind., scored its highest ratings in more than a decade with a 2.1 – a 75 percent surge from April, and ahead of iHeart’s floundering Rock 95.5 and Hubbard’s Throwback 100.3 millennial mess of a station. Power 92 has closed the gap on rival WGCI with Power 92 in 18th place overall, while WGCI is 16th – the smallest gap between the two since April 2009 as just last October, Power 92 finished 28th. In a stunning result in the adult 18-34 demo, Power 92 surged ahead of WGCI, moving from tenth place to tie for fifth place with Hubbard’s The Drive, while WGCI fell from fourth place to seventh. In the 25-54 demo, Power 92 went to 23rd place in April to 9th last month to 7th in June – putting it just two notches behind WGCI, which came in fifth.
Going in reverse is The Drive, which fell to sixth place with a seventeen percent drop for the formerly top-rated station. While it did finish tie for fifth in the aformentioned 18-34 demo, it did not finish in the top ten in the key 25-54 demo.
In other news, WBEZ beat WGN-AM with a ninth-place finish to the latter tenth; WKSC retains its lead over B96 in the Top 40 arena (Kiss 103.5 finished first for the sixth consecutive time in the 18-34s); and Audacy’s The Score remained ahead of Good Karma Brands’ ESPN 1000 (WMVP-AM), whose ratings were made available again two months ago for unexplained reasons.
Cumulus’ WLS-AM/FM and Q101 remain absent from the survey as the company’s legal action against Nielsen continues.
The battle to stop the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has ratcheted up as twelve state attorney generals, led by California and New York, have sued to keep the union from happening due to anti trust concerns.
“Today, I am leading a coalition of states in challenging the proposed merger of Warner Bros. and Paramount and asking the court to block the deal. The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Surprisingly, Illinois is not a part of the lawsuit, at least at this current time. Illinois is home to Chicago, the nation’s third-largest television and radio market in the country.
Not deterred, Paramount officials said they will defend the merger, and even take it up all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, which in recent years have favored big business. Paramount argues the merger would be “pro-competitive”, but would come with a lot of debt – more than $80 billion, which would likely lead to thousands of job losses.
“The lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general, in the most generous light, reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law,” Paramount’s statement said. “Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs.” Paramount also said the lawsuit only serves to protect Netflix.
Despite the litigation, Paramount still plans to close on its $111 billion acquisition by the end of September, as the merger has cleared regulatory hurdles in 24 countries, including the U.S. The states have also filed a temporary restraining order to put any merger activity on hold. That would be important for the states, as Paramount would have to pay a penalty of 25 cents per share (or $650 million) to WBD shareholders for every financial quarter after September 30 if the deal isn’t closed.
This case is being watched closely as if this merger survives these legal challenges, more merger and acquisition activity will follow. One company with a very keen interest is Nexstar, whose merger with Tegna is currently held up in the courts due to the same antitrust concerns – especially if the U.S. Supreme Court steps in, which would be completely unprecedented.
In news that doesn’t really come as a surprise, the clock has run out on NFL Network’s GMFB: Overtime as the daily strip is coming to an end after two seasons.
The GMFB spin-off premiered in September 2024, airing on the NFL Network, first-run syndication via Sony, and the Roku Channel. In syndication, Fox was the flagship station group, including Fox Chicago Plus (WPWR.)
But the show’s future came into question after the NFL took a ten percent stake in ESPN, and as part of the agreement, gave the Disney-owned cable network full control of the NFL Network. With contracts up for local stations and Roku in a few weeks, ESPN decided not to continue, although the main GMFB – or Good Morning Football, will continue on NFL Network.
ESPN declined comment on the cancellation.
According to Nielsen, GMFB: Overtime ranked 113th out of 124 syndicated shows for the third week in June, and ranked 122nd out of 131 shows in December 2025, as the NFL playoff race was in full gear. Airing in the late mornings, GMFB: Overtime aired live in some markets; in others, it was delayed into other dayparts, including late-night and overnight time slots, often making the breaking news on the show hours-old and dated. In Chicago, WPWR expanded the show to two hours (12 p.m.- 2 p.m.) this season, but its sister stations in New York and Los Angeles reduced GMFB: Overtime from two hours to one.
With GMFB’s departure, this means local stations will need even more time to fill as Sherri, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Live, and Access Hollywood will also vanish from schedules in September.
GMFB: Overtime’s final syndication and Roku Channel airings are tentatively scheduled for August 28.