Playing what Santa doesn’t necessarily want

Hubbard’s WILV beats Clear Channel’s WLIT in Christmas music race – of sorts With the weather getting unseasonably colder across the country, many radio stations are already getting jingle fever and Chicago is no exception. Thursday morning, Hubbard Broadcasting’s WILV (a.k.a. The Pointergate Company) added several Christmas songs to its usual adult contemporary music format and called it The Christmas Blend, […]

Clear Channel changes name to iHeart Media

When you think about Clear Channel, what usually comes to mind? Layoffs. Voice tracking.  Low pay. Heavy commercial loads. The Arby’s of radio (OK, you get the drift.) Looking for a fresh start, Clear Channel announced on Tuesday it was changing the name of the company to the more audience-friendly iHeart Media, named after the successful iHeart Radio Internet platform. […]

Quick Hits and Bits: Derrick Rose returns fuels Bulls ratings victory

The latest Quick Hits and Bits contains a lot of good stuff, so here we go! – Even though the Chicago Bulls lost Saturday night to the Philadelphia 76ers, the first WGN-TV regular season game featuring Derrick Rose’s return scored gangbuster ratings for the Tribune-owned station – even on a night notorious for low HUT levels. The game earned a […]

Turn out “The Lite”, the party’s over

WLIT becomes “My 93.9 FM” Clear Channel-owned WLIT-FM didn’t need the late “Dandy” Don Meredith to turn off “The Lite”: they practically took the bulb out of the socket and smashed it to the ground. After 24 years as The Lite, WLIT rebranded itself as My 93.9 FM, in line with a few other Clear Channel-owned AC formatted stations around […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Julian Nieh exits B96

Another all-local edition of the Grab Bag… including an item on a possible sale of some downstate TV stations: – Julian Nieh, one half of the duo of B96’s (WBBM-FM’s) The JNiice & Julian Morning Show, exited the station on Wednesday to pursue other interests. The seven-year veteran of the contemporary-hit station was paired with Jamar “JNiice” McNeil in January […]

WLIT launches new live and local morning show

Sean Valentine, we hardly knew ye. Correcting yet another mistake in the all-important morning drive slot, Adult Contemporary WLIT – the official music station of your local office and drugstore (and your official Christmas music station during the months of November and December) – will launch a brand new local morning show featuring Jeff Corder being paired with news anchor […]

DreXed out

In a surprise move – or maybe not considering his ratings were declining, Clear Channel’s Contemporary Hit WKSC-FM (103.5 FM, better known as Kiss FM) dropped its morning personality Drex (Kevin Buchar) after a seven-year run at the station. Also out are his co-hosts Mel T and Angi Taylor, though they may be asked to stay if there is a […]

Chicago PPM September results

Back to school, fool! Last month’s radio PPM results from Arbitron: (Remember, these are based only on 6+ numbers:) Winners: WOJO-FM, WGCI-FM, WDRV-FM (The Drive), WKSC-FM (Kiss), WILV-FM. WMVP-AM (ESPN 1000) Honorable Mention: WBBM-FM (B96), WIND-AM, WLFM Shocking Big Drop: The Mix (WTMX) Disappointing: WLS-AM, WLIT-FM (The Lite) Losers: WPWX-FM (Power 92), WSRB-FM (Soul 106.3), WPPN-FM, WKQX-FM (Q101) Analysis: – […]

Melissa Forman out at WLIT

WGN wins July PPM survey overall; WTMX dominated 25-54s; Rock stations and WKSC gains; WLS-AM declines. The second time isn’t so great after all. Clear Channel’s WLIT-FM has dropped Melissa Forman and her show from the morning time slot at the station after two years. The move was due to declining ratings. Forman was one of only two live personalities […]

Chicago PPMs for March

Winners: WBBM-AM, WLS-AM & FM, The Drive (WDRV-FM), The Mix (WTMX-FM) Honorable Mention: Power 92 (WPWX-FM), WNUA-FM, WVIV-FM Losers: WGCI-FM, WFMT Analysis: WBBM continued to ride the top of the PPM chart into the month of March with a 16% advantage over second place WLS-AM. If anyone tells you AM radio is dead, send them here so they can see […]

WBBM-AM rides on top in February

Chicago February PPM results (keep in mind this survey is based on the 6+ demo): Winners: WBBM-AM, WDRV-AM, WLIT-FM (The Lite), WKSC-FM (Kiss), WVIV-FM Surprise – they’re moving up! WPWX-FM (Power 92) Losers: WSCR-AM (The Score), WFMT-FM Not much to talk about in this February PPM survey, with all-news WBBM-AM holding on to the top spot, despite a drop of […]

Chicago’s January PPM results

WBBM-AM big winner These are based on Persons 6+ numbers. Winners: WBBM-AM, WLS-AM and FM, Love FM (WILV-FM), WGRB-AM, The Drive (WDRV-FM), US99 (WUSN-FM) Honorable Mention: The Mix (WTMX-FM), WOJO-FM, The Loop (WLUP-FM), JACK FM (WJMK-FM) Down, but potent: Lite FM (WLIT-FM), V103 (WVAZ-FM) Losers: B96 (WBBM-FM), WGCI-FM, Q101 (WKQX-FM), Fresh (WCFS-FM) Analysis: All news WBBM-AM – with its coverage […]

Chicago PPM results for December

Since this survey is an anomaly because of the Holidays (a.k.a. skewed because of Christmas music), we’ll refrain from the listing the winners and losers. But that doesn’t stop yours truly from making a few observations… Remember, this is based on overall 6+ numbers: – WLIT (Lite FM) did gangbusters with Xmas music in December, as it finished first. The […]

WLIT rocks around the PPM tree in December

Winners: WLIT-FM (The Lite), WBBM-AM, WVAZ-FM (V103) Losers: Well, since this month’s survey is an anomaly because of Christmas music, let’s give this a pass. WLIT dominated the PPMs in December with the Holiday Lite, a.k.a. Christmas Music. Their success pretty much lowered ratings for other stations in the Chicago market, with The Lite jumping five points from last month […]