KGO "Newstalk" 810, the dominant SF Bay-Area talkie, has reigned supreme in the market for over 30 years, as the #-1-rated arbitron station in overall, 6+ ratings in 30 consecutive books, but no longer.
The new arbitron 'people-meter' derived-ratings are out and music station, KOIT, which is a soft-music FM stronghold has TIED the Citadel-owned KGO, thereby making radio history in the country's 4th-largest market. Both KGO and KOIT were #1 at 6.1%. KOIT also doubled KGO's Cume, (the number of listeners a station draws for at least five minutes)
More significantly, KQED was third with a whopping 5.2%; KQED is an FM outlet and has not been a part of pre-FM ppm "books", but is now bolstered in the market; the PBS local has popular morning-drive and "Forum" host Michael Krasny holding forth the 9-11 AM seg with a blend of intellectual talk and listener call-in. His show has significant traction in the local market and is competing very fiercely with AM shows in the same time period.
KGO'S Ronn Owens remains the undisputed #1 ratings leader in his time slot, (9-12 PM); Owens has never been beaten in the overall, 12-plus ratings, and is still regarded as the preminent radio voice and has been at the station for over 33 years.
KCBS-AM 740, which combined news operations with an FM sister station, (106.9) finished a strong 3rd at 5.3%; the CBS-owned 24/7 station continues it's image as a strong, straight news outlet and the home of breaking stories, news, sports, with "traffic and weather together" promos around the clock.
It's been a tough couple of weeks for KGO, which loses it's #1 distinction, and recently laid off several on-and off-air personnel, including afternoon anchor Greg Jarrett and long-time reporter Greg Edmonds.
Ronn Owens rocks. He isn't a self-important shrill and seems to be genuienly interested in other people's opinions. My fav on KGO is Len Tillem though.
ReplyDelete