By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed January 2, 2015
News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB was the most popular Atlanta radio station in 2014, surpassing R&B/hip-hop station V-103, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The station's audience share of 7.26 for the year surpassed its 6.95 share in 2013. That easily beat V-103's 6.84 share.
WSB's lineup was stable in 2014 during its weekday prime hours with Herman Cain, in his second full year as a talk show, able to maintain retired Neal Boortz's audience. Ratings for Scott Slade, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Erick Erickson were also up.
The station added a weekday night show hosted by Mark Arum .
WSB grew its audience during a hot midterm election year packed with plenty of news to parse, from ISIS to Ebola. It also held off competition from 640/WGST-AM, which added some local programming, and NewsRadio 106.7, which added talk-show hosts in 2014 and cut back on straight news. WSB also faced a new rival in 88.5/WRAS-FM, which took on a talk format during the day under the auspices of Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Starting January 12, 2015, 90.1/WABE-FM will be adding mid-day talk shows as well.
WSB also fended off sports talk, which grew overall audience in 2014 vs. 2013, thanks to big growth from 92.9/The Game.
The two radio stations that took the biggest leaps among the top 20 were country station 94.9/The Bull and Christian pop station Fish 104.7.
In general, the biggest stations ceded audience to smaller stations. Seven of the top 10 stations saw a drop in their share of listeners year over year. The top 10 stations brought in 56.5 percent of the listening audience in 2014 vs. 58.5 percent in 2013.
Here's a breakdown by genre:
R&B/hip hop: This was a tough year for R&B and hip-hop. The four largest stations all lost audience. (This didn't stop three signals from switching to classic hip hop in late November.)
V-103 shed 13 percent of its overall audience year over year. But the station did see a bump in ratings this past fall with its most recent monthly ratings the best since April, 2013. Despite drops in audience, the station remained ranked No. 1 in 2014 among key demographics 18 to 34 (down 18%) and 25 to 54 (down 13%).
R&B station Majic 107.5/97.5 (-23%) and hip-hop station Hot 107.9 (-16%) both had down years while R&B station Kiss 104.1 held steady (-2%). Hot's key demographic of 18 to 34 slipped 19 percent.
Streetz 94.5 was the outlier, up 13% in overall audience and in its target audience of 18 to 34, where it ranked 13th, impressive considering how weak the signal is.
Pop: B98.5 was the top gun station in the Atlanta pop world yet again despite a slight drop in overall audience (-6%). Its share among 18 to 34 year olds (5.4) remained the same, good for fourth place overall.
Q100 slipped a bit in general (-4%) but kept the biggest pop share among 18 to 34 year olds with a 6.2 (-9%). The morning Bert Show trumped V-103's Ryan Cameron for top spot with 18 to 34 year olds thanks to a 10.2 share (up 13%) Among 25-54 year olds, the Bert Show landed No. 3, behind V-103’s Cameron and WSB’s Slade.
Power 96.1, in its third year of existence, built its audience up 15 percent. Its target 18-34 audience share of 5.28 was good for fifth place.
Star 94, once the pop music leader in town, slipped 15 percent year over year in audience, ranked 14th overall and behind the other three pop stations in key demographics.
News/talk: As noted earlier, WSB is the king.
NewsRadio 106.7 (WYAY-FM) was flat with a 1.7 share, good for 19th. WGST, which lost much of its audience in 2012 when Clear Channel switched for a brief time to ESPN Hispanic sports talk, opened the year with a microscopic 0.1 share but had moved up to 0.5 by November, bolstered by the addition of Sully mid-days.
WABE-FM, which has been a news/talk and classical hybrid, grew 6 percent over year, unaffected by the arrival 88.5/WRAS's switch to news/talk during the day. WRAS's 25 to 54 year old audience doubled from 0.2 to 0.4 under the new format.
Country: 94.9/The Bull, in its eight year of existence, finally beat up on long standard country radio leader Kicks 101.5, a trend that began in the fall of 2013. It finished in the top 5 for the first time, up from 12th place. Kicks fell from 9th to 13th. The Bull rode bro country to the top, with ratings up a whopping 34 percent while Kicks slipped 17 percent.
Rock: 97.1/The River, as usual, was top dog in the rock race. Its 5.3 share ranked 6th overall, same as 2013. It was the top station in town among 25 to 54 year olds mid-days, a popular in-office choice during the day.
Radio 105.7, the alternative rock station in its second year, was the dominant rock pick among 18 to 34 year olds, ranked 6th with a 5.25 share, ahead of the River's 4 share in that demographic.
Rock 100.5 lagged behind both stations in general with a 2 share, flat year over year. Management let go the Regular Guys leader Larry Wachs last month despite the fact the show saw major growth among 25 to 54 year olds (+15%) and 18 to 34 year olds (+13%) in 2014 vs. 2013. In fact, in its final full month with Wachs, the show had its best showing among 25 to 54 year olds since August, 2010, with a 4.5 share, good for 7th place. It also finished fourth among 18 to 34 year olds.
The new X107.1 station, which is on a relatively weak signal but competes closest with Radio 105.7 formatically, drew a 0.8 overall share and a 1.4 share among 18 to 34 year olds.
Christian: Christian pop station Fish 104.7 had a stellar year, up 23% in audience share, jumping back in the top 10. God also smiled upon gospel station Praise 102.5, which saw its fan base grow 9%, ranking 12th.
Sports: 680/The Fan remained the top sports talk station, beating 92.9/The Game and 790/The Zone. But while the Fan's ratings fell a bit, the Game found its mojo in the fall, raising its ratings year over year by a whopping 71 percent, albeit starting from a very modest base in 2013. Expect a very close battle between the two stations this year. The Zone dumped local programming in the spring and is now basically a non factor.
Hispanic: This was a tough year for El Patron 105.3, which saw its ratings slip 21%. La Raza, from a much smaller listening base with a weaker signal, more than doubled its ratings, picking up pretty much all the audience El Patron lost.
Other: Jazz station 91.9/WCLK-FM doubled its ratings over the past two years, finishing with a 1 share, thanks in part to a more mainstream smooth jazz sound.
Here are the 40 most popular Atlanta radio stations, based on the average share over the first 48 weeks of 2014 for all listeners ages 6 and up. (I've omitted the final four-week report because it's a holiday month and listening habits tend to be thrown off.) Stations generally do not measure themselves by overall audience but specific demographics, typically 25-54 and 18-34. Still, general numbers below give you a basic feel for what direction a station is going and where it ranks compared to other stations in the market.
Rank, radio station, format, average share (rank and share in 2013)
1. WSB, news/talk, 7.3 (2. 6.95) year-over-year trend: up
2. V-103, R&B/hip-hop, 6.8 (1. 7.8) trend: down
3. Kiss 104.1, R&B, 6.55 (4. 6.69) trend: down
4. B98.5, pop, 6.31 (5. 6.68) trend: down
5. 94.9/The Bull, country, 5.39 (12. 4.02) trend: way up
6. 97.1/The River, rock, 5.33 (6. 5.78) trend: down
7. Majic 107.5/97.5, R&B, 5.27 (3. 6.81) trend: down
8. Fish 104.7, Christian pop, 5.03 (10. 4.09) trend: up
9. Q100, top 40, 4.44 (8. 4.63) trend: down
10. Hot 107.9, hip-hop, 4.09 (7. 4.86) trend: down
11. Power 96.1, top 40, 3.98 (13. 3.47) trend: up
12. Praise 102.5, gospel, 3.73 (14. 3.43) trend: up
13. Kicks 101.5, country, 3.53 (9. 4.23) trend: down
14. Star 94, pop, 3.48 (11. 4.08) trend: down
15 . 90.1/WABE, news/talk/classical, 3.41 (15. 3.21) trend: up
16. Radio 105.7, alternative rock, 2.89 (16. 3.07) trend: down slightly
17. Rock 100.5, classic rock, 1.98 (18. 2.05)) trend: flat
18. El Patron 105.3, Mexican, 1.86 (17. 2.33) trend: down
19. NewsRadio 106.7, news/talk,.7 (20. 1.66) trend: flat
20. 94.5/Streetz, hip hop, 1.62 (21. 1.44) trend: up
21. 680/The Fan, sports talk (ranked 19 a year ago) trend: down (not allowed to report their numbers because they do not subscribe to Nielsen)
22. 92.9/The Game, sports talk, 1.37 (24. 0.8) trend: up
23. 91.9/WCLK-FM, jazz, 0.99 (25. 0.71) (2012: 29. 0.5) trend: up
24. La Raza 102.3, Mexican, 0.93 (30. 0.43) trend: up
25. Joy 93.3, Christian pop, 0.8 (29. 0.46) trend: up a lot
26. X107.1, alternative rock, 0.78 (no comparison since it's new)
27. WNGC, country, 0.73 (28. 0.52) trend: up
28. 98.9/True Oldies, then NASH Icon, oldies, then country, 0.68 (23. 0.83) trend: can't compare with all the format changes)
29. Q100 at 97.9, top 40, 0.54 (It is now OG 97.9 but that change happened near the end of the year.)
30. 790/The Zone, sports talk, 0.42 (27. 0.59) trend: down
31. 88.5/WRAS-FM, music/news/talk 0.41
32.1380/WAOK-AM, news/talk, 0.4 (26. 0.61) trend: dow
33. Old School 1010/99.3, classic hip-hop, WTZA 0.38
34. 640/WGST-AM, news/talk 0.3
35. La Bonita 610/WPLO-AM, Hispanic, 0.29
36. 92.1/WBTR-FM, country, 0.28
37. Victory 91.5/WWEV-FM, Christian music, 0.27
38. 920/WGKA-AM, talk, 0.25
39. (tie) Chuck 103.7,pop/ WSB's stream 0.18
The top 10 stations among 25 to 54 year olds
1. V-103
2. The River
3. Majic
4. B98.5
5. The Bull
6. Q100
7. WSB
8. Kiss
9. Fish
10. Hot
The top 10 stations among 18-34 year olds
1. V-103
2. Hot
3. Q100
4. B98.5
5. Power
6. Radio 105.7
7. Bull
8. Star
9. Majic
10. River
The top 10 morning shows, ages 25-54
1. Ryan Cameron, V-103
2. Scott Slade, WSB
3. Bert Show, Q100
4. Steve Harvey, Majic 107.5/97.5
5. Morning Edition, 90.1/WABE
6. Kevin & Taylor, Fish 104.7
7. Caffeinated Radio w/ Jason & Kristen, 94.9/The Bull
8. Melissa & Jeff, B98.5
9. Tom Joyner, Kiss 104.1
10. Kaedy Kiely, 97.1/The River
The top 10 morning shows 18-34
1. The Bert Show, Q100
2. Ryan Cameron, V-103
3. Rickey Smiley, Hot 107.9
4. Patrones de la Manana, 105.3/El Patron
5. The Regular Guys, Rock 100.5
6. Kaedy Kiely, 97.1/The River
7. Morning Edition, WABE
8. Caffeinated Radio w/ Jason & Kristen, 94.9/The Bull
9. Steve Harvey, Majic 107.5/97.5
10. (Tie) Melissa & Jeff, B985; Scotty K & Riley, Power 96.1
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Atlanta -based Cox Media Group, which includes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, owns Kiss, WSB, B98.5 and The River.
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