News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB remained Atlanta's most popular station during the second quarter of 2014, a title it has kept since last fall.
The station averaged a 7.2 share of the audience, comparable to its first-quarter average of 7.4 and well ahead of second quarter 2013's 6.3 share.
WSB has not been noticeably impacted by changes over at what had been All News 106.7, which changed to NewsRadio 106.7 during the spring as it added more talk programming.
NewsRadio 106.7 did have its best quarter in its two-year history, averaging a 1.9 share. That's up slightly from a 1.8 share during the second quarter of 2013.
The other major news/talk station (at least part of the time) 90.1/WABE-FM saw its share rise year over year from a 3 share to a 3.3 share this past quarter. (The addition of 88.5/WRAS-FM's new Georgia Public Broadcasting programming late last month began too late to have any impact on the ratings.)
Almost forgotten is 640/WGST-AM, a once powerhouse talk station, that came back a year ago to almost no ratings after its audience was flushed out by a Hispanic sports format. It's now up to a 0.3 share , up from a 0.1 a year ago.
Other stations that saw strong rises year over year include Christian pop station 104.7/The Fish, pop station Power 96.1, 92.9/The Game and country station, jazz station 91.9/WCLK-FM, country station WNGC-FM and 94.9/The Bull.
Stations that saw significant dropoffs in ratings year over year include Majic 107.5/97.5, Hot 107.9, 680/The Fan and V-103.
Here's a format-by-format breakdown:
V-103 remains the dominant R&B/hip-hop station in town among 18 to 34 year olds and 25 to 54 year olds. But it has ceded younger listeners to Streetz 94.5 and to some degree, older listeners to both Kiss 104.1, Praise and Majic. Among all listeners, it ranked third behind WSB and second-place Kiss, which skews older than V-103.
The Ryan Cameron morning show has lost about 36 percent of its 18 to 34 year olds in the second quarter of 2014 vs. the same quarter in 2013. Among 25 to 54 year olds, the drop is 28 percent.
Both Kiss and Majic have slightly lower ratings than a year ago but Kiss remains a strong No. 2 and Majic stays at No. 2 among 25 to 54 year olds so neither station has much to complain about.
Streetz 94.5, the upstart, has seen its target 18-34 share grow from 3.7 to 4.7 year over year. In the month of June, Streetz had its bets month ever in that demo, ranking No. 6 overall. And this despite a rather weak signal compared to its rivals.
As usual, B98.5 is the top pop station in town, a title it has held for more than two years among all listeners and 25 to 54 year olds. It's fourth place overall and among 25 to 54 year olds and sixth place among 18 to 34 year olds.
Q100 beats B98.5 among 18 to 34 year olds, ranking third in that demographic, just ahead of Power 96.1, which had its strongest quarter since it debuted in the fall of 2012.
Star, ranked 14th overall, lagged behind all three, its numbers about the same as a year ago.
Among pop morning shows, the Bert Show is still tops among the four stations although its 25-54 demo numbers are down year over year. (Some of Bert's listeners are doing so online - it pulled in a 1.6 rating on its stream alone in June, the most I've ever seen for a stream in any given month.) On Power, the new locally based Scotty K & Riley morning show is doing better than the syndicated Elvis Duran show was doing a year ago. Star's Cindy & Jimmy show is down year over year.
98.9, which changed from True Oldies to Good Time Oldies at the end of June, averaged a 0.8. The Q100's separate new music-focused feed at 97.9 averaged a 0.5.
As I noted earlier this month in a separate story, the once standard-bearer country station in town Kicks 101.5 has been superseded by relative upstart 94.9/The Bull, which has beaten Kicks eight months in a row. The June month was the Bull's best month in its eight-year history, ranking fifth with a 5.7 share overall and third among 18-34 year olds and 25-54 year olds.
Among the outlying stations (which are measured only in the metro Atlanta counties), WNGCin Athens had the best quarter with a 0.97 share vs .0.37 in the second quarter of 2013. Rome's WTSH-FM, which recently moved to 93.5 in favor of X1071, averaged a 0.63 in the quarter vs. 0.97 in the second quarter in 2013.
97.1/The River, as usual, keeps its perch as top rock station overall, averaging a 5.1 share, good for sixth place. The station averaged a 6 share a year ago in the second quarter. It has been the No. 1 station mid-days among 25 -54 year olds for the past year.
Radio 105.7, which debuted in March 2013, is the strongest station among 18 to 34 year olds, averaging a 5.2 share in that demo compared to 4 share a year ago. Among 25 to 54 year olds, the station is down to a 3.2 from 3.6 a year ago.
Rock 100.5 remains the third place rock station in town, more or less flat year over year with a 1.8 share , good for 19th place. The Regular Guys in the morning continue to draw solid numbers among 18 to 34 year olds, averaging a 4.8 share, same as a year ago. That's ninth place.
The new alternative rock station X107.1 arrived after the second quarter ended.
Christian pop station Fish 104.7 had its strongest quarter since Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) started using people meters in 2009, averaging a 5.2 share, good for sixth place. That's up from a 4.3 a year ago.
Praise 102.5 is up from a 3.5 to a 3.9 share year over year, landing in 11th place.
Sports
I am not allowed to post 680/The Fan ratings since the station does not subscribe to Nielsen, but I'm sure they won't mind me saying they remain the No. 1 sports station. The margin has shrunken year over year with No. 2 sports talk station 92.9/The Game, which averaged a 1.1 rating, up from a 0.67 share a year ago.
The Fan's strongest show remains its late afternoon show Chuck & Chernoff. The Game's best ratings come during the mid-days with Rick Kafla and Jamie Dukes.
790/The Zone is now a distant third, averaging a 0.47.
Hispanic
105.3/El Patron, the Mexican music station, averaged a 1.8 rating, about the same as a year ago. The Patrones de la Manana morning show remains top 10 among 18 to 34 year olds.
Others
Jazz 91.9 WCLK (Clark Atlanta) moved to a more smooth jazz sound a year ago and ratings are up, nearly doubling its numbers from the same quarter 2013. It averaged a 1.1 share in the second quarter vs. 0.6 a year ago.
And for those curious about WRAS-FM in its final quarter as a full-time student station, it gets very modest ratings. It averaged just a bit under a 0.2 share in the second quarter, much better than rival WREK-FM.
Top 25 stations in June 2014
1. WSB
2. tie V-103, Kiss
4. B98.5
5. 94.9/The Bull
6. 97.1/River
7. tie Majic/ Fish 104.7
9. Q100
10. Power
11. Praise
12. Hot
13. Star
14. tie Kicks/WABE
16. Radio
17. tie El Patron/Streetz
19. NewsRadio 106.7
20. Rock 100.5
21. The Fan
22. WNGC
23. tie 92.9/The Game, Clark Atlanta Jazz 91.9
25. WWGA-FM in west Georgia (classic hits)
Top 15 stations among 25-54 year olds in June 2014
1. V-103
2. River
3. Bull
4. (tie) B98.5, Q100
6 (tie) WSB, Majic
8. Kiss
9. Fish
10. Power
11.Hot
12. Star
13. Kicks
14. Praise
15. Radio
Top 10 morning shows 25-54 (covering 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
1. Scott Slade, WSB
2. Ryan Cameron with Wanda Smith, V-103
3. Bert Show, Q100
4. Steve Harvey, Majic
5. (tie) Jason Pullman and Kristen Gates, 94.9/The Bull; Kevin & Taylor, Fish
7. Melissa Elliott and Jeff Elliott, B98.5
8. Morning Edition, WABE-FM
9. Tom Joyner, Kiss
10. Kaedy Kiely, The River
Top 10 mid-day shows (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) 25-54
1. Jockless, 97.2/The River
2. Jordan Graye, B98.5
3. Ramona DeBreaux/Big Tigger, V-103
4. Herman Cain/ Rush Limbaugh WSB
5. McKinzie, Q100
6. Angie Ward, 94.9/The Bull
7. Carol Blackmon, Majic
9. Sasha the Diva, Kiss
10. (tie) Maddox/Ryan Seacrest, Power ; Heather Branch/Marino, Star 94
Top 10, afternoon shows (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) 25-54
1. Big Tigger/Greg Street, V-103
2. Lance Houston, 94.9/The Bull
3. Sean Hannity/Erick Erickson, WSB
4. (tie) Dave Clapper, The River; Johnny O, Q100
6. Madison James, B98.5
7. Ryan Seacrest/Sonic, Power 96.1
8. SiMan/Chubb Rock, Majic
9. Art Terrell/ Roy Wood, Kiss
10. Marino, Star (tie); All Things Considered, WABE
Top 10, might shows (7 p.m. to midnight)
1. Greg Street/Quiet Storm, V-103
2. Madison Reeves, the Bull
3. Rene Miller, Majic
4. Jockless, the River
6. Tripp West, B98.5
7. Charles Mitchell, Kiss
8. Adam Bomb, Q100
9. Sonic/Nessa, Power
10. Sean Hannity/Clark Howard/Mark Arum, WSB
Top 15 18-34 year olds
1. V-103
2. Hot
3. Bull
4. Q100
5. Power
6. Star
7. B98.5
8. (tie) Streetz/Radio
10. Majic
11. (tie) River, Kicks
13. Kiss
14. WSB
15. El Patron
Top 10 morning shows 18-34
1. Bert Show, Q100
2. Rickey Smiley Morning Show, Hot
3. Ryan Cameron with Wanda Smith, V-103
4. Jason Pullman and Kristen Gates, the Bull
5. Scotty K and Riley, Power
6. Patrones de la Manana, El Patron 105.3
7. (tie) Melissa Carter and Jeff Elliott, B98.5; Steve Harvey, Majic 107.5/97.5
9. Aly Young, Radio 105.7
10. Regular Guys, Rock 100.5
Top 10 mid-day shows (10 a.m.-3 p.m.), 18-34 year olds
1. Ramona DeBreaux/Big Tigger, V-103
2. Maria More/Emperor Searcy Hot
3. Jordan Graye, B98.5
4. Angie Ward, Bull
5. McKinzie, Q100
6. Maddox/Ryan Seacrest, Power
7. Heather Branch/Marino, Star94
8. Jockless, River
9. Knox/Mike Jones, Radio 105.7
10. (tie) Carol Blackmon, Majic; Jenn Hobby, Kicks 101.5
Afternoon shows (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) 18-34
1. Big Tigger/Greg Street, V-103
2. Emperor Searcy/the Durtty Boyz, Hot
3. (tie) Madison Reeves, Bull; DJ Holiday/Jazzy McBee, Streetz
5. Sonic/Nessa, Power;
6. Adam Bomb, Q100
7. Ali Mac, Star
8. (tie) Rene Miller, Majic; Charles Mitchell, Kiss
10. Mike Jones, Radio
WSB, B98.5, Kiss 6104.1, the River and X107.1 are all part of Cox Media Group, which also includes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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