Praise, Fish, Project, Dave have a great March in Arbitron ratings

Gospel station Praise 102.5 continues to hit record highs in its ratings, reaching No. 3 overall and top 5 among 18 to 34 year olds and 25 to 54 year olds. Its overall rating is up 39 percent over March 2009, up a whopping 71 percent among 25 to 54 year olds and more than doubled among 18 to 34 year olds.

Fish 104.7 also had its best numbers since Arbitron began using people meters in early 2009. It’s overall ratings are up 45 percent from March 2009. The morning show Kevin & Taylor is showing impressive strength across the board, finishing in the top 5 among 18 to 34 year olds and 25 to 54 year olds.

FYI: I cannot provide specific ratings numbers, per Arbitron policy. I can reference rankings, though.

ROCK: Dave FM continues to be tops among 25 to 54 year olds with its strongest month since last June. Project 9-6-1 is by far the most popular among 18 to 34 year olds with its best showing in that demo since February 2009.

97.1/The River, despite a reliance on '70s rock hits, draws about the same ratings among 18 to 34 year olds as it does with 25 to 54 year olds. Its overall numbers are flat from a year ago though its morning ratings with Kaedy Kiely are down.

Rock 100.5 continues to struggle while it plays music. Its older skewing mix appears to have affected the Regular Guys, who are stronger now among 25 to 54 year olds vs. March 2009 but down among 18-34 listeners.

TOP 40/pop: The syndicated show Elvis Duran on Groove 105.7 in its third month moved up to 21st place from 23rd place among 18 to 34 year olds. But the rest of the station did much better in that demo, finishing 10th overall, 8th in mid-days and a tie for 7th in afternoons, its best performance yet in that age range. The station has started to skew younger, playing more current and recent R&B/dance hits and cutting back on the disco and '80s cuts.

The Groove appears to have taken small bites out of other comparable stations on the younger end, including Star 94, Q100 and 95.5/The Beat, which all have lower 18-34 numbers than they did in March 2009.

Star 94, which let go the Morning Mess a year ago, has comparable 25-54 numbers as it did in March 2009 but its 18-34 numbers have fallen about 25 percent year over year. Q100’s 18-34 numbers have slipped about 25 percent. The Beat’s down 21 percent in that demo.

Although B98.5 continues to slide back from its Christmas peak, it remains far above its March 2009 numbers. And so far, in her first full month solo, Vikki Locke's numbers held up.

True Oldies, of course, skews older, but its numbers have actually improved across the board year over year. And the Randy & Spiff reunion has boosted their morning numbers. Among 25-54 year olds, the morning ratings have more than doubled year over year.

HISPANIC: And the power of the Hispanic stations appear to be waning. A year ago, we had two Hispanic stations owned by the same company with collective ratings of about a 5. After Viva became the Groove last fall, El Patron picked up some listeners but its ratings have since faded far below the former combined share of the two stations. It's now ranked 7th among 18 to 34 year olds after reaching No. 2 in November. It's ranked 18th overall with its lowest share rating since PPMs began in early 2009.

URBAN: V-103 remains the top dog by a huge margin in all key demos and has maintained its strong numbers the past year.

Kiss 104.1 is still a big player among older listeners but its ratings in March 2010 are 20 percent below March 2009. Tom Joyner’s morning numbers among 25 to 54 year olds slipped even further – 36 percent.

Interesting, it’s closest rival is having comparable problems. Majic 107.5/97.5 has seen its ratings slip 30 percent from an unusually strong March 2009 rating.

Hot 107.9’s ratings slipped a bit through 2009 but have recovered back to its March 2009 levels. And better news for morning host Rickey Smiley: he is significantly stronger than he was a year ago. He’s up 47 percent year over year among 18 to 34 year olds.

COUNTRY: Kicks 101.5 slipped a bit in March over February but maintains a sizable lead over 94.9/The Bull. Kicks' 25-54 numbers are comparable to what they were a year ago but the station had an unusually poor 18-34 showing last month, ranking in a tie for 13th vs. 7th a year ago. The Bull's 25-54 numbers are slightly higher than they were a year ago while 18-34 demo rankings are flat.

NEWS/TALK: WSB-AM's audience is aging. While its overall numbers are 10 percent lower than March 2009, its 25-54 numbers are down even more: 31 percent. The station remains No. 2 overall but has fallen to No. 4 (tie) 25-54. WGST-AM hasn't seen much change year over year and remains stuck way back in the pack with Rush Limbaugh its strongest player.

So where did the news/talk fans go? Possibly non-commercial talk/classical station WABE-FM, which has shown the strongest year-over-year growth of any major radio station in town. Its overall ratings are up 71 percent from March 2009, with the station ranking 6th overall.  Its 25-54 numbers are up a whopping 157 percent and 18-34 numbers have tripled. It’s stronger when it airs news vs. classical.

SPORTS: I only have 25-54 and 18-34 numbers. The two sports stations focus on 25-54 men numbers. But it's clear the Fan remains dominant over the Zone, which usually wins only when the 2 Live Stews are on. The Fan also appears to bring in a much younger audience.

And overall, stations with strong personality-based morning shows (Q100, Rock 100.5) tend to outperform the rest of the station. Those which rely on music (The River, the Beat) tend to do better during the mid-days.

Top 25 overall (last month ranking)

1. V-103, R&B/hip-hop (1)

2. 750/WSB-AM, news/talk (2)

3. Praise 102.5, gospel (4)

4. B98.5, soft rock (3)

5. Kiss 104.1, R&B (5)

6. 90.1/WABE-FM, news/talk/classical (7)

7. (tie) Kicks 101.5 country (6)

7. (tie) Fish 104.7 Christian soft pop (8)

9. Q100, top 40 (11)

10. (tie) Hot 107.9, R&B/hip-hop (9)

10. (tie) True Oldies 106.7, oldies (10)

12. Majic 107.5/97.5, R&B (12)

13. 97.1/The River, classic rock hits (13)

14. (tie) Project 9-6-1, active rock (19)

14. (tie) 94.9/The Bull, country (17)

16. (tie) 95.5/The Beat, rhythmic top 40 (14)

16. (tie) Dave FM, adult alternative rock (15)

18. (tie) Star 94, top 40 (18)

18. (tie) 105.3/El Patron, regional Mexican (15)

20. 640/WGST, news/talk (20)

21. Rock100.5, classic rock (21)

22. Groove 105.7, rhythmic dance (22)

23. 680/The Fan, sports talk (23)

24. 790/The Zone, sports talk (24)

25. four-way tie among 96.7/The Legend, J93.3, La Raza 102.3 and 91.9/Clark Atlanta

Top 15 25-54

1. V-103 (1)

2. Kiss (2)

3. Praise (4)

4. tie WSB-AM (5), B985 (3)

6. Fish (6)

7. Kicks (7t)

8. Q100 (7t)

9. Majic (9)

10. tie Dave FM (11t), Hot (10)

12. WABE (13)

13. Bull (14)

14. El Patron (11t)

15. The River (15)

Top 15 18-34

1. V-103 (1)

2. Hot 107.9 (2)

3. Project 9-6-1 (7)

4. 95.5/The Beat (4)

5. tie Q100 (3), Praise (5)

7. El Patron (6)

8. Fish (8)

9. B98.5 (9)

10. Groove (12)

11. tie The River (11); Kiss (13t)

13 tie, Kicks (10), Star (13t)

15. Majic (13t)

Top 12 morning shows, 25-54, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

1. Frank & Wanda, V-103 (1)

2. Scott Slade/Neal Boortz, WSB-AM (3)

3. Bert Show, Q100 (2)

4. Tom Joyner, Kiss (4)

5. Kevin & Taylor, Fish (5)

6. Morning Edition, WABE (7)

7. Vikki Locke, B98.5 (6)

8. Steve Harvey, Majic (9)

9. tie Yolanda Adams, Praise (12); Cadillac & Dallas, Kicks (10t)

11. Regular Guys, Rock (8)

12. Patrones de la Manana, El Patron (10t)

Top 10 morning shows 18-34, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

1. Frank & Wanda, V-103 (1)

2. Bert Show, Q100 (2)

3. Rickey Smiley, Hot (3)

4. Kevin & Taylor, Fish (4)

5. Yolanda Adams, Praise (6t)

6. Regular Guys, Rock (8)

7. Patrones de la Manana, El Patron (5)

8. Shaffee & El Jefe, Project (12t)

9. Murph Dawg & CJ, Beat (6t)

10. Scott Slade, WSB-AM (12t)

11. Morning Edition, WABE-AM (11)

12. Vikki Locke, B98.5 (9)

Top 10 afternoon shows 25-54, 3 p.m. to 7 pm.

1. Ryan Cameron/Greg Street, V-103 (1)

2. Clark Howard/Sean Hannity, WSB-AM (2)

3. Art Terrell, Kiss (3t)

4. tie Rhodell Lewis, Praise; (7) Kelly McCoy (3t)

6. Michael Baisden (5)

7. Tim Michaels, Kicks (6)

8. Dan Ratliff, Fish (8)

10. Johnny O, Q100 (9)

Top 10 afternoon shows 18-34, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

1. Ryan Cameron/Greg Street, V-103 (1)

2. tie, Searcy/Durtty Boyz, Hot 107.9 (2), Maverick, 95.5/The Beat (4)

4. Chris Williams, Project 9-6-1 (6)

5. Johnny O, Q100 (3)

6. Panda, El Patron (5)

7. tie Rhodell Lewis, Praise (7t); Tripp West, Groove 105.7 (10)

9. tie Kelly McCoy, B98.5 (9),The River; Kate McCarthy, 97.1/The River (12t)

SOURCE: Arbitron, March 4 to 31

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