Is pop radio back? (ratings)

[TheJakes]

Checking in on the ratings over at R&R I noticed that the ratings for Z100 in NYC, KIIS in LA and WBLI in Long Island were up dramatically. Of course pop radio ratings held steady in Chicago and were down a bit in Philly, oston and Detroit but the gains were very significant in the two biggest markets.

This ratings jump for pop radio could be because, compared to the recent past, pop radio was creating its own hits (Toxic, With You) rather than relying on cross-over hits mainly from R&B/HipHop.

Any thoughts on this resurgence? Or is it only a blip?

[msanoja]

I hope pop is back. I think we've all had enough of hip hop being the only genre in the top 10 (summer 2003 anyone?)

[EvanJ]

CHR-Pop had a good day on Friday and a bad day on Monday in the ratings. So far CHR-Pop is up in 6 markets, even in 1 market, down down in 3 markets (the markets embedded in New York don't count separately). I get CHR-Pop to be up about 0.41 for the book so far. Due to embargoed markets, it's impossible to calculate the exact rating for CHR-Pop before the national ratings come out. Both WHTZ and KIIS reversed a downward trend, and KIIS and KHTS are both up in California, one of the least popular states for CHR-Pop.
TheJakes, do you know about what the national rating for CHR-Pop would be in Canada?

[TheJakes]

The national ratings for CHR/Pop in Canada would be small. Mainly because CHR/Pop is a disappearing format here in Canada. Several of the CHR/Pop stations here in Canada, including the biggest CHR/Pop station in Toronto, flipped formats (mainly to an 80's and 90's hits format).

In Toronto, the marjet I am in, the remaining CHR/Pop station, Z100, is more of a CHR/Rhythmic/Dance station more akin to KTU then a CHR/Pop like a Z100.

All in all, Canada is more of a Hot AC market with a much smaller rhythmic component and only a couple of Urban stations in the entire country.

[Slinky]

TheJakes said:

Checking in on the ratings over at R&R I noticed that the ratings for Z100 in NYC, KIIS in LA and WBLI in Long Island were up dramatically. Of course pop radio ratings held steady in Chicago and were down a bit in Philly, oston and Detroit but the gains were very significant in the two biggest markets.

Actually, Q102's ratings in Philly are pretty impressive as well. They fell 0.1, BUT they had a new rhythmic competitor in town that was expected to take a lot more of their audience. Q102 holding its ground is a pretty big surprise.

[tico]

I do hope pop is making a comeback. However, I wonder if KIIS' upward trend had anything to do with Ryan Seacrest taking over mornings from Rick Dees.

[EvanJ]

Today's ratings:
WIHT is up 0.3 in Washington, D.C., up 0.5 in Baltimore to the highest rating I ever remember them having there, and is down 0.1 in Fredericksburg, the smallest constantly monitored market. After falling 1.4 last book, KSLZ St. Louis is up 0.3.
San Francisco, San Jose, and Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz (all in California) are among the markets that will have ratings released tomorrow.

[tico]

EvanJ said:

Today's ratings:
WIHT is up 0.3 in Washington, D.C., up 0.5 in Baltimore to the highest rating I ever remember them having there, and is down 0.1 in Fredericksburg, the smallest constantly monitored market.  After falling 1.4 last book, KSLZ St. Louis is up 0.3.
San Francisco, San Jose, and Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz (all in California) are among the markets that will have ratings released tomorrow.

I wouldn't count the Baltimore or Fredericksburg numbers for WIHT since it's a DC station. Neither of the aforementioned California markets have a CHR/pop.

[Slinky]

golden said:

I wouldn't count the Baltimore or Fredericksburg numbers for WIHT since it's a DC station. Neither of the aforementioned California markets have a CHR/pop.

I think those numbers are still important because neither Baltimore nor Fredericksburg have CHRs of their own. WIHT's Baltimore numbers really show the demand for CHR in that market, considering that north of Baltimore WIHT's signal gets beaten up by Wilmington's 99.5.

Speaking of Baltimore, I'm glad to see Hot AC WWMX's numbers down, as they've been sounding pretty stale lately, and they lean way too old for a Hot AC in a market with no CHR. I'm also glad to see Talk WXYV and Smooth Jazz WSMJ struggling, as both of those stations had the opportunity to fill Baltimore's CHR hole and went with other formats instead.

[EvanJ]

A great day for CHR-Pop today:
San Francisco, San Jose, and Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz: No CHR-Pop station
*Dallas-Fort Worth: KHKS +0.1 and KRBV +0.2
*Minneapolis-St. Paul: KDWB +0.1
***Denver-Boulder: KFMD +0.1
*Pittsburgh: WKST +0.4 and WBZZ +0.5
**Cincinnati: WKFS +1.0 and WGTZ -0.2
*Buffalo-Niagara Falls: WKSE -0.1
Sum rating: 29.0 to 31.1
* CHR-Pop was down the book before this one
** CHR-Pop was even the book before this one
*** CHR-Pop was up the book before this one
In the three and a half years from when the two CHR formats were split to Fall 2003, CHR-Pop fell 3.1 in the national ratings and was down in ten books, even in one book, and up in three books.  CHR-Rhythmic and Urban are up a combined 3.6 during that time to become the fourth and fifth most popular formats with Urban 0.1 ahead of CHR-Rhythmic.
Today CHR-Pop is way down in Puerto Rico and Seattle-Tacoma, which are bigger than Kansas City and Milwaukee-Racine where CHR-Pop is way up. CHR-Pop also gains in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Columbus, where WNCI is the biggest market CHR-Pop station to be Number 1, and down in Atlanta and Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater.

[j]

How do you check daily ratings? I thought the ratings change only quarterly at best.

[EvanJ]

Markets have ratings released every month or every six months.  What we're posting now is a book (season, obviously there are four seasons in a year).  Each months' ratings get released over a period of days.  It's not the same markets being updated every day.
www.radioandrecords.com/Subscribers/ratings/homepage.htm
The ratings are posted at 5:00 P.M. or a couple of minutes later, sometimes when they post the ratings they tell you that the rest of the day's ratings will be posted by a certain time that day.  All Access and FMQB have ratings that don't go as far down as the ratings on R&R.