No Letup at KLAX: It’s Still No. 1 : Radio: Arbitron ratings have the Spanish-language station on top for a fourth quarter. Howard Stern falls behind Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps in the morning-drive race.
Defying those who said its success was a fluke, Spanish-language ranchera station KLAX-FM (97.9) remains at the top of the ratings heap, making for a year of being in first place, according to the latest Arbitron figures released Tuesday.
In contrast, the hotly contested morning-drive ratings race saw an upset with KLOS-FM (95.5) duo Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps jumping ahead of KLSX-FM (97.1) New York-based personality Howard Stern.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Oct. 14, 1993 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday October 14, 1993 Home Edition Calendar Part F Page 8 Column 2 Entertainment Desk 2 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Radio ratings-- In the Arbitron radio ratings reported in the Oct. 6 Calendar, KIIS-AM/FM’s share of the Los Angeles market was off by 0.1%. The stations, which are simulcast, had a combined 3.8% audience share, putting them in sixth place rather than in a tie for fifth place with KROQ-FM, which had a 3.9% share.
Thompson and Phelps ranked first among the English-language morning shows, although they came in second overall in the Los Angeles metro area behind KLAX’s Spanish morning show. The KLAX show, featuring the comedy of Juan Carlos Hidalgo and El Peladillo (Jesus Garcia), emerged first for the second time in a year.
Howard Stern had topped the “The Mark and Brian Show” for the past year.
“We knew it was just a matter of time,” said Carey Curelop, KLOS program director. “Mark and Brian have been in the top 3 for as long as we can remember, regardless of where Howard Stern was. Howard could never put them away.”
Thompson and Phelps recently began syndicating their rowdy morning show in other cities, and as of today will be heard in six other cities--San Diego, Fresno, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Reno and Portland, Ore. Stern’s show is syndicated and is heard in 14 markets.
All-talk KFI-AM ranked in fourth place in morning-drive time, despite a change in its morning show--Terri Rae Elmer and Tracy Miller exited in July and lawyer Bill Handel took over. An hour of conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh’s immensely popular show is also included during the morning-drive ratings period of 6 to 10 a.m. Tying for fifth in the morning contest was all-news KFWB-AM (980) and the KABC-AM (790) morning show featuring Ken Minyard and Roger Barkley.
There were no big surprises in the overall rankings, which covered the period from June 24 to Sept. 15, 1993. Dance station KPWR-FM (105.9) was in second place, up from third in the last period, and soft-rocking KOST-FM (103.5) dropped to third place. Top 40 station KIIS (102.7-FM and 1150-AM) and alternative rocker KROQ-FM (106.7) tied for fifth place in the survey. Urban station KKBT-FM (92.3) rose from the 14th spot to 9th place.
The summer ratings survey is regarded by many in the radio industry as the least indicative of listening habits because the summer months usually involve less radio listening overall, with people off work for vacations and out of school. In a reflection of that shift, most of the stations showed drops in the percentages of people listening, with the notable exception of KLAX, whose audience was 6.6%, up from 5.7% in the spring quarter.
Radio Ratings The area’s Top 15 stations and their Arbitron ratings for the summer quarter and the preceding quarter:
SUMMER SPRING 1. KLAX-FM 6.6 5.7 2. KPWR-FM 4.9 5.0 3. KOST-FM 4.7 5.1 4. KFI-AM 4.1 4.5 5. KIIS-AM/FM 3.9 4.0 KROQ-FM 3.9 4.3 7. KLOS-FM 3.6 3.9 8. KABC-AM 3.5 3.7 9. KRTH-FM 3.3 3.9 KKBT-FM 3.3 3.1 11. KBIG-FM 3.2 3.2 KLSX-FM 3.2 3.6 13. KYSR-FM 3.1 3.0 14. KLVE-FM 2.9 3.5 15. KFWB-AM 2.6 3.2
The ratings survey covers people 12 and older listening between 6 a.m. and midnight from June 24 to Sept. 15.