KLVE-FM Remains King of the Radio Ratings Hill

Marking a two-year sweep of the local radio ratings, Spanish-language adult contemporary music station KLVE-FM (107.5) beat the competition in the summer season, Arbitron reported Tuesday. KSCA-FM (101.9), a newcomer to the Spanish field with Mexican regional music, continued to hold third place in only its second quarter.

KLVE took a 6% share of the market in the three-month period covering June 26 to Sept. 17, among listeners 12 years and older in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Hip-hop station KPWR-FM (105.9) moved from fourth place to second with a 4.6% share, while urban station KKBT-FM (92.3) dropped from second place last quarter to a fifth-place tie with oldies station KRTH-FM (101.1).

With the overall market essentially remaining stable, the biggest change was with oldies station KCBS-FM (93.1), which dropped from 13th place to 21st, from a 2.6% share to 1.9%.

In morning drive, KSCA’s Renan Almendarez Coello leaped to first place with a 7% share, up from 5.8% and second place last spring. The station overtook KLVE’s Pepe Barreto, who dropped to second place, going from 7.4% to 6.4%.

The victory capped an amazing climb for Almendarez’s morning show, “El Cucuy de la Manana.” In its last complete quarter as an English-language adult alternative rock station during the fall months of 1996, KSCA had ranked 31st in the morning.

KLSX morning funnyman Howard Stern stayed in third place with 4.8%.

KFI’s Bill Handel and KABC’s team of Ken Minyard and Peter Tilden also appeared to make substantial gains. Although they are on from 5-9 a.m. and Arbitron provides rankings for the time slot of 6-10 a.m., KFI moved from seventh to fourth place, from 4% to 4.7%. Handel is followed by Rush Limbaugh. KABC climbed from 2.8% and a 12th-place tie last quarter to 3.5% and ninth place this time.

Whether KABC’s replacement of 9 a.m. host Michael Jackson with Ronn Owens had anything to do with that improvement could not immediately be determined.

In the key 25-54-year-old category, which radio advertisers focus on, the top stations were KLVE, KSCA, soft-rock station KOST-FM (103.5) and, tied for fourth, KRTH and KTWV-FM (94.7), the station known as “the Wave,” playing a smooth pop-jazz blend.

KIIS-FM (102.7), a Top 40 station, ranked first in cumulative listening--or cume, which measures the number of different people who tune to the station for at least five continuous minutes during an average week of Arbitron’s survey. KIIS had 1.6 million listeners in that category; KPWR was a close second.

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Radio Ratings

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CURRENT LAST QUARTER 1. KLVE-FM 6.0 6.6 2. KPWR-FM 4.6 4.3 3. KSCA-FM 4.5 4.5 4. KFI-AM 4.1 3.7 5. KKBT-FM 4.0 4.5 KRTH-FM 4.0 3.9 7. KOST-FM 3.9 3.6 KIIS-FM 3.9 3.8 9. KROQ-FM 3.6 3.8 KTWV-FM 3.6 3.4 11. KABC-AM 3.1 2.8 12. KLAC-AM 2.6 2.2 KBIG-FM 2.6 2.4 14. KYSR-FM 2.5 2.8 KZLA-FM 2.5 2.5 16. KLAX-FM 2.3 2.6 17. KNX-AM 2.2 2.0 18. KTNQ-FM 2.0 2.5 KLSX-FM 2.0 2.0 KL0S-FM 2.0 2.2 21. KCBS-FM 1.9 2.6 22. KFWB-AM 1.8 2.0 23. KIBB-FM 1.7 1.6 24. KKGO-FM 1.5 1.5 25. KBUE-FM 1.4 1.7 KSSE-FM 1.4 0.8

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