KIIS-FM ENDS KPWR’S 3-YEAR REIGN AT NO. 1

Pop station KIIS-FM (102.7) has jumped to No. 1 in the local radio ratings, displacing hip-hop outlet KPWR-FM (105.9) for the first time in three years, according to figures released Tuesday by the Arbitron ratings service.

Meanwhile, a format change at classic-rock station KCBS-FM (93.1) nearly doubled its percentage of listeners 12 and older in the quarterly popularity survey, which covered March 31 to June 22.

KIIS went from second to first place even though it lost audience share, dropping from a 4.6% audience share in the winter quarter to 4.5% in the spring. But KPWR fell even farther, going from 4.7% to 4.2%, which made it No. 2 in the Los Angeles-Orange County market.

KIIS’ rise to the top has coincided with its addition of more rap artists -- such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg -- mirroring both the top of the album sales charts and rival KPWR’s playlist.

“We’ve been striving to get this station back to No. 1 and obviously we’re really excited,” John Ivey, programming director at KIIS, said Tuesday.

He acknowledged that shifting toward a more “rhythmic” lineup helped, but he heaped praise upon the station’s relatively new morning DJ, Ryan Seacrest. “Hats off to Ryan and his crew,” Ivey said. “He beat Big Boy, [Howard] Stern and Kevin & Bean -- that’s a big deal.”

KPWR officials took the decline philosophically.

“Having the pleasure-opportunity-privilege to be No. 1 for three full years, that just doesn’t happen,” said Jimmy Steal, the station’s program director and programming vice president for its parent company, Emmis. “We all knew that was going to be interrupted, we just didn’t know when.”

The battle between the market’s top Spanish-language stations tightened during the spring, with KLVE-FM (107.5), KSCA-FM (101.9) and KLAX-FM (97.9) finishing in a three-way tie for third, each averaging 4% of the audience. KLAX made the biggest jump, after tying for ninth at 3% in the winter. KSCA rose from a sixth-place tie at 3.6% while KLVE increased from 3.8% and fifth place in the winter.

William B. Tanner, executive vice president for programming at Spanish Broadcasting System, which owns KLAX-FM, attributed the 33% rise to programming changes that included an afternoon oldies hour, a new afternoon disc jockey and a revamped news operation.

“We’re thrilled to death,” said Tanner. “It exceeded our expectations.”

The trio muscled past talk station KFI-AM (640), which fell from a second-place tie at 4.6% in the winter to sixth place with 3.9% in the spring. KFI’s drop mirrored a rough time for news and talk radio in general.

“It’s never fun to go down,” said Robin Bertolucci, KFI’s program director. “We are to some degree a victim of a slow news cycle, but I’m still confident about our long-term plan and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

KCBS leapt from 24th place in the winter with 1.7% of the audience to 11th place and 3% in the spring, its first survey as “Jack FM,” the moniker the station assumed March 17 when it shed its 12-year-old “Arrow 93” classic-rock format. The new format, which management compared to a listener’s Apple iPod on shuffle, features a dizzyingly varied playlist with artists such as Chaka Kahn and Charlie Daniels, and no disc jockeys.

Jeff Federman, KCBS general manager, said the company was expecting to see improved ratings -- based on the Jack format’s performance in other cities -- but said the L.A. numbers were more than they had hoped for. He predicted that the breadth of the station’s 1,200-song playlist -- three or four times the size of most other stations -- would help keep Jack from fading as a novelty act.

Before Jack launched in Los Angeles, program director Kevin Weatherly said the station, which plays songs from the ‘60s through today, would serve as a bridge between its sister stations, oldies outlet KRTH-FM (101.1) and alternative rocker KROQ-FM (106.7). But it may have ended up stealing listeners from those two: KROQ fell from fourth place with a 4.2% audience share in the winter to 3.7% and an eighth-place tie with adult contemporary station KOST-FM (103.5). KRTH dropped from ninth place with 3% in the winter to 2.5% and a tie for 13th.

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Radio Ratings

The area’s Top 25 stations and their average share of audience as measured by Arbitron for the spring months compared with the previous three-month period.

*--* Current Last Quarter 1 KIIS-FM 4.5 4.6 2 KPWR-FM 4.2 4.7 3 KSCA-FM 4.0 3.6 KLAX-FM 4.0 3.0 KLVE-FM 4.0 3.8 6 KFI-AM 3.9 4.6 7 KTWV-FM 3.8 3.6 8 KOST-FM 3.7 3.4 KROQ-FM 3.7 4.2 10 KKBT-FM 3.2 2.9 11 KCBS-FM 3.0 1.7 12 KHHT-FM 2.9 2.6 13 KBUE-FM 2.5 2.5 KRTH-FM 2.5 3.0 15 KSSE-FM 2.4 2.1 16 KLSX-FM 2.3 2.5 17 KABC-AM 2.1 2.3 18 KXOL-FM 2.0 1.9 KLOS-FM 2.0 1.9 20 KBIG-FM 1.9 2.0 KYSR-FM 1.9 1.8 22 KZLA-FM 1.8 2.0 23 KLYY-FM 1.7 1.8 24 KMZT-FM 1.6 1.4 KFWB-AM 1.6 1.6

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The ratings survey covers people 12 and older listening between 6 a.m. and midnight, from March 31 to June 22.