Spanish language: Listeners tune in

Spanish-language stations continued their reign over local radio while country music fans flocked to the new FM home of their favorite genre, according to the spring Arbitron ratings released Tuesday.

KSCA-FM (101.9) remained in first place, garnering 5.1% of all Southland listeners ages 12 and older during the survey period, from April 5 to June 27. That’s up from 4.8% in the winter.

The top English-language station, pop-music purveyor KIIS-FM (102.7), again finished second, though it also rose, from 4.6% to 4.8% this time around.

Spanish-language KLVE-FM (107.5) -- which had been in first place as recently as the fall -- slipped from third to fourth, swapping places with talk station KFI-AM (640), which rose a notch even though its 4.2% audience share was unchanged from the winter.

And even though it slipped from 3.9% to 3.8%, rounding out the top five was “La Raza” KLAX-FM (97.9) -- one of four Spanish-language stations in the top seven for the Los Angeles-Orange County area.

During the weekday 6-10 a.m. period, the most competitive time slot for radio because so many people are listening on their way to school or work, KSCA increased its domination as host Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo grabbed a 7.4% audience share, up from 6.8% in the winter. KFI remained second, and first among English-language stations, with the lineup of Bill Handel and Rush Limbaugh increasing from 4.9% to 5.1%.

Ryan Seacrest on KIIS rebounded from fifth to third place, taking 5% of the audience, passing Kevin Ryder and Gene “Bean” Baxter on rock station KROQ-FM (106.7), who went from 4.6% to 3.9%.

KKGO-FM (105.1) finished its first full ratings period as a country-music station, after trading frequencies in February with sister station and classical-music outlet KMZT, now at 1260 AM. Testifying to the loyalty of country-music fans, it snagged a 1.8% share, tying for 18th place with KYSR-FM (98.7).

KKGO improved on K-Mozart’s last full showing on the FM dial, when it garnered 1.5% of the audience in the fall.

Fans of Faith Hill and Kenny Chesney were left without an FM outlet last August, when then-KZLA-FM (93.9) abruptly dropped its country format after a quarter-century. They rejoiced when KKGO switched from AM to FM in February, and enough tuned in that the station bettered the final ratings showing of KZLA, 1.7%.

Meanwhile, after a poor early showing, KZLA successor KMVN has crept up the ratings with its dance music and Rick Dees’ morning show, rising from a tie for 35th in the fall, to a tie for 30th in the winter, to 28th place in the spring, with a 1.2% audience share. Dees himself rose from 1.2% and 26th to 1.4% and a 23rd-place tie in the morning.

Among the spoken-word stations, KNX-AM (1070) finished at 1.5%, in a tie for 22nd with its sister news outlet, KFWB-AM (980). But while KNX dropped from its winter showing, KFWB -- also the flagship station for the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers -- had its fortunes rise with the team, increasing from 26th place and 1.2% in the winter.

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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.

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Quarter 1 KSCA-FM 5.1 4.8 2 KIIS-FM 4.8 4.6 3 KFI-AM 4.2 4.2 4 KLVE-FM 4.1 4.4 5 KLAX-FM 3.8 3.9 6 KPWR-FM 3.7 3.7 7 KBUE-FM 3.6 3.6 8 KOST-FM 3.3 3.7 KTWV-FM 3.3 3.1 10 KROQ-FM 3.2 3.7 KXOL-FM 3.2 2.6 12 KRTH-FM 3.1 3.5 13 KRCD-FM 2.9 2.6 14 KCBS-FM 2.7 3.4 15 KHHT-FM 2.4 2.2 16 KABC-AM 2.3 1.8 17 KLOS-FM 2.0 2.0 18 KYSR-FM 1.8 2.0 19 KKGO-FM 1.8 0.8 20 KBIG-FM 1.6 1.7 KLSX-FM 1.6 1.5 22 KFWB-AM 1.5 1.2 KHJ-AM 1.5 1.5 KNX-AM 1.5 1.6 KRBV-FM 1.5 1.4 *--*

The ratings survey covers people 12 and older listening between 6 a.m. and midnight, from April 5 to June 27.