KLVE moves back to No. 1

Spanish-language pop-music station KLVE-FM (107.5) jumped back to the No. 1 spot in the Southland radio ratings, ending the brief reign of English-language Top 40 outlet KIIS-FM (102.7), according to the spring Arbitron figures released Tuesday.

Among local listeners ages 12 and up, KLVE scored an impressive .9% increase in its audience share, to 5.6% total, between the first three months of 2008 and the spring survey period, which ran from April 3 to June 25. Meanwhile, KIIS dipped slightly, from 5% to 4.9%, dropping it back to second in the Los Angeles-Orange Country market -- a position it’s held for six of the last seven quarters.

Regional Mexican music station KSCA-FM (101.9) also posted big gains, jumping from sixth to third place as it added .8% to its audience share.

Rounding out the top five radio outlets, talk station KFI-AM (640) lost some of its winter audience, while hip-hop outlet KPWR-FM (105.9) increased slightly, placing them in a fourth-place tie with an average of 4% of the listening audience.

Talk station KABC-AM (790) fell from 16th to 20th when it lost .6% of its audience share, tying it with all-news KNX-AM (1070), which also lost listeners from the winter, falling from 17th place. Talker KLSX-FM (97.1) dropped from 19th to 22nd, and KNX’s sister news station, KFWB-AM (980), likewise fell, from 22nd to 24th. Meanwhile, progressive talk outlet KTLK-AM (1150) jumped from 35th to a tie for 29th.

In the important morning-drive period of 6 to 10 a.m., Eddie (Piolin) Sotelo on KSCA regained his throne after being knocked to third in the winter. The perennial ratings leader shot from 5% last quarter to 6.5% of the morning audience.

On the other hand, KFI’s morning bloc, featuring Bill Handel followed by Rush Limbaugh, plunged from first to fifth, collectively shedding .9% of its audience in that four-hour span. The morning show on KLVE, with Omar Velasco and Argelia Atilano, snagged second place, increasing from a 4.6% share to 5.9%.

Ryan Seacrest on KIIS held steady at third overall (first among English-language stations), while the duo of Kevin Ryder and Gene “Bean” Baxter on alternative rock station KROQ-FM (106.7) rose from sixth to fourth.

The ratings period was the first for “The Sound,” the adult-alternative music station launched April 8 by Bonneville International, a Salt Lake City-based radio chain. But KSWD-FM (100.3) got off to a slow start, garnering only .7% of the local audience, tying it for 33rd place. That was just more than half the audience its predecessor, urban adult-contemporary station KRBV-FM, scored in the winter, with 1.3% of the audience and 27th place.

This ratings book was the last for the market under Arbitron’s old model of surveying listeners by relying on selected audience members to accurately record in a diary what stations they tuned in to over three months. Starting June 26, the ratings service began using its Portable People Meters, cellphone-sized sensors carried by random survey participants that detect inaudible signals aired by radio stations alongside their programming. The meters record exactly which stations a participant is listening to, and for how long.

According to Arbitron, which has already rolled out the devices in other parts of the United States, the meters are more accurate in surveying minorities and young listeners, and are already challenging long-held assumptions. For example, a test in June turned up 1 million more listeners to adult-contemporary stations in Los Angeles than the ratings diaries showed, and double the previously thought audiences for alternative, country, oldies, sports and other formats.

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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 KLVE-FM 5.6 4.7 2 KIIS-FM 4.9 5.0 3 KSCA-FM 4.4 3.6 4 KFI-AM 4.0 4.4 KPWR-FM 4.0 3.8 6 KOST-FM 3.7 3.3 7 KTWV-FM 3.5 3.5 KROQ-FM 3.5 3.1 9 KBUE-FM 3.4 4.1 10 KLAX-FM 3.2 3.1 11 KRTH-FM 3.1 3.2 12 KRCD-FM 3.0 2.8 13 KHHT-FM 2.8 2.5 14 KXOL-FM 2.7 2.6 15 KLOS-FM 2.3 1.9 16 KCBS-FM 2.2 2.7 17 KKGO-FM 1.9 1.5 KBIG-FM 1.9 1.8 19 KYSR-FM 1.8 1.4 20 KABC-AM 1.7 2.3 KNX-AM 1.7 2.0 22 KLSX-FM 1.6 1.8 KSSE-FM 1.6 1.5 24 KFWB-AM 1.4 1.5 25 KTNQ-AM 1.3 1.0 KHJ-AM 1.3 1.7 *--*

The ratings survey covers people 12 and older listening between 6 a.m. and midnight, from April 3 to June 25.