KIIS-FM leads Los Angeles and Orange County radio ratings
For the third month in a row, pop outlet KIIS-FM (102.7) widened its lead as the top-rated radio station in Los Angeles and Orange County, according to figures released Wednesday.
In May the station snagged 6.1% of all radio listeners 6 and older, up from 5.8% the month before. Second-place KRTH-FM (101.1), the oldies station, remained at 4.9%, according to the Arbitron ratings service. Adult-contemporary station KOST-FM (103.5) and talk station KFI-AM (640) held onto their third- and fourth-place finishes from the previous month, despite losing audience share in the survey of listeners from April 29 to May 26.
Unlike times in the past, when hip-hop, country or other genres were more popular, this is “a real good time for Top 40,” said KIIS program director John Ivey. Songs from artists such as Katy Perry, Usher and B.o.B are leading the record charts and KIIS’ playlist.
“Right now we’ve got three or four that are just blazing,” Ivey said.
KIIS hit the 6% audience threshold for the first time since January 2009; the only other station to do that since September 2008, when Arbitron changed to a new survey format that is supposed to more accurately show listening habits, has been KOST when it garnered huge ratings by switching to all-holiday music at Christmastime.
KIIS also topped 4 million in average number of listeners per week, as it did in April. Its 4.1 million for May was far ahead of second-place KOST, at 3.4 million. With numbers that gaudy, Ivey said he’s not only battling KIIS’ natural rivals — such as Top 40 KAMP-FM (97.1), which tied for sixth in May at 3.7% — but the entire market.
“We’ve got a big audience to serve,” he said, “and it’s like everybody is trying to pick a sector off of us, whether it’s the older end, the young end. We’re just trying to mirror what the listeners want. When you do that, it’s funny — you do pretty well.”
Smooth-adult-contemporary station KTWV-FM (94.7) jumped from a ninth-place tie in April to take fifth, at 3.8% — the second time in four months the station has cracked the Top 5. The station languished in 16th place in January, before management of the onetime smooth-jazz outlet shed that label and shifted away from instrumentals.
Changes continued in May, as “The Wave” parted company with its longtime morning man, R&B singer Brian McKnight, and its afternoon drive host, Don Burns, who had taken listeners on his “No-Stress Express” since he was one of “The Wave’s” original DJs in 1988.
In the race for ratings during morning drive, 6 to 10 a.m., KFI’s tag-team of Bill Handel and the first hour of Rush Limbaugh’s show were once again No. 1 — but it wasn’t the rout they usually see every month. They led second-place Ryan Seacrest on KIIS by only 5.7% to 5.6%, a month after the gap was nearly a full percentage point.
Seacrest, who also hosts Fox television’s “American Idol,” often featured the show’s judges and contestants on his radio program during the run-up to the May 26 season finale, which Ivey said helped boost his KIIS numbers.
Gary Bryan on KRTH took third with 4.9%, Kevin Ryder and Gene “Bean” Baxter on alternative KROQ-FM (106.7) held onto fourth place with 4.8%, and Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps at classic rock station KLOS-FM (95.5) rounded out the Top 5 at 4.4%.