September 2021 (8/19 – 9/15) Nielsen Audio PPM Ratings Day 3: WBNS Leaps To The Top In Columbus

Day 3 of Nielsen Audio’s PPM releases are now available for Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Cleveland and Columbus.

All the numbers can be found at RadioInsight.com/Ratings.


iHeartMedia Classic Rock “99.7 The Fox” WRFX takes the Charlotte market lead this month thanks to a 6.0 to 6.7 gain. Beasley Adult R&B “V101.9” WBAV (5.2 to 5.7) and AC “K104.7” WKQC (5.9 to 5.7) tie for second. Radio One Adult R&B “105.3 R&B” WOSF falls from first to a fourth place tie (6.1 to 5.6) with Beasley Country 103.7 WSOC (6.1 to 5.6).

Despite longtime morning hosts Ace & TJ departing the station mid-way through the monthly, iHeartMedia CHR “Hits 96.1” WHQC rises 3.4 to 3.6. Beasley Hip Hop “Power 98” WPEG jumps up 3.8 – 4.3 – 5.5, while Radio One News/Talk 1110 WBT/99.3 WBT-FM trends up 3.8 – 4.0 – 4.7. iHeartMedia Country “96.9 The Kat” WKKT trends down 6.6 – 5.8 – 5.2.

Public News/Talk 91.5 KOPB holds on top of of Portland at an 8.1 share. iHeartMedia Classic Hits “106.7 The Eagle” KLTH slips 7.6 to 7.2, while AC “K103” KKCW rises 6.0 to 6.4. Alpha Media News/Talk 101.1 KXL rises 5.2 to 5.8. iHeartMedia Classic Rock “105.9 The Brew” KFBW trends up 3.9 to 4.9.

iHeartMedia CHR “Z100” KKRZ slips 4.0 to 3.1, although Conservative Talk 1190 KEX trends up 2.2 – 2.5 – 3.2.

Cox Media Group takes the top three spots in San Antonio. Hot AC “Magic 105.3” KSMG takes sole possession of the lead 7.7 to 7.0, Classic Hits 101.1 KONO-FM drops 7.7 to 6.7, and Classic Rock “106.7 The Eagle” KTKX rises 5.8 to 6.4. iHeartMedia AC “Q101.9” KQXT rises 5.1 to 5.8 for fourth. Univision Regional Mexican “Que Buena 92.9” KROM surges up 4.1 to 5.4.

iHeartMedia News/Talk 1530 KFBK/93.1 KFBK-FM regains the sole Sacramento lead with an 8.7 to 9.8 gain. Audacy Classic Rock “96.9 The Eagle” KSEG dips 8.7 to 8.6. Bonneville AC “Mix 96” KYMX rises 6.7 to 7.0. Public News/Talk 90.9 KXJZ trends up 4.9 – 5.4 – 6.1. iHeartMedia Soft AC “92.5 The Breeze” KBEB dips 6.4 to 6.0.

Bonneville Country 105.1 KNCI has lost nearly half its audience in two months as it trends down 8.0 – 6.2 – 4.4. Also on the downswing is Audacy’s “Alt 94.7” KKDO (4.2 – 3.9 – 3.5). Bonneville Hot AC “Now 100.5” KZZO trends up 3.9 – 4.0 – 4.6.

Bonneville News/Talk 1160 KSL/102.7 KSL-FM rises 6.8 to 8.2 to claim the Salt Lake City lead. iHeartMedia Classic Hits 94.1 KODJ drops 8.8 to 8.0. Bonneville AC “FM 100” KSFI dips 6.7 to 6.8. iHeartMedia Conservative Talk 570 KNRS/105.9 KNRS-FM jumps up 5.0 to 6.3. Capitol Broadcasting AC “Now 97.9” slips 7.1 to 6.2.

Bonneville Classic Rock “103.5 The Arrow” KRSP falls 6.4 to 4.5 for its lowest share since February 2018. All three CHRs in Salt Lake City show growth with Cumulus’ “Power 94.9/101.9” KENZ/KHTB up 3.7 to 4.5, iHeartMedia’s “97.1 ZHT” KZHT up 3.3 to 3.5, and Broadway Media’s “Mix 105.1” KUDD trending up 2.4 – 2.7 – 3.3. Trending down are iHeartMedia’s duo of Hot AC “My 99.5” KJMY 3.6 to 2.6 and “Rock 106.7” KAAZ 3.6 – 3.3 – 1.9.

A bottleneck is occurring at the top of the Orlando market. iHeartMedia CHR “XL 106.7” WXXL rises 6.9 to 7.6 to tie Audacy Classic Hits “105.9 Sunny-FM” WOCL (7.5 to 7.6). Huff notes that the last time WXXL held a share of the lead was March 2019. Right behind the two were Cox Adult R&B “Star 94.5” WCFB up 7.2 to 7.5. Tying for fourth are iHeartMedia Spanish Tropical “Rumba 100.3” WRUM (6.6 to 7.0) and Cox Classic Rock 98.9 WMMO (6.3 to 7.0).

iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 106.5” KSNE surges up to lead Las Vegas 5.7 – 6.0 – 7.5. Beasley Classic Hits 96.3 KKLZ dips 7.4 to 7.3. Christian AC 90.5 KSOS rebounds 6.2 to 6.8. Lotus Regional Mexican “La Buena 101.9” KWID falls 6.6 to 6.1. iHeartMedia Country “95.5 The Bull” jumps up to fifth 3.6 to 5.1.

Beasley Hot AC “Star 107.9” KVGS trends up 2.6 – 3.3 – 3.6, while iHeartMedia Classic Rock “93.1 The Mountain” KYMT moves in the opposite direction 3.3 – 2.8 – 2.1.

iHeartMedia Rock 102.5 WDVE remains in the lead in Pittsburgh with a 9.6 to 10.4 gain. Audacy Sports “93.7 The Fan” KDKA-FM rises 8.2 to 8.8. iHeartMedia Classic Hits “94.5 3WS” moves 8.7 to 8.6. Steel City Media Variety Hits “96.9 Bob-FM” WRRK surges 6.6 to 8.2. iHeartMedia CHR “96.1 Kiss-FM” WKST-FM jumps up 4.4 to 5.2.

iHeartMedia News/Talk 700 WLW expands its dominance of Cincinnati with a 14.1 to 14.5 gain which Huff notes is its highest since Summer 1990. Cumulus Classic Hits 103.5 WGRR dips 11.7 to 10.2 for second. Hubbard Country “B105” WUBE falls 7.3 to 6.1, while co-owned CHR “Q102” WKRQ is up 4.6 to 4.8. Cumulus AC “Warm 98.5” WRRM places fifth 4.6 to 4.7.

iHeartMedia Rock 102.7 WEBN jumps up 3.6 to 4.6, while Cumulus Classic Rock “92.5 The Fox” WOFX slides 5.0 to 4.0.

Cumulus Media’s duo of Classic Hits 94.9 KCMO-FM (9.4 to 10.1) and Classic Rock “101 The Fox” KCFX (7.7 to 7.6) lead Kansas City. Public News/Talk 89.3 KCUR rises 5.3 to 5.7. Carter Broadcasting Hip Hop “Hot 103 Jamz” KPRS-FM is up 5.2 to 5.3. Audacy News/Talk 98.1 KMBZ-FM trends down 5.8 – 5.2 – 4.5.

Audacy Country “106.5 The Wolf” WDAF-FM rises 3.2 to 4.2 with the start of the Chiefs season, while both of Steel City Media’s Country outlets trend down. 94.1 KFKF dips 4.8 – 4.7 – 3.8 and “Q104” KBEQ slides 4.3 – 3.5 – 4.2. Both Alternatives show gains as Audacy’s “Alt 96.5” KRBZ is up 2.7 – 3.1 – 3.3 and Cumulus’ “105.1 The X” KCJK 1.2 – 2.0 – 2.7.

Audacy Classic Rock 98.5 WNCX stays on top of Cleveland down 10.2 to 9.6. Radio One Adult R&B 93.1 WZAK rises 8.6 to 8.9 to move up to second. iHeartMedia Classic Hits “Majic 105.7” WMJI slips 9.3 to 8.7. Audacy AC “Star 102.1” WDOK places fourth 8.8 to 8.2. iHeartMedia Variety Hits “106.5 The Lake” WHLK moves 7.6 to 7.2.

TEGNA Sports “97.1 The Fan” WBNS-FM surges up 5.6 to 8.1 to take the Columbus market lead. Huff notes that it is the first time WBNS-FM leads Columbus since it was Easy Listening in 1987 and its highest share since October 2014. iHeartMedia Country 92.3 WCOL rises up 6.9 to 7.9 to take a share of second with Public News/Talk 89.7 WOSU (8.1 to 7.9). iHeartMedia News/Talk 610 WTVN places fourth 6.7 to 6.9, while CHR 97.9 WNCI dips 7.0 to 6.7.

Saga AC “Sunny 94.7” WSNY trends up 4.5 – 5.5 – 5.8. Classical 101.1 WOSA dips down 2.3 – 1.9 – 0.7.