M's win KIRO-AM the spring ratings pennant

Saturday, July 27, 2002

By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The return of the Mariners helped KIRO-AM reclaim the top spot in the Seattle-Tacoma radio market in the spring quarter, a position it had lost in the baseball-less winter ratings book.

The Arbitron Co. reported yesterday that KIRO jumped back to first place, ahead of a two-way tie for second between smooth-jazz station KWJZ-FM (which vaulted from a tie for eighth in the winter quarter) and KUBE-FM. Country station KMPS-FM, which won the overall crown in winter, slipped to fourth in spring.

The overall ratings reflect listening among those age 12 and older tuning in between 6 a.m. and midnight Monday through Sunday. The ratings do not include non-commercial stations, such as KUOW-FM and KPLU-FM. Separate surveys in the past have indicated those two have audience shares among the top dozen in the market.

The top four stations were followed in order by KBSG-FM, KRWM-FM, KVI-AM and KNDD-FM (tied for seventh), KZOK-FM and KBKS-FM (tied for ninth), KISW-FM, KIXI-AM and KLSY-FM (tied for 12th), KOMO-AM and KMTT-FM (tied for 14th), KING-FM, KCMS-FM, KYPT-FM and KPLZ-FM (tied for 18th), KQBZ-FM, KJR-FM, KJR-AM, KFNK-FM and KNWX-AM.

Arbitron said KIRO won three of the four major weekday time segments: 6-10 a.m., 3-7 p.m. and 7 p.m.-midnight. KWJZ-FM won the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. slot.

A testament to the continued popularity of the Mariners (who move to KOMO next season) can be found in ratings and audience share in the 7 p.m.-midnight segment. In the winter book KIRO tied for fifth with a 4.7 percent share of the market. In the spring book KIRO was first at 15.7; the second-place finisher (KUBE) had a share less than 9.

The summer book will be the first full ratings period to test the recent format switches at KJR-FM (which also changed call letters from KBTB) from dance/R&B to classic hits, and KYCW-AM from extreme talk back to classic country.

One interesting note about the spring book was the presence in the overall ratings of both of Seattle's Spanish language stations, KKMO-AM and KXPA-AM. Neither had registered enough survey response to appear in the winter book.

In the morning duel between KZOK-FM's Bob Rivers and his former station, KISW-FM, where the nationally syndicated Howard Stern show airs, KISWfinished ahead of KZOKin the 6-10 a.m. weekday survey in spring; KZOKhad topped KISWin the winter book in that time slot.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.

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