Arbitron Rolls Out May's PPMs

All PPM shares are total week, age 6+ AQH

In New York City, The "Lite" is still on Big Apple radios most of the time. WLTW is trending 7.6-7.0-6.6, but still #1.   There's a close battle for the next three positions. Top 40 Z100/WHTZ is #2 5.1-4.8-5.0.

Classic Hits 101.1 FM WCBS 5.4-5.3-4.9 and Rhythmic AC WKTU 4.7-4.6-4.9 are tied for #3.

Spanish tropical “La Mega” WSKQ is up 4.1-4.1-4.4 and ranks fifth.

In Los Angeles, 102.7 KIIS FM featuring a playlist of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas and others, garnered 5.4% of the listening audience age 6 and older — an increase from its 5.2% share in April.

But second-place 640 AM KFI-AM, the news/talk talk station that is home to Rush Limbaugh and Bill Handel, enjoyed an even bigger bump, swelling its audience share from 4.5% to 4.9%, reports Steve Carney in a story for the LA Times.

Adult-contemporary station KOST-FM (103.5) and classic-hits outlet KRTH-FM (101.1) held their third and fourth places from the April survey, with KOST slipping from 4.4% to 4.3%, and KRTH dropping from 4.2% to 4%.

Pop-music station KAMP-FM (97.1) jumped from eighth to fifth, as its audience share grew from 3.5% to 3.8%. It switched places and percentages with hip-hop outlet KPWR-FM (105.9).

In May, KFI solidified its lead during the crucial morning drive time. From 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays, when KFI airs local host Handel and the first hour of Limbaugh's syndicated show, the station improved its audience share from 6.4% to 7%. That was far ahead of second-place KIIS, where morning man Ryan Seacrest garnered 4.8% of the audience — the same share he held in April, when it was only good enough for fourth.

The May ratings survey also included the return of Rick Dees to the airwaves. On May 4, he took over a.m. duties at rhythmic oldies station KHHT-FM (92.3).  Dees' latest gig has yet to show dividends for KHHT. The morning show slipped from 14th place in April to 17th in May, as its audience share went from 2.5% to 2.4%.

In The Windy City, News WBBM-AM is back on-top trending 5.6-5.2-5.6, followed by AC WVAZ 4.8-5.4-5.2 and talker/Cubs WGN 4.5-5.4-5.0.

Oldies WLS-FM ranks #4 3.6-4.7-4.1, followed by Classic Hits WDRV at #5 3.8-3.6-4.0.  CBS Radio's re-tooled KHits/WJMK is #18 trending 2.2-2.3-2.3 since February.

There's a nice trend for KISS/WKSC up 2.8-3.2-3.7, with “B96” WBBM-FM keeping pace 3.4-3.9-3.7.

Check out these other markets:

Philadelphia

San Fransisco

Dallas/Ft. Worth

Atlanta

San Jose, CA.

Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island), NY


Riverside-San Bernardino, CA

Middlesex-Somerset-Union, NJ

In other Arbitron news, the Newburgh-Middletown market, a one-county metro, is being combined with Orange County, Rockland and Putnam, NY. The new Arbitron-defined metro with 1,471,00 people rockets up 100 positions from #137 to #38.  That neighborhood includes Indianapolis, Providence, Austin and Columbus. The new Hudson Valley may be in the top 50, but it won’t be a PPM market and it won’t get continuous measurement treatment. The change take effect beginning with Fall 2011.