Atlanta Ratings: Power 96.1 Breaks Open

WSB gains with Rush’s arrival

The recent shakeup in Atlanta radio is showing its effects in the ratings, according Rodney Ho at ajc.com.

One station with a new format — the heavily advertised Top 40-based WWPW / Power 96.1 – broke into the overall top 10 in its first full month of Arbitron ratings, covering Sept. 13 through Oct. 10.

Power, which debuted in late August, finished with a 4.3 rating, good for No. 10, just behind Star 94 (4.4) and Q100 (4.5). Those are better numbers than its predecessor rock station, Project 9-6-1, pulled even in its best months.

As a result of Power’s success, rival Q100 dropped from a 5.4 to a 4.5. That’s Q100’s worst overall performance since December 2010. Its 25- to 54-year-old demographic numbers fell 1 ratings point from 6.0 to 5.0, its lowest since February. But Q100’s 18-34 numbers held steady.

Power’s entry also had an effect on one of its Clear Channel sister stations, Wild 105.7/96.7. Wild started playing more hip-hop to distinguish itself from the more youthful pop-dance sound of Power. Wild slipped from 3.1 to 2.5 last month, its worst month since July 2011.

The more adult-pop oriented stations B98.5 (ranked fifth overall) and Star 94 (ranked ninth) held steady from the previous four weeks, despite all the changes across the radio dial.

Rush Limbaugh’s arrival at AM 750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB on Oct.1 helped boost the station’s ratings. Over the 10 days measured that Limbaugh was on board, ratings jumped 50 percent compared with to the previous 18 days during the same time period. Previously, Neal Boortz and Clark Howard occupied the 12-3 p.m. time.

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