News/Talk: Market Size Does Matter

Clear Channel’s Newsradio WOOD 130 AM / 106.9 FM was Arbitron rated No. 1 in the Grand Rapids radio market for the fall of 2012, according to Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk atmlive.com.

A news or talk format leading a market isn’t unusual, but it isn’t common. Of the 66 radio markets that Arbitron has released figures for in the past week through Wednesday, just 10 were led by a news or talk station among all listeners ages 12 and over.

What’s intriguing is five of those 10 markets are close in size as Grand Rapids, the 69th largest radio market in the United States, with some 722,000 listeners.

Five radio markets from the 65th to 69th in size, Albany, N.Y.WGY; Tulsa, Okla. KRMG; Fresno, Calif.KMJ ; Albuquerque, N.M.KKOB; and Grand Rapids, occupy very different corners of the country. But all five, with populations ranging from 722,000 in Grand Rapids to 802,300 in Albany, saw a news or talk station capture No. 1 in its market for the final quarter of '12, according to Arbitron.

On the other hand, of the 12 biggest markets in the United States, from New York at No., 1 through Detroit at No. 12, only two cities – San Francisco KABC at No. 4 and Washington D.C.non-com WAMU at No. 7 -- also have been topped recently by news-talk radio.

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