Chicago Ratings: A Look At 25-54 Numbers

The Arbitron ratings for the Chicago radio market for the February period -- which covers the dates of 01/31/13-02/27/13 -- were released on Monday. Chicago Radio & Media again provides a terrific study of the Chicago ratings for the demographics of Persons 6+ (All Ages), Persons 25-54, and Persons 18-34, along with quick looks at some key stories.

Looking now at the highly-desired demographic (by advertisers, and therefore station owners) of Persons ages 25-54...

In the overall numbers (Monday-Sunday 6:00am-Midnight), WTMX-FM remains in first place, adding 1.0 share to the 1.6 share increase from January to a massive 7.2 share in this important demographic -- the station's highest share since 2011. Second place goes to WVAZ-FM, with a 5.6 share. Jumping up to #3 from #6 is WKSC-FM, now with a 4.4 share. WGCI-FM jumps even more, from #10 to #4, increasing its share by .5 to 4.1. Tied for fifth place are sister-stations WBBM-AM and WBBM-FM, each with 4.0 share. In four weeks time, WBBM-AM increased by .6 share and WBBM-FM increased by .5 share.

Hit radio stations had their best month since last summer, with WKSC-FM, WBBM-FM, WGCI-FM, and WTMX-FM each seeing decent increases. The only hit music station having an off month was WUSN-FM, which slipped .6 share.

Besides WUSN-FM, there are a few other notable decreases for the February ratings period. WDRV-FM/WWDV-FM had an unusually large 1.0 share drop here in their target demographic, knocking it out of the Top 10. The station (or its competition) did nothing unusual or different in the February period to explain the decrease.

Two Regional Mexican radio stations saw decreases: WOJO-FM slipped down by .8 share and WLEY-FM fell by .5 share. With the football season over, both of Chicago's full-time sports stations, WSCR-AM and WMVP-AM fell by .6 share each.

In the Classic Hits format battle between WLS-FM and WJMK-FM, K-Hits continues to win in this demo. WJMK-FM/104.3 K-Hits increased its share by .2 in the February period, now sitting at a 2.9 share, good enough for a tie at #14. WLS-FM also increased by a .2 share, but only has a 2.2 share now and sits at a tie for #20. In comparison, for the February 2012 ratings period, WLS-FM had a 3.9 share and was tied at #9, while WJMK-FM was #21 with a 2.2 share. In 2013, these two stations seem to be on opposite paths for the Persons 25-54 demographic.

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Ratings data © Copyright 2013 Arbitron Inc.