Houston Ratings: April Is Off Month for Sports Radio

April was not a productive ratings month for Houston’s all-sports radio stations.

According to David Barron at The Houston Chronicle, for the Arbitron rating period March 28-April 24, segment leader KILT 610 AM slipped out of the top 10 among men 25-54, the key demo for all-sports radio, in both morning and afternoon drive.

In morning drive (6-10 a.m.), KILT slipped to a 2.6 share for 17th place. KFNC 97.5 FM was 19th with a 2.0 share, and KBME 790 AM was 26th with a 1.1 share.

In middays, KILT ranked 12th with a 2.9 share to 1.1 for KBME and 0.7 for KFNC. In afternoon drive (3-7 p.m.), KILT dropped to 12th with a 3.3 share to 1.5 for KBME and 1.3 for KFNC. From 7 p.m. to midnight, KILT led with a 1.5 share to 1.3 for KBME and 0.2 for KFNC.

KILT’s April decline was particularly surprising. Its March shares were 4.1 in morning drive, 3.0 in midday (the time slot with the smallest decline), 4.5 in afternoon drive and 2.3 at night.

In January, at the height of Texans mania, KILT was at 5.6 in morning drive, 4.1 in middays, 5.2 in afternoon drive and 2.8 at night. In that month, the three all-sports stations that show up in Arbitron combined for shares of 10.0 in morning drive, 6.8 in middays, 8.7 in afternoon drive and 4.3 at night. In April, those totals were, respectively, 5.7, 4.7, 6.1 and 3.0. In April 2012, they were 10.9, 7.2, 9.4 and 3.3.

This month is the first time that KILT has been out of the top 10 in morning drive among men 25-54 since last August, when it slipped behind KBME in a one-month hiccup, and its first drop out of the top 10 in afternoon drive since August 2011.

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