LA Radio: KIIS, KBIG Tie For #1 6+

Sister stations 102.7 KIIS-FM and 104.3 KBIG-FM edged into a tie for first place in radio ratings for May, just a month after KBIG had grabbed sole possession of the top spot for the first time, according to figures released Monday by Arbitron and reported in the LA Times.

KBIG, the pop and rock station whose claim is "more variety from the '90s till now," had been No. 1 in April among Los Angeles-Orange County stations, after many months of either tying or lurking just behind top 40 outlet KIIS, the longtime ratings leader. 

But they tied again in the May ratings period, each with a 5.6% share of the audience, based on the survey of listeners from April 25 to May 22.

Both stations distanced themselves from the pack, each increasing its share of the listening audience age 6 and older, jumping from 5.4% in April for KIIS and 5.5% for KBIG.

Third-place KOST-FM (103.5), the soft rock station, dipped from 4.7% in April to 4.5% in May.

SEE MORE TOPLINE PPMs: Click Here

During weekday morning drive — long thought to be radio's most important time slot, when stations can attract and hold listeners for the rest of the day — KIIS moved into a tie with KFI, with both claiming a 5.1% audience share.

Bill Handel

From 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays, KFI features local host Bill Handel's program, followed by the first hour of Rush Limbaugh's national show, and that pairing has had a near-stranglehold on the top spot for more than four years. But lately, other stations have challenged that supremacy. Before 2013, only three times did KFI's pairing not lead the morning ratings; already in 2013 it's been defeated twice and tied once, this past month.

In May, KIIS — which features Ryan Seacrest and co-host Ellen K in the morning — jumped from third place, past alternative rock station KROQ-FM (106.7), whose Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter slipped from 5.2% to 5%.

Read More Now