NYC Radio: WEPN's Michael Kay Gets The Best Of WFAN

WEPN 98.7 FM ESPN New York’s "The Michael Kay Show" out-rated WFAN’s Craig Carton and Evan Roberts for the first month of the autumn ratings book among men ages 25-54, according to data released Monday by Nielsen Audio and obtained by Newsday from an industry source.

While the Sept. 16-Oct. 13 period represents only the first of three months for the ratings period, it was a good early sign for Kay, who had lost the previous two full quarterly periods to Carton and Roberts.

From 3 to 6:30 p.m., Kay finished fourth overall in the New York market in the key advertising demographic, averaging 5.8% of the radio audience, compared to WFAN’s 3.7, which ranked 10th overall.

Newsday's Neil Best reports it was a significant change from the spring book, in which Carton and Roberts finished fourth at 5.7% and Kay was seventh at 4.1%.

In the spring, the shows overlapped from 2 to 6:30 p.m. In September, Kay returned to a 3 p.m. start time.

Both stations traditionally have judged themselves by the men 25-54 metric, but among all people age 12 and over, the WFAN afternoon show has a larger audience. By that measure, Carton and Roberts were 12th at 3.1% and Kay 19th at 2.3%.

The data includes both over-the-air and streaming audiences, but not the shows’ TV simulcast audiences.

Meanwhile, The NY Post reports “Boomer & Gio” (6.1 share/3rd in market) are still leading in the mornings from 6-10 a.m. ESPN NY’s “DiPietro & Rothenberg” had a nice showing from 5-8 (5.4/4th). From 8-10, “Keyshawn, JWill and Max” were 16th (2.3 share). From 10-2, “Moose & Maggie” earned a 3.8 share/8th in market, while the combination of “Greeny and whomever-is-filling-in-for-Greeny” and the first hour of “Bart and Hahn” was at 2.6/14th in market. When “Bart and Hahn” went one-on-one from 2-3 p.m. with “Carton & Roberts,” FAN won with a 5.0 share (6th) to 2.6 (15th). This means the Kay show opens its program from behind when it comes on the air at 3 p.m.