L-A Radio: Oldies Win For KRTH

 by Richard Wagoner, Southern California Radio Waves

The March Nielsen ratings were released last week, and oldies were the big winner with KRTH (101.1 FM) taking first place in the Los Angeles area, beating out KOST (103.5 FM)  with a rating of 6.0 versus KOST’s 5.6.

Immediately following was KFI (640 AM) — the top-rated talker in town as well as the highest-rated local AM station — with a third-place finish overall and a solid 5.5 rating. Rounding out the top five was “My FM” KBIG (104.3 FM) at 4.5, and a fifth-place tie between Spanish hits station KLVE (107.5 FM) and semi-Urban KTWV (94.7 FM) at 4.2.

In what may be the biggest surprise of the quarter, KROQ (106.7 FM) made a huge comeback after languishing for much of the past few years, and in the month of March overtook Alt 98.7 FM (KYSR) for the top-rated alternative music station in town. It was still close, but KROQ came in at 12th place with a rating of 3.0, compared with Alt’s 14th place 2.5. Of note is the fact that the format itself finally showed some real growth — overall, Alt is down a little, but not as much as KROQ’s increase. Combined, the stations have a higher share of the ratings than in recent history.

March 2024 (6+)

KNX Newsradio (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) had a strong month, getting into the top 10 in a tie with “La Raza” KLAX (97.9 FM) with a 3.0 share of the ratings. The online streams for both stations added to that… more on that later.

I’m not sure what is happening with country music … it’s down overall compared with past years. but at least March showed some growth after declines that began in February. Go Country KKGO (105.1 FM) tied with “Que Buena KBUE (105.5 FM) with a 1.7 share.