Given that December, the hit music station has actually been on an upward trajectory in the Nielsen rankings; the March results released in late April have the station at 2nd place overall with a 5.0 share of the audience. That's a complete 2 points higher than it made in December.

Is pop music on the radio rebounding?

That's a boost of simply over a point because December, when it had a 4.7 share, and is the highest rating the station has actually had this year. Unusually, KRTH's online stream, which led all streams prior to, was not present in the ratings list this month

The huge-- and truly surprising-- drop originated from KOST (103.5 FM), which discovered itself out of the first-place position it has held for much of the previous year ... tied with KFI (640 AM) and KLVE (107.5 FM) at 5th at a 4.1 share. What makes this surprising is that KOST genuinely has actually led for most of the previous year.

Another unexpected drop originated from Go Country 105 (KKGO, 105.1 FM), can be found in with a 1.8 share of the audience compared with 2.1 in February and 2.5 back in December. I doubt this is a long-term trend, though; possibly the enjoyment of the Stagecoach celebration held last weekend will assist. Or possibly it's one of those abnormalities that happen when the ratings meters are dispersed to brand-new listeners.

KFI led the talk wars according to usual, its 5th location tie dominating the rest, consisting of KRLA (870 AM)'s 0.7 and KEIB's (1150 AM) 0.6. Where's KABC? No place to be discovered, but it doesn't mean they have no listeners. I verified that the area's talk format originator no longer signs up for Nielsen and therefore does not show in the rankings list. I likewise observed that KSPN (710 AM) isn't on the Nielsen list either, for the exact same reason. My hunch is that many stations will start to consider such a relocation due mainly to monetary savings; I'll have a story on that in an upcoming column.

More interesting products from the ratings list: Alt (98.7 FM) beat KROQ (106.7 FM), however the 2 stay fairly close: 2.4 vs. 2.1. KKJZ (88.1 FM) was the top-rated public station with a 2.3 share. Regional Mexican music station KFWB (980 AM) has been going up, almost doubling its 0.9 December ranking with a March surface of 1.6. And the stream for Mega 96.3 (KXOL -FM) came from nowhere to make a 0.9 share in March. Added to the station's routine signal 2.6 share, the station would total 3.5 ... and would have positioned 8th overall in the city!

Overall, 2 business have practically half of all listeners tuned into their stations. iHeart has a combined 25.1 ranking for its lineup that includes KIIS-FM, KOST, Alt, and KFI, to name a few, while Audacy has a 19.0 overall for its stations including KRTH, The Wave (KTWV 94.7 FM), KROQ, and KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM)

The full story: Each rating is an estimate of the portion of listeners aged 6 and over tuned to a station in between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight.

1. KRTH (5.8) 2. KIIS-FM (5.0) 3. KBIG (4.5) 4. KTWV (4.4) 5. KFI, KLVE, KOST (4.1) 8. KBUE (4.0) 9. KRRL (3.4) 10. KNX (3.3) 11. KCBS-FM "Jack" (3.2) 12. KRCD (3.0) 13. KLOS, KXOL (2.6) 15. KLAX, KYSR "Alt" (2.4) 17. KKJZ (2.3) 18. KLYY, KPCC (2.2) 20. KROQ (2.1) 21. KUSC (2.0) 22. KDAY, KKGO, KLLI, KPWR "Power" (1.8) 26. KSCA (1.7) 27. KFWB, KJLH (1.6) 29. KCRW (1.3) 30. KLAC (1.0) 31. KXOL Stream (0.9) 32. KDLD, KFSH (0.8) 34. KCSN, KRLA (0.7) 36. KEIB (0.6) 37. KKLA (0.3) 38. KWKW (0.2) 39. KHJ, KNX Stream, KROQ HD2, KROQ Stream, KTNQ (0.1 ).

Listener Gripes

Inside Music Media's Jerry Del Colliano recently put together a list of quickly fixed programs elements that turn listeners off. I want to expand the list to not simply what turns you off, however what turns you on.

Send your thoughts to me and I'll start compiling our own list to be presented later. it will be interesting to see how your "bad" list compares to Del Colliano's, and it will be enjoyable to acknowledge the terrific aspects of local radio.

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com.