What's nice about these latest releases is Nielsen has loosened its rules for which stations get listed in the publicly published results!
That means out-of-market stations that subscribe to their home market book now get shown in the publicly published results for ALL markets where significant listening occurs.
![Cool :8)](./images/smilies/glasses.gif)
Some highlights:
- Thunder 107.3 reaches an ALL-TIME RECORD LOW, regardless of format, for 107.3 FM. A 1.0 share (!!!). I mean, how fucking terrible must a programming staff be at its job to manage only a 1.0 share, with Country, with a 50 kW signal in West-friggin'-Michigan?!?!
- ESPN 96.1 also laid a massive TURD and produced what was easily the worst result in the history of ESPN 96.1. I cannot say with 100% confidence that it was the worst share ever for 96.1 FM, but it's got to be in the bottom two or three.
- Decent gain for 94.5 WKLQ.
- 101.3 Big FM is finding its footing. Probably very old demos, but definitely making a major dent in 98.7 WFGR's numbers.
- WOOD Radio, post-Rush, shed two full shares.
- Real Oldies 1480 / 95.3 reached a new all-time high at a 1.7 share.
- 91.3 WCSG is #1 yet again for Grand Rapids!
- WVGR / WUOM is listed once again. Mid 4's overall. Very respectable.
Kalamazoo:
- Midwest Communications made a colossal mistake flipping 96.5 to low budget CHR/Pop. A 1.8 share for the brands inaugural book. What a disaster! WKFR crushed them to pieces.
- Big rebounds for WRKR and WKZO. Best book for RKR in quite some time.
- B93 slips from #2 to #3 overall thanks to the surging WRKR.
- WKLQ is a no-show in Kalamazoo. That's a little surprising; I figured former Z96.5 listeners might've discovered the station.
- WGRD, staticky signal and all, did OK. Mid 2's.
- Star 105.7 earned shockingly poor numbers. I cannot explain that one. The flip at 106.5 should've benefited Star. Has got to be a sampling issue.
- Jack at 106.5 earned numbers in line with what it was earning at 96.5.
- WCSG performs decently in Kalamazoo (I mean, the only have THREE signals that can be heard there) but not nearly as well as in Grand Rapids. Mid 3's to low 4's over the past several books.
Muskegon:
- WMRR, WMUS and WSNX are the leaders by a mile (no surprise)
- Surprisingly poor showings for all Cumulus stations. 98.3 WLCS reached an all time record low. 105.3 Hot FM is getting clobbered by WSNX, who has a five and a half share lead!
- Grand Rapids isn't the only place where Real Oldies has a cult following. AM 850 scored a 1.4.
- Despite having a much stronger signal in Muskegon than WGRD, WLAV was outperformed by WGRD in the Port City. WGRD had a 3.5 (which was actually a little bit below their average) whereas WLAV had a 2.1. In fairness, there really is nowhere else to hear newer rock on the FM dial in Muskegon, while there are plenty of classic rock options.
- Of the stations actually licensed to Grand Rapids, WGRD believe it or not is the strongest performer in Muskegon County.
- B93 usually is good for a 3.x share but this time only managed a 2.8 share.
- WLHT, as has been the case for years, barely registered. Does Milwaukee's WRIT routinely interfere with WLHT? I never understood why WLHT regularly earns such terrible numbers in Muskegon.
Results:
https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb127 (Grand Rapids)
https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb251 (Kalamazoo)
https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb566 (Muskegon)