From this morning's Tom Taylor NOW column...
Chicago has a new station tied for #2 – and it speaks Spanish. “Largest share in station history,” says ratings historian Chris Huff, for Univision’s regional Mexican WOJO (3.7-4.2-5.0). It’s now tied with Hubbard’s hot AC “Mix” WTMX (4.9-5.1-5.0). WOJO is also tied for second on weekend (though not with Mix). “Eric in the Morning with Melissa & Whip” keeps Mix in first place there. Like last month, Chicago’s overall picture is of a clear #1 station – iHeart’s urban AC WVAZ (6.6-6.1-6.1), and #1 everywhere except mornings. And then a plethora of ties, like WOJO and WTMX tied for second. It was almost a three-way tie, with Entercom’s news WBBM/WCFS moving 5.3-5.1-4.9. Like many other all-newsers, it’s especially strong mornings and nights (second in both dayparts). Fifth with its highest shares since September 2011 is Hubbard’s classic rock “Drive” WDRV (3.3-4.2-4.6, and tied for second middays). The next two stations (WLS-FM and WBMX) are intertwined, since WBMX (4.0-4.5-3.5) was classic hits before Entercom changed it to classic hip-hop/throwbacks as “104.3 Jams.” Now Cumulus classic hits WLS-FM shows the gains, up 3.1-3.4-3.5-3.8 since January. It’s fourth middays, while “Jams” is fourth at night. Actually, we should say that overall, WBMX is tied in seventh place, with Entercom’s country “US 99” WUSN (3.0-3.9-3.5) and easy oldies WRME, on a low power TV station leased by Weigel (3.6-3.5-3.5).
Chicago’s diverging baseball stories are revealed by the flagships of the Cubs and the White Sox. It’s easy to see who’s got the Cubs – Entercom’s sports “Score” WSCR (2.5-2.3-3.2, and now third at night). But there’s not much happening at Tribune’s talk/White Sox baseball WGN (3.1-2.2-2.0). WGN is 22nd overall, and 23rd at night. While Cumulus talker WLS (2.0-2.0-1.8) is the station that just shed the White Sox contract due to costs. At 2.2-2.5-3.0, Chris Huff says this is a PPM-record for Chicago Public Media’s not-for-profit news/talk WBEZ. It’s now eleventh in mornings. iHeart does country on “Big” WEBG (1.7-1.5-1.8). The Windy City’s cume leader is a station we haven’t mentioned yet, iHeart CHR “Kiss 103.5” WKSC. Its weekly cume reaches 1,891,600, but it’s tied for tenth with AQH share (3.0-3.1-3.3) – suggesting lots of potential. It’s unclear what’s happening with 97.9, the former classic rock “Loop” WLUP. K-Love parent Educational Media Foundation LMAs it from Merlin Media, but it doesn’t appear in this book. Suburban sister WJKL, also doing not-for-profit contemporary Christian, has a 1.3 share.
