Chicago radio ratings: WBBM Newsradio wins morning, noon and night

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WBBM Newswradio

It was a rare clean sweep for Chicago's all-news radio station in the latest Nielsen Audio survey.

Audience estimates released Tuesday showed the Entercom combo of WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM finishing first overall for the fifth consecutive month and winning all four weekday time periods — mornings, middays, afternoons and evenings.

Close behind but still second was Hubbard Radio classic rock WDRV 97.1-FM.

The dearth of sports attributed to the coronavirus pandemic continued to take a toll on Chicago's sports/talk stations — Entercom WSCR 670-AM and Good Karma Brands WMVP 1000-AM — both of which declined.

Also down for the second straight month were both news/talk stations — Nexstar Media Group WGN 720-AM and Chicago Public Media WBEZ 91.5-FM. One notable exception was in mornings on WGN where Bob Sirott held steady in second place and increased his overall share by three tenths.

Once again Nielsen Audio tacked on an advisory note essentially telling clients to take it all with a grain of salt: "Audience estimates covering the time of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency can and should be used to understand the nature of that audience during that period only since it may reflect behavior that is unique to the COVID-19 crisis. Users should be aware that the effect of COVID-19 on media consumption will vary by market, period and measurement type.

"Given the anomalous nature of audience behavior during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, it is Nielsen's position that future buying and planning decisions for periods that fall outside the COVID-19 crisis should not be made using COVID-19 impacted audience estimates."

Here are Chicago’s top 30 radio stations from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday through Sunday, as measured by Nielsen Audio from May 21 to June 17, followed by format and average quarter-hour share of listeners age 6 and older (with previous month’s share in parentheses):

1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM all news, 6.9 (7.0)
2. WDRV 97.1-FM classic rock, 6.4 (6.4)
3. WVAZ 102.7-FM R&B, 5.6 (5.2)
4. WLIT 93.9-FM adult contemporary, 5.5 (5.2)
5. WLS 94.7-FM classic hits, 5.2 (4.6)
6. WTMX 101.9-FM hot adult contemporary, 4.8 (4.9)
7. WGN 720-AM news talk, 4.5 (5.2)
8. WXRT 93.1-FM adult album alternative, 3.9 (3.9)
9. (tie) WBEZ 91.5-FM public radio news talk, 3.8 (4.7); WOJO 105.1-FM Mexican regional, 3.8 (3.2)
11. WKSC 103.5-FM Top 40, 3.3 (2.7)
12. WRME 87.7-FM soft rock oldies, 3.0 (2.5)
13. (tie) WGCI 107.5-FM hip-hop, 2.8 (2.6); WKQX 101.1-FM alternative rock, 2.8 (2.5)
15. (tie) WUSN 99.5-FM country, 2.5 (2.4); WLEY 107.9-FM Mexican regional, 2.5 (2.8)
17. WSHE 100.3-FM adult contemporary, 2.3 (2.3)
18. WBMX 104.3-FM classic hip hop, 2.2 (2.2)
19. (tie) WBBM 96.3-FM Top 40, 2.0 (2.1); WLS 890-AM news talk, 2.0 (2.1); WPPN 106.7-FM Spanish adult contemporary, 2.0 (1.8)
22. WEBG 95.5-FM country, 1.7 (1.5)
23. WPWX 92.3-FM urban contemporary, 1.6 (1.6)
24. WSCR 670-AM sports talk, 1.5 (2.1)
25. WCKL 97.9-FM contemporary Christian music, 1.3 (1.3)
26. WVIV 93.5-FM Spanish contemporary, 1.2 (1.0)
27. WMVP 1000-AM sports talk, 0.8 (1.2)
28. WSRB 106.3-FM urban adult contemporary, 0.7 (0.6)
29. WFMT 98.7-FM classical 0.6 (1.2)
30. (tie) WDCB 90.9-FM jazz, blues 0.5 (0.5); WERV 95.9-FM classic hits, 0.5 (0.4); WZSR 105.5-FM hot adult-contemporary, 0.5 (0.4)

Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 morning shows from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:

1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Pat Cassidy
2. WGN 720-AM Bob Sirott
3. WBEZ 91.5-FM “Morning Edition”; “BBC Newshour”
4. WTMX 101.9-FM Eric Ferguson, Melissa McGurren and Brian “Whip” Paruch
5. WDRV 97.1-FM Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle
6. WVAZ 102.7-FM Steve Harvey
7. (tie) WLIT 93.9-FM Melissa Forman; WLS 94.7-FM Dave Fogel and Kim Berk
9. WOJO 105.1-FM Raúl Molinar, Carla Medrano and Andrés Maldonado
10. WXRT 93.1-FM Richard Milne

Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 midday shows from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:

1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Cisco Cotto
2. WDRV 97.1-FM Bob Stroud
3. WLS 94.7-FM Greg Brown
4. WTMX 101.9-FM Lisa Allen
5. WLIT 93.9-FM Robin Rock
6. WGN 720-AM John Williams; Anna Davlantes
7. WVAZ 102.7-FM Bioncé Foxx
8. (tie) WXRT 93.1-FM Lin Brehmer; WOJO 105.1-FM Rafael “El Primo Rafa” Bautista
10. WRME 87.7-FM

Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 afternoon shows from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:

1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Keith Johnson and Lisa Fielding
2. WDRV 97.1-FM Steve Seaver and Janda Lane
3. WVAZ 102.7-FM Joe Soto
4. (tie) WLIT 93.9-FM Mick Lee; WLS 94.7-FM Erin Carman
6. WTMX 101.9-FM Kevin “Koz” Koske
7. WKSC 103.5-FM Brady Broski
8. WXRT 93.1-FM Marty Lennartz
9. (tie) WBEZ 91.5-FM “All Things Considered”; “Marketplace”; WGCI 107.5-FM Tone Kapone

Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 evening shows from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:

1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Bob Conway; Andy Dahn
2. WLIT 93.9-FM Delilah Rene
3. WVAZ 102.7-FM Keith Sweat
4. WDRV 97.1-FM John "Byrd" Kempf
5. WGCI 107.5-FM Zach Boog
6. WLS 94.7-FM Brian Peck
7. WXRT 93.1-FM Ryan Arnold
8. WKSC 103.5-FM Jordan “JRDN” Foster
9. (tie) WLEY 107.9-FM Marco “El Compa Marco” Vargas; WOJO 105.1-FM Karen “La Coqueta” Duran

(Copyright © 2020 The Nielsen Company.)