Top-five-ranked stations in all-Christmas mode in the 20 non-embedded markets reporting on this first day of Nielsen\u2019s December PPMs, covering Nov. 13-Dec.10, did not disappoint.<\/p>\n
In fact, the numbers suggest more interest in the format this year, with share delivery up an average 21% since December 2024. Not surprisingly, all-Christmas stations in the top five of their markets saw an average 59% share lift from Nielsen\u2019s November survey.<\/p>\n
For these 20 markets, the holly-jolly leaderboard shows stations gone all-Christmas with 14 crowns, AC with 11, three each for news\/talk and soft AC, and one each for all-news, classic hits and urban AC.<\/p>\n
At iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cLite FM\u201d WLTW, there was another reason for all those lights: the station\u2019s 40th win in a row \u2014 with a 34% share boost from November\u2019s survey, as it did its usual switch from AC to all-Christmas \u2014 not to mention up 2% from last December. As a result, \u201cLite\u201d takes its widest lead this year, 3.4 share points, over Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM. MediaCo urban AC WBLS, up a point from November, moves from 10th to a tie for third with iHeart CHR sister \u201cZ100\u201d WHTZ.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia AC KOST shows double-digit share growth both year-over-year and November-to-December, with the move to all-Christmas pushing its share up 35% and 72%, respectively. It\u2019s KOST\u2019s first win since May, when it tied with Audacy classic hits \u201cK-Earth 101\u201d KRTH, which racked up seven surveys on top until now.<\/p>\n
The move to all holiday hits makes a strong soft AC even stronger, as iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201c93.9 Lite FM\u201d WLIT wins its seventh of the past nine Nielsen surveys, up 92% from November and 17% from December 2024. \u201cLite\u201d has a 6.5-share-point advantage over Hubbard Radio hot AC \u201c101.9 The Mix\u201d WTMX, which holds onto second. Down at No. 5, Cumulus Media classic hits WLS-FM gains nine-tenths of a point as it jumps from ninth to fifth.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cStar 102.1\u201d KDGE is back on top for the first time since last year\u2019s Holiday survey, as the AC-gone-all-Christmas pushes Cumulus Media sports \u201cThe Ticket\u201d KTCK-AM-FM down to second place. \u201cStar\u201d is also doing better than a year ago, up 21%, while seeing a 79% lift from November. Cumulus\u2019 stations are lined up at 2-3-4, with both its country outlets ranked third and fourth.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia AC \u201cSunny 99.1\u201d KODA is also doing better with its all-holiday-music flip than it did a year ago, up 48% from December 2024, while getting an 89% boost from November. That puts \u201cSunny\u201d 8.6 share points ahead of Urban One urban AC \u201cMajic 102.1\u201d KMJQ. Audacy hot AC \u201cMix 96.5\u201d KHMX makes a rare top-five showing, moving from a tie for eighth to fourth, while Hope Media Group contemporary Christian KSBJ is up from a tie for 10th to fifth as it also goes all-Christmas, although its share is off 20% from last December.<\/p>\n
The news station battle continues right through the holidays, with news\/talk pubcaster KQED grabbing a 12th straight victory over Audacy all-news KCBS-AM\/KFRC-FM, up by just a share point. Santacaster Bonneville AC KOIT settles for third while its share does increase 49% from November, even though it slips 3% from last December\u2019s survey.<\/p>\n
Cox Media Group news\/talk WSB-AM\/WSBB-FM makes it four consecutive wins, 1.2 points up on classic hits sister \u201c97.1 The River\u201d WSRV, which moves from a tie for fifth to runner-up. CMG holds onto four of Atlanta\u2019s top five with AC \u201cB98.5\u201d WSB-FM and urban AC \u201cKiss 104.1\u201d WALR finishing third and fourth, respectively.<\/p>\n
Hubbard Radio all-news WTOP notches a sixth straight survey at the top, staying 1.3 ahead of American University news\/talk WAMU. iHeartMedia AC WASH is up from fifth to third, as its all-Christmas flip gives it a 78% lift from November and a 19% gain year-over-year.<\/p>\n
Santa was back in the City of Brotherly Love, as Audacy AC-gone-all-Christmas \u201cB101\u201d WBEB vaulted from fifth to No. 1, up an impressive 102% from the November book and 30% vs. December 2024. It takes a 3.7-share-point lead over Beasley Media Group rocker WMMR, which claimed the top spot in November.<\/p>\n
Audacy AC \u201cMagic 106.7\u201d WMJX moves back up to No. 1 with a sack filled with classic Christmas music, and with double-digit growth from November (+69%) and last December (+24%). It\u2019s enough holiday magic to knock Beasley Media Group\u2019s \u201c98.5 The Sports Hub\u201d WBZ-FM down to second place. Both sports stations are in the top five, as Audacy\u2019s WEEI-FM moves into a tie for fifth.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s CMG soft AC \u201cEasy 93.1\u201d WFEZ\u2019s turn at the top spot again, as it and urban AC sister \u201cHot 105\u201d WHQT have been going back and forth at No. 1 since August. Two Spanish-language stations now reside in the top five, as iHeartMedia Spanish-language gold AC \u201cMagic 93.9\u201d WMIA-FM joins Univision Spanish AC \u201cAmor 107.5\u201d WAMR.<\/p>\n
News\/talk pubcaster KUOW-FM makes it 12 wins in a row, keeping a 0.3 edge over Hubbard AC \u201cWarm 106.9\u201d KRWM, up from ninth to second as it also rocks around the Christmas tree. \u201cWarm\u201d is actually hotter than it was a year ago, with share up 30%, while it gets a 126% lift Nov.-Dec. Crista Media contemporary Christian \u201cSpirit 105.3\u201d KCMS\u2019s all faith-based Christmas music format keeps it fifth-ranked, up 75% year-over-year and 19% from November.<\/p>\n
There are also double-digit share gains for iHeartMedia AC-turned-Santacaster \u201c99.9 K-EZ\u201d KESZ, up 14% vs. last December and 69% from the November survey. The station widens its lead over Hubbard classic rock KSLX from just 0.7 in November to a full eight share points.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia AC WNIC sticks at No. 1 as Santa comes to town, up from 0.6 to 4.4 share points ahead of Audacy sports \u201c97.1 The Ticket\u201d WXYT-FM. While WNIC\u2019s share is up 53% Nov.-Dec., it\u2019s off 7% vs. last December.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia classic hits-turned-all-Christmas \u201cKool 108\u201d KQQL returns to the top for the first time since the 2024 Holiday survey \u2013 with a 96% share increase from November, and just a 1% lift year-over-year \u2013 unseating sports sister \u201cK-FAN\u201d KFXN after 11 straight wins. Contemporary Christian pubcaster KTIS-FM, also all-Christmas, is up 6% from December 2024 but down 17% from November.<\/p>\n
Three of Tampa\u2019s top five flipped to all-Christmas, led by CMG soft AC \u201c105.5 The Dove\u201d WDUV, up 34% from November while off 2% year-over-year. WDUV\u2019s 1.5 share point ahead of the November champ, Radio Training Network contemporary Christian \u201cThe Joy FM\u201d WCIE, with an all-Christmas format that sees a 54% lift from last December while down 2% from November. Fourth-ranked iHeartMedia AC \u201cMix 100.7\u201d WMTX gets double-digit growth both ways, up 22% year-over-year and 28% Nov.-Dec.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a 10th win for Bonneville AC KOSI, as it goes into all-Christmas-music mode, with a 17% share lift from last December and up 58% from November. KOSI\u2019s five full share points up on Audacy classic rock \u201c99.5 The Mountain\u201d KQMT, which steps up from third to second.<\/p>\n
Audacy AC KYXY makes the all-Christmas flip and jumps back to No. 1 for the first time since the Holiday 2024 book, with Santa-sized share growth either way: up 68% year-over-year and 95% from November. KYXY takes a 3.6-point lead over classic hits \u201cSunny 98.1\u201d KXSN, which led for 11 straight surveys.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Urban One urban AC \u201cMagic 95.9\u201d WWIN-FM had now been on top for 11 surveys in Baltimore, squeaking out a one-tenth-of-a-share-point win over Audacy AC \u201cToday\u2019s 101.9\u201d WLIF, up from fifth as it also features all sounds of the season. WLIF also sees Santa-powered gains, up 17% from last December and 73% from November\u2019s survey.<\/p>\n
Audacy AC KEZK moves from fifth to up on the ratings housetop with its annual all-Christmas switch, with 39% and 105% boosts, year-over-year and Nov.-Dec. respectively. That keeps Hubbard rocker KSHE from getting a 12th straight win, as KEZK takes a 5.8-share-point lead. Gateway Creative contemporary Christian \u201c99.1 Joy FM\u201d KLJY, ranked fifth, also went all-Christmas, with year-over-year share up 2% while share from November fell 21%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top-five-ranked stations in all-Christmas mode in the 20 non-embedded markets reporting on this first day of Nielsen\u2019s December…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,710,61,60,278,43],"class_list":["post-220458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}