{"id":646506,"date":"2026-05-16T10:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/646506\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T10:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:18:08","slug":"new-york-talker-wabc-leads-americas-top-10-am-stations-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/646506\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Talker WABC Leads America\u2019s Top 10 AM Stations. | Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since Red Apple Media took over the ownership of New York talk station WABC (770) in 2020, it\u2019s become the top-ranked AM-exclusive outlet in the market. Now it tops Inside Radio\u2019s TOP 10 ranking of U.S. stations heard only on the AM band within their markets, based on persons 6+ cume delivery during Nielsen\u2019s winter 2025 wave (January-to-March three-month average) as compiled by ACT 1 systems. The station\u2019s cume reached 418,500 during the first three months of the year.<\/p>\n<p>WABC, which flipped to talk in 1982 following two decades as New York radio\u2019s primary top 40 station, offers a wide variety of locally-originated programming including 10-year morning host Sid Rosenberg and PM drive\u2019s \u201cCats &amp; Cosby\u201d \u2014 with station owner John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby \u2014 not to mention one of the key personalities of WABC\u2019s \u201cMusicradio\u201d era, \u201cCousin Brucie\u201d Morrow, heard weekends. WABC\u2019s success helped make it an NAB Marconi Award Legendary Station of the Year finalist in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Along with WABC, iHeartMedia\u2019s KFI (640) Los Angeles also passes the 400,000-cume mark. KFI\u2019s been in the format for 38 years, 33 of them with Bill Handel hosting mornings. Also, a Marconi finalist last year for News\/Talk Station of the Year, it\u2019s one of five iHeartMedia stations in AM\u2019s top 10.<\/p>\n<p>Placing third is a Marconi winner for Spanish Station of the Year, Hemisphere Media Group news\/talk WKAQ-AM San Juan (580). Puerto Rico\u2019s first radio station, signing on in 1922, features longtime morning host Rub\u00e9n S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; border: none; display: block;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.insideradio.com\/app\/Images2026\/Top-10-AM-Radio-May-2026-3R.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ranked fourth is iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cNewsradio 740\u201d KTRH, which has broadcast in Houston since 1929 and includes among its on-air alumni Texas-born former \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d anchor Dan Rather. Rounding out the top five is the only all-news station in the top 10, Audacy\u2019s \u201cNewsradio 950\u201d WWJ Detroit, which began as a radio news service in 1920.<\/p>\n<p>Seven of these stations include issues-based talk shows, including two more from iHeartMedia: sixth-ranked \u201cNewsRadio 1030\u201d WBZ-AM Boston, a Marconi Legendary Station and News\/Talk Station of the Year winner where Dan Rea has hosted \u201cNightSide\u201d since 2007; and at ninth, \u201cThe Voice of New York,\u201d WOR (710), featuring a market mainstay since the 1970s, weekday host Mark Simone. Coming in seventh is another Marconi News\/Talk Station of the Year winner, Nexstar Media Group\u2019s WGN (720) Chicago, where mornings are hosted by 55-year Windy City radio veteran Bob Sirott.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining two of AM\u2019s top 10 are sports stations: iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cLA Sports\u201d KLAC (570) Los Angeles, flagship of the reigning World Series Champion Dodgers and the NBA\u2019s Clippers; and Bonneville\u2019s \u201cSeattle Sports\u201d KIRO-AM (710), which has been the flagship of the NFL\u2019s Seahawks since their debut season in 1976, and of Major League Baseball\u2019s Mariners since 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since Red Apple Media took over the ownership of New York talk station WABC (770) in 2020, it\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":["post-646506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}