April has always been a big month for professional sports, with the beginning of the Major League Baseball season and postseason activity for both NBA basketball and NHL hockey. The excitement for all three was reflected by share boosts for the flagship stations of teams in each of those leagues, ranked in the top five in eight of the 20 non-embedded PPM markets reporting on Days 1 and 2 in Nielsen\u2019s April survey (covering April 2-29).<\/p>\n
Together, eight baseball, basketball and\/or hockey team flagship stations in Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, San Diego and St. Louis \u2014 seven of those with an all sports format, and one news\/talk \u2014 saw a 10.1-share-point increase from Nielsen\u2019s March survey. The largest of those gains were fueled by the NBA\u2019s Pistons and MLB\u2019s Tigers on Audacy sports \u201c97.1 The Ticket\u201d WXYT-FM Detroit (up 2.2), baseball\u2019s Padres on Audacy\u2019s \u201c97.3 The Fan\u201d KWFN (+2.1), and MLB\u2019s Mariners on Bonneville\u2019s \u201cSeattle Sports 710\u201d KIRO-AM (+1.7).<\/p>\n
For Days 1 and 2 in these 20 markets, the leaderboard shows AC with five wins, news\/talk and sports with three each, two each for urban AC and classic hits, and one each for news, adult alternative, hot AC, soft AC and classic rock.<\/p>\n
Please note that rankings do not include stations owned by Cumulus Media, which is in the midst of a re-negotiation of its contract with Nielsen which expired Dec. 31, 2025.<\/p>\n
Hubbard Radio all-news WTOP racks up its 11th consecutive survey at the top in D.C., staying 2.5 points ahead of American University news\/talk WAMU, although both experience a second straight share decline. Atlantic Gateway Communications contemporary Christian WGTS\/WGBZ makes a 1.1-share gain to move from sixth to third, marking its first time ranking this high since February 2023.<\/p>\n
It has been more than 20 years since Boston University\u2019s WBUR was the market\u2019s number one station. The news\/talk outlet returns to the top with a 0.7 edge over Beasley Media Group\u2019s \u201c98.5 The Sports Hub\u201d WBZ-FM and iHeartMedia CHR \u201cKiss 108\u201d WXKS-FM, which tie for second. The Feb.-March champ, Audacy AC \u201cMagic 106.7\u201d WMJX, meanwhile, slips to fourth.<\/p>\n
Audacy AC \u201c101.5 Lite FM\u201d WLYF rules for the first time since July 2025, which was the last time a Cox Media Group station wasn\u2019t number one in the market. As \u201cLite\u201d gains 1.1 share points to take the prize, SBS Spanish classic hits \u201cZeta 92.3\u201d WCMQ jumps from fifth to second, followed by CMG\u2019s soft AC \u201cEasy 93.1\u201d WFEZ and urban AC sister \u201cHot 105\u201d WHQT in third and fourth. For the latter, it\u2019s the first time in more than five years it hasn\u2019t finished in Miami\u2019s top two.<\/p>\n
News\/talk pubcaster KUOW-FM keeps its grip on the crown for a fourth straight survey. It\u2019s a comfortable 4.2 share points ahead of Bonneville \u201cSeattle Sports 710\u201d KIRO-AM, flagship of the Mariners, which sees a 36% increase as it moves from a tie for sixth to the runner-up spot. Also re-entering the top five is Audacy\u2019s \u201cRock 99.9\u201d KISW, up from that same tie for sixth to one for third with both Crista Media contemporary Christian \u201cSpirit 105.3\u201d KCMS and iHeart classic hits \u201c95.7 The Jet\u201d KJEB.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a seventh consecutive win for iHeartMedia AC \u201c99.9 K-EZ\u201d KESZ, as it stays a half-point ahead of Hubbard classic rock KSLX. Further down at fifth, it\u2019s a tie between Audacy classic hits \u201cBig 94.5\u201d KOOL-FM and Maricopa County Community College news\/talk KJZZ, the latter making it first top five appearance since October 2024.<\/p>\n
The Detroit Pistons may not have made it to the NBA Eastern Conference finals, but the team\u2019s radio flagship, Audacy sports \u201c97.1 The Ticket\u201d WXYT-FM, are still the Motor City\u2019s ratings champs, scoring two more share points before the buzzer to move back into double-digit territory. Audacy again claims three of the top five, with classic hits WOMC third and country WYCD fourth, while iHeartMedia AC WNIC and urban AC sister \u201cMix 92.3\u201d WMXD land at second and fifth, respectively.<\/p>\n
Twin Cities sports fans had a lot to cheer for in April with postseason play for the NBA\u2019s Timberwolves and NHL\u2019s Wild, and the flagship for both teams, iHeartMedia sports \u201cK-Fan\u201d KFXN, was also a big winner, holding onto the crown with a 0.9 gain from March. For the second straight book, \u201cK-Fan\u201d stays just 0.1 in front of news\/talk pubcaster KNOW. iHeartMedia country \u201cK102\u201d KEEY and classic hits \u201cKool 108\u201d KQQL come in third and fourth, the former adding 0.9 to move from fifth to third.<\/p>\n
For a third straight survey, Tampa\u2019s top four stations remain unchanged, with CMG soft AC \u201c105.5 The Dove\u201d WDUV in the lead followed by Radio Training Network contemporary Christian \u201cThe Joy FM\u201d WCIE, CMG classic rock sister \u201cThe Eagle 107.3\u201d WXGL and Beasley classic hits \u201cQ105\u201d WRBQ at second, third and fourth. CMG AC sister \u201cMagic 94.9\u201d WWRM picks up 0.6 to move back into the top five at number five.<\/p>\n
Once again, Audacy classic rock \u201c99.5 The Mountain\u201d KQMT wins in a squeaker over Bonneville AC KOSI, ahead by just three-tenths of a share point. iHeart adult alternative KBCO sees a 1.3-share gain to earn its first top five showing since January 2025, while modern\/alternative rock sister \u201cChannel 93.3\u201d KTCL adds a full share point for its first time in the region since last December.<\/p>\n
After two surveys away from number one, Audacy classic hits \u201cSunny 98.1\u201d KXSN rises to the top again, with a close-as-it-gets 0.1 edge over news\/talk pubcaster KPBS. March\u2019s champ, Comunicacion XERSA hot AC \u201cMagic 92.5\u201d XHRM, comes in third, while Padres fever is back as the team\u2019s flagship, Audacy sports \u201c97.3 The Fan\u201d KWFN, moves from a tie for 12th to fifth, up 2.1 share points.<\/p>\n
With the exception of the Holiday 2025 survey, Urban One urban AC \u201cMagic 95.9\u201d WWIN-FM has been on top since February 2025, and it remains so in April, 1.6 share points up on Audacy AC \u201cToday’s 101.9\u201d WLIF. iHeartMedia country WPOC takes third, while Audacy hot AC sister \u201cMix 106.5\u201d WWMX ties for fourth with Peter and John Radio Fellowship contemporary Christian \u201cBright FM\u201d WRBS-FM, which adds 2.4 points to leap from 11th for its first time in the top five since October 2024.<\/p>\n
For the first time since November 2024, iHeartMedia classic hits KLOU takes the crown, with a 0.6 lead over Hubbard heritage rocker KSHE. Audacy AC KEZK and Gateway Creative contemporary Christian \u201c99.1 Joy FM\u201d KLJY stick at third and fourth, while Audacy news\/talk and St. Louis Cardinals flagship KMOX-FM gains 1.2 share points to move from 10th to fifth, with the team\u2019s hot start certainly a big help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April has always been a big month for professional sports, with the beginning of the Major League Baseball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":["post-654233","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\/654233","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=654233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}