While adult contemporary and news\/talk-formatted stations can pull off two or more wins just-like-that in the eight non-embedded markets reporting on Day 1 of Nielsen\u2019s PPM ratings, that\u2019s never been easy for hot AC to do.<\/p>\n
For Day 1 of July 2026\u2019s survey (covering June 25-July 22), however, it\u2019s a different story, one which reflects hot AC\u2019s strong year-to-date performance in PPM markets. While Hubbard\u2019s \u201c101.9 The Mix\u201d WTMX Chicago repeats at the top, iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201c104.3 MyFM\u201d KBIG makes its first appearance at the top of L.A.\u2019s ratings since November 2022, when it tied for first with both AC sister KOST and Audacy classic hits \u201cK-Earth 101\u201d KRTH.<\/p>\n
For Day 1, the leaderboard shows four wins for AC, two each for news\/talk and hot AC, and one for urban contemporary.<\/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
For a third straight survey, the order of New York\u2019s top five remains unchanged, with iHeartMedia AC \u201c106.7 Lite FM\u201d WLTW still on top, a half-point up on Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM. Audacy also takes third again with classic hits WCBS-FM, followed by iHeartMedia\u2019s CHR \u201cZ100\u201d WHTZ and classic rock \u201cQ104.3\u201d WAXQ, respectively.<\/p>\n
For the first time since Nielsen\u2019s November 2022 survey, iHeartMedia hot AC \u201c104.3 MyFM\u201d KBIG is L.A.\u2019s number-one station. There\u2019s just one little difference this time: KBIG has the top spot all to itself. That November, KBIG tied for first with the only other two stations to rule L.A.\u2019s ratings since: Audacy classic hits \u201cK-Earth 101\u201d KRTH, which now ranks second, 0.3 behind KBIG; and iHeartMedia AC sister KOST, which moves from first to third-ranked. Audacy claims the rest of the top five, with urban AC \u201c94.7 The Wave\u201d KTWV and adult hits \u201c93.1 Jack FM\u201d KCBS-FM at fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a third win in a row for Hubbard hot AC \u201c101.9 The Mix\u201d WTMX, staying just 0.2 in front of Audacy all-news sister WBBM-AM\/WCFS. iHeartMedia urban AC \u201cV103\u201d WVAZ moves from a tie for sixth to rank third, marking its first top five showing since April 2025. Once again, Audacy claims three in the region, with adult alternative WXRT fourth and country \u201cUS99\u201d WUSN tied for fifth with iHeartMedia soft AC \u201c93.9 Lite FM\u201d WLIT.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia AC \u201cStar 102.1\u201d KDGE makes it a third consecutive victory in Big D, ahead of hot AC sister \u201cMix 102.9\u201d KDMX by 1.2 points, while iHeartMedia takes the trifecta with CHR \u201c106.1 Kiss FM\u201d KHKS finishing third, as it returns to the top five. Also back in the region is Univision Spanish regional Mexican \u201cQue Buena 94.1\u201d KLNO, placing fourth.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a 12th straight win for iHeartMedia AC \u201cSunny 99.1\u201d KODA, as it takes a comfortable 2.8-share-point lead over Urban One classic rock \u201cThe Eagle 106.9\/107.5\u201d KGLK\/KHPT. As was the case in June, iHeartMedia and Urban One claim the entire top five, with iHeartMedia modern\/alternative rock \u201c94.5 The Buzz\u201d KTBZ ranked fourth, and Urban One\u2019s urban AC \u201cMajic 102.1\u201d KMJQ and country \u201c93Q\u201d KKBQ at third and fifth.<\/p>\n
For the fourth consecutive survey, news\/talk pubcaster KQED sees a share gain, for an overall 20% boost since March. Even so, it\u2019s still a close race between KQED and Audacy all-news KCBS-AM\/KFRC, which is just 1.4 share points behind. Connoisseur Media AC KOIT and iHeartMedia\u2019s soft AC \u201c98.1 The Breeze\u201d KISQ and hot AC sister \u201cStar 101.3\u201d KIOI line up at 3-4-5.<\/p>\n
Cox Media Group news\/talk WSB-AM\/WSBB-FM is still on top, although now tied with Audacy urban contemporary \u201cV103\u201d WVEE, which makes a 1.1-share-point gain, up from sixth. Tied for third, just a tenth of a point behind those two, are Urban One urban AC \u201cMajic 107.5\/97.5\u201d WAMJ and CMG classic hits sister \u201c97.1 The River\u201d WSRV, while news\/talk pubcaster WABE makes its first appearance in the top five since 2023.<\/p>\n
For each of the last seven surveys Audacy AC \u201cB101\u201d WBEB led Philly\u2019s ratings, Santa was along for the ride. Not this time, though, as the station notches a rare summertime victory, 0.3 ahead of Beasley Media Group classic rock WMGK. Both are up 1.1 share points from June. iHeartMedia urban AC WDAS-FM places third, while both stations that tied for first in June \u2013 Audacy sports WIP-FM and Beasley heritage rock WMMR \u2013 now tie for fourth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While adult contemporary and news\/talk-formatted stations can pull off two or more wins just-like-that in the eight non-embedded…\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-809920","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\/809920","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=809920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809920\/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=809920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}