In terms of stations ranked first in the 20 non-embedded PPM markets reporting on Days 1 and 2 in Nielsen\u2019s August survey (covering July 23-August 19), adult contemporary and news\/talk lead in eight of these markets, with four number-ones apiece, while urban AC stations claim the top spot in three markets.<\/p>\n
For AC, that total is actually its lowest since January and February of this year, when the format also topped four markets. More recently, AC stations ruled in six markets in June and seven in July.<\/p>\n
News\/talk\u2019s four winning stations in August is one short of July\u2019s five, the format\u2019s best performance year-to-date. Include all-news stations in the total, and those six stations at number one for the two formats together come in just below their seven during January and February.<\/p>\n
As for urban AC, its three toppers in August matches only February, for 2026-to-date.<\/p>\n
For Days 1 and 2 in these 20 markets, the leaderboard shows four wins each for adult contemporary and news\/talk, three for urban AC, two each for news, sports, classic rock and classic hits, and one each for hot AC, soft AC and 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
With the exception of Nielsen\u2019s holiday surveys, American University news\/talk WAMU and Hubbard all-news WTOP have been DC\u2019s top two stations since January 2024. August shows the former taking a slightly larger lead over the latter, up from 1.0 to 1.9. Howard University urban AC WHUR, ranking third, gains half a share point from July.<\/p>\n
Since June\u2019s survey, Boston\u2019s July-and-August leader, news\/talk pubcaster WBUR, has added two full share points for a 34% lift. That puts it 1.6 points ahead of iHeartMedia CHR \u201cKiss 108\u201d WXKS-FM, which itself has gained 1.1 since June for a 21% share boost. \u201cKiss\u201d swaps places with June\u2019s champ, Audacy AC \u201cMagic 106.7\u201d WMJX, now placing third.<\/p>\n
Audacy holds onto number one in Miami, only with a different station: classic hits \u201c102.7 The Beach\u201d WMXJ, making a rare appearance on top as its share has jumped 23% since June. WMXJ has a very slim lead over Cox Media Group soft AC \u201cEasy 93.1\u201d WFEZ, while Audacy\u2019s July leader, AC \u201c101.5 Lite FM\u201d WLYF, drops to third while still gaining half a share point.<\/p>\n
For news\/talk pubcaster KUOW-FM, it isn\u2019t just an eighth straight survey on top. The station has also seen a 27% share increase since June, most of that since July with a 1.7-point gain. That ups its lead over Bonneville\u2019s \u201cSeattle Sports 710\u201d KIRO-AM to 2.4, even as the Mariners flagship also sees a share increase. Coming in third and making a rare top-five showing is Audacy modern\/alternative rock “107.7 The End” KNDD.<\/p>\n
Hubbard classic rock KSLX stays on top with just a 0.3 edge over iHeartMedia talk KFYI, while iHeartMedia AC sister \u201c99.9 K-EZ\u201d KESZ slips from a tie for first to third but still just 0.2 behind KFYI. News\/talk pubcaster KJZZ holds at fourth, while iHeartMedia country KNIX ranks fifth.<\/p>\n
Make it eight wins in a row for sports \u201c97.1 The Ticket\u201d WXYT-FM, one-third of a once-again all-Audacy top three, with country WYCD and classic hits WOMC ranked second and third. iHeartMedia again claims the rest of the top five with AC WNIC and urban AC \u201cMix 92.3\u201d WMXD at fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n
For the first time since December, iHeartMedia sports \u201cK-FAN\u201d KFXN posts a double-digit share, while up an impressive 53% in share since June. That puts the station 3.7 share points in front of iHeart Media classic hits sister \u201cKool 108\u201d KQQL, which led in the Twin Cities in May and June. Below the top two, Minnesota Public Radio news\/talk KNOW and iHeartMedia country \u201cK102\u201d KEEY switch places, now at third and fourth, respectively.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a seventh consecutive victory for CMG soft AC \u201c105.5 The Dove\u201d WDUV, as it re-enters 10-share territory with a 3.3-point advantage over Radio Training Network contemporary Christian \u201cThe Joy FM\u201d WCIE. CMG classic rock sister \u201cThe Eagle 107.3\u201d WXGL takes third, with Beasley classic hits \u201cQ105\u201d WRBQ half a point behind in fourth.<\/p>\n
Bonneville AC KOSI grabs its fourth win in a row, while adding 1.4 share points to take a 2.8 share lead over country sister KYGO and Audacy hot AC \u201cAlice 105.9\u201d KALC, which tie for second. Audacy classic rock \u201c99.5 The Mountain\u201d KQMT comes in fourth, followed by iHeartMedia adult alternative KBCO and KSE Radio Ventures classic hits \u201cKool 105\u201d KXKL tied for fifth.<\/p>\n
Audacy takes all of the top three here as well, with classic hits \u201cSunny 98.1\u201d notching its fifth win, 2.2 points in front of AC sister KYXY, with sports and Padres flagship \u201c97.3 The Fan\u201d KWFN up a share point to land at third. News\/talk KPBS and Univision Spanish regional Mexican \u201cQue Buena 106.5\u201d KLNV rank fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n
Urban One urban AC \u201cMagic 95.9\u201d WWIN-FM rolls on with an eighth straight win, keeping a 1.4-point lead over Audacy AC \u201cToday’s 101.9\u201d WLIF, the runner-up for the past six surveys. Now tied at third are iHeartMedia country WPOC and news\/talk pubcaster WYPR, the latter with its first-ever top-three appearance.<\/p>\n
While Hubbard heritage rocker KSHE takes the crown for a fourth consecutive survey, its share has been slipping since May, its 24% decline including two share points just in the past survey. Additionally, KSHE has just a 0.1 lead over Audacy news\/talk and Cardinals flagship KMOX-FM, which moves from third-ranked to runner-up with a share story of its own: since February, the station has seen a 110% share gain, with growth in every survey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In terms of stations ranked first in the 20 non-embedded PPM markets reporting on Days 1 and 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":["post-842847","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\/842847","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=842847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}