By Mike Kinosian
Managing Editor
TALKERS

LOS ANGELES — Our comprehensive four-part series of ratings summaries for the April 2020 survey period (March 26 – April 22) commences with an overview of news stations.

It would have been highly unrealistic to believe the format could match what it accomplished this time last month when every station meeting our ratings criteria posted a 6+ February 2020 – March 2020 improvement, with nearly half doing so by at least one full-share.

Month-to-month (March 2020 – April 2020) figures show a significant decrease from February 2020 – March 2020’s clean sweep, as 47% of our eligible panelists expand (6+).

Conversely – and this is highly noteworthy – a whopping 82% register year-to-year increases (April 2019 – April 2020, 6+).

Entercom owns all but three stations listed in this format analysis.

Non-Entercom all-news operations in this report are iHeartMedia’s news – talk hybrid WBZ-AM, Boston (also listed in Providence); Hubbard Broadcasting Washington, DC’s WTOP-FM; and Sinclair Broadcast Group Seattle’s KOMO.

Ratings stats in this exclusive analysis are limited to stations paying Nielsen Audio for its data.

Up next: April 2020 results for sports talk; classic hits-oldies; and then, the comprehensive news/talk overview; email managing editor Mike Kinosian at Kinosian@TALKERS.com 

Tags: April 2020 PPM Analysis: The News Format, Entercom, Hubbard Broadcasting, iHeartMedia, Mike Kinosian, Nielsen Audio, Sinclair Broadcast Group, talk radio

Category: Analysis