AC, News/Talk, Classics Still Rule On September PPMs' Day 1.

Even as the top station changed hands in half of the eight non-embedded markets reporting on Day 1 of Nielsen's September PPMs, covering August 21-September 17, the winners are – for the most part -from the same formats usually at the summit: adult contemporary, news/talk, classic hits and classic rock.

For Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and Philadelphia, stations moving into the top spot in September had already been there earlier this year. For the first two markets, that was the case as recently as July, with both Hubbard Radio classic rock “The Drive” WDRV Chicago and iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA Houston simply bouncing back to No.1, while Cox Media Group news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM Atlanta last led in February, and Audacy sports WIP-FM Philadelphia was also on top in January.

For Day 1, the leaderboard shows two crowns each for AC and news/talk, and one each for classic hits, classic rock, hot AC, and sports.

iHeart AC “Lite FM” WLTW is just three surveys away from marking its 40th consecutive victory in the Apple, currently in its third straight book in 8-share territory, ahead of Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM by 2.2 share points. As for the rest of the top five, iHeart CHR sister “Z100” WHTZ holds at third, with Audacy classic hits sister WCBS-FM fourth and iHeart classic rock “Q104.1” WAXQ back in the region at fifth.

Audacy's classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH’s reign continues, having spent the past five surveys at the top and all of Q3 2025 in the 7-share zone. The big news – make that, BIG news – is there’s a new No. 2, as iHeart hot AC “104.3 MyFM” KBIG claims the bridesmaid spot for the first time since November 2023. That means iHeart’s AC KOST, which has ranked first or second since December 2024, places third. Audacy takes fourth and fifth, with urban AC “94.7 The Wave” KTWV and all-news KNX-AM-FM.

Hubbard classic rock “The Drive” WDRV is back on top for the third time this year, leading the station it tied with in the July survey and August’s champ, iHeart soft AC “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT, by just three-tenths of a share point. Tied for third are Audacy all-news WBBM-AM/WCFS and Cumulus Media classic hits WLS-FM, the latter up from sixth, while Hubbard hot AC sister “101.9 The Mix” WTMX ties for fifth with Nexstar talk WGN-AM, which moves from a tie for ninth to enter the top five for the first time since March.

For the fifth consecutive survey, San Francisco’s top five remains unchanged, as the market’s two prominent news stations continue to battle it out, with news/talk pubcaster KQED holding onto the crown for a ninth straight book, just 0.4 in front of Audacy all-news KCBS-AM/KFRC-FM. Bonneville AC KOIT, USC classical KDFC and iHeart soft AC “98.1 The Breeze” KISQ again stay at third, fourth and fifth.

Audacy hot AC “Mix 102.9” KDMX makes it two wins in a row in Big D, breaking into 7-share territory and up 67% since July. Mix has a 1.6 share points lead over Cumulus Media sports “The Ticket” KTCK-AM-FM, with Cumulus’ country sisters “New Country 96.3” KSCS and “99.5 The Wolf” KPLX at third and fourth, respectively.

iHeart AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA once again shines at No. 1, following its August survey in the runner-up spot behind Urban One urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ. Sunny comes back strong, hitting an 8.1 share with 1.7 share points between it and Majic. Hope Media Group contemporary Christian KSBJ places and Urban One classic rock sister “The Eagle 106.9/107.5” KGLK/KHPT come in third and fourth, while Cumulus Media CHR KRBE makes a rare top-five showing, up a full share point from ninth to fifth.

For the first time since February of this year, CMG news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM leads in Atlanta, up from fourth with a 1.3-point gain and a 0.6 edge over urban AC sister “Kiss 104.1” WALR. Urban One's urban AC, “Majic 107.5/97.5” WAMJ, holds on at third, while CMG classic hits “97.1 The River” WSRV, which was on top for the prior six surveys, drops to fourth with a 0.9 share dip.

Phillies and Eagles fever hit a high point during the September survey, pushing the flagship for both teams, Audacy sports WIP-FM, back to the top in Philly for the first time since the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl in January’s book. That gives WIP a 1.7-share-point lead over Beasley Media Group classic rock WMGK, which was the market’s No. 1 station from March through August. Beasley rock sister WMMR and Audacy’s AC “B101” WBEB and all-news KYW line up at 3-4-5.