AC, News/Talk Continue To Dominate Nielsen’s June PPM Ratings.

In the 20 non-embedded PPM markets reporting on Days 1 and 2 in Nielsen’s June survey (covering May 28-June 24), adult contemporary stations again fared the best, leading in six of these markets, with news/talk second, out front in four. 

Looking at quarterly performance, AC stations claimed 16 wins over the past three Nielsen surveys, followed by 11 for news/talk, almost matching Q2 2025 when AC also had 16 and news/talk 10. For both second quarters, both sports and classic hits stations won eight times.

Things looked slightly different during 1Q 2026, when AC stations accounted for 13 wins, news/talk 11, sports 7, but just one for classic hits.

For Days 1 and 2 in these 20 markets, the leaderboard shows AC with six wins, news/talk with four, sports, rock and classic hits with two each, and hot AC, soft AC, Spanish AC, urban AC and talk with one apiece. 

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.

For a second straight survey, American University news/talk WAMU sees a share gain for a 20% boost since April, moving into 12-share territory for the first time since June 2025. That brings its lead over Hubbard all-news WTOP to 2.7 share points. At third and fourth, both Howard University urban AC WHUR and Atlantic Gateway Communications contemporary Christian WGTS/WGBZ move up a spot from May.

Since February 2025, Audacy AC “Magic 106.7” WMJX has made a habit of bouncing back to the top spot, which it does again for a fifth time, with a 0.6-share-point edge over Beasley Media Group classic hits WROR, which had shared the May crown with Boston University news/talk WBUR, now in third. Audacy hot AC “Mix 104.1” WBMX also bounces back to the top five, for the first time since February.

iHeartMedia Spanish/bilingual AC “Magic 93.9” WMIA-FM repeats at the top, only 0.2 over Cox Media Group soft AC “Easy 93.1” WFEZ, with Audacy AC “101.5 Lite FM” WLYF just a tenth of a point behind in third place. CMG urban AC sister “Hot 105” WHQT and SBS Spanish classic hits “Zeta 92.3” WCMQ come in fourth and fifth.

Not only has it been a tight race in the Seattle Mariners’ MLB AL West division, it’s also become one between news/talk pubcaster KUOW, Seattle’s leader for all of 2026-to-date, and Mariners flagship, Bonneville “Seattle Sports 710” KIRO-AM, with the two now separated by a mere tenth of a share point. iHeartMedia classic hits “95.7 The Jet” KJEB, Audacy “Rock 99.9” KISW and Crista Media contemporary Christian “Spirit 105.3” KCMS round out the top five.

Over the past five years, iHeartMedia talker KFYI has only made it up as high as third – until now. It’s Phoenix’s new champ, even if just 0.1 in front of AC sister “99.9 K-EZ” KESZ. Hubbard classic rock KSLX, May’s leader, tumbles to third, while iHeartMedia adult hits “95.5 The Mountain” KYOT moves back into the top five at fourth.

Audacy ties up the top three, as sports “97.1 The Ticket” WXYT-FM notches a sixth straight victory, keeping a 1.2-point lead over classic hits sister WOMC, with country WYCD moving up to third. iHeartMedia claims the rest of the top five with urban AC “Mix 92.3” WMXD and AC WNIC, at fourth and fifth.

Only one of the three iHeartMedia stations which tied for first in May’s survey remains on top in June. That’s classic hits “Kool 108” KQQL, keeping 0.7 ahead of country sister “K102” KEEY, while sports sister “K-FAN” KFXN settles for third. As for the rest of the top five, both news/talk pubcaster KNOW and Audacy adult hits “104.1 Jack FM” KZJK stay at fourth and fifth, respectively.

CMG soft AC “105.5 The Dove” WDUV has led in Tampa since February, this time with an 11 share -its best showing since the Holiday 2025 survey - and a strong five-share-point advantage over iHeart AC “Mix 100.7” WMTX, which moves from sixth to second-ranked. Radio Training Network contemporary Christian “The Joy FM” WCIE places third, while Beasley classic hits “Q105” WRBQ and CMG classic rock sister “The Eagle 107.3” WXGL tie for fourth.

Since October 2024, Bonneville AC KOSI has never been out of the number-one spot for more than three surveys, ranking second or third for all but one of those surveys. Right now, it’s holding onto a slim lead over Audacy classic rock “99.5 The Mountain” KQMT, with which KOSI has gone back-and-forth at the top for year-to-date. Below the top two, iHeartMedia modern/alternative rock “Channel 93.3” KTCL ranks third, followed by KSE Radio Ventures classic hits “Kool 105” KXKL and Bonneville country sister KYGO, tied for fourth.

It’s a third win in a row for Audacy classic hits “Sunny 98.1,” now with a full-share-point lead over news/talk pubcaster KPBS. Tied at third are Audacy AC KYXY and Comunicacion XERSA hot AC “Magic 92.5” XHRM, while iHeartMedia hot AC “Star 94.1” KMYI and Grupo Imagen Spanish hot AC "Radio Latina 104.5" XLTN tie for fifth. 

Baltimore’s top five stay in the same order from May’s survey, as Urban One urban AC “Magic 95.9” WWIN-FM has now worn the crown for all of 2026-to-date, staying 1.5 ahead of Audacy AC “Today's 101.9” WLIF, second-ranked since March. Meanwhile, Audacy hot AC sister “Mix 106.5” WWMX, iHeartMedia country WPOC, and Peter and John Radio Fellowship contemporary Christian “Bright FM” WRBS-FM continue at 3-4-5.

It’s still a close race between Hubbard heritage rocker KSHE and iHeartMedia classic hits KLOU, with the former on top for a second straight survey, and the two stations separated by just 0.6. At third and fourth, Gateway Creative Broadcasting contemporary Christian “99.1 Joy FM” KLJY and Cardinals flagship, Audacy news/talk KMOX-FM, switch places from May.