April PPMs, Day 1: AC Still Rules, Sports Bounces Back.

Adult contemporary and soft AC stations are the big winners in the eight non-embedded markets reporting on Day 1 of Nielsen’s April PPM survey period, covering April 3-30. AC and soft AC outlets lead in four markets — including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston — along with a third-ranked AC in San Francisco.

While sports stations show up in the top five in just two of these eight, the bigger picture shows the format up an impressive 7.5 share points in these markets vs. March. The format’s growth in April makes sense, given the beginning of the Major League Baseball season as well as the NBA’s and NHL’s postseasons, although Nielsen shows that sports’ persons 6+ share in PPM markets a year ago was up just 0.4 vs. March.

Arguably, markets with MLB teams with strong starts or playoff-bound NBA or NHL teams may have driven this growth, as sports station shares were up more than a point in Chicago (Cubs), Dallas (Stars), Philadelphia (Phillies), and San Francisco (Golden State Warriors, Giants).

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

It’s consecutive win number 32 for iHeartMedia AC “Lite FM” WLTW, staying ahead of Audacy’s all-news WINS-AM-FM by 1.8 share points, a smidge below the March survey’s 2.1. Spanish Broadcasting System Spanish tropical “Mega 97.9” WSKQ and Audacy classic hits sister WCBS-FM repeat at third and fourth, while iHeart CHR sister “Z100” WHTZ and MediaCo urban AC WBLS tie for fifth, the latter making its first top-five showing since the Holiday 2024 book.

Year-to-date, the race for the top two has remained close — very close. iHeart AC KOST’s edge over Audacy classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH has been either half a share point or three-tenths of one, this time the latter. Below those two, another pair of iHeart and Audacy stations tie for third, the former’s hot AC “104.3 MyFM” KBIG and the latter’s all-news KNX-AM-FM. Finishing fifth is Univision Spanish contemporary “K-Love 107.5” KLVE, which has sat outside the top five for the past three surveys.

For the first time since Nielsen’s Holiday 2024 survey, iHeart soft AC “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT is on top in Chicago, with a slim 0.4 lead over Hubbard Radio classic rock “The Drive” WDRV. Audacy all-news WBBM-AM/WCFS, which led from January to March, comes in third, shedding 1.3 share points. Returning to the top five, moving from a tie for seventh in March to place fourth and fifth are iHeart urban AC sister “V103” WVAZ and Hubbard hot AC “101.9 The Mix” WTMX.

The top three haven’t budged so far this year, with news/talk pubcaster KQED still well ahead of Audacy all-news KCBS-AM/KFRC-FM, and Bonneville AC KOIT again ranked third. Just below, a little movement as both iHeart soft AC “98.1 The Breeze” KISQ and Bonneville CHR sister “99.7 Now” KMVQ move up a spot, even as they gain only 0.1.

Cumulus Media stations now rule Dallas’ top three, with sports “The Ticket” KTCK-AM-FM back at number-one, followed by both its country stations “New Country 96.3” KSCS and “99.5 The Wolf” KPLX, the latter March’s champ. iHeart CHR “106.1 Kiss FM” KHKS ranks fourth, while Audacy hot AC “Mix 102.9” KDMX returns to the top five for the first time since September 2024.

It’s the ninth win in a row for iHeart AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA, widening its lead over Urban One urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ from March’s 0.8 to 1.4. Hope Media Group contemporary Christian KSBJ places third, while iHeart news/talk “NewsRadio 740” KTRH makes a rare top-five appearance at fourth, and modern/alternative rock sister “94.5 The Buzz” KTBZ moves back into the territory at fifth.

While CMG classic hits “97.1 The River” WSRV holds onto the top spot, the rest of the top five gets a bit of a shake-up, with Urban One urban AC “Majic 107.5/97.5” WAMJ moving from fourth-ranked back to the runner-up position it held in the February survey. CMG’s urban AC sister “Kiss 104.1” WALR returns to the top five, up from sixth with a 1.4-share gain, as its news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM slips from second to fourth, although with no share change. Audacy urban contemporary “V103” WVEE steps down from third to fifth, off by 0.7 vs. March.

Once again, Beasley Media Group claims three of the top five and, for the third straight survey, both of the top two with classic rock WMGK and rock WMMR ranking first and second, respectively. With its Phillies coverage in full swing, Audacy sports WIP-FM, the team’s radio flagship, bounces back up from fifth to third with a 1.9-share lift. iHeart urban AC WDAS-FM and Beasley country WXTU, meantime, finish fourth and fifth.