Format Scorecard: Country, Classic Rock, Christian All Up Since January.

While most formats tend to stay the course from one survey to the next, several have seen significant growth trends since January, according to Inside Radio’s analysis of cross-market average quarter-hour share data in 45 of Nielsen’s PPM markets (covering Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight).

It’s easy to remember which formats these are, as all start with the letter C. Country, which ranks third overall in persons 6+ and 18-34 share, has from January to July 2025 gained 7% (5.7-71) in the former demo and 6% (6.7-7.1) in the latter. Stations in PPM markets benefiting from this growth include iHeartMedia’s “US 103.5” WFUS Tampa, and Cox Media Group’s “Y100” KCYY San Antonio.

For classic rock, which is the fifth-ranked ranked format 6+, and seventh 25-54, Jan.-July shares are up 8% (5.2-5.6) and 9% (4.7-5.1), respectively. Powering these gains are stations such as iHeart’s WZLX Boston, which shot to No. 1 in the market in July’s survey, and Audacy’s “99.5 The Mountain” KQMT Denver.

While another “C” format, contemporary Christian, was up just 5% (3.9-4.1) 6+ since January, it’s seen inspiring growth in 18-34, with a 12% lift (3.3-3.7). It’s also worth noting that contemporary Christian continues to be the only format with steady share growth year-over-year since 2022 (based on January-to-July share for each year) in 6+, 18-34 and 25-54 — up 34%, 52% and 33% in those demographics.

There’s one format beginning with “C” trending in the other direction: CHR, where over the past seven Nielsen surveys, shares are off 6% (4.8-4.5) 6+, 7% (7.4-6.9) 18-34, and 8% (6.4-5.9) 25-54. Could this be, as Inside Radio reported, the summer of top 40 radio’s discontent?

Looking at year-over-year format trends, news/talk is still up from the first seven months of 2024 in these three demos (6% 6+, 15% 18-34, and 12% 25-54), although down in all three since January (-7%, -8%, -9%).

While hot AC has been uptrending since 2024 (+7% 6+, 4% 18-34, 8% 25-54), adult contemporary continues to see share declines year-over-year (-11%, -4%, and 10%).