Format Scorecard: News/Talk’s Bounceback Continues, AC Still Strong But Declining.

The top two radio formats are trending in opposite directions, based on Inside Radio’s analysis of cross-market average quarter-hour share data in Nielsen’s 48 PPM markets, covering Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight.

News/talk, historically the far-and-away top format among persons 6+, experienced share declines from 2022 to 2024 but has bounced back in the past year, with shares up 5% during 2025’s first four surveys vs. a year ago. The format’s growth is more noticeable among the 18-34 and 25-54 demographics, where news/talk is up 14% year-over-year for both, not to mention up 8% since January for 18-34s.

While AC remains the uncontested number-one format for 18-34s and 25-54s, and still ranks second to news/talk in 6+, its shares continue to show a year-over-year decline, off by more than a share point among both 6+ and 25-54 when comparing year-to-date 2025 to that of 2024, down 13% for both demos. Among 18-34s, AC’s downtrend is smaller but still there, off 5% year-over-year.

Contemporary Christian, while further down in the format rankings, still wins the award for best growth since 2022, with shares up steadily every year in all three of these demos. The January-April comparison over the past three years shows the format up 31% for 6+, 52% 18-34, and 33% 25-54.

Modern/alternative rock may not have quite the same story, but its trends are impressive nonetheless, also with steady share increases since 2022 for 6+, for a 26% lift. The format’s also up 24% since January-April 2022 among 25-54s, and up 8% since January 2025 for 18-34s.

There’s also good news for urban AC, which since January-April 2023 is up 8% 6+ and 13% 18-34, and for hot AC, up 8% and 6% in both those demos vs. January-April 2024. CHR is also moving in the right direction, especially with 18-34s where it’s still ranked second and up 4% year-over-year.

While country — which ranks third 6+ and 18-34, and fourth 25-54 — has seen its shares fall since 2023, its numbers have crept upward year-to-date, especially for 6+ where it’s gained half a share point for a 9% increase.

It’s also a mixed story for classic hits, a top-five format for 6+ and 18-34, and sixth-ranked 25-54. While shares have declined steadily since January-April 2023 for 6+ and 25-54, they’re up 6% year-over-year for 18-34, which may reflect the increased presence of ’90s-and-later music on the format.

As for other listed formats, while the long view shows classic rock up four-tenths of a share point since January-April 2022, growth has been negligible more recently across all demos, while adult hits, urban contemporary, and sports seem to be in a holding pattern across the board. Spanish regional Mexican, while basically flat overall, has declined 11% year-over-year among 18-34s, and Spanish contemporary is also down 8% for 18-34 and 9% for 25-54.