It's situation normal with Inside Radio/PrecisionTrak's format counts for November: country still has a 100+-station lead over steadily-growing religion, while news/talk's station total remains on the decline.
While what a year ago was a 176-station lead over the religion format – encompassing religious teaching, hymns, and other related content – is now down to 136, as country has lost just six outlets since last November, while religion has added 34. That translates to a 1.7% year-over-year increase, the second highest for any of the top 10 ranked formats.
News/talk, which was in a comfortable second-place to country in November 2022, has 19 fewer stations than it did then, allowing the religion format to surpass it for the first time in March 2023, and stay ahead of news/talk consistently as of June.
The largest total station increase from last November belongs to fourth-ranked contemporary Christian, up 1.8% with 24 new outlets in the past year. Spanish-language formats, placing fifth, have also added more than 20 stations year-over-year, for a 1.6% lift.
Two additional formats in the top 10, seventh-ranked classic hits and top 40 in 10th, show station gains both year-over-year and year-to-date. For the former, it's a pretty good haul, with 14 additional stations vs. a year ago and 13 since January, while the latter sneaks into the plus column with three net adds since last November.
Aside from country and news/talk, downtrending in both measures are sixth-place variety – including stations with three or more distinct formats, either block-programmed or simultaneously – and sports, which ranks ninth. Year-over-year, variety has shed nine stations, with sports down just one. Also off by one from a year ago is eighth-ranked classic rock.
All three of the radio formats ranked just below the top 10 show fewer total stations than they did last November, with adult contemporary down 12 to a total 541, hot AC off 13 for 447, and alternative rock with just 1 less station at 426.
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