October PPMs: AC Stations Remain Strong Across Major Markets.

For the first Nielsen survey in 2026, there’s just one adult contemporary station at the top of its market in the eight non-embedded markets on Day 1 of October PPMs, covering Sep. 16-Oct. 14. That’s in Houston, where iHeartMedia’s “Sunny 99.1” KODA has ruled for 15 straight surveys.

The bigger picture, however, shows AC as strong as ever in seven of these markets, and poised to get even stronger as the holiday season gets closer.

Here’s a quick review of AC in those other six markets:

New York: Longtime champ iHeartMedia WLTW half a share point behind Audacy news WINS, and up half a point from September.

Los Angeles: iHeartMedia KOST just 0.2 in back of Audacy classic hits KRTH, also up half a share point from September.

Chicago: While iHeartMedia’s WLIT is soft AC, it performs like an AC and ties for the lead.

Dallas: iHeartMedia’s KDGE just 0.1 behind hot AC sister KDMX.

San Francisco: Connoisseur Media’s KOIT a solid third, up 0.7 from September, and 1.1 ahead of iHeartMedia soft AC KISQ.

Philadelphia: Audacy’s WBEB up from fifth to third, with a 2.4-share gain.

For Day 1, the leaderboard shows two wins for hot AC, and one each for news, news/talk, sports, classic hits, AC, soft AC and urban AC. 

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. 

Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM makes it three wins in a row, widening its lead over iHeartMedia AC “106.7 Lite FM” WLTW to half a share point. The last time “Lite” spent two consecutive Nielsen surveys out of the top was during January-February of this year. While Audacy classic hits WCBS-FM stays in third place, Spanish Broadcasting System Spanish tropical “Mega 97.9” WSKQ returns to the top five for the first time since February, with a 1.5-share-gain, moving from 10th to fourth.

For the first time since November 2025, Audacy classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH leads in L.A., just 0.2 ahead of iHeartMedia AC KOST and half a point away from the champ for the past three surveys, iHeartMedia hot AC sister “104.3 MyFM” KBIG. Tied for fourth are Audacy adult hits “93.1 Jack FM” KCBS-FM and, making its first top showing since April 2025, Univision Spanish contemporary “K-Love 107.5” KLVE.

It’s anybody’s game in Chicago, where the top five stations are separated by just two-tenths of a share point. Ties for first are iHeartMedia soft AC “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT – with its first time on top since a four-survey run from October-Holiday 2025 – and Hubbard hot AC “101.9 The Mix” WTMX, which was the Windy City’s number-one station from May-July. Tied for third, behind by just 0.1, are August and September’s champ, Audacy’s all-news WBBM-AM/WCFS, and adult alternative sister WXRT, which led from March to May (tied with WTMX). At fifth, 0.1 behind those two, is Hubbard classic rock sister “The Drive” WDRV/WWDV, which is yet to hit the top in 2025.

After five surveys ranked second or third, iHeartMedia hot AC “Mix 102.9” KDMX is back on top in Big D, but just a tenth of a point ahead of May-September’s leader, AC sister “Star 102.1” KDGE. Audacy’s adult hits “100.3 Jack-FM” KJKK takes third, with iHeartMedia CHR “106.1 Kiss FM” KHKS at fourth.

iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA gets its 15th consecutive victory, now 4.8 share points up on Urban One classic rock “The Eagle 106.9/107.5” KGLK/KHPT. iHeartMedia modern/alternative rock “94.5 The Buzz” KTBZ stays at third, with Urban One’s country “93Q” KKBQ and urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ at fourth and fifth.

It’s now 10 crowns in a row for news/talk pubcaster KQED, with a slightly larger lead over Audacy all-news KCBS-AM/KFRC. For the fourth time this year, KQED posts a 10 share or higher, with all four happening over the past five surveys. Connoisseur Media continues to be the only company with two stations in the top five, AC KOIT and CHR “99.7 Now” KMVQ.

For the third straight survey, Urban One urban AC “Majic 107.5/97.5” WAMJ adds to its share, with a 32% lift since July. That puts the station 1.5 share points in front of Cox Media Group news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM, while Audacy urban contemporary “V103” WVEE and CMG classic hits sister “97.1 The River” WSRV hold still at third and fourth. Audacy lands three outlets in the top five, as sports "The Game 92.9" WZGC moves from ninth to fifth.

After three surveys away from the top, Audacy sports WIP-FM adds 2.7 share points to take the lead again. The Phillies and Eagles flagship is 2.1 points up on September’s champ, Beasley Media Group heritage rocker WMMR. Audacy makes another big move in the top three as AC sister “B101” WBEB gains 2.4 points, up from fifth to third.