October PPMs, Day 1: New York, San Francisco, L.A. Stations Continue Winning Streaks.

One adult contemporary, one news/talk and one classic hits station continue to camp out at the top of their markets, based on performance in the eight non-embedded markets reporting on Day 1 of Nielsen's October PPMs, covering Sept. 18-Oct. 15.

iHeartMedia AC “Lite FM” WLTW New York boasts the longest win streak with 38 consecutive Nielsen surveys on top, followed by San Francisco’s public news/talk station KQED with a 10th straight victory. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Audacy classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH leads for a sixth survey in a row.

While the distance between “Lite” and second-ranked Audacy news WINS may be just a single share point in the current survey, the former is likely to benefit from its annual flip to holiday music during the November or December survey. As for KQED, over the past 10 books its lead over news competitor Audacy KCBS-AM/KFRC-FM has been as small as a tenth of a share point – as it is now – and as large as 4.3 points.

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

iHeart AC “Lite FM” WLTW is right on target for a holiday gift from Nielsen: a 40th consecutive New York survey at No. 1. All “Lite” has to do is stay on top in the November and December books. During this, its 38th straight win, it’s a share point ahead of Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM, which is the closest the two stations have been to each other since WINS moved into the runner-up position in July. Like WINS, the stations ranked third, fourth and fifth – iHeart CHR sister “Z100” WHTZ, Spanish Broadcasting System Spanish tropical “Mega 97.9” WSKQ and Audacy classic hits sister WCBS-FM – are also up from September.

It’s a sixth win in a row for Audacy classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH, this time with a 2.6-share advantage over iHeart’s AC KOST. For the sixth straight L.A. survey, iHeart and Audacy divvy up the top five as the former places hot AC “104.3 MyFM” KBIG and CHR KIIS-FM at third and fifth, with Audacy urban AC “94.7 The Wave” KTWV in between.

For the fifth survey this year, iHeart soft AC “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT takes the Chicago crown in a squeaker, just 0.3 ahead of Audacy adult alternative WXRT, which jumps from seventh back into the top five. Audacy all-news sister WBBM-AM/WCFS takes third, while Hubbard classic rock “The Drive” WDRV drops from first to a tie for fourth with Audacy country “US99” WUSN, up from 10th in September.

Make it 10 consecutive wins for news/talk pubcaster KQED, although this time it’s a photo finish as it’s just .01 in front of the runner-up for all those 10 surveys, Audacy all-news KCBS-AM/KFRC-FM. As USC classical KDFC steps up to third, it posts its highest share since December 2024, with steady growth and a 24% share gain since August.

Country is king once again in Dallas as Cumulus’ “99.5 The Wolf” KPLX is back on top for a fourth time in 2025, in a tight race with sports sister “The Ticket” KTCK-AM-FM, the two separated by just a tenth of a point. iHeart AC “Star 102.1” KDGE gains a share point as it moves from a tie for eighth to third, putting it ahead of Audacy hot AC “Mix 102.9” KDMX and Cumulus’ other country outlet in Big D, “New Country 96.3” KSCS.

iHeart AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA has been Houston’s No. 1 for all but one survey this year, when Urban One urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ led in August. Now “Sunny” extends its lead over “Majic,” up from September’s 1.7 to 2.1. Urban One also takes third and fourth with classic rock sister “The Eagle 106.9/107.5” KGLK/KHPT and country “93Q” KKBQ, with Cumulus Media CHR KRBE repeating at fifth.

CMG news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM hangs on at the summit as the gap between it and urban AC sister “Kiss 104.1” WALR shrinks from 0.6 to 0.4. Cox claims all of Atlanta’s top three as AC “B98.5” WSB-FM vaults from sixth to third, up a full share point, while Audacy urban contemporary “V103” WVEE finishes fourth and Urban One urban AC “Majic 107.5/97.5” WAMJ and CMG classic hits “97.1 The River” WSRV tie for fifth.

Just like the Eagles, Audacy sports WIP-FM, the NFL team’s flagship, stays on top, widening its lead from September to 2.2 points over Beasley Media Group classic rock WMGK. Beasley rock sister WMMR and Audacy AC sister “B101” WBEB stay put at third and fourth, while iHeart urban AC WDAS-FM moves back into the top five after a one-survey absence.