Country Music Gets its Twang Back
by September 3, 2001 12:00 am 51 views
KKIX, 104 FM, is back on top in Northwest Arkansas’ Arbitron ratings. The country music radio station owned by Clear Channel Communications was unseated last fall by KMCK, Power 105.7 FM, the Cumulus Broadcasting station that airs contemporary hits and pop music.
The area’s two country music radio stations (KKIX and KFAY-FM) both lost listeners last year in the Arbitron survey, dropping from a combined 20.2 percent in spring 2000 to 12.9 percent in the fall of that year. But country music was on the upswing this spring with the two stations bringing in a combined 16.3 share.
Ted Brown, operations manager for Cumulus radio in Fayetteville, doesn’t believe country music lost its twang, then got it back again.
“They just undersampled the country listener,” he said.
Brown said the over-12 age group used for the main Arbitron ratings includes some 242,400 listeners in Northwest Arkansas, but only 569 listening diaries were returned to Arbitron from the spring rating period, which went from March 20 to June 20. That means that it takes only a handful of official Arbitron diary-keepers to change the ratings. Arbitron ratings are taken twice a year in the Northwest Arkansas market.
In Northwest Arkansas, the majority of radio stations are owned by Cumulus with seven (although one of theirs didn’t make the Arbitron list) and Clear Channel Communications, known locally as Radio Central, with four.KKIX, 104 FM, is back on top in Northwest Arkansas’ Arbitron ratings. The country music radio station owned by Clear Channel Communications was unseated last fall by KMCK, Power 105.7 FM, the Cumulus Broadcasting station that airs contemporary hits and pop music.
The area’s two country music radio stations (KKIX and KFAY-FM) both lost listeners last year in the Arbitron survey, dropping from a combined 20.2 percent in spring 2000 to 12.9 percent in the fall of that year. But country music was on the upswing this spring with the two stations bringing in a combined 16.3 share.
Ted Brown, operations manager for Cumulus radio in Fayetteville, doesn’t believe country music lost its twang, then got it back again.
“They just undersampled the country listener,” he said.
Brown said the over-12 age group used for the main Arbitron ratings includes some 242,400 listeners in Northwest Arkansas, but only 569 listening diaries were returned to Arbitron from the spring rating period, which went from March 20 to June 20. That means that it takes only a handful of official Arbitron diary-keepers to change the ratings. Arbitron ratings are taken twice a year in the Northwest Arkansas market.
In Northwest Arkansas, the majority of radio stations are owned by Cumulus with seven (although one of theirs didn’t make the Arbitron list) and Clear Channel Communications, known locally as Radio Central, with four.KKIX, 104 FM, is back on top in Northwest Arkansas’ Arbitron ratings. The country music radio station owned by Clear Channel Communications was unseated last fall by KMCK, Power 105.7 FM, the Cumulus Broadcasting station that airs contemporary hits and pop music.
The area’s two country music radio stations (KKIX and KFAY-FM) both lost listeners last year in the Arbitron survey, dropping from a combined 20.2 percent in spring 2000 to 12.9 percent in the fall of that year. But country music was on the upswing this spring with the two stations bringing in a combined 16.3 share.
Ted Brown, operations manager for Cumulus radio in Fayetteville, doesn’t believe country music lost its twang, then got it back again.
“They just undersampled the country listener,” he said.
Brown said the over-12 age group used for the main Arbitron ratings includes some 242,400 listeners in Northwest Arkansas, but only 569 listening diaries were returned to Arbitron from the spring rating period, which went from March 20 to June 20. That means that it takes only a handful of official Arbitron diary-keepers to change the ratings. Arbitron ratings are taken twice a year in the Northwest Arkansas market.
In Northwest Arkansas, the majority of radio stations are owned by Cumulus with seven (although one of theirs didn’t make the Arbitron list) and Clear Channel Communications, known locally as Radio Central, with four.