Television, Radio Stations Ranked

Clear Channel Stations Dominate Top Radio Ratings

Clear Channel Communication’s KKIX-FM, 103.9 “KIX 104” remains the top-rated radio station in Northwest Arkansas according to the fall 2009 ratings by Arbitron Inc.

The company’s KEZA-FM, “Magic” 107.9 came out as the No. 2 station and No. 3 was KLRC-FM, 101.1 “The Positive Difference.” KLRC is a non-profit, member-supported station with a contemporary Christian format and is operated by John Brown University.

The Business Journal only includes non-profit stations in its comprehensive annual list of stations in the Northwest Arkansas market. In all other reporting, the Business Journal focuses on commercial stations.

The No. 4 station, KIGL-FM, 93.3 “The Eagle,” is also owned by Clear Channel of San Antonio.

Cumulus Broadcasting Inc. of Atlanta operates seven stations in Northwest Arkansas. Its top-rated station, KMCK-FM, “Power” 105.7, came in at No. 6.

The No. 8 station in the market, KUAF-FM, 91.3, a National Public Radio affiliate operated by the University of Arkansas, had some programming changes on Aug. 2. It added three hours of news and talk, including a daily edition of locally produced “Ozarks at Large,” which had previously only aired on the weekends.

KUAF claims it’s the No. 3 station in the market during morning drive time.

“During classical programming from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., our share of the audience drops to around No. 12,” said Rick Stockdell, station director. “But by 5 p.m., we’re back to No. 2 during ‘All Things Considered.’ People are hungry for high-quality news programming.”

The rankings are based on each station’s “share,” which is the percent of all listeners age 12 and up who tuned into a specific station Monday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to midnight.

Arbitron rates stations in the Northwest Arkansas market twice annually. The data are the most recent available.

KFSM-TV Tops Market Ratings

KFSM-TV, Channel 5 is the leader in five of six time slots according to the latest ratings released by Nielsen Media Research for March.

The CBS affiliate led at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. for both the 11-county designated market area, which includes nine counties in Arkansas and two in Oklahoma.

But in the Northwest Arkansas market, which consists of Benton, Madison and Washington counties, KFSM was bested by ABC affiliate, KHBS/KHOG-TV, Channels 40/29 in the 5 p.m. slot.

KHBS/KHOG ranked second in all of the other slots (the KHOG portion of the station is Northwest Arkansas and the KHBS is Fort Smith).

Brian Sather, the new general manager for KHBS, said he was pleased with the year-over-year ratings comparison. The 5 p.m. slot grew 64 percent, he said.

Fox affiliate KFTA-TV, Channel 24 has a 9 p.m. newscast and is not comparable to the other three stations, but the Business Journal includes its 9 p.m. ratings.

Mike Vaughn is the general manager for both KNWA-TV and KFTA. He said KNWA now has the most tenured anchor team on the air and he’s excited about the direction of the Fox newscast, saying it’s “local news mixed with the things people talk about.”

There aren’t going to be a lot of city council meetings on the Fox news, he said.

“A 35-year old mom wants to hear it different than her mother wants to hear it,” Vaughn said.

The Business Journal annually ranks TV stations by the May Nielsen numbers for the 11-county DMA. The rankings are available here.