March PPMs’ Day 1: AC, News Stay Strong, While Country Makes a Big Move.

Judging from activity in Day 1’s eight non-embedded markets during Nielsen’s March PPM survey period, covering March 6-April 2, adult contemporary is as powerful as ever, leading in three of these markets and top-five ranked in two more — with a presence in seven of the eight markets, if you include soft AC stations.

The same is true for news and/or news/talk stations, which lead in two markets, rank in the top two in four, and have a top-five presence in five. That includes one market, San Francisco, where the top two stations are again news/talk and news.

The only other format represented by stations in at least four of these eight markets is country, which may be surprising as the format had no presence in three of those four markets in February’s survey. Two country stations moved into the top five in Dallas — one at the top — while one reappeared in Chicago and Philadelphia, and one of Houston’s two country stations stood firm in the market’s top five.

Taken together, those five country stations gained five share points from February. Check back for Day 2’s report on Wednesday to see if this trend continues.

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

iHeartMedia AC “Lite FM” WLTW rolls on with its 31st straight victory in the Apple, 2.1 share points ahead of Audacy news WINS-AM/FM, which moves back up from third to second-ranked. Spanish Broadcasting System Spanish tropical “Mega 97.9” WSKQ breaks into the top three for the first time since Nielsen’s 2022 Holiday survey, while Audacy classic hits sister WCBS-FM slips from second to fourth, and iHeart CHR sister “Z100” WHTZ returns to the top five after a two-book absence.

L.A.’s top three stays relatively the same, with iHeart AC KOST still ahead of Audacy classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH by half a share point, as iHeart hot AC sister “104.3 MyFM” KBIG remains in third place. Just below, Audacy news KNX-AM-FM and iHeart CHR KIIS-FM swap spots from February’s survey.

Even as Audacy news WBBM-AM/WCFS makes it a third consecutive survey on top, its lead over iHeart soft AC “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT is cut in half from February. Former champ Hubbard Radio classic rock “The Drive” WDRV moves up to third, while Audacy country “US99” WUSN rebounds into the top five from a tie for ninth. Tied for fifth are Nexstar Media Group talk WGN-AM and Audacy adult alternative WXRT, up from seventh in February’s survey.

For a third straight survey, San Francisco’s top four stations remain in the same order, although there’s a larger share gap between the top two, and a smaller one between the stations ranked third and fourth. As news/talk pubcaster KQED moves back into 10-share territory, it widens its lead over Audacy news KCBS-AM/KFRC-FM to four share points from February’s 2.5. Meanwhile, Bonneville AC sister KOIT’s distance from classical pubcaster KDFC shrinks from 1.5 to 0.6.

Cumulus Media takes three of Big D’s top five, as both its country stations make the cut. “99.5 The Wolf” KPLX jumps from a tie for 10th in February to lead the pack, its first time at the top since September 2023, while “New Country 96.3” KSCS moves up to fifth from a tie for sixth. In between, Cumulus sports “The Ticket” KTCK-AM-FM finishes second, with iHeart CHR “106.1 Kiss FM” KHKS and Audacy adult hits “100.3 Jack-FM” KJKK tied for third.

iHeart AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA makes it eight straight in Space City, although it’s got a slim 0.8 edge over Urban One urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ, up from fifth to the runner-up spot. Urban One country sister “93Q” KKBQ’s at third, while its classic rock “The Eagle 106.9/107.5” KGLK/KHPT ties Hope Media Group contemporary Christian KSBJ for fourth.

For the first time since June 2024, CMG classic hits sister “97.1 The River” WSRV is Atlanta’s champ, as news/talk sister and the leader since last July WSB-AM/WSBB-FM comes in second, just a share point behind. Audacy urban contemporary “V103” WVEE moves from fourth to third, as Urban One urban AC “Majic 107.5/97.5” WAMJ sheds a share point as it goes from runner-up to fourth, and CMG AC “B98.5” WSB-FM bounces back into the top five for the first time since last October.

For the first time since the November 2023 survey, Beasley Media Group claims three of Philly’s top five, with classic rock WMGK and rock WMMR ranking first and second, and country WXTU moving back into the territory at fourth. For WMGK, it’s the first number-one showing since May 2024. iHeart urban AC WDAS-FM steps up from fourth to third, while Audacy sports WIP-FM slides to fifth, off 2.2 points from February.