You Probably Can’t Guess The Most Listened To Radio Stations

They say that radio is dying but the numbers show something complete different. I agree that the format may be less relevant, especially when it comes to music, but there are more people listening than you might think. That’s according to Inside Radio’s TOP 10 ranking of all radio stations according to Nielsen.

I wouldn’t normally post about something like this, but looking at the numbers I noticed a number of things that seemed unusual. First, 7 out of the top 10 were stations in the New York City area!

Here’s what it looks like:

#1 – WLTW New York – Adult Contemporary

#2 – WCBS FM New York – CHR

#3 – WHTZ New York – Classic Hits

#4 – WKTU New York – Rhythmic CHR

#5 – WNEW New York – Hot AC

#6 – KOST Los Angeles – Adult Contemporary

#7 – KRTH Los Angeles – Classic Hits

#8 – KODA Houston – Classic Rock

#9 – WINS New York – Hot AC

#10 – WSKQ New York -Spanish Tropical

The first thing that pops out is that people sure do listen to a lot of radio in New York City. I’d love to know why.

The Formats

The second thing is how evenly the formats are spread out, with 4 adult contemporary, 3 classic hits/rock, and 2 Hot AC (the latest hits). The only outlier was at #10 with Spanish Tropical.

But you know what really stands out? All these radio stations are playing music!

We’re always led to believe that talk radio has taken over whatever radio listenership is left, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least in the last 6 months (the length of the survey). Perhaps all the talk has gone to podcasting?

Regardless, it seems like music is bigger on radio than most of us thought.

Here’s the bad news though. Unless you’re a classic artist or a current one signed to a major label, you have little chance of airplay, even on small local radio stations.

One never knows if that can and will change, but at least it seems to be heading the right direction.