Katz Media Group Releases First Look At Fall '05 National Format Averages
The Katz Media Group has completed its preliminary analysis of National Format Share Trends based on the just-released Fall ‘05 Arbitron survey period.
The latest Katz Media Group Radio National Format Averages report for all Fall 2005 markets shows continued gains for Classic Hits and Spanish-language stations, as well as significant shifts in Urban, Rhythmic and Rock-based formats. Country maintains its position as the format share leader while showing slight increases over last year at this time.
The number of Classic Hits properties has nearly doubled from last year (89 – 155) as stations continue to switch to “play-anything” type formats. While the average listening share has increased slightly (4.4 – 4.6), the number of markets with Classic Hits stations has increased from 78 to 121 since Fall 2004. Conversely, Gold/Oldies stations show corresponding losses in both markets and stations.
The number of markets with Spanish-language stations has also increased (84 – 92), along with the average market listening share (8.5 – 8.9).
Urban Adult Contemporary, Rhythmic Adult Contemporary, Rhythmic CHR and Rhythmic Oldies all show gains in station and market counts, possibly at the expense of mainstream Adult Contemporary, while Alternative/Modern Rock has lost stations and markets over the past 12 months.
Talk-based formats (News/Talk and All Talk) show flat performance despite the continued influence of weather-related and political issues in the Fall survey.
