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October Sports Radio Ratings Across The Country

Jason Barrett

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The fall is one of the strongest periods of the year for the sports radio format. The recent information supplied to BSM confirms that a lot of stations are experiencing strong success as they head towards the finish line in 2016. For the month of October here’s what we learned.

  • In Minneapolis, KFAN may have produced the highest monthly in the entire country for sports radio. The radio station finished 1st M-SU 6a-Mid with Men 25-54 with an incredible 17.4. Even more amazing, the brand came in 1st with 6+ delivering a phenomenal 8.9. That rating was 1.3 points higher than AC station KS95 who came in 2nd. The return of the Vikings has certainly helped but there’s much more to the brand’s success than just football games. All shows on the station led the market.
  • One brand that mirrors KFAN for monthly dominance is 104.5 The Zone in Nashville. The station ruled the local market yet again, turning in a 1st place finish among Men 25-54 M-Su 6a-Mid (15.9) and M-F 6a-7p (16.3). If that wasn’t enough, every show on the station was 1st with Men and Adults 25-54, and the brand gained four share points month to month. Mornings did a 17.6, middays an 18.7, and afternoons a 16.2. When you provide a 16 or 17 share and don’t lead your station, that tells you how powerful a brand is.
  • With the Patriots kicking off their 2016 campaign and the Red Sox advancing to the playoffs, ratings remained high in Boston. 98.5 The Sports Hub finished 1st with Men 25-54 M-F 6a-7p (14.3) and M-Su 6a-Mid (12.8). Felger & Massarotti had The Hub’s best performance delivering a 17.2 in afternoons. Meanwhile WEEI also had a big month. The station was 2nd M-Su 6a-Mid and M-F 6a-7p delivering a 10 share in both demos which was two and a half points higher than their previous month. Kirk and Callahan was WEEI’s highest rated show delivering above a 12 share which was three and a half points higher than their previous month. One additional item of interest, among Men 35-64 WEEI remains the market leader. The Hub leads the way in the younger male demos.
  • Moving to St. Louis, 101 ESPN received some incredible news. Despite losing the Rams to Los Angeles and entering the fall without a local football team’s rights on the air for the first time since the station launched in 2009, the station’s performance didn’t miss a beat. 101 was dominant yet again, finishing 3rd M-Su 6a-Mid with Men 25-54 with more than a 7 share. Each of the station’s key weekday shows (Bernie Miklasz, Kevin Wheeler, The Turn, and The Fast Lane) recorded between a 7.5 and 9.2 and were inside the top 3. 101 ESPN continues to be the highest rated spoken word brand in the entire market despite not having the rights to one of the market’s local teams.
  • Shifting to Dallas, it was another positive month for 105.3 The Fan and Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. The Ticket finished 1st with Men 25-54 in both M-Su 6a-Mid (6.8) and M-F 6a-7p (8.7). The Fan was 2nd M-Su 6a-Mid (6.2) and 4th M-F 6a-7p (5.4). Among Men 18-34 The Fan (5.9 – 4th) remained ahead of The Ticket (5.3 – 5th) M-F 6a-7p. One other big positive, both stations weekday shows finished inside the Top 5. The Musers were the highest rated show on The Ticket finishing 1st in mornings with a 9.8. G-Bag Nation provided The Fan’s best performance, coming in 3rd in middays with a 6.5.
  • 97.1 The Fan continues to set the Columbus, Ohio market on fire. The station finished October in 1st place with Men 25-54 M-F 6a-7p (14.3) and M-Su 6a-Mid (13.5). One additional item of interest, despite a ratings decline on television for the NFL, the same story didn’t ring true for The Fan. The station’s radio broadcasts of NFL games courtesy of Westwood One were 1st across the board. Sunday night football games recorded a 16.1. Monday Night football games delivered a 12.8, and Sunday afternoon games recorded a 9.4.
  • Over in Omaha, 1620 The Zone remains atop the local leaderboard. The station finished 5th with Men 25-54 M-F 6a-7p (5.0) and 7th M-Su 6a-Mid (4.2). The station’s morning show featuring Gary Sharp and Damon Benning were 4th with a 6.8, middays with Nick Bahe were 9th with a 2.8, and afternoons with John Bishop and Josh Peterson were 5th with a 5.1.
  • Down in Tampa, despite dropping its local morning show for ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike, WDAE remained in excellent shape. The radio station finished 4th among Men 25-54 M-Su 6a-mid with a 5.3.

As we gain additional information from other markets around the country we’ll keep you updated. Stations can send along updates via email to [email protected].

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Jason Puckett Launches PuckSports.com

“I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

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Logo for PuckSports.com

Jason Puckett, who decided to walk away from a contract offer from iHeartMedia’s KJR in Seattle after finding out his partner Jim Moore had been laid off, has launched a new venture – PuckSports.com. ‘Puck’ has a baseball opening day show posted on the Puck Sports YouTube page and also posted an introductory message about his new venture and what led to creating it.

“I wanted to talk to you guys, the listeners out there, the viewers out there, sorry for all of this,” an emotional Puckett said. “Sorry for what has happened and what has taken place. Thank you for all of the comments and the well-wishes and what you have said about myself and Jim.

“It has been a whirlwind of a last few days, for sure and I do want to say that I feel for the people that we used to work with. “I know it’s not easy to go through that, I have been on that side of it many, many times in this industry when someone is let go and you have to sit there and answer all the questions about them and for them…It’s unfortunate and it shouldn’t be that way, but the reality of this business is it’s like that.”

Puckett then told his fans that PuckSports.com and YouTube are where you will be finding his content along with Moore. “I am going to take what I have learned over the years and apply it to a new age of media,” he said and noted this was a direction he had been thinking about for a while.

As for what took place that led to his decision to not sign his contract and talk away, he said, “I just want to take you briefly back to last week. I don’t want to get too much in the weeds, I’m not here to lay any blame or point any fingers at anybody…there’s too many good people that I have worked with that I don’t want to drag into this. It was a process that was at times handled fine, handled perfectly, and at other times it got to a point where it just went on too long. But that’s corporate media and that’s what happens.”

Continuing on Puckett said, “…I had been without a contract since about January…when I was away from the station that was something that we and the station agreed upon…to see if we could get something done and we were all hopeful that we would…I was only supposed to be gone a couple of days…unfortunately as these things sometimes happen, it just went a little bit longer…We received the deal and it was what we wanted, but unfortunately with that news a few hours later came the news from corporate that Jim had lost his job. Obviously there was a mix of emotions with that from me.

“I wrestled with that and the decision and what I would do. It was hard for me to move forward…I couldn’t fight the perception more than anything that I had received a new deal while at the same time, my partner and good friend, guy I love to death, who I grew up reading…it was a hard reality…The loyalty I have, I couldn’t live with myself even though Jim knew what the truth was.”

Puckett said he was aware Moore was planning to step away from the radio show at the end of the year and was looking forward to the nine months they would have left to work with one another. Then, when iHeartMedia made the decision to make Moore a casualty of their latest round of layoffs, Puckett knew he needed to revisit the idea of starting his own venture.

He said, “It has kind of changed my timeline as far as what I wanted to do and where I felt I was at…I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

Puckett said several of the show’s regular guests would stay with the show and he thanked several sponsors who he said would remain supporters of the show with the new venture. ‘Puck’ noted that starting next week, “…We get underway in full force…I’m going to continue to try and make people laugh and entertain you and talk about sports…and all of the other things you have become accustomed to with this show.”

As he started to wrap up, Puckett said, “I’m jumping into the deep end of the pool and I am going to see if I can swim or sink.”

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Kirk Minihane: WEEI is “Going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in Afternoons”

“It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful.”

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Photos of Kirk Minihane and Rich Shertenlieb

As the speculation continues on where Boston sports talker Rich Shertenlieb will end up, one former WEEI host said he has the scoop on what is going to happen. Kirk Minihane, now with Barstool Sports, said, “What I heard was, initially, was they were moving Rich Keefe from nights to middays, moving Adam Jones from afternoons to middays and keeping Fauria there, and moving Andy Gresh to afternoons…But now it appears Rich Shertenlieb is going to do afternoons with Andy Gresh.”

On Wednesday, Boston Globe sports and sports media columnist Chad Finn put out a post on X, saying, “Didn’t think Rich Shertenlieb would end up at WEEI after leaving Sports Hub. I do now, most likely in afternoon drive. Audacy management has been telling people to expect changes.”

Minihane continued commenting on the matter, saying, “It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful. Maybe the two most sensitive c***s in the history of radio. That’s a show we are going to ruin…we haven’t done that in a while, we are going to take that show down…Once that show starts, we are just going to blitz them with phone calls because Gresh can’t handle that.

“What they don’t understand, because they are so dumb, is that…Rich Shertenlieb has no fan base…no fan of [Toucher and Hardy] in the morning is going to be like ‘I’m not going to listen to Felger in the afternoons, I’ll now listen to Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb.’ It’s going to be dreadful.”

Recapping what he has heard the rest of the WEEI lineup will be, Minihane said, “…And then in middays you have Adam Jones, failed afternoons. Rich Keefe who has now failed middays, drivetime, nights and is now going to fail again in middays… and Christian Fauria who has never drawn a rating in his life.”

WEEI has not commented on any of the speculation. BSM will have more as the story unfolds.

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Former 670 The Score Host Tommy Williams Has Died

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Photo of Tommy Williams
Courtesy: Lakeshore Public Media

Tommy Williams, who was heard for a decade on 670 The Score, died on Wednesday at the age of 66.

Williams began his broadcasting career in his hometown of Gary, Indiana in 1982 at WLTH before moving on to The Score. In 2003, Williams became the PA Announcer for the Gary Southshore RailCats of the American Association where he had his signature call to get the attention of the fans, “People, People, People.”

A story in The Times of Northwest Indiana said, “The longtime RailCats public address announcer and Lakeshore Public Media sports journalist was known for broadcasting countless games, interviewing countless athletes and covering Region sports at all levels. The Gary native and co-host of “Prep Sports Report,” “Prep Football Report,” and “Lakeshore PBS Scoreboard” often signed off shows saying, “Gary, Indiana, you know I love you.”

“The cadence he had in his voice echoed across the Region in a way we may never see again. He was widely known and widely loved,” Tom Maloney, vice president of radio operations at Lakeshore Public Media told the paper.

“He’d want to be remembered as the voice of Lakeshore sports,” his Regionally Speaking co-host and producer Dee Dotson told The Times. “Most people will remember him for covering prep sports all the way up to semi-pros. He’ll be remembered for treating each of his subjects like they were world champions. His depth of knowledge of sports at all levels is commendable. He was a walking encyclopedia of stats.” 

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