Tuesday, February 29, 2000

Fickle listeners flip for female-friendly radio stations

With nicknames like The Beach, The Beat, The Bay and The Planet, it's easy to get local radio stations confused. Doesn't help that they're all programming some variation on alternative adult contemporary or contemporary hits radio.
   Those soundalike formats are just what women listeners are tuning into on local radio right now. And competition for the female audience among six local radio stations had an effect on the Fall 1999 Arbitron radio ratings.
   Results of the twice-yearly listenership survey show that KMXR-FM/93.9, KKBA-FM/92.7 (The Bay), KKPN-FM/104.5 (The Planet), KBTE-FM/102.3 (The Beat), KLTG-FM/96.5 (The Beach) and KZFM/95.5 (Z-95), might be diluting each other's ratings as women age 18-34 switch back and forth among the stations.
   Those stations are just a point or two apart in the Arbitrons, with their female-friendly morning drive-time shows coming up on the survey as favorites of the target listenership.
   Otherwise the latest round of ratings didn't contain many surprises, with country KRYS-FM/99.1 (K-99) holding onto the No. 1 position overall and Tejano KSAB-FM/99.9, a strong second, now dominating as the most-listened-to Spanish-language station.
   Among listeners age 12-up the top 10 Corpus Christi stations are:
   1. KRYS-FM (8.5 share)
   2. KSAB-FM (7.9)
   3. KZFM (6.8)
   4. KNCN-FM (6.2)
   5. KEYS-AM (5.7)
   6. KBTE-FM (5.5)
   7. KKPN-FM (4.9)
   8. KUNO-AM (4.5)
   9. KTLG-FM (4.2)
   10. KKBA-FM (3.8)
   Each share point represents a percentage of listeners tuned to radio. The Fall '99 Arbitrons were calculated from 1,096 listener diaries, with the results weighted to reflect a 57.4 percent Hispanic population.
   Among adults 25-54, the demo radio advertisers shoot for, the top stations are, in descending order: KSAB-FM; K-99; KNCN-FM (C-101); Z-95; a three-way tie between The Bay, The Planet and The Beach for fifth place; talk station KEYS-AM; country KFTX-FM and KMXR-FM tied for No. 7; a three-way tie between KOUL-FM, The Beat and KCCG-FM (oldies) for No. 8; KLHB-FM (Club 98); and KBSO-FM.
   The top five morning shows overall are on KSAB-FM, K-99, C-101, KEYS-AM and Z-95.
   High-flyin' Bill
   Normally KRIS weatherman Bill Elias is a strictly down-to-earth kind of guy. But on Saturday he decided to come face-to-face with some of those atmospheric conditions he's always talking about.
   Elias took a 14,000-foot tandem skydive over Beeville, parachuting safely to earth with the assistance of Sky's the Limit owner and instructor Gary Morgan.
   Why'd he do it?
   "It's something I always wanted to do," said Elias. "My uncle used to be a professional skydiver. You know, the kind that does all the formations and stuff with, like, 10 or 15 other divers. He used to have a camera on his helmet and I could see how much fun it looked. I just figured now was the time for me to do it."
   Elias said he was perfectly calm throughout.
   "Even while sitting on the edge of the plane getting ready to jump, I wasn't nervous. I thought I would be, but it was really more fun than frightening. It's the first time I've ever been outside of a plane when it's in the air. It was really cold up there but really exciting."
   The jump itself he described as "almost like you're dreaming."
   Elias said he enjoyed it so much he's thinking of signing up for accelerated free-fall classes.
   Today and Wednesday on KRIS' noon and 10 p.m. newscasts, Elias will talk about preparing for the big leap and show videotape shot of him as he plummeted more than a mile in free-fall before his chute opened.
  
  

 
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