The Drive grabs the top spot in Chicago radio ratings
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For the first time in over a year, a new radio station has broken the adult-contemporary stranglehold at the top of the Chicago radio charts.
The big picture: WDRV (The Drive) surged ahead of WLIT (The Lite) in April ratings, ending a remarkable years-long run for The Lite.
Winners: Besides The Drive, Univision owned WOJO-FM (Regional Mexican) gained almost a full point (5.2) and jumped into the top five.
Losers: Radio employees. Both WBBM and WBEZ laid off employees in April. WBEZ also accepted three voluntary buyouts from staff last week.
What they're saying: "While we have eliminated roles where programming was not sustained by its revenue generation, we have increased the size of the Sun-Times newsroom," Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog said in a statement. CPM owns WBEZ and the Sun-Times.
- "CPM is investing where its audiences are growing in the interest of the organization's long-term sustainability."
What we're hearing: Veteran staffers are pushing back against Moog's strategy, worrying about the future direction of the public media company.
Reality check: This week, CPM ended the Vocalo broadcast on 91.1FM. WBEZ still languishes in 18th place (2.0).
Caveat: These ratings don't break down precisely when people are tuning in, nor specific listener demographics.
Disclosure: Justin Kaufmann has worked for a number of these stations.