KIIS-FM records ninth straight ratings win

Top 40 station KIIS-FM (102.7) rode its playlist of pop hits, including songs by Adele, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and others, to its ninth straight win in the monthly radio ratings, according to figures released Monday.

KIIS finished with 5.7% of the Los Angeles-Orange County radio audience. Second-place KFI-AM (640), the talk station, closed the gap a little, finishing with 5.3% of all listeners age 6 and older in September, based on the survey by the Arbitron ratings service. KIIS and KFI garnered 5.3% and 4.9%, respectively, in August.

KIIS’ top 40 rival, KAMP-FM (97.1), finished third, just as it had in August, snagging 4.6% of all listeners during the September ratings period, which chronicled listening habits from Aug. 18 to Sept. 14.

KIIS also had the largest audience total for September, with 3.95 million listeners tuning in for at least five minutes per week. Next came KAMP, which finished with its largest audience of the year, 3.35 million.

In the competition among morning shows, during the 6 to 10 a.m. weekday commuting window when stations hope to grab listeners for the rest of the day, KFI again led the pack. Airing local host Bill Handel, and then the first hour of Rush Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated show, KFI snagged 7.6% of the audience in that four-hour period, up from 7.4% in August.

KIIS regained second place in the morning, with Ryan Seacrest’s show amassing a 5.5% audience share — a full point higher than in August, when he finished third behind Spanish-language pop station KLVE-FM (107.5). KLVE, featuring Omar Velasco and Argelia Atilano, placed third in September, dropping from a 5% share to 4.5%.

The biggest gainer in the morning, though, was Carson Daly on KAMP. He registered his highest ratings since taking over there on Jan. 4, 2010, finishing fifth and attracting 4% of the total audience. The month before he’d been 11th, with 3%, and had been as low as 16th place last April.

When the former host of MTV’s “Total Request Live” took the job at KAMP, he said he looked forward “to the challenge of growing this thing” and talked about how he hoped the show would evolve “organically over the next three to six to nine months.” The timeline might have been delayed, but the growth is happening.

Rounding out the top 10 spots in the overall ratings were KOST-FM (103.5) and KRTH-FM (101.1), tied for fourth with 3.7% of the audience; KLVE-FM (107.5) at 3.6%, KPWR-FM (105.9) at 3.5%, KHHT-FM (92.3) and KTWV-FM (94.7) tied at 3.4% and KKGO-FM (105.1) at 3.2%

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