CBC Radio One rules in Cowtown! - Puget Sound Radio®

CBC Radio One rules ratings

Heath McCoy
Calgary Herald
Tuesday, April 08, 2008

CBC Radio in Calgary is enjoying its best ratings in a decade, with CBC Radio One on the AM dial coming in as the top radio station in the city, according to the BBM ratings for the winter season.

The BBM radio ratings -- the standard used to measure radio listeners in Canada -- showed that in the ratings period from Jan. 7 to March 2, CBC Radio One, heard at 1010 AM, had the ear of 9.8 per cent of Calgary listeners aged 12 and up.

"It's a significant jump for us as a station, and our morning show is driving it," said Don Orchard, regional director for CBC radio in Calgary, referring to The Calgary Eyeopener program hosted by Jim Brown. "We've put a lot of energy into trying to provide a voice for Calgary . . . It really makes us think we're doing a good job."

Coming in as Calgary's number two station was Country 105 FM with a 9.5 per cent share of the market. Next up was hits station VIBE 98.5, which also experienced considerable growth moving from a 7.6 share to nine per cent. Rounding out the top five was Lite 96 and CJAY 92.

Ranked sixth was talk radio station QR77 with a 7.1 per cent share of the market. This was a considerable drop from the last ratings book released in December when QR was the city's top ranked station. Gerry McKenzie, general manager of Corus Radio, which owns QR77, said he wasn't concerned. "We've gone back to where we were historically," he said. "We had that last book where we had some abnormally strong growth . . . that was a crazy spike."

McKenzie did note that a number of the AM stations performed poorly in the ratings with Classic Country 1060 and 660 News both dropping considerably. Classic Country went from a 4.1 share to 2.6 while 660 News sank from 2.6 to 2.1.

Next in the ratings came JACK FM in seventh, followed by Q107 and alternative rock station X92.9 FM, which rose from 3.3 share in the last ratings to 4.3 this winter.

X92.9 FM, which is just over a year old, finished well ahead of two other Calgary stations that launched at around the same time. Hits station Energy 101.5 had a 2.6 share while FUEL 90.3 finished at the bottom with a 1.4 per cent share.

"We've definitely staked our claim," said Christian Hall, program director for X92.9. "Obviously, this is our best book and it's a great indication of where we are in the market. It's a high-fives all around day."

However, Hall noted, "the dust has yet to settle" in the hyper-competitive market with two new stations now on the dial: adult hits stations 97.7 Calgary and XL 103 FM, both of which launched last month.

hmccoy@theherald.canwest.com

http://www.canada.com/calgaryh.....4e6f77a1&k=79041