Radio Ratings pre-1990

Details: Category: Ratings Archive

Radio Ratings Pre-1990

(1976 to 1989)
Archived radio ratings for all stations with a focus on talk radio.

1980 - 1988 - 1989

The following was saved from the Radio-Info.com forum

Name: rich610

Date: 8/10/02I found some old Arbitron ratings in a file. I thought everyone would enjoy them.

Fall 1980

1. KYW 11.6 (the Phillies radio home during that magical season)
2. WMGK 9.0 (AC)
3. WIP 6.6 (AC)
4. WWSH 6.1 (Beautiful music)
5. WEAZ 5.9 (Beautiful music)
6. WMMR 5.3
6. WDAS-FM 5.3
8. WCAU-AM 4.4 (Talk)
9. WWDB 4.2 (Talk)
10. WYSP 4.1
11. WPEN 3.8 (Big Band)
12. WCAU-FM 3.6 (mellow rhythm)
13. WIOQ 3.4 (soft rock)
14. WFIL 3.1 (AC)
15. WUSL 2.7 (AC)The station was known as "US1"
16. WIFI-FM 2.4 (Top-40)
17. WSNI-FM 2.4 (adult easy listening)
18. WFLN-FM 1.8 (Classical)
19. WDAS-AM 1.4
20. WHAT-AM 1.1

Fall 1988

1. WEGX-FM 7.9 (Top-40) Their only #1 book
2. WMMR-FM 7.7 (DeBella beat Stern 9.2 to 6.9)
3. WUSL-FM 7.5
4. KYW 6.5
5. WEAZ-FM 5.7 (Third book as an AC station)
6. WPEN 5.1
7. WYSP-FM 4.9
8. WKSZ-FM 4.8 (AC)
9. WMGK-FM 4.7 (AC)
10.WWDB-FM 4.6
In this book, WIOQ finished 16th with the oldies format. WOGL finished 17th.

Summer 1989

1. WMMR 8.1 (DeBella was PD at the time)
2. KYW 7.0
3. WPEN 6.8 (best finish of the 1980's)
4. WEAZ-FM 6.3
5. WUSL-FM 5.7
6. WYSP-FM 5.5
7. WIOQ-FM 4.8 (Contemporary dance format)
8. WXTU-FM 4.6
9. WOGL-FM 4.5
10.WEGX-FM 4.3
10.WKSZ-FM 4.3

1976 - 1977

The following was saved from the Radio-Info.com forum

Name: ekimetsok

Date: 8/14/02Recent posts of vintage Arbitron ratings reminded me of an item in my archives which may be of interest. In early 1978, Radio & Records published a supplement titled "Arbitron Breakout Special Edition", containing four book trends of the top 75 radio markets. Here’s what the Philadelphia numbers looked like for October/November 1977. (Number in parenthesis indicates share for October/November 1976)Legend: R=Rock (Top 40)

A=Album Rock
PA=Pop Adult
B=Black
BM=Beautiful Music
N=News
T=Talk
CL=Classical

Station / Oct-Nov 77 (Oct-Nov 76)

1. WIP PA 9.5 (10.0)
2. WWSH BM 7.7 (8.6)
3. KYW N 7.4 (10.6)
4. WDVR BM 6.0 (6.0)
5. WFIL R 4.8 (7.1)
6. WCAU NT 4.6 (5.2)
7. WYSP A 4.5 (5.8)
8. WDAS-FM B 4.5 (3.0)
9. WCAU-FM R 3.9 (2.2)
10. WMGK PA 3.8 (3.9)
11. WZZD R 3.6 (--)
12. WUSL PA 3.6 (1.2)
13. WIOQ A 3.5 (1.2)
14. WIFI R 3.5 (3.9)
15. WWDB T 3.0 (3.7)
16. WPEN PA 2.9 (2.8)
17. WMMR A 2.8 (2.7)
18. WFLN-FM CL 2.2 (2.3)
19. WDAS B 2.1 (2.5)
20. WIOQ A 2.0 (1.3)
21. WSNI BM 1.6 (--)
22. WHAT B 1.4 (1.7)
23. WNAR PA 1.2 (.7)
24. WFLN CL .3 (.6)