Air Waves
by Laura Nachman
Philadelphia Metro
July 14, 2005

According to the latest Arbitron numbers, KYW 1060-AM (News) continues to be the top rated radio station in town with listeners ages and 12 and above with a 6.8 share. WBEB 101.1-FM (Adult Contemporary) is second with a 6.4 share.  WOGL 98.1-FM (Oldies) is third with a 4.4 share, WUSL 98.9-FM (Urban) is fourth with a 4.4 share, WYSP 94.1-FM (Active Rock) is fifth with a 4.4 share, WDAS 105.3-FM (Urban AC) is sixth with a 4.2 share and WRNB 107.9-FM (Urban) is seventh with a 4.2 share.  WMGK 102.9-FM (Classic Rock) is eighth with a 3.9 share, WXTU 92.5-FM (Country) is ninth with a 3.9 share, and the aforementioned WMMR (Rock) is tenth.

Here is the rest of the top 20:  11. WIP 610-AM (Sports), 12.  WPHT 1210-AM (Talk), 13.  WRDW 96.5-FM (Contemporary Hits Radio/Rhythmic),  14.  WIOQ 102.1-FM (CHR/Pop), 15.  WJJZ 106.1-FM (Jazz), 16.  WPPZ 103.9-FM (Gospel), 17.  WSNI 104.5-FM (AC), 18.  WBEN 95.7-FM (Adult Hits), 19.  WPHI 100.3-FM, 20.  WPST 94.5-FM (Classic Rock).

It's worth mentioning that the addition of “Preston and Steve” to the WMMR 93.3-FM morning show seems to be helping as the station shot up from a 2.8 share to a 3.4 share of the audience ages 12 and over in the last Arbitron ratings.  It is WMMR’s best showing in over a year. 

Also, 95.7-FM jumped from a 1.8 to a 2.5 share since it switched from Mix to BEN, and WPEN 950-AM continues to languish since it switched from Nostalgia to Oldies.  Last year at this time it had a 2.6 share.  Today it is down to a 1.3 share.

All of the stations will be hoping to get a piece of the huge morning audience that WYSP’s Howard Stern will leave behind when he goes to Sirius radio in January.

There’s a new batch of old songs in commercials.  ELO’s “Do Ya” is used for monster.com, “Top of the World” by Carpenters is the music for Aquafina, Five for Fighting’s “1000 Miles” is in a Chase credit card commercial, and John Sebastian’s “Welcome Back” is played for Mylanta. The best use of an old song this summer was the Pet Shop Boys’ “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) for WB’s “Beauty and the Geek.”

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” will be holding auditions for a special movie trivia edition of the show.  Check with www.millionairetv.com for cities and dates.  The daytime version will return with new episodes on WPVI-6 this fall at 12:30 p.m.  Meredith Vieira, who won an Emmy for best game show host returns for the new season.