After a football-loaded fall quarter, sports radio audiences can be harder to keep during the winter ratings book, especially after the Super Bowl. This year, COVID-19 created extra challenges for radio brands to navigate, with the shutdown of live sports and negative economic impacts. Still, sports radio stations in Seattle, Memphis and Tampa Bay were able to generate some positive numbers.
Seattle didn’t have much in terms of local sports for the winter book. With the Seahawks’ season ending in early January, and no local NBA or NHL teams to focus on, 710 ESPN still turned in a strong sixth-place finish in weekday prime between Jan. 2 and March 25.
In morning drive, Danny O’Neil and Paul Gallant finished sixth from 6a – 10a in their first full book together as a duo. The station’s late morning show, hosted by John Clayton from 10a – noon finished 14th and was their only weekday timeslot that failed to top Sports Radio 950 KJR.
From noon – 3p, 710 ESPN’s new midday show hosted by Tom Wassell, Jake Heaps and Stacy Rost recorded a sixth place finish in their first book. Rounding things out in afternoons, the trio of Bob Stelton, Dave Wyman and Jim Moore finished fifth from 3p – 6p, up year-over-year from 2019’s seventh place finish.
In Memphis, 92.9 ESPN garnered a 7 share in weekday prime for their target demo, good for fourth place and the same ranking year-over-year. From 9a – 11a, The Geoff Calkins Show finished third with a strong 8.1, an increase of more than a full point from 2019. In afternoon drive, The Gary Parrish Show was down a little year-over-year, but still finished third in the market with a 7.8 share.
While the live sports hiatus negatively impacted a number of radio stations, the immediate effects in Tampa Bay were combated by the news of Tom Brady joining the Buccaneers. Though full winter book ratings for Tampa’s 95.3/620 WDAE weren’t available, we did see some signs in March that were worth sharing.
Tom Brady’s decision to migrate south, helped lift all of WDAE’s local shows to top ten finishes for the month with men 25-54. It was the highest ratings WDAE has experienced in fifteen months. The station also generated their highest streaming numbers of the last decade during “Brady Week.”
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
