Welcome to the finale of Barrett News Media’s Top 20 of 2023 series. If this is your first time visiting our website and you missed the prior Top 20 announcements, click here to see who performed best among local and national shows, and the format’s top program directors. We also encourage you to bookmark our website, follow BNM on X at @BNMStaff and on Facebook at Barrett News Media and to sign up for our daily newsletter, ‘The Rundown‘ by clicking here.
For those who are unaware, the News/Talk radio format is offered on more than two thousand radio stations. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands from the News/Talk world are listed for voting consideration on our ballots, and though we triple check everything before publishing the lists and hope to present a perfect layout, sometimes mistakes happen. If you see an error, please let us know. We want to shine the light on the format’s best brands and shows in a way that makes them feel proud to be recognized, not frustrated by an incorrect detail.
As you review the results, please remember that they represent the collective opinions of fifty four (54) news/talk radio programmers and executives. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands are listed for voting consideration. Industry decision makers are then asked to vote on categories based on where their stations/shows operate. BNM’s role in the voting process is to gather the feedback, add it up, and present the results.
I want to thank Barrett Media’s Digital Director Alex Reynolds for doing an awesome job on this year’s graphics, as well as each PD and executive who participated in this process. We had representation from fourteen companies and forty different cities, which was even better than last year. For those who didn’t vote and were invited to do so, I hope you’ll change your mind next year. It’s good for the format if you’re involved, and depending on the final votes, it can benefit your staff, sales team, and company, and excite your audience and advertisers.
Moving on to the voting, here are a few things to keep in mind.
#1 – Our executive voters are asked to rank their Top 20 selections for each category based on a few key factors; quality of show (ear test), originality, ability to entertain-inform-connect across multiple platforms, ratings success, clearance (national shows) and industry buzz. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have different tastes, work for different groups, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect system but it’s the best one we’ve come up with to showcase the industry’s top performers. Having done this for eight years with the sports talk format, we’re going to stick with it until a better option arises.
#2 – The executive panel consisted of program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Hubbard, Cox Media Group, Townsquare Media, Salem Media Group, Radio One, Alpha Media, Bonneville, FOX News Radio, Westwood One, Federated Media, and Zimmer Communications. We involve a large number of people in this process in order to receive feedback from all parts of the country, and to avoid the results heavily favoring one group. Given the variety of people in this process, it means there’s no guarantee that last year’s success will be repeated this year.
#3 – A total of 51 news/talk radio stations received votes in our Major Market News/Talk Radio Stations category. Many of these brands hold dominant ratings positions in their respective markets, delivering timely information, expert opinion, and world class entertainment to large audiences. Additionally, they are trusted by key advertisers to increase brand awareness and sales through over the air and digital content associations. Many on the list have a strong case for the top spot, but only one gets to hold it, so let’s get to the results.
Claiming the top spot this year is KFI in Los Angeles. The dominant news/talk brand has won every major market honor this year, including moving up one spot in this category from last year to unseat WTOP as the format’s best brand. The race was extremely close, a mere two (2) points separated first and second place. Congratulations is in order for Robin Bertolucci and her entire team, as well as every other news/talk station which earned a spot on this year’s list.
Now, here are the full results of “BNM’s Top 20 Major Market News/Talk Radio Stations of 20223.”
Additional Notes:
- KFI prevailed over WTOP in a very tight race. The Los Angeles talk station won this category by only two (2) points. They did however secure the most first place votes with six (6).
- Spots 21-25 belonged to WLS in Chicago, KTAR in Phoenix, KIRO in Seattle, WIOD in Miami, and WPHT in Philadelphia.
- The closest contest outside of the battle for 1st and 2nd was between WABC and WSB. The New York news/talk station held off the Atlanta brand by three (3) points.
- Of the 51 radio stations to gain votes from our panel, fifteen (15) received at least one 1st place vote.
- Among broadcasting companies, Audacy performed best with nine (9) of the top twenty (20) stations being under their ownership.
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
