The battle in Houston among the three sports talk radio stations remained tight in various dayparts. In the latest Nielsen XTrends fall ratings data, SportsRadio 610 saw the greatest success this quarter.
Staring with weekday prime hours (M-F 6a-7p), Men 25-54 listening favored SportsRadio 610. The station garnered a 3.2 share to finish fourteenth. That represented improvement from a 2.7 share attained during the summer, which placed the brand seventeenth. It was also four-tenths of a share better than 610’s last fall performance when the station ranked sixteenth.
In mornings, Payne and Pendergast finished tied for nineteenth with a 2.4 share. Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast were up six-tenths of a share from the summer book when the show was tied for twenty first place.
The midday programming block from 10a-3p, featured In The Loop with John Lopez, Landry Locker and Figgy Fig, and one hour of the station’s afternoon show The Drive with Stoerner and Hughley. The five hour daypart produced an eleventh place finish courtesy of a a 3.7 share. That performance was up from a 3.3, twelfth place finish in the summer. It marked a one point bump from a 2.7 share, fourteenth place finish in the market.
Afternoon drive with Stoerner and Hughley finished sixteenth for the quarter with a 3.3 share. The show was slightly up from a 3.2, twelfth place finish in the summer book. Consistent with the latter measurement year-over-year, the program improved by three ratings positions and 1.1 shares.
Across town, iHeartMedia’s SportsTalk 790 finished the quarter in weekday prime with a 1.6 share. That placed the brand in twenty first place for the quarter. Year-over-year, prime hours were relatively flat, down just one-tenth of a point and one ranking lower.
Sean Salisbury led the morning show in the fall book to a 1.6 share, twenty first place finish between 6a-10a. The show was five-tenths of a point and one ranking lower from the summer book. Year-over-year though, the show grew from a 1.2 share, twenty second place tie.
Middays from 10a-3p featured two shows – Next Up with Stan Norfleet & Chris Gordy (10a-12p) and The Matt Thomas Show from 12p-3p. The two programs combined for an 0.6 share, twenty third place tie this quarter. The five hour block was down a share point from the summer, and further off from last fall when the daypart produced a 1.9 share. 790 was also ranked higher in the summer and last fall’s book.
Afternoons featured The A-Team consisting of Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton, and the hour-long program The Nightcap with Michael Connor and Ross Villarreal. Clanton and Wexler occupied the 3p-6p hours, while the Nightcap operates from 6p-7p. Together the two shows delivered a 2.7 share for the quarter, equating to an eighteenth place finish. That was slightly down from one-tenth and a seventeenth place finish in the summer. However, compared to last fall, the four-hour drive time window is up seven-tenths of a share and two spots.
Gow Media’s ESPN 97.5 Houston lost six-tenths of a share in weekday prime finishing the fall book with a 0.4. That placed the station in a tie for twenty seventh place. Year-over-Year, the outlet was down two tenths of a point, and two positions.
During the morning 6a-10a daypart, which includes one hour of ESPN Radio programming followed by the local morning team of John Granato and Lance Zierlein, the station recorded a 0.4 share. That placed the morning block in a tie for twenty seventh. That’s down from a 1.0 share, twenty fifth place result in the summer. Compared to the fall of 2022, mornings are down from a 0.9 share, twenty fifth place finish.
In middays, where two programs occupy the five-hour daypart, the station generated a 0.4 share, twenty sixth place tie. The Paul Gallant Show hosted by Paul Gallant and Connor & Beard co-hosted by Michael Connor and Josh Beard were down nine-tenths of a share from the summer, and five-tenths of a point from last fall.
Turning to afternoons, which features Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham of The Killer B’s from 3p-6p, and The Bullpen with Joe George from 6p-7p, the combo shows notched a 0.3 share, twenty sixth place tie. That was six-tenths of a share down from the summer, and three-tenths of a share lower year-over-year.
SportsRadio 610 finished with a 2.9 share for the full week (M-SU 6a-12a). That placed the brand in a sixteenth place tie, up from a 2.4 share, twenty first result last quarter. The station also improved from a 2.5, eighteenth place tally last year.
SportsTalk 790 earned a 1.9 share in the same category, good for twenty first in the market. In the summer book, the station had a 2.7 share, nineteenth place ranking; however, it improved on its statistics from last year when it possessed a 1.6 share and ended in a twentieth place tie.
ESPN 97.5 Houston collected a 0.2 share for the quarter, which ranked the brand twenty ninth in the market. That was a six-tenths of a share decline from last quarter. Year-over-year, the share is down four-tenths and the ranking is down from a twenty sixth place tie.
Ratings reports and analysis are written by BSM and sponsored by Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group. Learn more about the different ways sports media research can benefit your station and cut through the noise by clicking here.
