Courtesy St. Louis Post Dispatch

(May 14, 2010) While speculation continues to whirl about the future of the two local AM sports-talk stations, the grip the FM outlet has in the St. Louis jock-talk business is tightening as WXOS (101.1 FM) now has more than doubled the combined market share of its two more established competitors.

Aribtron's figures for the winter ratings quarter (January-March) show that WXOS attracts 5.2 percent of men ages 25-54, the demographic the three stations chase, with KFNS (590 AM) at 1.3 and KSLG (1380 AM) at 1.1. So WXOS has 54 percent of that market, the widest lead for the station, which adopted the sports format 17 months ago. Figures are from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, when the stations air their marquee programming.

WXOS airs four main shows, and they again rank 1-4 among all programs on the three stations. The top two are open to debate.

ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning,'' with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, drew 5.6 percent of the desired audience from 7-9 a.m. But that program begins at 5 a.m., two hours before morning-drive starts at KFNS and KSLG, and if the entire show is counted it drew a 6.6 share — which would boost WXOS' full-day figure to 5.5. The 101.1 afternoon program, with D'Marco Farr, Randy Karraker and Bob Ramsey, had a 6 share.

Overall, 101.1 is sixth in the market for the demographic, up one slot from last fall. Rock station KSHE leads the way, followed by three more music stations with news-talk outlet KMOX fifth.

"I won't be satisfied until we're consistently top five, until we're top three, and that's a process,'' 101.1 general manager John Kijowski said. "I see progress.''

He said the station finally made it into the black in April, 16 months after entering the format, but still faces a major challenge.

"We are far, far ahead of last year in billing,'' he said. "We are far ahead of our budget. This has been a great start through the first five months of the year.''

But the station took a substantial loss in broadcasting the Rams last year, and Kijowski said WXOS' bottom line for 2010 will be heavily impacted by how it does with that team this season.

"We need to perform at a higher level,'' he said. "(Whether) we will be profitable will depend on how well we do on Rams sales. It certainly helps to have some excitement from the draft. We need some bigger things to happen.''

Meanwhile, it's now clear that the AM outlets have settled into a battle for a distant second place.

"We consider our competition to be KFNS,'' KSLG general manager John Helmkamp said. "We're going back and fourth and 101's going to do their thing.''

KFNS general manager Dave Greene consistently says the bottom line of his company, Grand Slam Sports, isn't based on ratings but is determined by a business model that incorporates the station with its website, marketing and magazine operations.

"The only numbers I care about are the ones that have dollar signs in front of them," he said.

UPDATING THE ''MESS''

The "convoluted mess,'' as a source recently called the possible sale of the AM sports-talk radio stations, might have cleared up a bit this week when a person who had expressed interest in KSLG fell out of the running.

Craig Hanson, president of KSLG parent company Simmons Media Group, said Bob Romanik made an offer for the station. But Hanson said it was subject to Romanik funding an escrow account, ''which he never did. So the deal was never consummated. I guess he got cold feet.''

Romanik, who has said he is a consultant for Entertainment Media Trust, better known as Insane Broadcasting, could not be reached to comment. Insane, which is run by Romanik's son, recently purchased WFFX (1490 AM) from Simmons, and Hanson said that led to discussions.

"We don't have anyone else interested in buying it now,'' Hanson said. ''So we'll continue to operate it. Business as usual.''

Elsewhere, the sale of KFNS from Atlanta-based Big League Broadcasting to Greene's group appears to be getting closer.

blog comments powered by Disqus