Courtesy St. Louis Post Dispatch

(November 19, 2010) The battle for market-share supremacy in the local sports-talk radio skirmish has become a rout. WXOS (101.1 FM), which two years ago was airing Christmas music, is annihilating the established competition.

According to figures compiled by Arbitron for the most recent ratings quarter, July-September, WXOS attracted 7.5 percent of the audience in the format's target audience — men ages 25-54. KFNS (590 AM) was a distant second (1.9 percent), followed by a meager 0.4 percent market share for KSLG (1380).

So the station that has been in the format for 22½ months has more than tripled the combined share of its sports-talk competitors.

A year earlier, in the summer of 2009, the margin was much closer — WXOS was at 3.9 percent, KSLG at 1.4 and KFNS 1.2.

"We're proud and we feel good about it, but you can't get comfortable; that's not our philosophy,'' said John Kijowski, who runs WXOS and Bonneville International's other St. Louis stations — WARH (106.5 FM) and WIL (92.3 FM). "It's a total commitment not to do it on the cheap, to invest in people and to cover the (local) teams.''

To that financial end, he said the station will finish in the black this year after losing money in 2009. Much of that deficit was attributed to losses on the Rams, 101.1's first pro play-by-play property.

"We're above the (break-even) line now and will finish above the line,'' he said. "We've done quite a bit better with the Rams than last year (when) we were learning how to sell sports in general, let alone play-by-play. What's changed is experience.''

So has an increased interest in the Rams, who are competitive now after a 1-15 finish last year. Kijowski said advertising still is being sold for Rams broadcasts, whereas there was no movement last year after the first game.

KFNS and KSLG, meanwhile, recently were bought by Grand Slam Sports. The day-to-day operations are led by Dave Greene, who says a different type of business model has his company well positioned despite the ratings. Grand Slam's approach is to meld several entities into one venture — the stations, their websites, St. Louis Sports Magazine, a marketing arm and an association with the website insidestl.com.

"We are very pleased with where we are,'' Greene said. "We have introduced a totally new concept to the market. ... Nobody else is doing what we do and the market has responded very well. ... We are right where we projected to be and expect 2011 to be a very successful year.''

The FALLOUT

A definite pecking order in market share has emerged, with 101.1 at the top with its fairly conservative approach, 590 next with its harder tone and 1380 far in the rear. KSLG has two local and two national shows, with Kevin Slaten's afternoon drive-time program the only offering showing a ratings pulse. (Individual shows will be examined next week.)

WXOS hasn't only taken over the sports audience, it has become a force in the overall chase for men 25-54 regardless of format. In the pre 101.1 era, a top-10 ranking in that demographic among all stations was unheard of for jock talk. But this summer 101.1 was fifth, trailing four music stations.

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