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KXLM-FM is County's Top Radio Station

Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 23--Spanish-language KXLM-FM (102.9) of Oxnard stands alone as Ventura County's most listened-to radio station.

Known as "Radio Lazer" and operated by Lazer Broadcasting Co., the popular-music outlet scored an overall 8.4 percent average audience share to beat runner-up KCAQ-FM (104.7), an English-language hip-hop station, radio ratings service Arbitron Inc. reported this week.

KCAQ, which won a 6.9 percent audience share, is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting Co. of Ventura.

The new ratings, covering listeners ages 12 and older surveyed from March 31 to June 22, break last fall's tie that showed both stations with a 9.2 percent audience share.

Ratings play a key role in determining what Ventura County's 14 commercial radio stations charge for advertising, said Chip Ehrhardt, Gold Coast Broadcasting's executive vice president.

Advertisers spent about $16 million on county radio in 2004, he said, but most stations are seeing increases that could raise the 2005 total to $18 million. Gold Coast's revenues are running about 30 percent ahead of last year, he added.

Alfredo Plascencia, Lazer Broadcasting's owner, said revenues at his company are up about 15 percent from 2004.

Arbitron based its audience estimates on 1,094 diaries listeners kept for one-week periods during the survey. Only the west county, with an estimated population of 396,800, is included in the survey because Arbitron treats the east county as part of the Los Angeles market.

Many in the radio industry consider Arbitron's survey methodology antiquated, Ehrhardt said. They contend its audience samples are too small and potentially inaccurate because of its reliance on listener-kept diaries.

"There's roughly 1,100 diaries over the 12-week period. In my opinion, that's a very small sample size for a community of about 400,000," Ehrhardt said. "We have an issue with that. The whole industry does, but what are you going to do? You can't be without it. Currently, it's all that's available." Arbitron bases its audience-share estimates on a formula that combines the number of people who report listening to a station and the time they spend listening.

The ratings show KCAQ averaged 72,700 listeners per week, while KXLM's total was 49,200. KXLM's average audience share was higher, though, because its listeners stay tuned longer, Ehrhardt said.

A second Lazer Broadcasting station, KLJR-FM (96.7), with a Mexican oldies format, also was in the top 10 at No. 5. It had a 3.9 percent audience share with a total of 27,300 listeners, down significantly from its No. 3 rating in the fall.

Spring audiences almost always are smaller, but bounce back in the fall, Plascencia said. He attributed KXLM's success to a four-week promotion in which the station gave away $1,000 a day to listeners. Spanish-language KMLA-FM (103.7), owned by Gold Coast Radio of Oxnard, features a popular music format and came in at No. 4, with a 4 percent audience share and 35,400 listeners weekly.

Cumulus Media Inc., which operates four Ventura stations, saw two hit the top 10. Country music KHAY-FM (100.7) moved up from No. 5 last fall to third place, averaging a 4.5 percent audience share and 39,400 weekly listeners. KBBY-FM (95.1), airing popular music, fell from fourth to sixth place, earning a 3.7 percent share with 40,900 listeners.

KHAY moved up because the station answered listeners' requests to play more music by Garth Brooks and other country artists popular in the 1990s while continuing to play new music, said Buddy Van Arsdale, KHAY program director and Cumulus' Ventura operations manager. He said KBBY's numbers were not significantly down, and were up with its target audience, women in their 30s.

"The ratings are nice, but we try not to live and die by them because if you live by them, then eventually you die by them," Van Arsdale said. "We're just trying to put a good product out to the listeners." Los Angeles's KFI-AM (640), a talk station, ranked No. 8. But two Los Angeles stations that normally make the top 10, oldies-formatted KRTH-FM (100.1) and KLOS-FM (95.5), airing a classic rock format, failed to make it for the first time in at least five years. ... That shows Ventura County's radio stations are generally improving enough to compete effectively with those with much bigger budgets in Los Angeles, Ehrhardt said. Combined, the 14 local stations have more than 50 percent of the Ventura County audience, though they continue to compete with more than 50 in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

"I mean, we've got some really good stations here," Ehrhardt said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Ventura County Star, Calif.

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Source: Ventura County Star

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