Morning radio listeners apparently had more of an appetite for news and traffic than for easy listening music last fall.
Did the I-15 reconstruction have anything to do with that? Probably. BYU football was also likely a factor.KSL's morning news team surged to No. 1 in the age 12-plus listening category, according to the latest Arbitron estimates. That put the team ahead of the KSFI ("FM-100") morning team, ranked No. 1 last summer.
While KSFI's Dain Craig and Peggy Ijams are still tops among listeners ages 25-54, Grant Nielsen and Amanda Dickson anchoring the KSL morning news team, have the state's largest total radio audience.
KBER (FM-101.) had the largest morning audience share among listeners ages 18-34 with "Uncle Nasty."
However, station owner Citadel Communications shifted "Nasty" to afternoons last month and replaced him with the syndicated "Bob and Tom" show, a puzzling move to make with a top-rated morning program.
Another surprising rating is that Tom Barberi on KALL has jumped from eighth to third among listeners, ages 12-plus. Barberi has definitely found his niche with an estimated audience of 66,400 listeners a day.
Here are the top 10 weekday morning teams, the fall of 1997, as estimated by Arbitron for listeners ages 12-plus:
1. "Grant and Amanda," KSL (9.5 percent share); 2. "Dain and Peggy," KSFI (7.5); 3. Tom Barberi and Trina Eyring, KALL (5.3); 4. (tie) "Z-Morning Zoo," KZHT and "Uncle Nasty" on KBER, (5.0); 6. (tie) Dickie and Angel Shannon, KODJ and "Fisher, Todd and Erin," KISN (4.9); 8. (tie) "Country Joe," and Dick Jacobson, KSOP AM/FM, "Kerry, Bill and Gina," KXRK and Jon Carter, KRSP (4.6).
Here are the top 10 weekday morning teams, the fall of 1997, as estimated by Arbitron for listeners ages 18-34:
1. "Uncle Nasty," KBER (9.8 percent share); 2. "Kerry, Bill and Gina," KXRK (8.1); 3. Jimmy Chunga and Marcus, KENZ (7.7); 4. "Mick, Allen and Roxy," KURR (7.1); 5. "Mick and Ellis," KBEE (6.1); 6. (tie) "The Adventures of Tom, Rick and Dawn," KKAT and "Dain and Peggy," KSFI (6.0); 8. "Fisher, Todd and Erin," KISN (5.5); 9. "Country Joe" and Dick Jacobson, KSOP AM/FM (5.2); 10. "Z-Morning Zoo," KZHT (4.9).
Here are the top 10 weekday morning teams, the fall of 1997, as estimated by Arbitron for listeners ages 25-54:
1. "Dain and Peggy," KSFI (8.9 percent share); 2. "Grant and Amanda," KSL (8.4); 3. Dickie and Angel Shannon, KODJ (6.9); 4. Jon Carter, KRSP (6.1); 5. "Country Joe" and Dick Jacobson, KSOP AM/FM (5.5); 6. "Fisher, Todd and Erin," KISN (5.4); 7. Tom Barberi and Trina Eyring, KALL (5.2); 8. "Johnson and Johnson," KUBL (4.7); 9. "Mick and Ellis," KBEE (4.6); 10. "The Adventures of Tom, Rick and Dawn," KKAT (4.0).
- KSL (AM-1160) - The station raised a record $280,000 in its annual radiothon for Primary Children's Medical Center earlier this month.
"I'm amazed with the generosity of our listeners," Rod Arquette, KSL vice president of news and programming, said.
- KSL was also the local radio leader in Winter Olympics Game coverage with more than 100 hours of live programming. Reporter Marc Giauque (pronounced "Juke") provides the live reports from Nagano, Japan.
- KSL radio sportscaster Kent Rupe has been selected as the 1997 Utah Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He's worked at KSL since 1993.
- SOAP OPERA RADIO - The "Morning Zoo" team on KZHT (FM-94.9) is more like a daytime TV drama, rather than a zoo. Each week there's a new twist in the lives of the radio personalities.
Two weeks ago, "Marci" was shaken up in a car accident on I-15. Last week week, "Danger Boy" was talking about some sort of court appearance he has to make later this spring.
The KZHT morning team was already considered outrageous for its $1 million offer earlier this month for anyone who can somehow prove they had sex with President Clinton.
- SWITCHING STATIONS - The "Real Estate on the Radio" program moves to KTUR (AM-1010) starting this weekend.
The show previously aired on KTKK. It will keep the same time, Saturdays from 1:05-2 p.m. on the new station.
Co-host of the program is Rich Dixon, and he said moving the show to an all-news station is exciting.