The race for ratings: Fall 2004 BBM overview

As the winter winds begin to howl, things are heating up in anticipation of the CRTC decision coming out of the hearings held in early November. Nothing less than the future of radio in Canada is at stake. For now, the race for ratings is as hot as ever as demonstrated by the Fall BBM released today.

Toronto: CHUM-FM claimed a market leading 9.4 per cent share of hours tuned for A12+. EZRock proved that the summer book was a minor blip as they posted a formidable 8.1 per cent share. Q107 turned in an impressive 7.3 per cent share of A12+ and a 15.4 per cent share of M25-54. 680News continued their strong showing with a 5.5 per cent share of A12+.

The changing landscape becomes most notable when we look at the relative shares for F25-54: CHUM-FM 17.8 per cent, EZRock 13.3 per cent, CHFI-FM 7.8 per cent.

Vancouver: CKNW, while slipping somewhat from the spring, remained #1 with a 12.0 per cent share of A12+. Nice gains for JRCountry with a 6.4 per cent share. An excellent performance from CBC Radio One with an 8.2 per cent share. In the critical F25-54 demo, QM-FM reclaimed its leadership with a 15.9 per cent share, outpacing JACK-FM's 13.8 per cent.

Winnipeg: CJOB remains well out in front with an 18.4 per cent share of hours tuned for A12+. Particularly nice gains for CBC Radio One with an 8.7 per cent share. The F25-54 race is very tight with 4 stations posting between 9.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent shares. Similarly close is M25-54 with both BOB-FM and CJOB posting 15.0 per cent shares followed by CITI-FM (11.8 per cent) and Power97 (11.1 per cent).

Montreal: the prizes for most notable gains go to CKOI (9.0 per centshare of A12+) and MIX96 (6.7 per cent share). The F25-54 battle is closer than ever with Rock Détente delivering 15.1 per cent share and 105.7 Rythme FM at 14.9 per cent.

Calgary: Country105 inched up to claim the #1 share of hours tuned for A12+ with 13.6 per cent. Vibe 985 has been trending up nicely, moving from a 5.2 per cent share in the spring to a 7.2 per cent in the fall. Some serious movement in F25-54 left Lite96 and Jack-FM in a dead heat, each posting a 17.8 per cent share. In M25-54 CJAJ92 leapt to the top with an 18.9 per cent share.

In Edmonton, a very tight race with CHED at 12.3 per cent share of A12+, followed closely by CISN-FM at 11.9 and Joe-FM at 11.5 per cent share of hours tuned for A12+. Killer numbers for Joe-FM in F25-54 with a 21.1 per cent share.

Halifax: While slipping somewhat from the spring, C1OO-FM remains formidable with a 21.2 per cent share of hours tuned for A12+. Very nice trending for FM96.5 with a 13.5 per cent share. C100-FM continues its domination of F25-54 with a 30.6 per cent share while Q104 turns in an imposing 33.4 per cent share of hours tuned for M25-54.

Ottawa-Hull: The news here is that there is no news. No book will be released for Ottawa until January. BBM discovered an error in its enumeration process that resulted in an imbalance of English and French respondents in this market. After analyzing the returns from the Fall survey, BBM staff determined that the Ottawa-Gatineau data was not within publication standards. Supplementary diaries have been sent out to remedy the error.

David Bray is Sr. Vice President of Hennessy & Bray Communications.