THE KANSAS CITY STAR

RADIO RATINGS AREN'T ALL ROSY FOR GIANT ENTERCOM

Saturday, May 13, 2000
Section: FYI
Page: E9

By AARON BARNHART
THE KANSAS CITY STAR

For Entercom Communications, the largest radio group in Kansas City, the winter Arbitron ratings book giveth as well as taketh away.

While Entercom's KYYS-FM (99.7) rebounded from a disappointing fall book, and WDAF-AM (610) continued to shine, their successes were offset by news-talk KMBZ-AM (980), which tumbled out of the top 10, and KQRC-FM (98.9, "The Rock"), which dropped out of first place in listeners ages 12 and up. (Entercom is still awaiting government approval of its purchase of KQRC and the rest of the Sinclair radio group.)

The top-rated station in Kansas City was "The Mix," KMXV-FM (93.3), which has now won three out of the last four books for CBS/Infinity. In the key listening group of adults ages 25-54, KYYS jumped from seventh to first - its second No. 1 ranking in young adults since becoming "the new KY."

Once again, two stations shared the top spot in mornings, with WDAF's David Lawrence top-rated from 5 to 9 a.m. and "The Rock's" Johnny Dare and Murphy Wells tops from 6 to 10 a.m. Kelly Urich on "The Mix" remained No. 1 in afternoon drive.

The top 10 Kansas City stations overall:

KMXV, contemporary hits, 7.2 share; WDAF, country, 6.7; KQRC, album rock, 6.5; KPRS-FM (103.3), urban, 6.4; KFKF, country, 5.9; KYYS, album rock, 5.1; KUDL-FM (98.1), adult contemporary, 5.0; KCFX-FM (101.1), classic rock, 4.7; KBEQ-FM (104.3), "young country," 4.6; KCIY-FM (106.5), "smooth jazz," 4.3.

A share point equals 1 percent of those currently listening to radio.

KMBZ's terrible winter book reported a 3.6 share (down from 4.7 in the fall book) for 14th place overall (down from eighth). Since spring 1999, KMBZ has lost more than 40 percent of its audience, according to the Arbitron Co.

KFEZ-AM (1340) had its best book in more than a year, but that was only enough to move the station from 20th to 19th overall. KFEZ is switching from "music of your life" to Christian contemporary on Monday, a result of a new ownership deal. ABC pre-empts itself

Less than five days after ABC angrily demanded that its programs be returned to Time Warner Cable systems across the country, an ABC official called KMBC, Channel 9, and asked the station not to run an ABC show.

The bizarre request came after the network learned that many of its affiliates would not be airing last Sunday's edition of "This Week," the news program anchored by Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts. KMBC program director Pat Patton was told that affiliates were pre-empting "This Week" to carry ABC's coverage of the NHL playoffs.

Channel 9 had no such conflict. The hockey game started a half-hour after "This Week" was scheduled to end. Yet Patton was asked if he could find a way to pre-empt the show anyway.

The reason: All those defections would certainly hamper the Nielsen ratings average for "This Week." However, if just a few more stations agreed to pre-empt, Nielsen would not have a sufficient nationwide sample to determine the show's ratings.

In golf terms, ABC was asking for a mulligan - and got it. The network went ahead and broadcast "This Week," but many stations didn't air it, including Channel 9, which filled the hour with infomercials. Some viewers complained to KMBC, and Patton said he understands their frustration, but honoring network requests is part of being a good affiliate.

Still, Patton admitted, "I've done this job a long time, and I've never gotten a call like this."

Said an ABC spokesman, "It was a network decision, an extremely rare one, not likely to happen again ... ." In other news ...

The syndicated rerun rights to three popular sitcoms went up for bids recently. WDAF, Channel 4, walked away with the rights to "Dharma & Greg."

KMBC picked up the rights to "Will & Grace" repeats, as did KSHB, Channel 41, for "That '70s Show." All three shows will air beginning in fall 2002.

Tom Lawrence has found a permanent gig again. The former KSHB evening anchor was named WDAF weekend evening co-anchor, a position he has been filling on a temporary basis since January. He'll also do reporting on weeknights for Channel 4.

Congratulations to KCPT, Channel 19, for winning the 21st Century Award, given out by the Association of America's Public Television Stations at its annual meeting last month in Washington.

KCPT and Smoky Hills Public Television of Kansas were honored for the MoKan Kids Network, which supplies online teacher materials, educational videos and training to 30,000 teachers in Kansas and Missouri.

To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Lawrence @ART:Photo