Big Frog = Big Win in Utica-Rome Spring Book

UTICA/ROME -- Townsquare Media's 5-station cluster takes the top 5 spots in the publicly-available Spring 2021 ratings released this week by The Nielsen Company. As usual, country Big Frog 104 (WFRG) leads the way, with more than double the Persons 12+ audience of #2-ranked Lite 98.7 (WLZW).

As always, we need to include a couple of important reminders about the newly-released data:

• Nielsen only releases "top line" ratings to the public. The ratings are an overall average of all listeners ages 12 and up, over the entire week from 6am to midnight. These numbers do not necessarily reflect how well a particular station does in any particular daypart, or within any particular "target" demographic.
• Nielsen only releases top-line ratings for stations that hold a paid subscription to its full ratings report. In the Utica-Rome market, notable nonsubscribers include Galaxy Media's cluster (K-Rock, ESPN Radio, Mix 102.5). Paying subscribers can see how these stations performed, but the general public cannot.

The Spring 2021 book continued the upward trend Big Frog 104 has enjoyed over the past few reports. The country station enjoys a 14.3 share from the 12-week diary period.

In the studio next door, adult contemporary Lite 98.7 posted a 7.0, its lowest of the last few books, but still good enough for 2nd place among those stations listed by Nielsen. Sister stations including The Eagle 96.1, 96.9 WOUR and news/talker 950 WIBX followed, with a 5.8, a 5.4 and a 5.0 respectively.

Locally-owned Roser Communications claims the next three slots: First, there's top-40 Kiss-FM (WSKS/WSKU) posting a 4.7 share. From there, the rest of the book falls into "ones and twos" with Talk 100.7 (WUTQ) only garnering a 2.3 share and Bug Country (WBUG) with a 1.9.

However, it's unclear as to why Oswego-based NPR affiliate WRVO and its Utica repeater WRVN are listed separately -- Nielsen typically combines simulcasts and totals the two together. If this practice had been followed, the two signals would've totaled 3.1, wedging it between Kiss-FM and WUTQ. Instead, WRVO was listed with a 1.9, while WRVN got credit for attracting 1.2% of the audience during an average quarter hour of programming.

Most of the rest of the rankings feature a handful of stations bleeding in from Syracuse. Albany-based Northeast Public Radio's repeater in Remsen, 90.3 WRUN-FM, shows up second-to-last on the list, with less than half a point.