SYRACUSE — Just a couple weeks since updating their Utica-Rome numbers to include the Galaxy stations being sold to Pamal, the Nielsen Company has done the same for Syracuse’s top-line ratings.
As a result, for the first time well over a decade, we’re getting a look at how stations like classic rock TK99/105 (WTKV/WTKW), KROCK (WKRL, WKRH) and Sunny 102 (WZUN) compare to other stations in the market.
That’s because Nielsen only publicly releases the “top-line” ratings for radio stations who hold a full subscription to their ratings services. Galaxy dropped its subscription to what was then still Arbitron in 2006. But soon after Nielsen bought Arbitron in 2013, it implemented the current policy, supposedly to prevent non-subscribing stations from trying to benefit from the top-line data. (Stations and ad agencies use the ratings to determine fair rates for advertising; the more listeners a station has, the more they can charge for commercial time.)
Although Galaxy’s sale to Pamal is still pending FCC approval (and we haven’t yet seen the FCC announce official receipt of any paperwork on the deal), Pamal took immediate control over day to day operations on October 1 through a shared services agreement.
Without further adieu, here’s the chart, with the Galaxy / Pamal stations — please note the table seen here is “live” and current as of the date of this article, but depending on when you’re reading it, the ratings seen here may be newer than the ones we’re referring to throughout the rest of the article.
Data updated by Nielsen 9/29/26 without Pamal (Galaxy) numbers, exact date Pamal stations added unknown but believed to be sometime after 10/10/26. Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6AM–Midnight, Average Quarter-Hour Share.| Subscriber | Format | JUN 26 (APR-JUN) | JUL 26 (MAY-JUL) | AUG 26 (JUN-AUG) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WBBS-FM | Country | 8.2 | 9.6 | 9.6 |
| WSEN-FM | Classic Hits | 4.2 | 4.7 | 6.2 |
| WYYY-FM | Adult Contemporary | 6.3 | 7.4 | 6.0 |
| WSYR-AM | News Talk Information | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| WWHT-FM | Pop Contemporary Hit Radio | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| WTKW-FM | Classic Rock | 5.5 | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| WOLF-FM | New Country | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| WZUN-FM | Classic Hits | 2.5 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| WMVN-FM | Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio | 2.3 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| WRVO-FM | News Talk Information | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.0 |
| WKRL-FM | Active Rock | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.3 |
| WAER-FM | News Talk Information | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.9 |
| WKLZ-FM | Contemporary Christian | 1.1 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| WHEN-AM | Urban Adult Contemporary | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
| WJPZ-FM | Pop Contemporary Hit Radio | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| WOLF-AM | All Sports | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| WGKV-FM | Contemporary Christian | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| WRVD-FM | News Talk Information | 0.2 | * | 0.2 |
| WVOA-AM | Religious | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| WKLZ-IF+ | Contemporary Christian | 0.2 | 0.2 | * |
| WTKV-FM | Classic Rock | 1.5 | * | * |
The first Pamal station we spotted on the list is classic rocker WTKW, which had its best book (5.8) in June, despite Nielsen for some reason listing WTKV (TK105) separately, at the bottom, with a 1.5 share of its own. Nielsen typically combines simulcast stations into one line, so we’re not sure what happened there. For July and August, WTKV has asterisks, but WTKW’s numbers fall down to a 4.0 for July and a 3.9 for August, the latest 3-month rolling average currently available.
Two notches down is classic hits Sunny 102 (WZUN), which gradually trended upward (2.5 – 2.9 – 3.2) over the past three months. We can’t help but wonder where Sunny ranked before Rick Gary’s exit in January; the station has been jockless on mornings since. (We’ll also be interested to see what, if anything, Pamal intends to do about that.)
Another two notches down, we find KROCK, whose simulcast on 100.9 (Syracuse) and 106.5 (Oswego) brought in a 2.3 share in August, slightly below where it was for June and July.
Despite having two AM frequencies (WTLA 1200 North Syracuse and WSGO 1440 Oswego) and two FM translators (W249BC at 97.7 Mattydale and W261AC at 100.1 Oswego), ESPN Radio did not make an appearance on the latest top-line ratings.
As usual, we do need to remind everyone that top-line ratings are merely an overall estimate of a station’s share of the entire audience (all persons age 12 and up) averaged over the course of an entire week between 6am and midnight. The top-line ratings do not necessarily indicate how a station performed within specific dayparts, or within specific target demographics (e.g. Women 18-24, Men 35-54, etc.) within the market. That level of detail is only available to stations or ad agencies who hold a subscription to Nielsen’s full ratings reports.
And again, it’s worth noting that non-subscribing stations do not appear here — although it’s great to see the former Galaxy stations back on the list, we recently saw Cumulus Media (the owners of 93Q, 95X and The Score 1260) pull their subscription right before the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March. With Cumulus just this week emerging from that bankruptcy, we’ll be curious to see if they reinstate their Nielsen subscription.
Covering the happenings at dozens of TV and radio stations in two markets is no easy task! We always appreciate your official station announcements as well as your unofficial insider tips or listener/viewer observations.
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