Pat Cassidy
Pat Cassidy, who's been a warm and welcome fixture of morning drive radio in Chicago for more than 45 years, is now No. 1 all by himself.
In the first full ratings period since Felicia Middlebrooks retired as his co-anchor, Cassidy retained the top spot (and the same audience share as last month) as solo morning anchor at Entercom all-news WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM.
A Chicago native who began his career at the former WEXI in Arlington Heights, Cassidy spent 25 years on the former WMAQ before joining Newsradio 780 in 2000. He's been there ever since — except for an 18-month detour with talk show host Mancow Muller.
Nielsen Audio ratings released Monday showed WBBM Newsradio in first place overall for the sixth consecutive month as well as first in mornings and afternoons (with Keith Johnson and Lisa Fielding).
Hubbard Radio classic rock WDRV 97.1-FM again finished second, with The Drive's Bob Stroud leading in middays. In third place was iHeartMedia R&B WVAZ 102.7-FM, with the syndicated Keith Sweat winning evenings.
Among music stations, the biggest gainer was Entercom adult album alternative WXRT 93.1-FM. Other notable upticks were at Hubbard hot adult-contemporary WTMX 101.9-FM, iHeartMedia Top 40 WKSC 103.5-FM, and Entercom Top 40 WBBM 96.3-FM.
Here are Chicago’s top 30 radio stations from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday through Sunday, as measured by Nielsen Audio from June 18 to July 15, followed by format and average quarter-hour share of listeners age 6 and older (with previous month’s share in parentheses):
1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM all news, 7.0 (6.9)
2. WDRV 97.1-FM classic rock, 6.0 (6.4)
3. WVAZ 102.7-FM R&B, 5.7 (5.6)
4. WTMX 101.9-FM hot adult contemporary, 5.2 (4.8)
5. WLIT 93.9-FM adult contemporary, 5.0 (5.5)
6. WLS 94.7-FM classic hits, 4.6 (5.2)
7. WXRT 93.1-FM adult album alternative, 4.5 (3.9)
8. WKSC 103.5-FM Top 40, 3.7 (3.3)
9. WGN 720-AM news talk, 3.3 (4.5)
10. WBEZ 91.5-FM public radio news talk, 3.2 (3.8)
11. WOJO 105.1-FM Mexican regional, 3.1 (3.8)
12. (tie) WGCI 107.5-FM hip-hop, 2.9 (2.8); WKQX 101.1-FM alternative rock, 2.9 (2.8)
14.(tie) WUSN 99.5-FM country, 2.7 (2.5); WBBM 96.3-FM Top 40, 2.7 (2.0); WRME 87.7-FM soft rock oldies, 2.7 (3.0); WSHE 100.3-FM adult contemporary, 2.7 (2.3)
18. WBMX 104.3-FM classic hip hop, 2.6 (2.2)
19. WPPN 106.7-FM Spanish adult contemporary, 2.4 (2.0)
20. WEBG 95.5-FM country, 2.1 (1.7)
21. (tie) WLEY 107.9-FM Mexican regional, 2.0 (2.5); WLS 890-AM news talk, 2.0 (2.0)
23. WSCR 670-AM sports talk, 1.5 (1.5)
24. WPWX 92.3-FM hip-hop, 1.4 (1.6)
25. WVIV 93.5-FM Spanish contemporary, 1.2 (1.2)
26. WCKL 97.9-FM contemporary Christian music, 1.1 (1.3)
27. WMVP 1000-AM sports talk, 1.0 (0.8)
28. (tie) WFMT 98.7-FM classical 0.8 (0.6); WSRB 106.3-FM R&B, 0.8 (0.7)
30. WERV 95.9-FM classic hits, 0.6 (0.5)
Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 morning shows from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:
1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Pat Cassidy
2. (tie) WDRV 97.1-FM Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle; WTMX 101.9-FM Eric Ferguson, Melissa McGurren and Brian “Whip” Paruch
4. WVAZ 102.7-FM Steve Harvey
5. WGN 720-AM Bob Sirott
6. WLIT 93.9-FM Melissa Forman
7. WBEZ 91.5-FM “Morning Edition”; “BBC Newshour”
8. WLS 94.7-FM Dave Fogel and Kim Berk
9. WXRT 93.1-FM Richard Milne
10. WKSC 103.5-FM Christopher “Fred” Frederick and Angi Taylor
Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 midday shows from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:
1. WDRV 97.1-FM Bob Stroud
2. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Cisco Cotto
3. WTMX 101.9-FM Nikki Chuminatto
4. WLIT 93.9-FM Robin Rock
5. WLS 94.7-FM Greg Brown
6. WVAZ 102.7-FM Bioncé Foxx
7. WXRT 93.1-FM Lin Brehmer
8. WKSC 103.5-FM Michelle "Showbiz Shelly" Menaker
9. (tie) WGN 720-AM John Williams; Anna Davlantes; WOJO 105.1-FM Rafael “El Primo Rafa” Bautista
Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 afternoon shows from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:
1. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Keith Johnson and Lisa Fielding
2. WDRV 97.1-FM Steve Seaver and Janda Lane
3. WTMX 101.9-FM Chris Petlak and Lisa Allen
4. WVAZ 102.7-FM Joe Soto
5. WLS 94.7-FM Erin Carman
6. (tie) WXRT 93.1-FM Marty Lennartz; WKSC 103.5-FM Brady Broski; WLIT 93.9-FM Mick Lee
9. WGCI 107.5-FM Tone Kapone
10. (tie) WBEZ 91.5-FM “All Things Considered”; “Marketplace”; WOJO 105.1-FM Sylvia del Valle, Jose Gutierrez and Carlos Ivan Paez
Here are Chicago radio’s top 10 evening shows from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, as measured by Nielsen Audio:
1. WVAZ 102.7-FM Keith Sweat
2. WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM Bob Conway; Andy Dahn
3. WLIT 93.9-FM Delilah Rene
4. (tie) WXRT 93.1-FM Ryan Arnold; WGCI 107.5-FM Zach Boog
6. WKSC 103.5-FM Jordan “JRDN” Foster
7. WLS 94.7-FM
8. (tie) WDRV 97.1-FM John “Byrd” Kempf; WRME 87.7-FM; WTMX 101.9-FM Jordan “Dash” Orman-Weiss
(Copyright © 2020 The Nielsen Company.)