Sports programming continues to be a bright star in the terrestrial radio market that is otherwise facing a continued decline in listeners and flat-lining revenue.
Market share for the approximately 150 sports radio stations in the top 100 markets is at an all-time high, and has increased a full point since fall 1998, according to a SportsBusiness Journal analysis of Arbitron data. The only formats to see greater growth during the same time period were Urban Adult Contemporary and Talk Personality, formats that target young African-Americans and white males age 55 and older, respectively. Overall, the percent of people who listened to at least five minutes of radio per day declined 14 percent during that span.
Sports radio market share
Source: Arbitron
Sports radio revenue trends
Revenue at sports radio stations topped $414 million last year, an increase of 7.3 percent over 2004. Revenue for all U.S. stations stood at $18.16 billion, flat compared with 2004. CBS Radio’s WFAN in New York, the top-billing sports station in 2005, was among the top 10 stations overall in revenue for the ninth consecutive year. Entercom’s WEEI in Boston increased revenue by more than one-third and just missed breaking into the nation’s top 10.
Station | Market
(market rank) | 2005 revenue
(000s) | % change | Owner |
| WFAN | New York (1) | $54,000 | 0.9% | CBS Radio |
| WEEI | Boston (11) | $45,600 | 36.5% | Entercom |
| KNBR | San Francisco (4) | $29,800 | 3.5% | Susquehanna |
| KTCK | Dallas-Fort Worth (5) | $24,500 | 3.2% | Susquehanna |
| KLAC | Los Angeles (2) | $24,000 | 42.9% | Clear Channel |
| WIP | Philadelphia (6) | $18,400 | -0.5% | CBS Radio |
| WQAM | Miami (12) | $15,400 | -11.5% | Beasley |
| WMVP | Chicago (3) | $14,000 | 48.9% | ABC Radio |
| WSCR | Chicago (3) | $13,800 | -8.0% | CBS Radio |
| WQXI | Atlanta (10) | $9,800 | 3.2% | Lincoln Financial Group |
| Sports radio* | $414,150 | 7.3% | | |
| All radio | $18.16 billion | 0.5% | | |
* Aggregate of sports-based stations in the top 50 media markets
Notes: Each station listed is an AM station. Market ranking based on Arbitron measure of number of households in the market.
Source: BIA Financial Network
ESPNradio.com made its top 10 debut in February on Webcast Metrics’ monthly listing of top-performing Internet radio sites.
Rank | Site | Average number of listeners (000s)* |
| 1 | di.fm (Digitally Imported Radio) | 40,595 |
| 2 | AccuRadio.com network | 16,589 |
| 3 | EMFbroadcasting.com | 13,230 |
| 4 | Club977.com | 12,725 |
| 5 | Radioio.com | 12,543 |
| 6 | 202.fm network | 11,850 |
| 7 | ESPNradio.com | 11,583 |
| 8 | BigRradio.com | 10,425 |
| 9 | SomaFM.com network | 6,362 |
| 10 | AirAmericaRadio.com | 6,080 |
* Average number of listeners each quarter hour 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday, February 2006
Source: Webcast Metrics
