The Nielsen radio ratings are out for February – January 28 through February 24 – and 97.5 had maybe it’s best showing ever, beating WIP in every time slot except for mornings (albeit one of the two most important slots) among men 25-54. Here’s how the whole thing breaks down.

 

FULL WEEK 6a – 12a, Monday-Sunday

WIP: 7.2 over-the-air, 0.2 stream, 7.4 overall

97.5: 6.6 over-the-air, 1.0 stream, 7.6 overall

Takeaway: This is the highest level view of basically everything on during waking hours. It includes Flyers and Sixers games on 97.5, and the Super Bowl on WIP. Essentially tied.

 

WEEKDAYS 6a – 12a, Monday-Friday

WIP: 7.3 OTA, 0.2 stream, 7.5 overall

97.5: 7.3 OTA, 1.3 stream, 8.6 overall

Takeaway: Here we narrow it down a bit and strip out the Super Bowl and some weekend events. The OTA numbers are identical, but, as usual, 97.5 takes over with a wide streaming margin. The industry is coming around on embracing streaming numbers (rightfully so), and WIP’s older demographics and lesser streaming products continue to present a challenge which new boss Spike Eskin has apparently yet to overcome.

 

WEEKDAYS 6a – 7p, Monday-Friday

WIP: 7.5 OTA, 0.2 stream, 7.7 overall

97.5: 7.5 OTA, 1.5 stream, 9.0 overall

Takeaway: These are the talk shows. The OTA numbers are the same, but 97.5 increases its streaming margin and wins by more than a point when you combine the two.

 

MORNINGS 6a – 10a, Monday-Friday

WIP, Angelo Cataldi and Co.: 9.6 OTA, 0.4 stream, 10.0 overall

97.5 Anthony Gargano and Friends: 7.7 OTA, 0.6 stream, 8.3 overall

Takeaway: Gargano has been nipping at Cataldi’s heels for a few months now. He lost some ground this month. Cataldi’s number includes Wing Bowl and the week leading up to it, which helps. But to WIP’s credit, they’ve earned every bit of their Wing Bowl bump. I suspect this will be closer in March, however.

 

MID-DAYS 10a – 2p, Monday-Friday

WIP, Mike and Ike: 5.8 OTA, 0.1 stream, 5.9 overall

97.5, Rob and Harry: 6.1 OTA, 2.2 stream, 8.3 overall

Takeaway: Huge win for 97.5 here and the first time Rob and Harry have beaten Mike and Ike. They edged them OTA and completely crushed them on the stream. This is somewhat eye-popping, especially when you consider that they lost by a full point OTA in January.

 

AFTERNOONS 2p – 6p, Monday-Friday

WIP, Innes: 7.3 OTA, 0.2 stream, 7.5 overall

97.5, Missanelli: 8.2 OTA, 1.7 stream, 9.9 overall

Takeaway: Mike is crushing Josh. Four months in a row now. His overall lead has grown from 0.6 to 1.9 to 1.1 to 2.4 (!!!). And this in a month with very little local sports news. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mike’s lead grow in March with all the Eagles news this month.

 

EVENINGS PRE-FLYERS AND SIXERS 6p – 7p, Monday-Friday

WIP, Haddad: 7.6 OTA, no stream, 7.6 overall

97.5, Joe “The Hammer” DeCamara: 9.1 OTA, 0.5 stream, 9.6 overall

Takeaway: The Hammer, who nails his lengthy monologue and certainly benefits from the MISSANELLI BUMP, is having his way with Sludge.

 

EVENINGS INCLUDING FLYERS AND SIXERS 7p – 12a, Monday-Friday

WIP, usually Haddad: 5.1 OTA, no stream, 5.1 overall

97.5, usually Flyers and Sixers: 6.5 OTA, no stream, 6.5 overall

Takeaway: It’s really hard to extrapolate much from this because most nights 97.5 has either a Flyers or Sixers game. Sixers games do very poorly while the Flyers do relatively well. It balances out and all equates to a victory over what is usually Sludge.

 

WIP’s master plan, seemingly building a station around Josh Innes, has them going in the wrong direction. Worse, their older demo does them no favors on the stream. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of change – just my opinion – if this trend continues. PLAY IT: