If we’re being honest with ourselves, RADIO WARS has not been competitive for several years now. 94 WIP has been handily dispatching 97.5 the Fanatic for so long that it feels like one side is armed with sports talk bioweapons and the other is stuffing lead balls into a blunderbuss.

Alas, we have the spring ratings, and it’s much of the same, with WIP cruising to another comprehensive victory.

What’s interesting is that this book, which runs roughly from April to June, starts with some residual football interest before quickly tailing off. You’ve got the NFL draft and early offseason window to keep the Eagles conversation going. Hypothetically, WIP would start strong before dipping in the spring, while the Fanatic should benefit from being the Philadelphia 76ers rights holder, enjoying a bump from the most important part of the NBA calendar taking place during this time frame.

That’s the backdrop to consider when looking at these numbers.

As a reminder, we’re going with Nielsen meters plus streaming, using the demographic of men aged 25 to 54. Other demos can be parsed and used, but advertising rates are set on M25-54, which is always our main focus. When you check out the numbers below, note that we have separate streaming and over the air numbers for WIP, while the Fanatic’s stream and air are wrapped into one singular number, known as “total line reporting” or TLR in industry terms.

Mornings

  • 94 WIP: 12.8 (6.8 stream, 6.0 over the air)
  • 97.5 the Fanatic: 2.5

Still a large gap between Joe DeCamara’s new morning show, which finished #2 behind Preston and Steve, and John Kincade at 97.5 the Fanatic.

Kincade pulled a 3.1 in the winter book and experienced a slight dip in the spring, finishing tied for 11th in the market. WIP ended the last book with a 17.9, which incorporated the tail end of football season, Angelo Cataldi’s departure, and then a portion of DeCamara and Ritchie with the new crew.

Nothing necessarily surprising in this time slot. WIP continues to handily win mornings, even in the post-Cataldi era.

EDIT – Someone asked a good question – do we have Angelo’s final spring book numbers? We do not. That would be a good way to compare year-to-year books and see how Joe and Jon did in their first full ratings period. Nevertheless, the transition has been a smooth one. 

Midday

  • 94 WIP: 8.0 (3.1 stream, 4.9 over the air)
  • 97.5 the Fanatic: 3.1

The WIP midday show dipped the furthest in the spring book, but still finished #3 overall and enjoyed an easy victory over Anthony Gargano. The Cuz, who has been 97.5’s best performer in this demographic, slipped from a 3.8 to a 3.1, while Joe Giglio and Hugh Douglas saw a drop off of about seven share points.

Again, easy win for WIP.

Afternoons

  • 94 WIP: 12.3 (2.1 stream, 10.2 over the air)
  • 97.5 the Fanatic: 3.4

Well well, what do we have here?

Not only did The Best Show Ever? enjoy a 0.4 bump, but Tyrone and company had the best book among the three Fanatic day parts. It was the only show at both stations to actually see a spring increase, and that’s intriguing news, considering that Hunter Brody was just released from the program a few weeks ago.

That said, WIP did run away with the time slot, again. Jon Marks and Ike Reese finished #1 in Philadelphia in P.M. drive, while the Fanatic was tied for 10th. It’s a constant battle between Marks/Reese/Jack Fritz and the WIP morning show for highest-rated sports programming in the market. Keep an eye on this time slot, however, because Marks is the next expiring contract and he’ll either need to sign an extension or step away to pursue new endeavours.

Evenings

  • 94 WIP: 10.3 (1.3 stream, 9.0 over the air)
  • 97.5 the Fanatic: 4.2

A small bump for the Fanatic, likely based on the strength of the Sixers playoff “run,” if that’s what you want to call another second round exit. 97.5 finished #10 overall.

But WIP once again owned evenings, coming in #1 overall. It’s a been a strong spot for the station and there was no slow down as the calendar shifted to baseball.

Prime

Across all time slots, WIP finished in second place with an 11.2 number, which includes a 7.3 over the air and 3.9 streaming split. The Fanatic was tied for 12th with a 3.0.

Takeaways?

That TBSE? number is fascinating. That was not expected, certainly not after the decision to remove Brodes, who was with the program for the entirety of the book. Readers seemed most interested in the post-Angelo numbers, which have not declined at all. Mornings continue to a be an impregnable bastion for WIP, while Marks and Reese hum along in the afternoon and own the time slot.

What’s most impressive, in my mind, is that WIP took the spring dip coming out of Eagles season and still hammered the competition anyway. Even during their “slow” periods they are an unstoppable behemoth. A sports talk radio cyborg. Deus ex machina.

PLAY THE MUSIC: