Dare's dominance brings easy spring win

The Rock" just keeps rolling along. Thanks to the tremendous appeal of Johnny Dare, KQRC-FM (98.9) soared to its most dominating ratings performance yet, according to results from Arbitron's recently released spring ratings "book." "He is absolutely the real thing in morning radio," says Dare's boss, Bob Zuroweste, who manages the eight Entercom-owned stations, including KQRC. How real? One out of every four listeners ages 18-34 - a mind-blowing 24 "share" of the audience - was tuned to Dare and Murphy Wells. (One "share" point equals 1 percent of people listening to radio.) That's more than twice the 9.7 "share" of the No. 2 morning show among young listeners. But wait. Dare also leads in listeners ages 25-54 and ranks fifth among listeners 35-64, giving "The Rock" a broad, all-ages appeal rarely seen in radio anymore. Overall, KQRC ran away with the spring book with an all-day average of 8.7 among listeners ages 12-plus, or nearly two full share points ahead of runner-up KPRS-FM (103.3), which won the winter ratings derby. "It is a dominant, dominant station," Zuroweste says, "and this is the biggest it's ever been." "The Rock" may have to look outside Kansas City for any real rivals. According to Zuroweste, it is the second most-listened-to rock station in America, behind only KQRS-FM in the Twin Cities. Highlights and lowlights from the spring book: A year ago "Oldies 95" was a station in limbo. Entercom had agreed to sell the station to Susquehanna Radio of York, Pa., but it took months to seal the deal. Meanwhile KCMO-FM suffered; listeners drifting away. To get those listeners back, Susquehanna's market manager in Kansas City, Mike Campbell, launched a massive advertising campaign. It worked: KCMO-FM climbed from seventh place to second among listeners 25-54. Susquehanna's two other properties - talk radio KCMO-AM (710) and classic rocker KCFX-FM (101.1) - did not fare as well. KCFX dropped to 15th overall, and KCMO-AM lost 35 percent of its audience in the past year en route to a 19th-place finish in the spring book. Campbell says "The Fox" is freshening up its music list to emphasize more upbeat songs. As for KCMO-AM, Campbell says he's willing to be patient with his new personalities. Kansas City's two FM country stations improved only a little from their dismal winter ratings. That prompted a change in tune at KFKF. Program director Dale Carter tossed out most of the station's retro music and rebuilt KFKF's playlist on a mixture of new songs and hits from stars like Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, George Strait and Faith Hill. Jon Zellner, who oversees KSRC-FM and KMXV-FM, says it's true that "The Rock" is Kansas City's powerhouse station. But c'mon! It's a guy station. And everybody knows guys don't make the buying decisions around the house. Women do. "Any advertiser would need 'Mix 93.3' and 'Star 102,' " Zellner says. "Between the two stations, almost 70 percent of all women in Kansas City are reached." "Mix 93.3" was No. 1 with women in all major age groups. Radio personality Tony Kornheiser threw a snit this spring after learning that WHB-AM (810) would be replacing his syndicated talk show with a local one featuring Tim Grunhard, Bill Maas and Frank Boal. The ratings bear out WHB's move. Kornheiser's show was the weak link in the station's otherwise strong all-day performance, according to sales manager Sandy Cohen. WHB's morning and afternoon drive shows are both No. 2 among young men, while the other syndicated midday show - the one with Jim Rome - is going great guns. Among public radio outlets, KCUR-FM (89.3) ranked 16th overall with a 3.3 "share," while KKFI-FM (90.1) and Lawrence's KANU-FM (91.5) ranked 24th and 25th overall. In other news Sharing credit for "The Rock's" success is the station's program director, Vince Richards. Make that soon-to-be ex-program director: Richards is expected to sign with Houston rockers KLOL-FM and KKRW-FM, according to an industry report. Next month the National Association of Broadcasters hands out the industry's highest honor, the Marconi Awards, and KPRS has been nominated in two categories: Large Market Station of the Year and Urban Station of the Year. "Hot 103 Jamz" was nominated last year for a Marconi as a "Legendary Station." WDAF is a nominee this year in that category. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. The top 10 Kansas City's top 10 (and share of listeners age 12-plus): 1) KQRC, rock, 8.7 2) KPRS, urban contemporary, 6.8 3) WDAF-AM (610), country, 6.4 4) KCMO-FM (94.9), oldies, 6.0 5) KMBZ-AM (980), news-talk, 5.9 6) KMXV-FM (93.3), contemporary hits, 5.4 7) KFKF-FM (94.1), country, 5.3 8) KCIY-FM (106.5), smooth jazz, 4.5 9) KRBZ-FM (96.5), contemporary hits, 4.4 10) (tie) KBEQ-FM (104.3), young country; KSRC-FM (102.1), adult contemporary, 4.2. @ART CAPTION:KQRC-FM morning talk show personality Johnny Dare @ART CREDIT:File photo @ART:Photo (color)