Big ratings at KPOJ for sports talk (not!)

Kari Chisholm

When KPOJ decided to drop the progressive talk radio format, they made a lot of noises about how it was about ratings. Robert Dove, the local Clear Channel executive given the task of firing Carl Wolfson, said it plainly to Willamette Week:

“At the end of the day, the station just wasn’t performing,” Dove says. “It had a loyal, small-core following that just wasn’t enough.”

Ratings produced by Arbitron show that in October, KPOJ was the 22nd-ranked radio station in the 48-station Portland market. Over the past 14 months, the station averaged a 0.8 share of the Portland radio market.

Well, the latest ratings are in, and it's not looking good for Fox Sports Radio AM620.

As a progressive talk station, KPOJ averaged a 0.8, and climbed to a 1.4 rating in November. In December? The new sports KPOJ scored a 0.2 rating.

That's one-quarter of the average rating over the previous year - and just one-seventh of what KPOJ did in November (and note, only the first week of November was before the election.)

Pathetic. Maybe they're making it all up with online traffic, with that real classy Babe of the Day feature. [roll eyes]

Meanwhile, just a couple weeks until Carl Wolfson's net-radio show debuts. He's already made his $40,000 fundraising goal, but you should chip in to help ensure that Carl's show gets a good strong run - and demonstrates that it belongs back on the terrestrial airwaves.

By Kari Chisholm Jan. 08, 2013