'Old School' a hit in first radio rating period

"Old School" 105.3 shot up in the Arbitron rankings in its first month, gaining almost 140 percent in listeners over its old format.

After purchasing the station for $7.75 million, Radio One switched formats in September from Spanish to classic hits with artists like the Isley Brothers, Rick James and Stevie Wonder.

It landed at No. 11 in the October Arbitron rankings, tied with Clear Channel Radio’s WHQC-FM (“Channel” 96.1).

This week, “Old School” changed its call letters to WOSF-FM, reflecting its new identity (A New York station quick scooped up the old WNOW-FM call letters). WOSF stands for "Old School Flavah," says Gary Weiss, manager for Radio One's Charlotte, Raleigh and Richmond stations.

WOSF-FM's gains appear to have come at the expense of CBS Radio's WBAV-FM (“V” 101.9) and WPEG-FM (“Power” 97.9).

WBAV-FM fell to third in the October rankings, which represented a 20 percent decline in overall listeners from September's figures. WPEG-FM fell 11 percent in overall listeners, landing at No. 5.

Radio One also saw gains at inspirational gospel WPZS-FM (“Praise” 100.9), which is now simulcast on the old WQNC-FM (92.7). Figures for listening on the two stations are combined for "Praise," which saw a 25 percent boost in a month and made an appearance among the top 10.

WKKT-FM ("Kat" 96.9) finished in the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive month but No. 2 WSOC-FM (103.7) closed the narrow gap between them.

As the election approached, WBT-AM (1110) and WFAE-FM (90.7) continued to show gains. Both news/talk stations have been trending up for months. Even WBCN-AM (1660), which is airing conservative talk before switching formats next January to the CBS Sports network, was up.

Both WNKS-FM ("Kiss" 95.1) and WEND-FM ("End" 106.5), Nos. 14 and 15 respectively, posted declines for the fourth straight month.

WLKO-FM ("Lake" 102.9), continues to gain with its new all-hits format that replaced "Lite." It's  up nearly 10 percent over the last three months.  

We'll talk more about the urban battle between Radio One and CBS Radio in Charlotte in Saturday's media column.

Here's the latest rankings from Arbitron and the percentage of audience among all listeners as calculated by Arbitron.


1. WKKT-FM ("Kat" 96.9) 7.2%

2. WSOC-FM (103.7) 6.8%

3. WBAV-FM ("V" 101.9) 6.3%

4. WRFX-FM ("Fox" 99.7) 6.0%

5. WPEG-FM ("Power" 98) 5.8%

6. WLNK-FM ("Link" 107.9) 5.2%

7. WPZS-FM ("Praise" 100.9, 92.7) 5.0%

8. WBT-AM (News-talk 1110) 4.9%

8. WLKO-FM ("Lake" 102.9) 4.9%

10. WKQC-FM ("K" 104.7) 4.6%

11. WOSF-FM ("Old School" 105.3) 4.5%

11. WHQC-FM ("Channel" 96.1) 4.5%

13. WFAE-FM (NPR 90.7) 4.2%

14. WNKS-FM ("Kiss" 95.1) 3.6%

15. WEND-FM ("End" 106.5) 3.4%

16. WRCM-FM ("New Life" 91.9) 3.1%

17. WMIT-FM ("Light" 106.9) 2.0%

18. WFNZ-AM ("Fan" 610) 1.7%

19. WDAV-FM (Classical 89.9) 1.4%

20. WBCN-AM (Talk 1660) 0.6%

21. WNSC-FM (NPR) 0.4%

21. WSGE-FM (Gaston College, 91.7) 0.4%

21. WZGV-AM ("ESPN" 730) 0.4%

Does not include WRFX-FM (“The Ride” 95.7), which does not subscribe to Arbitron.