Radio, TV kingpins stay favorites with viewers.

But All Face Increased Competition

Radio and television markets may be getting more crowded, but stations that have made it to the top tend to weather the competition and stay there.

KATV-TV, Channel 7, in the February 1999 Nielsen Media Research survey of central Arkansas stations, remained the leader in all the news slots and also was the most-watched station in the market from sign-on to sign-off. KATV's dominance of the news has continued for 10 years despite strong efforts by chief competitors KARK-TV, Channel 4, and KTHV-TV, Channel 11, to take viewers.

"That's highly unusual in our business to be No. 1 for that long," says Bob Steel, KATV's news director.

In the 10 p.m. slot, KTHV in February moved past KARK into second place, the first time since the 1960s that KTHV did not finish third in any of the news slots. KARK, which appeared to be gaining on KATV three years ago in the evening newscasts and has had the advantage of the NBC network's lead-ins in prime time, has dropped significantly in recent ratings books but still is No. 2 everywhere but 10 p.m.

KKYK-TV, Channel 22, a low-power station, started a one-hour, 9 p.m. news show in 1997 and began offering a 30-minute newscast at 6 p.m. in early 1998, but neither have generated any audience of note, according to Nielsen ratings. KLRT-TV, Channel 13, and KASN-TV, Channel 38, offer alternative programming to the others' news with syndicated reruns.

KFSM-TV, Channel 5, still dominates Fort Smith and northwest Arkansas.

The CBS affiliate has had the advantages of seniority and broadcast power - as the market's only commercial VHF station, the Fort Smith-based station has been able to reach into the increasingly lucrative northwest Arkansas area without taking a simulcasting signal. UHF stations KHBS/KHOG and KPOM/KFAA have had to broadcast on two channels to reach into northwest Arkansas, as has relative newcomer and Fox affiliate KPBI-TV.

ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG was the first station in the market to introduce a split-screen satellite local news broadcast putting the standard two anchors in different towns. KFSM later followed suit with a studio in the revamped Northwest Arkansas Mall. KPOM/KFAA stopped broadcasting news in the early 1990s.

For KAIT-TV, Channel 8, in Jonesboro, there is no competition. As the only Jonesboro-based station in the market, KAIT has long been the most popular choice for area newscasts.

Radio Mirrors TV

Arkansas Business surveyed the state's major radio and TV markets for the first time since early 1995. And, just as what's been seen with television, central Arkansas radio has seen little change among the top stations, though the industry has witnessed quite a bit of change in terms of consolidation.

In the fall 1994 survey, a chain of radio stations likely numbered two, such as Southern Skies' country tandem of KSSN-FM, 95.7, and KMVK-FM, 106.7. Now, Clear Channel Communications Inc. owns five FMs, including KSSN, while KMVK no longer exists as such, though its frequency is where country KDDK-FM (formerly at 100.3)landed. Citadel Communications Corp. in 1997 bought 10 stations in the market and the Arkansas Radio Network.

KSSN was the leader in the fall 1994 Arbitron survey, and the country station remains king. Its Clear Channel partner, KMJX-FM, 105.1, has solidly moved into No. 2. Citadel now owns KIPR-FM, 92.3, the urban-contemporary giant that has managed to remain around the top five throughout the 1990s. KARN-AM, 920, has been the most-listened-to news talk format, though KSYG-FM, 103.7, has become more of a competitor in recent surveys and even passed KARN in one book last year.

Fayetteville mainstay KKIX-FM, 103.9, has a market share more than double that of sister station KEZA-FM, 107.9, an adult contemporary station with a signal powerful enough to be ranked in Fort Smith and heard as far away as Russellville. KKIX's share is more than three times that of fellow sister station KJEM-FM, 93.3, a classic rock broadcaster.

The top four stations in the Fort Smith market dominate the country and contemporary hits formats. KMAG-FM, 99.1, and KTCS-FM, 99.9, have captured most of the country audience, while only subtle differences in music selection and promotion differentiate KZBB-FM, 97.9, and KISR-FM, 93.7. Both those stations follow a primarily Top 40 format that has largely disappeared from the Little Rock market.

The Jonesboro radio market may be less predictable. Arbitron ratings in the Craighead County area are only done annually - larger markets are rated quarterly or semi-annually The most recent numbers available for Jonesboro come from radio listening habits in 1997.

"That's a long, long time ago," says Trey Stafford, a partner in Pressly Partnership Productions, which owns the third, fourth and fifth most popular stations in the market. "The numbers that come out in a couple of weeks, I expect will show drastic changes."

The coming ratings for 1998 will be the last annual ratings for Jonesboro. The city becomes the country's newest Arbitron-rated market this fall, and ratings for this year will be published in January 2000.

In Little Rock, KSSN totaled a 15.3 rating in 1994 and is leading the market at just a 10.1 now. Of the major formats, country appears to have lost some of its popularity in four years, as KSSN and KDDK and KHUG-FM, 96.5, the three country stations in the market last fall, combined to total just 14.5 in the survey. KSSN, KDDK and KMVK combined for a 23.5 share, almost a quarter of the market, in fall 1994. (KHUG recently changed owners, call letters and format.)

A rating share is an average percentage of the listening market tuned to that particular station.

Also, the cumulative audience (the estimate of people listening to a station at least five minutes in a week) has dropped significantly at KSSN, KIPR and contemporary KURB-FM, 98.5, from the '94 totals.

But industry experts say radio still has its usual share of listeners; the listeners just have more options from which to choose.

"...They now have more competition within the formats," says Pat Walsh, a Little Rock media consultant. "You go through the urban stations, and in 1994, there were two stations programming to the black audience and one of them was gospel.

"There is no format exclusivity out there. Nobody is in a format that has a large enough potential audience to where they are so dominant."

Walsh adds that a 10.1 rating such as what KSSN commands is still strong: "I know markets this size where people would kill for a 10 share."

Commercial television, on the other hand, has seen significant households-using-television numbers (known as HUT levels) fall since the 1994 survey. Virtually every ratings book has shown an overall drop as viewers move more to cable offerings or spend time on computers, industry sources say. KATV still may be the leader in central Arkansas, but it also hasn't been immune to losing viewers in the last several ratings periods.