Trivia question!
What’s the top-billing radio station in Chicago?
If you said Tribune Co.’s WGN-AM 720–perennially the city’s top ad draw–well, you’re wrong.
The advertising revenue king of Chicago has been toppled, according to new estimates for 2000 by Duncan’s American Radio, soon to be published in its coming Duncan’s Radio Market Guide.
In fact, WGN, the top-rated AM station in Chicago, failed to crack the nation’s top 15 billers for the first time in recent memory–a stat that will make some Tribune corporate executives shift uncomfortably in their chairs.
Instead, Infinity Broadcasting country music station WUSN-FM 99.5 took top Chicago billing honors in 2000 at $46.1 million, good enough for 12th place in the country. The total was up 34 percent from last year, when WUSN ranked 24th place among all stations.
The jump made WUSN the nation’s top-billing country station–no doubt helped by the fact that the station has no direct country competition in Chicago. Still, ad executives around the city said that WUSN’s achievement under longtime general manager Steve Ennen is remarkable, given that country formats in general around the country are no longer as hot as they used to be.
When final numbers are released, WGN–which endured a transition year after the death last February of top-rated morning personality Bob Collins–is expected to be in a tie for 16th place with New York Top 40/urban station WQHT-FM, with billings of $42.3 million. Clear Channel Communications’ WGCI-FM 107.9 is expected to be close to WGN’s billing, Duncan executives said.
Still, WGN’s estimated 2000 revenue is an 11 percent increase from its 1999 revenue tally of $38.2 million, which was good enough for 12th nationally. It’s still not clear what, if any, effect Collins’ death played in the final revenue totals.
Meanwhile, a strong ad market driven by lingering dot-com fever drove Los Angeles and New York stations to their best showing in years. Of the top 15, only one–No. 11 KGO-AM in San Francisco–wasn’t from the No. 1 or No. 2 market.
Format-wise, it was the year for youth: Advertisers apparently favored younger-skewing contemporary hit/urban formats as well as rock stations.
For the first time in five years, sports/talk giant WFAN-AM in New York wasn’t the nation’s top ad revenue producer: Clear Channel’s L.A.-based pop music station KIIS-FM led with $66.5 million, compared with WFAN’s $62.4 million, according to Duncan’s numbers.
“I think New York and Los Angeles had extraordinary years fueled by high-tech and dot-coms,” said Duncan’s J.T. Anderton. “Chicago had excellent growth, but a much more normal pattern.”
Reineke promoted: Hill & Knowlton U.S. chief Tom Hoog boosted Chicago general manager Gene Reineke, 44, to executive managing director with responsibility for the Midwest region. Reineke, who has overseen the Chicago office since joining H&K in 1998, will add top management duties over the Houston office and focus on acquisition targets in the Midwest. Houston H&K general manager Max Watson was named global client leader for Compaq.
Bcom3 names exec: In a surprise move, Bcom3 Group Inc. has tapped a new executive vice president in charge of global corporate communications from outside its Leo Burnett Co. advertising unit. Elizabeth Krupnick, 51, comes from Bcom3’s Manning, Selvage & Lee PR unit, where she was based in New York. She reports directly to Bcom3 Chief Executive Roger Haupt.
Though executives were quick to say Krupnick was not hired directly for investor relations, it is believed that her 20 years’ experience with public companies attracted Bcom3, which has announced its intention to go public. Krupnick takes over duties handled on an interim basis for 15 months by Wally Petersen, who remains senior vice president of corporate affairs, focusing again on Leo Burnett and Starcom MediaVest.
Other moves: WMAQ-Ch. 5 last week eliminated three positions as part of NBC’s move to pare costs at its owned-and-operated stations. Included in the purge was the station’s highly respected press spokeswoman, Jayme Nicholas, who had been with the station for 18 years. . . . Tara Lazarus joined Chicago-based Wheatley & Timmons as senior account manager on the agency’s Sunbeam Health & Safety division.
UltimateBid shuts down: UltimateBid.com, which named former AMFM Radio chief and local radio executive James de Castro its CEO in September, shut down late last month, citing inventory problems. At least 40 staffers in New York and San Francisco were let go.
