Numeris, the company that measures radio and TV ratings, came out with their quarterly report this week, and once again it was Cogeco’s 92.5 The Beat that had the most good news to announce on the anglo side.

Among anglophone listeners, CKBE-FM had a 17.2% audience share, second only to CJAD’s 28.2% among all listeners. Virgin Radio was well back at 13.5%.

The shares were mostly stable among the anglophone audience, but the exception was Virgin, which was down for the second straight quarter and by almost three points compared to the same time last year. (I’ll compare year-over-year because two years ago when The Beat had a surge in the winter book Virgin claimed it was because of Christmas music that aired on The Beat during the holidays.)

CHOM recovered a bit after hitting a new low in the last quarter. It’s still fourth among anglophone stations, but it regained its position as first among men 25-54.

Despite this being a good report, The Beat couldn’t resist getting cute with spin, saying it’s the “number one radio station”, which only works if you (a) exclude the francophone market and (b) exclude people outside the 25-54 demographic. It also called its morning show the “fastest growing” one in the market with new hosts Vinny and Nikki. Which is kind of like saying your kid is “most improved.” The Beat’s morning show has been historically weak while its daytime has been strong.

Bell’s press release stressed its combined market share (which is, of course, because it owns most of the stations). CJAD still has the highest share by far, and 8 of the 10 most listened-to shows among anglophones. TSN 690 is stable at a 4% share, and CBC Radio One climbed more than one and a half points, its total audience up about 25% among anglophones.

Here are the top-line numbers (average minute audience and listening share) among anglophone listeners:

Station	Average minute audience	Share	Daily reach
CJAD 800	16,600	28.2%	191,400
The Beat 92.5	10,100	17.2%	216,100
Virgin Radio 96	7,900	13.5%	196,200
CHOM 97.7	6,400	11.0%	135,000
CBC Radio One 88.5	4,700	8.1%	51,200
TSN Radio 690	2,400	4.0%	65,100
Rythme FM 105,7	1,200	2.1%	50,700
Radio Classique	1,100	1.9%	26,000
CBC Radio Two 93.5	900	1.6%	21,800
98.5fm	800	1.4%	26,600
Rouge FM 107,3	700	1.1%	29,100
Énergie 94,3	700	1.2%	22,400
CKOI 96,9	500	0.9%	33,600
ICI Radio-Canada Première 95,1	400	0.6%	10,400
ICI Musique 100,7	200	0.3%	5,500
AM 980	100	0.2%	2,500
Radio circulation 730	100	0.1%	5,600
91.9 Sports	100	0.1%	4,900
CIBL 101,5	0	0.0%	900

Among Montreal francophone listeners:

Station	Average minute audience	Share	Daily reach
98.5fm	36,500	21.0%	584,000
Rythme FM 105,7	28,400	16.3%	620,200
ICI Radio-Canada Première 95,1	23,400	13.4%	309,900
Rouge FM 107,3	14,600	8.4%	389,900
CKOI 96,9	14,200	8.2%	436,200
Énergie 94,3	10,300	5.9%	348,100
Virgin Radio 96	9,400	5.4%	350,400
The Beat 92.5	8,000	4.6%	336,100
CHOM 97.7	7,400	4.2%	255,800
ICI Musique 100,7	4,300	2.5%	107,100
91.9 Sports	3,700	2.1%	68,100
Radio Classique	3,600	2.1%	91,800
CJAD 800	2,100	1.2%	40,800
AM 980	1,300	0.7%	18,200
CBC Radio One 88.5	1,000	0.6%	23,800
CBC Radio Two 93.5	700	0.4%	32,700
Radio circulation 730	400	0.2%	36,200
CIBL 101,5	200	0.1%	14,600
TSN Radio 690	100	0.1%	5,300

Combined:

Station	Average minute audience	Daily reach
98.5fm	37,300	610,600
Rythme FM 105,7	29,600	670,900
ICI Radio-Canada Première 95,1	23,800	320,300
CJAD 800	18,700	232,200
The Beat 92.5	18,100	552,200
Virgin Radio 96	17,300	546,600
Rouge FM 107,3	15,300	419,000
CKOI 96,9	14,700	469,800
CHOM 97.7	13,800	390,800
Énergie 94,3	11,000	370,500
CBC Radio One 88.5	5,700	75,000
Radio Classique	4,700	117,800
ICI Musique 100,7	4,500	112,600
91.9 Sports	3,800	73,000
TSN Radio 690	2,500	70,400
CBC Radio Two 93.5	1,600	54,500
AM 980	1,400	20,700
Radio circulation 730	500	41,800
CIBL 101,5	200	15,500

Victory for 98,5fm, Radio-Canada and 91,9 Sports, loss for Rythme and Rouge

On the franco side, unsurprisingly it was another win for 98,5fm, which once again declared itself the most listened-to radio station in all of Canada. Though its average minute audience of 37,300 (in its central market) is beat by Toronto’s CHFI-FM with 42,400.

Bell Media’s press release couldn’t dig up much to say about Rouge FM, so it led with Énergie instead, noting its improvement. Rouge FM dropped 2.5 percentage points in market share from a year ago.

Not that Rythme FM was much better. Though it’s still ahead of Rouge FM in the ratings, its share dropped to 16.3% from a high of 20.5% in the summer.

Great news for Radio-Canada’s Première station, which after hitting a low of 6.6% this summer has hit a high of 13.4%, putting it third in the market. Radio-Canada’s press release notes that morning show Gravel le matin is second in the market, behind 98,5fm’s Paul Arcand.

There were some winners on the low end of the ratings board as well.

RNC Media’s 91.9 Sports, which went through a series of format changes — from jazz to right-wing talk to news talk and finally to sports — in an attempt to find an audience, seems to be happy with the sports talk format. It had a 2.1% share, which is 50% higher than the last ratings book, and an average-minute audience of 3,700 which just slightly edges Radio Classique. The boost was enough to warrant an article in the Journal de Montréal.

Good news as well for CHRF AM 980, which more than doubled its share to 0.7%. Still dead last among music stations, but it’s an improvement.

Community station CIBL, which started reporting for the first time last quarter, is still the lowest-rated station overall, with an average of 200 listeners in French and an English number within the margin of error of zero. The station looks like it’s going to stay here for the time being. Its new manager explained during a recent general assembly that they discovered Numeris offers lower prices for community stations.

Other reporting

• InfoPresse (25-54 numbers)
• La Presse (highlights of francophone stations, plus top 10 shows)