Sports talk on FM in Chicago looking more likely

"The January Arbitron radio ratings book released Wednesday has perfectly set the stage for what most in the Chicago radio business are convinced will be the next big move here: an FM sports station for a sports-obsessed city.

• The smart money is betting that CBS Radio Chicago will move -- sooner rather than later -- to simulcast it's hugely popular sports talk WSCR-AM (670) on one of the FM stations in the CBS Radio Chicago cluster. The most likely candidate would appear to be adult contemporary WCFS-FM (105.9),
• which was still languishing in 26th place overall among adults 25 to 54 in the January ratings book. In recent weeks an aggressive ad campaign to draw listeners to WCFS hasn't succeeded in boosting the station's ratings in that key audience demo....

It's going to take a couple more books to determine whether the changes at Citadel Broadcasting's news/talk WLS-AM (890) will boost that station from its disappointing 24th ranking in the January book in the 25 to 54 demo -- a ranking it shares with arch-competitor Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM (720).

• WGN-AM is likely to get a boost from its Chicago Cubs broadcasts starting in April.

But WLS-AM is still waiting for its star afternoon drive host Roe Conn to get back on track. His show was ranked 23rd in January among adults 25 to 54."

• from Chicago Sun-Times by Lewis Lazare, "Ratings reveal sports talk on FM dial looking more likely," 2/25/10, via RadioDailyNews

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