Cubs, Sox Still Grab Ears On The Air
The Cubs' radio team of Ron Santo (left) and Pat Hughes (right) pulls in a healthy audience (image via) Obviously it's far too early in the season to discuss who will reign victorious in the yearly battle between Your Favorite North Side Team and Your Favorite South Side Team (as the advertisers have to call them). But, thanks to Arbitron, it's obvious who's going to win one of the most important races of all: the battle for radio revenues. The Cubs handily defeat the White Sox when it comes to ears on the games, according to a new report from radio ratings mavens Arbitron released earlier this week. Across the big leagues, the Yankees reign supreme when it comes to its games being broadcast over WCBS with over 400k listeners per game. And the nation's largest media market also owns the #3 spot with the Mets gathering 227,000. Right behind the Yanks at #2 is the Cubs, who garner an average of 227,100 listeners (just edging out the Mets) per WGN broadcast. The Sox have a spot in the top ten, with just over half the listeners that the Cubs grab. On average, just over 122,000 people tune into hear the Southsiders play on WSCR, which puts them at #9 across the nation.
Who really dominates their market, though? That would be the legions of downstate Cardinals fans, who grab a whopping 20.0 share in St. Louis. For comparison, the aforementioned Cubs games, whose dominant broadcasts were a major point in the Ricketts acquisition of the team, only grab a (still respectable) 9.9.
Consolation: When it comes to football, the Bears brutalize everyone else nationwide, with 626,000 listeners per game on WBBM, and football isn't even any good on the radio. As for the quality of the broadcasts themselves, well, we'll let you hash out the Farmer/DJ vs. Pat/Ron argument yourselves. [h/t to Chicagolandradioandmedia.com]