3-way tie for No. 1 in local radio

OCTOBER RATINGS | Adult/urban contemporary, classic outlets snare key demographic

It's getting crowded at the top. In an unusual turn of events, three radio stations tied for first place in the key 25- to 54-year-old demo in the October Arbitron ratings book released Wednesday. Two of Bonneville International's stations, hot adult contemporary WTMX-FM (101.9) and classic hits WDRV-FM (97.1), tied for the No. 1 slot with Clear Channel Radio Chicago's urban contemporary station WVAZ-FM (102.7).

Meanwhile, because of the three-way tie at the top, formerly top-ranked country outlet WUSN-FM (99.5) had to settle for fourth place behind the top three stations. And in the fifth spot, Hispanic outlet WOJO-FM (105.1) continues as one of the city's top-ranked stations. All-news WBBM-AM (780) improved its rating but remained in seventh place overall in the rankings for October, which was another good month for the city's sports stations. ESPN Radio's WMVP-AM (1000) jumped to eighth place from 12th position in the 25-to-54 demo, putting it ahead of WSCR-AM (670), which inched up to tie for 11th place with WGCI-FM (107.5) and WLIT-FM (93.9) in October from the 12th place in September.

Without the Chicago Cubs to boost its numbers, Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM (720) started another downward slide in October, plunging to 24th in the rankings from a tie for the 16th spot in September. Clear Channel's hot Spanish hits outlet, WNUA-FM (95.5), "Mega-95.5," is holding steady in another three-way tie for 21st place with news/talk WLS-AM (890) and Spanish outlet WVIV-FM (103.1).

In the hotly contested morning drive competition, Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart remain tops in the market on WTMX, but Don Wade and Roma at WLS-AM rebounded from a hugely disappointing 25th place in September all the way to 13th position in October. WLS suspected the September ratings were hurt by lazy Cubs fans who weren't resetting their dial after listening to Cubs games on WGN. With Cubs baseball well over, WLS gained as WGN lost in the morning. WGN's new morning drive host, Greg Jarrett, trended downward with the rest of the station, dropping to 19th in the rankings in October from a tie for 16th place in September.