With the Giants playing well and the 49ers proving last year wasn’t a fluke, people are tuning into KNBR at levels not seen in several years.

For the third time in the last five months KNBR leads the San Francisco market in the ratings, dominating the so-called competition in the sports format. With October baseball in store for the Giants, it doesn’t look like things will slow down anytime soon, either.

Here are the numbers updated through September (numbers on demographics or specific shows aren’t available to the general public):

San Francisco

July

August

September
Station

AQH%

Reach

AQH%

Reach

AQH%

Reach

Owner
KNBR-AM 4.6 931,400 5.2 958,300 5.7 974,800 Cumulus
KGMZ-FM 0.7 207,700 1.1 258,600 0.8 245,800 Entercom
KTCT-AM 0.4 190,600 0.4 160,200 0.5 231,300 Cumulus

*AQH is Average Quarter-Hour Share or the average share during any quarter-hour during the course of the day. Reach is the total number of people that tuned in during the course of the week.

For those who are more visually oriented, here are the ratings in graphical form since I started tracking this, going back to June 2011:

 After a surge from “the Game” last month, its ratings fell back to the normal range it had maintained over the last year. I am a bit disappointed, because I was looking forward to some more real competition between the two. It looks like that dream is deferred for another month.

Looking for some positives on the FM side? Well, for the third straight month the number of listeners eclipsed the 200k barrier, less than 10,000 from last month’s all-time high. The ratings might not be growing, but at least that monthly listeners number has seen year-over-year growth.

The A’s reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2006 could propel the October numbers to new heights. However, that’s not a sure thing — unless the A’s sweep the Rangers, their postseason experience could just last one game.

Over at KNBR, 680 continues its summer dominance while 1050 is still just there. The 5.7 rating posted by 680 is the highest yet for the time period I have been watching and it really seems that KNBR is feeling very little pressure from “the Game” right now. That might change when they lose the “tent pole programming“ of the Giants and 49ers, but that’s still several months away.

Here are the YOY Changes:

  September 11 – September 12 Ratings September 11 – September 12 Listeners
KNBR 23% 4%
KNBR 1050 -20% -38%
KGMZ (the Game) 0% 21%

 

September brought us back to the same old, same old of earlier this summer. KNBR 680 remains dominant, “The Game” treads water while showing some positive signs, while KNBR 1050 brings up the rear. It will be interesting to watch how the postseason performances of the two Bay Area baseball teams affects their respective radio partners.