KFRU’s Lile most popular in morning news talk

Every weekday morning, commercial radio station hosts David Lile and Tom Bradley compete with the public station KBIA for a share of the news-talk listeners in the Columbia market.

Lile, who’s been hosting KFRU’s “Morning News” program from 6 to 9 a.m. for a dozen years, has helped the AM station keep the top spot in three of the past five surveys of listeners ages 25 to 54, the demographic of most interest to advertisers.

Lile has been broadcasting for 32 years and has a “heritage position” in Columbia’s radio market, Cumulus Broadcasting Market Manager Mark Mills said.

KFRU started its morning show about 50 years ago, and Mills contends the AM station enjoys the same position as Lile in the community, which sets it apart from its competitors.

Lile’s show is known to be mostly apolitical, and the station believes it’s the style of his program and the rest of the station’s morning programs that keep listeners tuned in.

“Those programs, just by their very nature with the information they bring, would be the draw for significant numbers of listeners in the market,” Mills said

Bradley has been the host of “Wake Up Columbia” on the Eagle, KSSZ-FM, from 6 to 9 a.m. for about two and a half years. The Zimmer-owned station was No. 1 for one 12-week survey of the early morning period in 2007 but dropped significantly in the past two “books.”

Bradley also has long roots in the local radio market. He started as a co-host for a morning talk show on KPLA, an apolitical adult contemporary station. On the Eagle, Bradley makes his views known on his show.

Bradley tries to bring his sense of fun into the station with him, but his opinion is always prevalent.

“My commentary is all throughout the show,” Bradley said. “Everything we talk about I have a chance to talk on or comment on.”

Despite being on air at the same time and sometimes talking about the same current events, Bradley said he doesn’t feel pressure to compete with Lile; he only feels pressure to improve his own performance.

Both shows compete with KBIA’s morning news program for listeners and, to a lesser extent, for advertisers.

KBIA’s “Morning Edition” news program runs from 4 to 8 a.m. It is the University of Missouri-Columbia’s station and an NPR affiliate.

The CBT, with the help of Jack Miller at True Media, analyzed morning radio show statistics for people ages 25 to 54 who listened to the radio Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m. The statistics came from Arbitron, a media and marketing research firm that surveys radio listener rates. The statistics analyzed time spent listening to the radio and each station’s market share.

The rating period includes the first hour of KFRU’s “The Morning Meeting” program co-hosted by Simon Rose and Renee Hulshof, the first hour of “The Glenn Beck Program” on the Eagle and the first hour of classic music on KBIA.

In the fall 2006-spring 2007 ratings book, KFRU had a 6.7 percent market share. That percentage jumped to 10.5 percent in the fall 2007 to spring 2008 period. The station’s ratings fell again to 8.5 percent in the fall 2008 to spring 2009 ratings. KFRU’s time spent listening followed a similar pattern. It started at 3:15 per week, jumped to 4:00, then fell to 3:30.

According to Arbitron, the Eagle’s time spent listening has decreased 8 percent since one year ago. The station’s market share was at 8.1 percent in the fall 2006 to spring 2007 period, increased to 9 percent in the next survey and went back to 8.1 percent in the fall 2007 to spring 2008 period. The Eagle’s market share dropped to 6.6 percent and 6.8 percent in the past two surveys. The station’s time spent listening started at 3:30 per week, decreased a bit to 3:15 and then to 3:00.

KBIA had a 38 percent decrease in time spent listening from a year ago and had the biggest decline in market share in the latest survey. Its percentage of the market in the past five surveys, chronologically, was: 8.9, 8.2, 9.7, 8.2 and 5.9. KBIA’s time spent listening was initially 3:15 and increased to 4:00. However, the station’s time spent listening fell to 2:30 in the recent ratings.