Denver's Most and Least Popular Radio Stations Right Now

There have been plenty of shifts among the most and least popular radio stations in Denver during 2023, with the listenership at some signals sliding even as it's risen substantially at others. But separating winners from losers can be a complicated game — and much of the competition takes place behind a veil of carefully maintained secrecy.

The Nielsen ratings service tracks the numbers for radio outlets in the U.S., including Denver, the nation's eighteenth-largest market based on a population estimate of 2,796,400, with 161,400 of those residents identified as Black and 582,500 classified as Hispanic. But the firm only shares one number publicly: total listeners ages six and older who tune in local stations from 6 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Sundays.

By that measure, the ratings winner in October, the most recent month for which figures are available, was oldies purveyor KOOL-105, which had occupied fourth place in the six-plus category last February, as documented in Westword's previous look at radio ratings. Meanwhile, KOSI, the Mile High City's longtime adult-contemporary kingpin, dipped from the number-one slot in February to third, and ALICE, which topped the heap in October 2022, tumbled all the way to twelfth.

But as KOSI program director and weekday afternoon host Jim Lawson told Westword earlier this year, six-plus ratings aren't all that important from a dollars-and-cents perspective. "Sales are really set by demographics: women 25-54, men 25-54, persons 18-49, whatever," Lawson explained. "So stations are most interested in that information, which Nielsen doesn't release publicly, because people pay for it. We pay for it, and so do advertising agencies. You have to be a subscriber to their service to see all of that data."

Indeed, Nielsen only collects info about stations that subscribe to its service, and numbers related to the specific demographics Lawson mentions are proprietary. But on the rare occasion when they're released, they speak volumes.

A case in point is the battle for Denver sports-radio supremacy between usual frontrunner 104.3 The Fan and Altitude Sports Radio. The Fan's six-plus figures for October look great: The station sits in sixth on the roster, up four positions since February and well ahead of Altitude, which landed at twentieth after jumping from 36th place over the past ten months.

Weeks earlier, however, The Fan dumped four high-profile personalities, including afternoon-drive staple Darren D-Mac McKee, in a major reshuffle of the sort that doesn't happen when business is booming — and an October 5 post by the radio-industry site Barrett Sports Media offered a rationale for why the move was made. The report revealed that over the summer, Altitude bested The Fan among male listeners between 25 and 54, both broadcasters' key demo, for the first time ever.

If McKee was the scapegoat for this under-performance, he's already moved past the designation. Earlier this month, he debuted for Altitude.

KOOL 105 aims its approach at listeners under 54, too, because folks older than that aren't as appealing to advertisers; they're less likely to buy a lot of stuff, since they already have it. That's why the station, which started out as the place to hear the music of the 1950s and 1960s, has shifted its style to the 1980s and 1990s.

As for the six-plus stats, they're made up of disparate parts. Key metrics include "cume," TSL (time spent listening) and average-quarter-hour share, whose definitions are included at the bottom of this post.

Lawson sees the six-plus ratings as being mostly about "bragging rights," but he concedes that they can provide a good indication of the overall health of a radio station. Those that had the most robust October include news-talker KOA, which nearly doubled its ratings share from February (it went from seventeenth place to seventh), and alternative rocker KTCL, now at number five after finishing in the ninth spot ten months ago. Less apt to celebrate are the folks at KCFR, owned by Colorado Public Radio. The enterprise's flagship station has gone from eighth to thirteenth since early 2023, and KVOD, its classical arm, which was the thirteenth-ranked station in February, is now down to number 22.

Below, Westword has compiled the Nielsen ratings for Denver in October, ranked from the largest to smallest share of listeners ages six and older — juxtaposed with data from February.

Nielsen Ratings in October

1. KXKL-FM (KOOL 105)
Format: Classic Hits
Owner: KSE Radio Ventures
October 2023 ratings share: 5.6
February 2023 ratings share: 5.0
February 2023 ranking: 4

2. KYGO-FM
Format: Country
Owner: Bonneville International
October 2023 ratings share: 5.6
February 2023 ratings share: 4.9
February 2023 ranking: 6

3. KOSI-FM
Format: Adult Contemporary
Owner: Bonneville International
October 2023 ratings share: 5.5
February 2023 ratings share: 6.1
February 2023 ranking: 1

4. KRFX-FM (The Fox)
Format: Classic Rock
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 5.0
February 2023 ratings share: 5.2
February 2023 ranking: 3

5. KTCL-FM (Channel 93.3)
Format: Alternative
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ranking: 4.9
February 2023 ratings share: 4.5
February 2023 ranking: 9

6. KKFN-FM (104.3 The Fan)
Format: All Sports
Owner: Bonneville International
October 2023 ratings share: 4.5
February 2023 ratings share: 4.2
February 2023 ranking: 10

7. KOA-AM
Format: News/Talk
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 4.5
February 2023 ratings share: 2.3
February 2023 ranking: 17

8. KQMT-FM (The Mountain)
Format: Classic Rock
Owner: Audacy
October 2023 ratings share: 4.5
February 2023 ratings share: 4.9
February 2023 ranking: 5

9. KIMN-FM
Format: Hot AC
Owner: KSE Radio Ventures
October 2023 ratings share: 4.4
February 2023 ratings share: 4.6
February 2023 ranking: 7

10. KJMN-FM (José 92.1)
Format: Adult Hits
Owner: Entravision
October 2023 ratings share: 4.3
February 2023 ratings share: 4.1
February 2023 ranking: 12

11. KLDV-FM (K-LOVE)
Format: Christian
Owner: CHR Educational Media Foundation
October 2023 ratings share: 4.1
February 2023 ratings share: N/A
February 2023 ranking: N/A

12. KALC-FM (Alice)
Format: Adult Contemporary
Owner: Audacy
October 2023 ratings share: 4.0
February 2023 ratings share: 5.6
February 2023 ranking: 2

13. KCFR-FM
Format: News/Talk
Owner: Public Broadcasting of Colorado
October 2023 ratings share: 3.9
February 2023 ratings share: 4.5
February 2023 ranking: 8

14. KBCO-FM
Format: Alternative
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 3.5
February 2023 ratings share: 4.1
February 2023 ranking: 11

15. KXPK-FM (La Tricolor 96.5)
Format: Regional Mexican
Owner: Entravision
October 2023 ratings share: 3.3
February 2023 ratings share: 2.9
February 2023 ranking: 15

16. KQKS-FM (KS 107.5)
Format: Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio
Owner: Audacy
October 2023 ratings share: 2.7
February 2023 ratings share: 2.6
February 2023 ranking: 16

17. KWBL-FM (The Bull)
Format: Country
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 2.7
February 2023 ratings share: 1.9
February 2023 ranking: 19

18. KDHT-FM (Hits 95.7)
Format: Contemporary Hits Radio
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023: 2.4
February 2023 ratings share: 3.0
February 2023 ranking: 14

19. KDFD-AM (Freedom 93.7)
Format: News/Talk
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 2.1
February 2023 ratings share: 1.4
February 2023 ranking: 21

20. KKSE-AM
Format: All Sports
Owner: KSE Radio Ventures
October 2023 ratings share: 2.0
February 2023 ratings share: 1.3
February 2023 ranking: 22

21. KHOW-AM
Format: News/Talk
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 1.8
February 2023 ratings share: 2.0
February 2023 ranking: 18

22. KVOD-FM
Format: Classical
Owner: Public Broadcasting of Colorado
October 2023 ratings share: 1.6
February 2023 ratings share: 3.7
February 2023 ranking: 13

23. KBPI-FM
Format: Rock
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: 1.3
February 2023 ratings share: 0.8
February 2023 ranking: 25

24. KFCO-FM (Flo 107.1)
Format: Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio
Owner: Max Radio
October 2023 ratings share: 1.3
February 2023 ratings share: 1.2
February 2023 ranking: 24

25. KJHM-FM (Jammin 101.5)
Format: Rhythmic AC
Owner: Max Radio
October 2023 ratings share: 1.3
February 2023 ratings share: 1.7
February 2023 ranking: 20

26. KXDP-FM
Format: Regional Mexican
Owner: Syncom Media
October 2023 ratings share: 1.1
February 2023 ratings share: 0.8
February 2023 ranking: 27

27. KQKS-FM-HD2
Format: Comedy
Owner: Audacy
October 2023 ratings share: 0.8
February 2023 ratings share: 0.8
February 2023 ranking: 26

28. KUNC-FM
Format: News/Talk
Owner: Community Radio for Northern Colorado
October 2023 ratings share: 0.8
February 2023 ratings share: 1.3
February 2023 ranking: 23

29. KJAC-FM (The Colorado Sound)
Format: Alternative
Owner: Community Radio For Northern Colorado
October 2023 ratings share: 0.7
February 2023 ratings share: 0.5
February 2023 ranking: 31

30. KUVO-FM
Format: Jazz
Owner: Rocky Mountain Public Media
October 2023 ratings share: 0.6
February 2023 ratings share: 0.6
February 2023 ranking: 28

31. KVOQ-FM
Format: Alternative
Owner: Public Broadcasting of Colorado
October 2023 ratings share: 0.6
February 2023 ratings share: 0.6
February 2023 ranking: 29

32. KUVO-FM-HD2
Format: Urban
Owner: Rocky Mountain Public Media
October 2023 ratings share: 0.5
February 2023 ratings share: 0.4
February 2023 ranking: 32

33. KRKA-FM
Format: Christian
Owner: CHR Educational Media Foundation
October 2023 ratings share: 0.3
February 2023 ratings share: N/A
February 2023 ranking: N/A

34. KVOQ-FM-STR
Format: Alternative
Owner: Public Broadcasting of Colorado
October 2023 ratings share: 0.3
February 2023 ratings share: 0.2
February 2023 ranking: 33

35: KYGO-FM-HD2
Format: Classic Country
Owner: Bonneville International
October 2023 ratings share: 0.3
February 2023 ratings share: N/A
February 2023 ranking: 39

36. KEPN-AM (ESPN Denver 1600)
Format: All Sports
Owner: Bonneville International
October 2023 ratings share: 0.1
February 2023 ratings share: 0.1
February 2023 ranking: 34

37. KQMT-FM-STR
Format: Classic Rock
Owner: Audacy
October 2023 ratings share: 0.1
February 2023 ratings share: N/A
February 2023 ranking: 37

38. KTCL-FM-HD2
Format: Alternative
Owner: iHeartMedia
October 2023 ratings share: N/A
February 2023 ratings share: N/A
February 2023 ranking: N/A

Radio-term definitions (per Nielsen):

Cume Persons

A station’s “Cume Persons” or “Cume” is the number of unique persons that listened to the station during the specified daypart. We determine a radio station’s Cume Persons by summing the weekly Panelist weights averaged across the report period (as applicable) for each of the station’s listeners and rounding that sum to hundreds.

Time Spent Listening

A station’s Time Spent Listening (TSL) is the average number of Quarter-Hours the station’s listeners listened to that station during the survey or report period. To determine a station’s TSL, we multiply the number of Quarter-Hours in the daypart by the station’s AQH or Average Daily AQH (as applicable) in that daypart and then divide by the station’s Cume or Average Daily Cume for the daypart. TSL estimates are expressed in hours and minutes.

Average Quarter-Hour Share

A station’s Average Quarter-Hour Persons estimate expressed as a percentage of the Market Total Average Quarter-Hour Persons estimate within a reported daypart.