By AL BRUMLEY / The Dallas Morning News
10/22/1999

Russ Martin has arrived.

Two years after taking over for Howard Stern at "The Eagle" KEGL-FM (97.1), Mr. Martin ranked fifth overall this summer in the quarterly Arbitron ratings, beating out Dallas legend Ron Chapman at KVIL-FM (103.7). The ratings, released Thursday, show that Mr. Martin's morning show jumped from seventh to fifth place in the summer, from a 3.8 share in the spring to a 5.0. Mr. Chapman ranked sixth with a 4.8 share.

More surprising, Mr. Martin ranked third among listeners ages 25 to 54 - one of the important demographics for advertisers - with a 5.4 share, while Mr. Chapman ranked fourth with a 5.3 share. Mr. Martin's show is primarily talk, with usually no more than four songs an hour. The show features contests such as "How Stupid Are You?" in which callers have to answer everything wrong ("Can you hear me?" "Yep." "Sorry, you lose."), celebrity interviews and constant banter among him, his guests and his morning-show partners.

"K104" KKDA-FM (104.5) was the No. 1 station among all listeners (ages 12 and older) this summer - the third consecutive victory for the station - with a 7.2 share, down from 7.6 in the spring. "Kiss FM" KHKS-FM (106.1) ranked second at 7.0, up from 6.6 in the spring. In the 25-54 listening group, KHKS eked out a victory, pulling in a 5.8
share compared with KKDA's 5.7.

Meanwhile, KHKS' Kidd Kraddick continued his dominance in morning drive, ranking No. 1 with a 9.1 share among those 12 and older, and 8.1 among 25- to 54-year-olds. Except for one ratings period, Mr. Kraddick has had the most popular morning show (12 and older) since summer 1996. And he has been No. 1 among listeners 25-54 since spring 1997. KKDA's Skip Murphy was No. 2 in each category, with a 7.6 share 12 and older, and a 7.1 share 25-54. He has been No. 2 since spring 1997, save for a slip to third in winter 1998.

The morning news show on WBAP-AM (820) ranked No. 3 in the mornings with 12 and older at 5.5, and Terry Dorsey and Hawkeye at KSCS-FM (96.3) ranked fourth at 5.2.

Mr. Martin said he was surprised by the news of his ratings Thursday. "I grew up listening to Ron Chapman, and a lot of the things I do on the air are things I learned from him," he said. "Nobody knows what the ratings will do in the next period. All I know is, I'm going to be hard to live with for the next three months."

In other ratings news, "The Wolf" KPLX-FM (99.5) jumped from 13th to seventh place, 3.3 to 4.0, while "Magic 102" KTXQ-FM (102.1) dropped from seventh to 14th, 4.0 to 3.3.

News/talk station KRLD-AM (1080) dropped out of the top 10, tying with "The Oasis" KOAI-FM (107.5) for 12th place with a 3.4 share. News/talk KLIF-AM (570) continues to struggle, tying for 22nd place with KKZN-FM (93.3) with a 1.5 share.

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