WKNC among the “Fab Four” in college radio

WKNC 88.1 FM was one of 64 college radio stations across the United States selected to participate in a bracket-style online listening challenge. Soundtap’s “Madness” tournament began Monday, April 1 at 3 a.m. ET (12 a.m. PT, where Soundtap is based) and featured six, 48-hour rounds in which the station logging the most hours listened through Soundtap, an online listening platform, advanced to the next round. 

The 64 stations were divided into four geographic regions, with WKNC representing the southeast. N.C. State logged more than three times the hours of its first-round opponent, WRFL 88.1 FM at University of Kentucky. Radio neighbors WXDU 88.7 FM at Duke University were WKNC’s second round challenger, with the Revolution maintaining the more than 3-1 listening ratio. 

Moving into the Sweet Sixteen round, WKNC faced off against its second 88.1 FM competitor, WSBF at Clemson University. It was a close race with WSBF coming within one hour of matching WKNC’s listening time, but WKNC ended the round with a 68-hour surplus. WKNC then breezed through the Great Eight round against WTUL 91.5 FM at Tulane University with a 4-1 listening ratio.

The southeast squared off against the northeast in the Fab Four round, taking on WRCT 88.3 FM at Carnegie Mellon University, last year’s runner-up in the tournament. Carnegie Mellon bested N.C. State with a 3-1 listening ratio to advance to the final round against KTRU at Rice University.

WKNC logged about 2,800 hours on Soundtap during its 10 days in the Madness tournament, which is an average of 8.67 listeners per hour. According to streaming logs, Soundtap listeners accounted for roughly one-fifth of WKNC’s online audience during that time period.