Most popular radio stations in San Francisco 2020

In October 2020, the top radio station in San Francisco was KQED-FM with a 8.4 rating, meaning that 8.4 percent of those listening to the radio in San Francisco tuned into the station for at least five minutes in each 15 minute period. KQED-FM is frequently in competition with fellow news station KCBS-AM, with the two battling for the higher audience share each month and often drawing in a similar percentage of listeners.

News radio in the U.S.

News and talk radio have been among the leading radio formats in the United States since 2015 in terms of the number of stations dedicated to these formats. There are almost two thousand news/talk radio stations in the U.S. according to a report from early 2019, marking a significant jump from the years running from 2015 to 2018 where the annual figure hovered around 1.3 thousand. The audience share of news and talk radio stations has remained steady over the past few years, with between eight and 11 percent of the U.S. radio audience listening to news/talk stations relatively consistently since 2014.

In terms of news content, U.S. adults have expressed concern about the accuracy of radio news, as they have with most other news sources available today. From social networks to print media, consumers are wary of fake news and bias, though traditional media like radio, TV and newspapers are generally considered less likely to be inaccurate than online sources.