The Numbers

Spring radio ratings are in:

Results from the most important radio ratings period of the year -- the spring Arbitron ratings "book" -- have been released, and nobody should be unhappier locally than Infinity Broadcasting, parent to WCCO (830 AM) and WLTE (102.9 FM).

Despite a stellar season for the Twins, whose games air on WCCO, the station's ratings share -- 7.7 -- hasn't been this low in years. WLTE has dropped, as well, raising the question: What's going on over at Infinity?

Who cares? The big question is, what about the NARN?

Well, for one, it's not paying much attention to the ratings -- it's not even allowed to see them. In June, the radio chain dropped its $20 million subscription to Arbitron after a dispute over fees...Their squabble also means a clampdown on the amount of information shared with the public. Arbitron has declared that, until Infinity "re-ups," newspapers can only print daily averages for listeners 12 and older -- the broadest, and least useful, snapshot of a station's performance.

So, no big news: the ratings show KQRS, WCCO, K-102, KSTP-AM and KDWB in the top five stations, with each leading its respective market (classic-rock, geezer news and sports, country, cookie-cutter talk and teeny music).

But here's the funny part of this article (written by Deb Caulfield-Rybak, sister-in-law of Minneapolis' liberal mayor):

And there seems to be a market in the Twin Cities for politically liberal programming, judging from ratings for the station formerly known as WMNN (1330 AM). Its share jumped from 0.6 to 1, which represents an increase of about 10,000 listeners, after it put talk shows by Al Franken and Ed Schultz on the air in late March. Those programs have since moved to different stations; WMNN is now WLOL and broadcasting a Catholic-oriented format. How that ranks won't be known until late fall.

A one point share! That is beneath pathetic!

Hint: I'll bet "WLOL" gets a 1.2 to 1.5; it'll eclipse the numbers both of FrankenNet's brief stint on WMNN, and even moreso on its current stations (KSMM1530 and WMIN 740).

Posted by Mitch at August 5, 2004 04:56 AM | TrackBack