Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 18, 2009 at 16:06:11:
WLS blames ratings slide on lazy Cubs listeners, Arbitron
October 15, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE | Chicago Sun-Times
Don't tell Mike Fowler to throw in the towel. No way. The Chicago market manager for Citadel Broadcasting and its WLS-AM (890) outlet isn't about to concede anything -- yet -- in the battle for ratings dominance in the news/talk radio category.
In the last couple of ratings books, however, WLS looked to be losing that fight against arch-rival WGN-AM (720), especially in the all-important morning-drive time slot. Last winter and even into the spring, WLS' morning drive duo Don Wade and Roma were a ratings powerhouse -- scoring an impressive 4.7 share in the April Arbitron book among adults 25 to 54. But by September, Don Wade and Roma's share had tumbled to 1.8.
Fowler doesn't think his morning drive team or their show is the primary reason for the severe ratings falloff. "Nothing about Don and Roma's show has changed from when the ratings were much higher just a few months ago, so I don't think you can blame the talent or their show," Fowler explained.
Rather Fowler is blaming something else: baseball. And all the baseball games played by the hugely popular Chicago Cubs were carried this season on WGN. Fowler believes a major reason his Don Wade and Roma team took such a hit in the ratings was inertia among Cubs fans who simply tuned in to WGN for night games and were too lazy to reset their dials to WLS to pick up Don Wade and Roma the next morning. Indeed, since the baseball season began to wind down, Fowler has seen Don Wade and Roma's numbers start to improve from their September lows.
Even though WGN's new morning-drive talent, Greg Jarrett, is meeting the station's expectations, WGN General Manager Tom Langmyer has an issue with how the ratings are calculated. He doesn't completely dismiss the baseball fan theory for part of WGN's gain, either, "but I think the goofy Arbitron sample size may have a lot to do with it as well," Langmyer said.
Fowler, it turns out, has issues with Arbitron, too. Since Arbitron switched to the portable people meter last year to track radio listening habits, the company has equipped only 900 people in the Chicago market with meters to determine ratings in the 25- to- 54 year-old demo.
Both Fowler and Langmyer believe that number needs to be a lot larger than 900 to get an accurate read on what people are listening to, but they have not yet pushed Arbitron to add bodies.
For now, Fowler is not planning any major adjustments in his programming or talent lineup at WLS. And he's hoping the ratings will continue to improve. "But I do have to figure out what I'm going to do when baseball season rolls around again," Fowler added.