By John Eckberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Shock jock Howard Stern and WAQZ-FM (97.3), the local radio station that carries his syndicated program, took a hit in the ratings period that ended March 31.

For local morning drive time among male listeners ages 18-34, Stern's show fell to second place in the winter rating period by New York City-based Arbitron, after reaching No. 1 in the fall for that demographic group and that time slot.

LOCAL RATINGS

Greater Cincinnati Arbitron ratings for persons 12+ overall during the winter ratings period, Jan. 1-March 31: Station Average quarter-hour share WLW 8.4 WEBN 6.8 WKFS 6.7 WRRM 6.3 WKRC 5.1 WUBE 5.0 WIZF 4.9 WGRR 4.8 WMOJ 4.7 (tie) WOFX 4.7 10. WKRQ 4.6 (Average quarter-hour share is the percent of the total listening audience tuned into each station. The estimate reveals the share of listening each station captures out of the total listening in the survey area.) Source: Arbitron

Stern and the station ranked behind the long-dominant WEBN-FM (102.7) Dawn Patrol after slowly gaining on them and finally beating them last fall in that category.

Stern's slide back to second in the battle for morning drive-time adult male listeners was not unexpected, said a spokesman for Clear Channel Communications Inc., the San Antonio-based company that owns WEBN.

"In all fairness, you never know with a rating book with all the wobbles, but with all the attention that Stern got with the (Federal Communications Commission), you'd think Stern would go up, and in some markets he had terrific ratings," said Mike Kenney, regional vice president for Clear Channel Communications Inc. of Cincinnati/Dayton/Huntington.

"But there's a lot of competition in this market," Kenney added.

Robert K. Riggsbee, president of Inside Media, a media planning, buying and management company, said Stern's rise to first place was a shocker.

"Nobody has dethroned WEBN in men 18-34, even in one period, and for a small radio station to dethrone them in the fall sent shock waves through the radio community," he said.

"I believe (Stern's) recent bashing of Clear Channel in his program has done nothing but help Clear Channel."

Stern was dumped from six Clear Channel stations earlier this year for bringing the company FCC fines of $495,000 after the commission determined he broadcast indecent material.

Also in the Arbitron report, people ages 12 and older each day were most likely to be tuned into a trio of Clear Channel stations: WLW-AM, followed by WEBN and in third place, WKFS-FM (107.1).

The top local station in the demographic of women listeners ages 25-54 - a group coveted by most advertisers because they are most likely to shop in grocery stores - was WRRM-FM (98.5), which was followed by its sister station, WMOJ-FM (94.9).

"We have held our rank and increased our share," said Dan Swensson, vice president of Radio Cincinnati Inc., a holding of Susquehanna Radio, a York, Pa.-based media company.

Nailing down the top spots for women with family-friendly radio programming has not been an accident, Swensson said.

"It's been part of my brand for a long time," he said.

E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com