Radio ratings in doubt

Since WCMC 99.9 FM "The Fan" switched to a sports format in October 2007, after two years as a country station, the ratings haven't been blockbuster.

General manager Mike Morgan says that's OK, given that sports radio overall is a niche format, and its revenue tends to far outperform ratings, thanks to the profile of the average male listener as upscale, educated and active.

Still, it didn't look good when Arbitron's spring 2008 ratings book came out recently, and WCMC's low ratings didn't even register (there was an asterisk instead of a number). In addition, Arbitron ran a notice on the inside cover, citing WCMC for ratings bias.

The statement began: "We are concerned about any station activity that may differentially prompt diary keepers to report listening to a particular station, relative to reporting listening to other stations."

At issue was this on-air promotional announcement: "I'm [personality name] reminding you to remember the time you spent listening to [program name] from [program's starting time] to [program's ending time]."

"These are not common occurrences," says Thom Mocarsky, senior vice president of press and investor relations at Arbitron, who declined to speak about WCMC specifically. "They happen often enough that we have an established policy."

Morgan says Arbitron took issue because WCMC also ran an "appropriately credited Arbitron ratings claim" that touted WCMC's leading total of sports radio listeners -- as opposed to quarter-hour listeners -- in the winter 2008 ratings book.

"Where they took issue is, those two promos ran back-to-back," says Morgan, who explains that one of the spots ran on rotation, as one of five promos on an audio cartridge, so the pairing was random.

Still, Arbitron decided the spots were potentially interfering with accurate diary-keeping.

"The promos that we ran have been running in at least two major markets around the country for over 10 years," explains Morgan. He's referring to sports stations 610 WIP in Philadelphia and 1310 The Ticket in Dallas.

"We ran it, fully believing that we were operating within the guidelines of Arbitron," Morgan says. "We talked to the two guys that program those radio stations, and they both stated that, somewhere, along the line, they got permission from Arbitron to run them."

He says WCMC didn't violate any printed guidelines, and was handed the lightest form of citation -- the statement on the inside of the winter book.

As for declining quarter-hour ratings over the last few books, Morgan speculates that diary returns to Arbitron have been inconsistent, and says that sports listeners only make up about 10 percent of listeners -- mostly male.

Morgan says the station is in the process of building new studios and upping its web presence over the next three to six months.

"We'll be around for a long, long time," Morgan says.

'Idol' chance for naught

Last week, as reported in this column, Raleigh resident Haven Sink, a 22-year-old nanny with a big voice, won a guaranteed audition with "American Idol" producers in New Jersey.

She was chosen by Raleigh-Durham Fox affiliate WRAZ as the best out of 214 at an open audition held at Crabtree Valley Mall on Aug. 9 The station paid her air fare and hotel costs.

So she went for the tryout last Tuesday, and, unfortunately, that's where her "Idol" quest ended.

"The audition didn't go so well," Sink reports by e-mail. "Winning the contest didn't actually give me much of an advantage. I think it might've actually hurt my chances because they let the contest winners go first. I think the judges are pickier at the beginning, and they let very few people through. It sort of felt like a three-ring circus in there instead of an audition."