By Denise Perreault
PBN Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE – In what radio insiders say is a rare occurrence, Arbitron Inc. revised ratings for the local morning market after it was discovered that a media-related household in East Greenwich apparently tried to cheat by turning in six ratings diaries.
The greatest change in the Spring 2008 ratings for the Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket market in the lucrative morning drive period – Monday through Friday, from 6 to 10 a.m. – when 630 WPRO-AM fell four slots from fourth place to ninth place among listeners ages 25 to 54, based on rankings released today by the station.
Controversial talk-show host John DePetro, whose show airs weekday mornings on WPRO-AM, is an East Greenwich resident. DePetro, known as “The Independent Man,” was the 2008 Associated Press winner for Best Talk show, the station notes on its Web site.
Arbitron has not identified the media-affiliated East Greenwich household that turned in the tainted diaries and, spokeswoman Jessica Benbow said today, the ratings agency will not do so.
DePetro, who is on vacation this week, could not be reached for comment. Former ABC 6 reporter Jim Hummel took his place on the drive-time talk show this morning.
On July 29, a few days after the spring ratings were released, unnamed personnel at Clear Channel Radio Providence alerted Arbitron to unusually high listening levels for competing stations, according to Jim Corwin, vice president and general manager of the local Clear Channel stations.
Clear Channel Radio Providence is a division of San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc. (NYSE: CCU). Its local stations include WHJJ-AM and WHJY-FM, competitors of Citadel Broadcasting’s local stations WPRO-AM and WPRO-FM.
Upon review, Arbitron identified six diaries, completed by three men and three women aged 27 to 34, that were returned by a media-affiliated household in East Greenwich, Corwin said. The six diaries claimed more than 109 hours of listening to WPRO-AM between 6 and 10 a.m. in the space of one week, according to Corwin.
The three stations at the top of the 6 to 10 a.m. weekday ratings remained the same in the revised report. They are, in order, WHJY-FM, WEEI-FM (a sports radio station out of Boston) and WPRO-FM.
Ranking fourth in the initial Spring 2008 report was WPRO-AM, which dropped to ninth place when the ratings were recalculated without the six East Greenwich diaries. East Providence-based WWLI-FM, known as Lite Rock 105, moved up to the fourth spot.
In overall ratings among listeners 12 and older, however, WPRO-AM retained its lead over WHJY-FM in the revised Spring 2008 Arbitron report, station officials noted today. No. 1 overall in the local market this spring was Cat Country 98.1 WCTK-FM, a property of Hall Communications Inc.; next were WPRO-AM and WWLI-FM, in a tie for second place; while WPRO-FM was fourth overall.
And WPRO-AM talk radio was No. 1 among Morning Drive listeners ages 12 and older – up from third place in the Winter 2008 ratings for the same weekday 6-to-10 a.m. time slot – Paul Giammarco, program director at WPRO radio, and Barbara Haynes, marketing manager at WPRO, added in their prepared statement.
The paper-and-pencil diary method is the foundation for the Arbitron ratings system. In the Providence market, 2,160 such diaries are responsible for the entire ratings data.
For more information about 630 WPRO-AM or talk-show host John DePetro, visit www.630wpro.com. The station is operated by Citadel Broadcasting Providence, a division of the Las Vegas-based Citadel Broadcasting Corp. (NYSE: CDL).
For more information about media ratings company Arbitron Inc., visit arbitron.com.
