You want some good statistics about the Orioles? I can't pass along anything that shows improvements in RBIs, ERA or WHIP. Then again, I'd have to know what WHIP is.
(You, in the back, with your hand up. Yes? Walks and hits per inning pitched. Thank you.)
The happy numbers in this case have to do with Orioles television and radio broadcasts in their new homes.
Comparing this April with April 2006, Orioles games on Mid-Atlantic Sports Network drew an average 3.8 cable rating as opposed to the 3.0 Comcast SportsNet got. That means 3.8 percent of the Baltimore audience with cable TV was tuning in, an increase of 27 percent.
By simulcasting over-the-air games on WJZ/Channel 13 with MASN, the two channels combined for bigger viewership in the first month of the season. In 2006, Orioles games on WJZ and WNUV/Channel 54 averaged a 5.2 rating for the entire Baltimore TV market. This April, the combined rating for simulcast games on WJZ and MASN was 7.4, a 42 percent boost.
On radio, WHFS (105.7 FM) enjoyed a doubling of its nighttime share in the 25-54 age group in April over last year. During the 7 p.m.-midnight period, which nearly always included Orioles games, WHFS averaged a 6.0 share, meaning 6 percent of the Baltimore 25-54 audience listening to radio had its dial set for the Orioles. Last year, WHFS averaged a 3.0 share. The Orioles' previous radio home, WBAL (1090 AM), averaged 5.1 in April 2006, giving WHFS a nearly 18 percent increase.
Translated to raw numbers in the same age group -- or the "cume" -- WHFS averaged 55,300 listeners compared with WBAL's 33,800. (The cume, as defined at about.com, measures unduplicated people who listen during a time period.) That's almost a 64 percent rise.
All ratings information was provided by MASN and WHFS.
What are we to make of this? You can't chalk up the increases to the fans' sunnier outlook, unless you buy the idea that the Orioles' bullpen overhaul drove all those extra viewers and listeners. After all, one of baseball's verities (fine, call it a cliche) is that hope springs eternal. So hope would have sprung in April 2006, too.
From the time WHFS landed the Orioles, station management has contended that the combination of hearing the games in the clearer FM signal, increased programming and cross-promotional opportunities available on other CBS Radio stations in town -- including all-sports ESPN Radio 1300 -- would give the Orioles more ears. So far, that seems to be the case.
