"We give him much credit," Bozzuto said. "He wanted an NPR station to stay in Baltimore, and he was right. He made an effort, but what he raised was just in the six figures. It was small compared to what they wanted for the station. But we've always praised him and given him credit for being the one who tried to keep public radio in Baltimore."
Steiner, whose show aired Monday through Thursday, said he was informed after Thursday's show "that they wanted an amicable separation."
"According to the book, my ratings dipped, but I think the ratings are an excuse - I'm not sure what for. From the very beginning, I've had the feeling they've been uncomfortable with me," he said.
"Ratings go up and ratings go down, and if they are slightly down, you work to bring them back up," he said. "After all, this is public radio, not commercial radio. At least I think we're public radio."
Steiner said his contract with the station has another year to go: "They have to make the choice of what they want to do with it."
While station officials insisted Steiner's program was the only one to have seen falling ratings, some reports indicate that WYPR's ratings have been falling overall. In the fall of 2005, about 170,500 listeners were tuning in to the station every week, according to Radio Research Consortium. By fall 2007, that number had dropped to 142,000, or by about 17 percent. During that same time, Steiner's audience sank from 47,300 to 37,400, or about 21 percent.
WYPR (88.1 FM) has seen its budget grow from $1.5 million to $5 million in the past five years, with annual donations surpassing $450,000, a 50 percent increase since 2002.
"We've done a tremendous job in growing listeners," Bozzuto said. "Everything's been going up. That's been our direction for the last five years. But during this time slot, there's a drop-off."
Bozzuto said that WYPR, since it acquired stations in Frederick and Ocean City, has become more of a statewide station and that Steiner's show was too often centered on Baltimore.
"Naturally the majority of news is always going to come from Baltimore, but we need a different emphasis," she said. "Our listeners want to hear everything that's going on from one side of the state to the other."
Bozzuto said that "suggestions" made to Steiner by management about the content of his show "were not taken."
She expected the news of Steiner's departure to hit some listeners hard.
