Arbitron Ratings

98 Rock played the lottery, and lost $2,500.The album rock station, also known as WIYY-FM, was recently fined that amount by the Federal Communications Commission for promoting a lottery, according to Roger Holberg, an attorney for the FCC's complaints and investigations branch.Under commission rules and a provision in federal law, broadcasting some types of lottery information is prohibited, he said.The promotion that 98 Rock aired for a Super Bowl party at Balls The All American Sports Bar downtown violated those rules, he said.

Radio station WBSB-FM (B-104) will continue to mean music, as its popular slogan puts it, but what kind of music?It's a question local radio executives and advertisers have been asking with increasing frequency in recent days.The Top 40 station, an institution in the Baltimore market for the past decade, has scheduled a breakfast meeting with advertisers Tuesday amid speculation it will be changing to a classic rock or rock-oriented adult-contemporary format.Talk about a possible format change at B-104 -- which has declined dramatically in the ratings in recent years -- has been around for weeks, and invitations tout next week's meeting as the day "the gossip dies" about the station.

The competition between two Baltimore radio stations boasting "variety" music formats could turn into cooperation, under a deal in which the owner of WWMX-FM (106.5) is to purchase longtime rival WVRT-FM (104.3)."A contract is still being drawn up, but Scripps has accepted our offer. We have a verbal commitment," WWMX General Manager Ardie Gregory said yesterday. Jim Fox, general manager of WVRT, confirmed that there is a verbal agreement, but noted that "as of this moment, nothing is final on paper."

IT'S goodbye B-104, hello Variety 104.3.WBSB, which as B-104 was a Top 40 institution in the Baltimore radio market for the past dozen years, today changed its format to modern adult contemporary, and began promoting itself as Variety 104.3.It promised to play "Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites."In a message to listeners broadcast at 9 a.m., general manager Jim Fox said the station would play a "blend of top hits and favorites from the past few years.""We want to make sure Variety 104.3 is your favorite radio station."

WERQ-FM, the urban contemporary station better known as 92Q, remained Baltimore's top-rated radio station for the second quarter of 2008, attracting nearly 10 percent of the area's listening audience, according to figures released yesterday by the Arbitron ratings service. In fact, Baltimore's radio ratings changed little between the first quarter, which measured January through March, and the second, which includes April through June. Save for the disappearance of WSMJ-FM from the top 10 - little surprise, since the station changed both its format and its call letters in May, and is still building its new audience - the rankings were almost identical.

WBJC-FM became Baltimore's main source for classical music in the 1970s somewhat by default. After a commercial broadcaster, WCAO-FM, dropped classical for rock, listeners demanded more classical from WBJC. The station obliged. Today, its format is 90 percent classical music. Which is good, because WJHU-FM just drastically curtailed its classical music programming.WJHU, too, responded to listeners' demands. It decided its ratings would improve if it increased news and information programming, including talk shows.

WLIF-AM (1300)is preparing to shock Baltimore's morning radio listeners.The station, which had been simulcasting light pop vocal selections with WLIF-FM (Lite 102), is expected to air the New York drive-time radio show of Howard Stern, the notorious king of shock radio, beginning tomorrow.WLIF-AM, formerly WFBR, has been off the air since Sept. 23 to make technical adjustments in its directional antennae system and prepare for the format change.The 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. show of Mr. Stern -- who has been called the Sultan of Sleaze and Vicar of Vice -- originates at New York's WXRK-FM and is simulcast on WJFK-FM in Washington and WYSP-FM in Philadelphia.

Listeners of WIYY-FM (98 Rock) have heard the morning drive team of Chris Emry and Erika Puzulis for the last time.The city's leading rock station and the two announcers "decided to go our separate ways" following the end of their air shift yesterday morning, according to general manager Ed Kiernan."

In a studio nine floors above downtown Silver Spring, Mega Radio traffic reporter Claudia Alfaro is trying out a new greeting. "Que tal?" she says in her announcer voice. "Wassup, Baltimore? Bal-tee-mo-ray!"Starting today, Baltimore will be able to answer her. Over the weekend, Mega Radio, a favorite of Latino audiences in Washington at 1050 on the AM dial, turned up the wattage on former business news station WBZS 730 AM and began playing tropical music loud enough to be heard plainly as far north as Aberdeen.

NEW YORK -- His all-business-news radio station in New York had barely turned one year old when Michael Bloomberg decided to celebrate by going national with it.The decision was easy, because the radio station, WBBR-AM, can tag along at no additional expense on the satellite service that Bloomberg is leasing to start a 13-hour-a-day television service of business news.Along with the video channel, called Bloomberg Direct, which will be part of GM Hughes Electronics' satellite-to-home broadcasting service, will come an audio channel carrying WBBR.