Arbitron Ratings

The first peek at the Arbitron November ratings book shows one significant difference from the numbers released by Nielsen over the weekend as the 11 o'clock news on Channel 13 (WJZ) drops considerably while Channel 11 (WBAL) moves into a strong second place in the late news race.The numbers show WJZ with an 11 rating and 29 share at 11 p.m., WBAL with a 9 rating and 22 share and Channel 2 (WMAR) close behind with an 8 rating, 20 share.In the Nielsen book, Channel 13 had a 14 rating at 11 p.m., doubling the 7 ratings recorded by both Channel 11 and Channel 2. In Arbitron, Channel 11 also had a noticeable lead with its noon news over Channel 13 -- a 9 rating compared to a 7 -- though both were virtually tied in Nielsen.

News/talk station WBAL-AM (1090) once again edged out urban contemporary WXYV-FM (V-103) for the top spot in the local radio ratings, according to the summer Arbitron figures released yesterday.WBAL finished with an 8.3 share of listeners ages 12 and over, compared with an 8.2 for V-103. In the spring Arbitrons, WBAL had a 9.0 share, compared with an 8.6 for V-103.Each share point represents about 3,500 listeners in an average quarter hour.This is the first time in two years that WBAL has finished first for two consecutive quarterly ratings periods.

For radio station WBAL-AM (1090), springtime is definitely the right time.WBAL, boosted by its broadcast of Baltimore Oriole baseball games, finished first in the spring Arbitron ratings released yesterday -- the third spring in a row it has finished first in the ratings.The news/talk station got a 9.0 share of listeners age 12 and over, up from 8.6 in the winter, narrowly beating out urban contemporary station WXYV-FM (V-103), which had finished first in three of the last four ratings books.

Channel 13 (WJZ) continued its domination of the local news ratings in the important May sweeps month, at least doubling the ratings of its competitors every time its news came on the air -- other than at noon -- in both the Nielsen and Arbitron ratings.Channel 11 (WBAL) continued its slide in the Arbitron book, where Channel 2 (WMAR) had twice the number of viewers for its 5 o'clock newscast -- a 10 rating and 29 share to a 5 rating/14 share. The 5 p.m. numbers were much closer according to Nielsen -- 9/26 for Channel 2 to 7/20 for Channel 11.Only in the Nielsen numbers for 11 p.m did Channel 11 get out of third place in the afternoon and evening newscast, getting an 8/20 to Channel 2's 7/17.

News/talk WBAL-AM (1090), which went "wall-to-wall" with coverage during much of the Persian Gulf war, scored the largest audience increase of any local radio station in the winter Arbitron ratings released yesterday.However, WBAL did not loosen urban contemporary WXYV-FM's (V-103) stranglehold on first place in the market.WBAL, which expanded its local and national newscasts and devoted dozens of hours of talk shows to discussion of the war, got an 8.6 share of listeners 12 and over, good for second place, up from a 6.8 share and a fourth-place finish in the fall.

Light adult contemporary station WLIF-FM (101.9) and country music station WPOC-FM (93.1) both scored impressive gains in the Arbitron ratings for the fall released yesterday.Lite 102, which switched from an easy listening instrumental format to soft vocal music a little over a year ago, jumped from a 6.4 share of listeners 12 and over in the summer to an 8.0, good for second place among area stations. WPOC leapt from a 5.4 to a 7.4, good for third place.Urban contemporary station WXYV-FM (V-103)

A U.S. District Court judge in Baltimore has rejected federal sentencing guidelines and refused to impose a prison term on a Bethesda man who stole TV rating equipment from Arbitron Co. for an attempted sale to the A.C. Nielsen Co., Arbitron's chief competitor.Judge William N. Nickerson, the newest judge on the federal bench here, accepted defense arguments yesterday that the theft was "aberrant behavior" by the defendant, former Arbitron employee Barry D. Glick, who suffers from an unspecified personality disorder.

The general manager of WBSB-FM (B-104), which recently eliminated hard rock and rap music from its play list, says he will meet tomorrow with former Baltimore disc jockey Johnny Walker in an effort to persuade him to accept a regular air slot on the Top-40 station.Jim Fox, who described the response to Mr. Walker's one-day appearance on the station last month as "phenomenal," said the meeting would take place at Mr. Walker's West Virginia farm and said, "Hopefully, we can bring him back."Mr.

It's the same old song in the Birch Radio ratings.WXYV-FM (V-103) maintained its position as the top-rated Baltimore area radio station in the summer ratings released this week.The urban contemporary station, which has held down the top spot in the quarterly Birch book for the last 1 1/2 years, registered an 11.7 share of listeners aged 12 and over. That was down slightly from V-103's 12.1 share in the spring, but it marked the fourth consecutive quarter in which it was the only area radio station to score a double-digit audience share.