Ratings Roundup: Phase 2 Winter trend, part 2

Yesterday, you saw some of the early results of the second of the Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings trend reports. And today, some results from a few other markets.

This rolling trend report survey period covers this past December, January and February, and is the run-up to the official Winter ratings books, which will be released starting later this month.

In Denver and Pittsburgh, nothing exciting to note about any of the liberal talk stations there. KKZN slides a bit, and WPTT, which carries only Thom Hartmann from the Air America lineup and is as close to liberal talk as the market really gets (save for tiny WURP), drops slightly as well. However, one station makes a very impressive leap this time around. WWKB in Buffalo/Niagara Falls (#52), which recently lost a competitor when Air America-formatted WHLD flipped to gospel music, moves from a 0.6 in the Fall book, to a 1.1 in the last trend, and now to a 1.6 share, good for 15th place in the overall rankings. Like the situation in Monterey/Santa Cruz discussed yesterday, one station seemed to benefit when a rival switched formats. WWKB has also recently shuffled its schedule.

In Minneapolis/St. Paul (market #16), KTNF slides a few tenths of a point to 1.3 after their spectacular Fall book. The 1,000 watt station in the western suburb of Eden Prarie holds its own in a very heavy talk radio market that is also home to legendary top-rated middle-of-the-road talker WCCO, reformed conservotalker KSTP, underperforming 100,000 FM conservotalker KTLK-FM, female-oriented FM talker WFMP, Salem's pair of conservotalkers, and, of course, highly-rated Minnesota Public Radio flagship KNOW.

Finally, we conclude with Cincinnati, OH (#28), where WSAI is nowhere to be found after ditching liberal talk for some weird hodgepodge of lifestyle and how-to programming and lower-tier conservotalk shows. Gee, smart move, Clear Channel. Hey, at least liberal talk got ratings!

More trend reports for other markets are on the way next week. If you want to see the overall (12+) numbers for yourself, you can check them out at Radio and Records or StationRatings.com.