The Arbitron Radio ratings are out for the Fort Wayne radio market, and with three notable exceptions, most stations stayed within their normal rating range.  The exceptions were drops by the two big A/C stations, WAJI and WMEE, and a big increase for Country, WBTU.

In past years, Christmas music has been a big ratings hit.  This year, it may have lead to the decline of WMEE, WAJI, and WGL. (WJOE also played all Christmas music, but this is their first official ratings period, so we don’t know how their audience was affected.

The problem may have been that this year there were four all holiday stations instead of three, and that they all started earlier than past years.  They may have just spread their limited audience around, while driving away their regular listeners.

Where did they go?  How about WBTU which nearly doubled their 12+ share.  They came in third, a whisker behind K105, and well behind market leader, WOWO.

My bet is that one or two of the all holiday stations won’t be doing it next year.  Let’s just hope we don’t go from four to none.  I really enjoyed the Christmas cheer on all four stations this year.

You can view the 12+ shares at

http://www.stationratings.com/ratings.asp?market=165

Of course, no smart advertiser used the 12+ numbers to buy advertising, but they are interesting to watch and often reflect growth or reduction of overall audience.