Is AM radio dead in Erie?

The Spring 2011 radio Arbitron ratings came out Thursday and WRTS (Star 104) is number one, with almost 80% more total average audience than number two WXKC (Classy 100). Shocking? No, not really.

Where I find the real shock in the fact that even though Erie is surrounded by high-billing and highly-rated AM news and talk stations in the markets in a 120 mile radius, not one AM station this book was even able to string together two shares of total audience. The once-proud roster of AM radio stations in Erie has been relegated to the cellar of the semi-annual rankings.

Don’t get me wrong; I know that the few personnel that are actually behind these stations work hard to get a product on the air. But years of neglect on the billing and promotions sides of the ledger leaves potential listeners without the knowledge about or reasons to listen to those stations.

There is only one additional interesting news item in the Spring 12+ rankers available at AllAccess.com (registration required): another strong showing by WTWF (93.9 The Wolf) have reconfirmed the station as a clear winner in the Country format battle with WXTA/Country 98, with their biggest lead to date.

The Spring book is yet another indicator that the new First Channel/Lawrence Park station would be hard-pressed not to program a direct-assault on WRTS’s Top 40 format. For even if the new 92.7 got just one-third of Star’s 12+ share, that would still put them in 7th place.

It might take the Spring 2012 numbers to really make the radio ratings book interesting reading.