Courtesy the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

(September 29, 2010) In the past week, I've been approached by people who worked at The Fan and at 1250 ESPN and both have told me their station was winning the ratings battle.

Sounds like someone isn't telling the truth. But radio ratings can be manipulated to say almost anything and often are. There so many different categories that stations often pick the one that suits them best to boast about.

For sports talk there is only one category that matters: Men 18 to 54. That's the target audience.

The ratings might seem like a moot point with the demise of 1250 ESPN, but they still matter. Did The Fan push ESPN out of business by dominating the ratings? Or was it the long-term failure of 1250 ESPN to turn a profit?

To get a better handle and more honest read on sports-talk ratings, I reached out to an expert, Ken Lazar, who is a senior broadcast strategist for Empower MediaMarketing.

I asked him to compare the Arbitron ratings of the two stations in August for men 18 to 54 in three time slots: 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The shows heard in those time periods on 1250 ESPN were: ''Mike and Mike in the Morning,'' ''Stan & Guy,'' and ''The Drive.'' On The Fan they are: ''The Fan Morning Show,'' ''Vinnie and Cook,'' and ''Seibel and Starkey.''

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time these numbers have been presented to the public.

There are two terms in the ratings that need explained:

AQH is average quarter hour listeners. Cume is the number of different listeners who tuned in for at least five minutes over a one-week (20 hour) period.

Lazar's report on the August Arbitron ratings for men 18-54:

''From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m: 1250 ESPN had 2,300 average quarter-hour listeners and 23,300 cumulative listeners. The Fan had 1,600 average quarter hour listeners and 34,600 cumulative listeners.

''From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: 1250 ESPN, 2,800 AQH; 27,900 CUME. The Fan, 2,300 AQH, 30,000 CUME.

''From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.: 1250 ESPN, 2,600 AQH, 28,700 CUME. The Fan: 1,900 AQH, 41,100 CUME

''KDKA-FM can boast that they have more listeners who tune-in over the course of the week. WEAE-AM can boast a higher average-quarter-hour audience.

''Why the disparity? WEAE's audience is more loyal, and spends significantly more time with the station. For example, given Stan and Guy's long-time loyal following within the market, I'm not surprised.

''KDKA-FM has a stronger signal, so more listeners within the metro have an opportunity to listen.

''Most media buyers will rank stations based on average-quarter-hour audience.''

So which station is the winner? It's a tough call. 1250 ESPN has the higher average quarter hour number; The Fan, because of its signal, the higher total listeners. The ratings points were extremely close as were the numbers above.

But it is clear the reason 1250 ESPN went out of business was not because it was losing the ratings battle.

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