The latest listenership numbers show a distinct bunching of individual shows on the three stations that dish out a steady stream of jock talk. Each airs four programs on weekdays, and they are clustered in three distinct groups.

WXOS (101.1 FM) has the top four shows, KFNS (590 AM) has the next four and KSLG (1380) trails — with the only caveat being that KFNS' bottom show and KSLG's top program are tied.

WXOS' afternoon drive-time program (with Bob Ramsey, Randy Karraker and D'Marco Farr) led the way, attracting 8.4 percent of the sports-talk radio's target audience — men ages 25-54 — in Arbitron's most recent quarterly survey that measured market share from July to September. It was followed by the ESPN Radio morning drive program with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic with a 7.9 figure. All four of 101.1's programs had significant increases in market share over the previous summer.

WXOS is wrapping up its second year in the format, and the Greenberg-Golic show has done well in the ratings throughout, disproving the conventional wisdom that national programming won't do well in the parochial St. Louis market.

"I would not be being straight with you if I told you I thought it would be doing the numbers it's doing,'' WXOS general manager John Kijowski said. "I knew it was a really good show; the question was, would St. Louis take to a show that's syndicated? A lot of people told us it wouldn't, but it has. I think it's because those guys are very talented and get great guests. It's interesting to get a national perspective as well as a local one."

NO TREND-SETTER

But the success of national fare doesn't permeate the market. The lowest-ranked shows are the two other syndicated programs, which air on 1380 and are hosted by Dan Patrick and Jim Rome. That station recently was purchased by KFNS owner Grand Slam Sports, and KSLG's general manager, Dave Greene, said the lineup is a work in progress.

"The plan for 1380 remains to provide a mix of even more local programming and play-by-play," he said. "... We will always be working to improve. ... However, there are no immediate plans for change on either station.''

Kevin Slaten was KSLG's top draw, and although his number was only 0.8, this is an example of a show receiving no help from lead-in programming. Jim Rome's national show that precedes Slaten got a zero rating, meaning less than one tenth of 1 percent of those surveyed tuned in. And that follows abysmal 0.1 market shares for the programming before Rome — a local show with Evan Makovsky and Cory Mitchell, as well as Dan Patrick's national program. So Slaten did better than any other weekday show on that station.

Meanwhile, KFNS' top program was its morning show with Tim McKernan, Jim Hayes and Doug Vaughn. It attracted 4.2 percent of the target audience, well up from the 2.5 figure it pulled the previous summer when it aired on 1380.

The power of FM

WXOS is boosted by the fact that it has a strong signal and is on the FM dial, which doesn't have many of the static and interference issues that its AM counterparts sometimes experience.

But 101.1 program director Jason Barrett bristles at the suggestion that those are the primary reasons the station has excelled in the ratings, even though critics point out that most of its hosts have been on 590 or 1380 without drawing the same numbers despite having similar shows.

"You can always talk about a 1,000-watt signal vs. a 100,000-watt signal, but if you put a bad product on a 100,000-watt signal, all you have is (trash) heard louder,'' said Barrett, who received a two-year contract extension this week. "Ultimately it comes down to talent and what people want to hear. We've created a pretty good demand for what we do.''

Still, it hasn't been a year without bumps for WXOS. Bryan Burwell was ousted in August as host of the mid-morning show, and the next month the station lost to KMOX (1120 AM) in its bid to land Cardinals broadcasts.

"I'm still disappointed we didn't get it,'' Kijowski said. "I think it would have been a great move for the future for them, being on FM and with us doing sports 24 hours a day. But I don't hold any grudges. It's been a good year.''