Limbaugh Gone, WPTF Ratings Dive. Articulon Chimes in.

RALEIGH – Rush Limbaugh long has been capable of altering a politician’s future, for good or ill. Now he’s demonstrating similar power in business – at least in the short term – at two Triangle radio stations.

Curtis Media Group’s WPTF 680 AM plummeted in the latest radio ratings after competitor Clear Channel Communications Inc. launched a conservative talk format on WRDU 106.1 FM at the beginning of 2010.

While there have been many repercussions of the move, the highest-profile change involved Limbaugh’s syndicated show moving from WPTF – where it had anchored that station’s afternoon offerings for more than two decades – over to WRDU.

Conservatives, as a rule, aren’t seen to be big on that change thing. But they didn’t have much trouble flipping stations to find their main man Rush. And their liberal “friends” may have joined them there as well.

“People just can’t get enough of him – even if they can’t stand him,” says Carol Lewis, a media buyer with Raleigh-based Articulon.

The butcher’s bill for WPTF came in Arbitron’s winter ratings book, the first since the format flip, and it wasn’t pretty. WPTF’s top-line rating fell by 58 percent, from a 6.2 share in the fall to a 2.6 in the winter.

WRDU, whose ratings had languished in its previous incarnation as a country station branded “The Rooster,” saw its ratings rise by 124 percent, from a 1.7 share in the fall to a 3.8 in the winter.

That gave local Clear Channel General Manager Dick Harlow plenty to crow about. “We’re very happy with the way things have turned out so far,” he says. “The ratings impact of that change was significant.”

In addition to Limbaugh, WRDU’s new lineup includes right-wing firebrands Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. Hannity, like Limbaugh, previously had been a staple at WPTF.

The folks who run WPTF clearly didn’t want to lose Limbaugh and Hannity, but in the end they had no choice. The decision to shift the talent to a different station was made by executives at Premiere Radio Networks, a Clear Channel subsidiary that syndicates Limbaugh and Hannity.

The move forced WPTF to overhaul its entire lineup, and executives decided to go with a harder news format with a greater emphasis on local issues.

“We’re about where we thought we would be,” Curtis Media Chairman and CEO Don Curtis says of the latest ratings.

What will be the financial impact of losing Rush and having to rejigger the format? Curtis Media President and COO Phil Zachary says WPTF typically generates around $6 million per year in revenue. He projects that, at worst, the station will be down by 10 percent in 2010.

Zachary says he’s been encouraged by first quarter sales, which he says were actually higher than a year ago. There are several possible reasons for that, including an improved economy and the fact that some advertisers avoid Limbaugh’s show because of its polarizing nature.

Despite the stark differences in this first ratings report card, the truth is that both stations have work to do. While it’s obvious that WPTF is in rebuilding mode, Clear Channel also will want to see even higher ratings out of a 100,000-watt station like WRDU – and the station also will have to show consistency in reaching those ratings.

The ratings news wasn’t all bad for Curtis, whose country station, WQDR 94.7 FM, scored the top spot in the market with an 8.5 share. Clear Channel also scored a Top 5 station with WDCG G105 FM, which landed in fourth place with a 7.1 share.

Top station honors have to go to Lanham, Md.-based Radio One, which landed three stations in the Top 5: WQOK K97.5 FM (No. 2), WFXC Foxy 107.1 FM (No. 3) and WNNL103.9 FM (No. 5).

“We always do well, and we should do well,” says Gary Weiss, the local Radio One general manager.

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