Winter ratings (Updated)

Arbitron released the Winter Chicago radio ratings yesterday. Analysis:

* As Robert Feder points out, the stations that benefited the most were the black and Hispanic-targeted stations, taking 5 out of the top 10. WGCI-FM remains No.1 (In other words, don't write off hip-hop yet.)

*Urban AC WVAZ-FM (V103) was a big winner, moving up to fourth place.

*Top 40 WKSC-FM beat rival rhythmic outlet WBBM-FM (B96) by a tenth of a point. Expect these two to trade places for sometime to come.

*Oldies WZZN scored its highest ratings ever, landing in 13th place, and the highest for that frequency since at least 1990 (when it was CHR-formatted WYTZ-FM, or "Z95".)

*Rhythmic AC WILV-FM (Love FM) jumped to 18th, scoring its best ratings in a year.

*Drifting into loser territory: WLIT-FM continues to stink outside of the Christmas season, tied for 15th place. (Their new TV commercial is a ripoff of a former Love FM ad. - Feder also pointed that out this morning.)

*The stations that are talked about on the message boards the most - WLUP-FM (The Loop), WXRT-FM, WJMK-FM (Jack FM), WKQK-FM (Q101), and WCKG-FM (FreeFM) - are the least listened to in the books - all finished below 20th.

Maybe if they started rating on how many times these stations are talked about on message boards, all of those stations would be in the top five.

Notables among dayparts and demos:

*Spike O'Dell is No. 1, in AM Drive, but Felicia Middlebrooks & Pat Cassidy on all-news WBBM-AM is a close second.

*WKSC-FM's Drex made the top 10 and beat B96's fading (ratings-wise and creatively) Eddie, JoBo, & Erica morning show.

*WGCI's Tony Sculfield's No.1, but his ratings are down.

*WTMX-FM's Eric & Kathy continued its dominance in its core women 25-54, and WCKG's Steve Dahl continues to do well among men 25-54.

BTW, this is post No. 300! Yea!