DATE: Tuesday, May 6, 1997                  TAG: 9705060067

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER

                                            LENGTH:   44 lines

THE RATINGS JUMP FOR MURDOCH-OWNED STATIONS; 103 JAMS AGAIN

The latest Arbitron ratings for Hampton Roads radio stations should put a smile on Rupert Murdoch's face.

Why would the Australian media tycoon care about Arbitron's winter ratings book? Murdoch's News Corp. in March bought Heritage Media Corp., which owns three Hampton Roads stations: WGH-AM/FM and WVCL-FM.

Murdoch plans to sell Heritage, and its two FM stations in this market boosted their images with the winter ratings book.

Country station WGH-FM's share of the 12-year-old and up listening audience jumped from 6.9 last winter to 9.2 this winter. WGH landed the top position with a 9.9 share in the 25-54 age group, known as the Arbitron's ``money'' category because of its desirability to advertisers.

WVCL, which plays songs from the 1950s, '60s and '70s, jumped from a 3.2 share last winter to 6.6 this winter in the 25-54 group. That put it in third in that category. WVCL's 5.0 share in the 12 and up age group landed it in fifth place.

The winter Arbitron ratings measured listening preferences from Jan. 2 to March 26. On average, the Arbitron's found that 196,200 people in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News metropolitan area were listening to the radio at any given time.

The other big winner in the latest ratings book was WOWI, better known as 103-JAMZ, an urban contemporary station. WOWI, as has become almost routine, again won the rights to call itself the top-rated station in the market with a 10.4 share in the 12 and up listening group.

WOWI's 8.4 share in the 25-54 category placed it second in that group.

Operations Manager Maxine Todd pointed out that WOWI's ownership group, San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc., placed two other stations in the top 10 in the money category: WJCD, which plays contemporary jazz, placed fifth (5.8); and WSVY (4.5), an urban adult contemporary station, came in ninth.

``We're very proud of WOWI's success,'' Todd said, ``and proud to have three radio stations in the top 10 that are all Clear Channel stations.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

THE TOP 10

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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