
DATE: Monday, August 4, 1997                TAG: 9708020073

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   88 lines

WNOR'S MORNING DUO OF TOMMY AND RUMBLE TAKES THE TOP SPOT IN RATINGS

HOWARD STERN didn't make it. Henry ``the Bull'' Del Toro is gone too.

Through it all, WNOR FM99's morning drive-time team of Tommy Griffiths and Rick Rumble kept joking away. Now, the joke's on everybody else.

Tommy and Rumble, as the pair is known, grabbed a 10.6 market share in the morning drive time slot, according to the spring Arbitron's rating book. That put WNOR at the top of the heap for the time slot (6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday). The spring Arbitrons measured radio listening habits from March 27 to June 18.

``People were searching for all the things why Howard Stern wasn't the big success here as in other markets,'' said WNOR program director Harvey Kojan. ``There were a number of reasons, but how about competition being number one?''

WNOR has slowly been climbing back into prominence in Hampton Roads after it ``contemporized'' its classic rock format early last year. FM99 used to emphasize older, kick-butt rock, such as Boston and Foreigner; now it leans toward '90s groups of the Stone Temple Pilots-Soundgarden-Bush ilk.

``We were always a rock station,'' Kojan said. ``We're more focused now than we had been.''

WOWI, also known as 103 Jamz, grabbed second place in the drive-time category. The urban contemporary station, as has become customary, claimed the overall bragging rights by leading the age 12 and up (Monday through Sunday 6 a.m. to midnight) category. WOWI posted an 11.5 share, up from the 10.4 share it had during the winter Arbitrons.

WOWI's second place, with a 9.3 share, in the morning drive slot was perhaps bigger news than its top spot in 12 and up. Maxine Todd, operations manager for WOWI and other local stations owned by San Antonio's Clear Channel Communications Inc., said urban contemporary's spring offerings helped broaden the format's appeal.

``What's going on with R&B music and urban contemporary, there's been a lot of ballads,'' Todd said. ``Usually when you have a lot of ballads, it's appealing to that upper demographic.''

Another Clear Channel station, WSVY (urban adult contemporary) squeezed into the top 10 morning drive-time category with a 4.6 share, down from the 6.0 share it recorded during the winter.

But not everything Clear Channel tries works out. It's tryout of hiphop on WMYK ``didn't take off as quickly as we had hoped,'' Todd said.

Earlier this month, Clear Channel did away with the nine on-air employees of WMYK and began simulcasting WSVY's signal, Todd said.

On the country music side, WGH-FM, ``The Eagle,'' showed a tempering of its blowout winter drive-time showing. WGH dropped from a 9.7 to a 7.4, while WCMS-FM jumped from 4.8 in the winter drive time to 6.7 in the spring Arbitrons.

Randy Brooks, program director for WGH, attributed The Eagle's drop to methodology and the fact that the spring Arbitron's seemed to be ``a very good rock book.''

``We see the same number of people coming out for promotions, and we're still getting the same number of callers,'' Brooks said, ``so the numbers will come back.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

WNOR's Tommy, left, and Rumble have won a loyal audience with their

humor.

Top 10 radio stations in the morning drive-time category (age

25-49):

1. WNOR, 10.6

2. WOWI, 9.3

3. WWDE, 7.8

4. WGH, 7.4

5. WCMS, 6.7

6. WAFX, 5.6

7. (tie) WKOC, 5.5

WPTE, 5.5