Stern’s L.A. ratings up, but mum’s the word

Howard Stern registered a big jump in his local morning radio audience this spring, according to figures released by Arbitron this week, but KLSX-FM (97.1) can’t brag about it. The station’s parent company, Infinity Broadcasting Corp., severed ties with the ratings service last month in a fee dispute.

While the ratings service will still include Infinity stations in its rankings, none of the chain’s 185 stations nationwide can cite new, or even previous, ratings figures in any context.

Last month, Infinity announced it signed a multiyear agreement with the Media Audit, a Houston-based market research firm, for ratings and demographic information. Nevertheless, Thom Mocarsky, Arbitron’s vice president of communications, says the company remains “hopeful of coming to a resolution and getting them back as a customer.”

Stern’s audience share in the Southland increased from 4.2% to 5.2%.

Steve Carney