Missanelli tops Innes during unimportant holiday ratings period

There's a reason you often don't hear your favorite hosts on the air in December.

At most radio stations, hosts are told to take vacation because ratings during the holiday period (Dec. 3-31) aren't important. In most cases, they don't even count toward a station's fall or winter book, quarterly measurements of a show's popularity that usually determines a host's bonus.

All it seems everyone wants to listen to is Christmas music, which explains why 101.1 More FM exploded with a 13.4 share in the coveted men's 25-54 demographic.

The Fanatic's Mike Missanelli took a couple of days off, but was otherwise around most of what turned out to be a busy month of Eagles news, and was able to top rival WIP's Josh Innes for the second month in the row. All numbers are in the coveted men's 25-54 demographic, and should be taken with a grain of salt this month, considering the stations themselves downplay their importance and most hosts took time off.

According to numbers obtained by Philly.com, Missanelli topped Innes in the afternoon for the second straight month with a 6.7 share. Innes, who was on vacation from Dec. 22 to 29, ended the month with a 6.1 share.

Gargano dips against Cataldi

Despite being on vacation from Dec. 22 to 29, WIP morning host Angelo Cataldi saw his ratings lead strengthen against The Fanatic's Anthony Gargano, who himself took a number of days off in December. Cataldi earned an 8.3 share, down 0.2 points from November, but Gargano came in with a 6.5 share, down nearly a full point from the 7.4 share he posted the previous month.

Mike and Ike hold steady against Ellis and Mayes

After closing the ratings gap last month, The Fanatic's Rob Ellis and Harry Mays saw their ratings dip slightly to a 4.8 share. WIP's combo of Michael Barkann and Ike Reese posted a 6.3 share, down 0.2 points from the previous month. Both duos took time off during December.

The Fanatic strong on digital

December was another strong month for The Fanatic in terms of digital listeners. After seeing a slight dropoff in the previous month, the station posted strong digital numbers among all timeslots during the holiday period.

Ellis and Mays continue to see the most success digitally, posturing a 2.0 digital share, up a full point from the previous month. In fact, the duo's digital numbers topped the number of terrestrial listeners at both KYW and WPHT. Missanelli came in strong with a 1.6 digital share, double the 0.8 digital share he posted in November. And Gargano drew a 1.1 digital share in the morning.

Over at WIP, Barkann and Reese posted a 0.5 digital share, with Innes and Cataldi posting digital shares of 0.3 and 0.2, respectfully.

Despite the growth in popularity of digital streaming, most radio stations count only the terrestrial ratings numbers to determine things such as advertising rates and bonus offers, which is why Nielsen reports the two as seperate numbers.