The maestro has obtained exclusive ratings for the Afternoon time slot.

WIP beat 97.5 in the “September” ratings period – which actually ran from August 13 to September 9 – in the all-important men 25-54 demo, among traditional radio listeners, from 2-6 p.m. WIP earned a 8.4 share to 97.5’s 8.0. In the final week of the month, September 3 to September 9, WIP – which then included the full Josh Innes, Spike Eskin, Hollis Thomas show – won quite handily over Mike Missanelli, who finished fourth.

BUT. There’s always a but. A big one.

Part of the mystique of radio ratings is just how inexact they are, and though WIP won with traditional listeners, I’m told 97.5 earned a 1.6 share on their stream to WIP’s 0.1 among men 25-54, thus making the combined rating 9.6 to 8.5 in favor of 97.5.

The stream number should be no surprise as 97.5 has a much younger and less-blue collar audience, meaning listeners are more likely to be listening with an app or computer (I don’t think I have a radio in my house) and not behind the wheel of a cement mixer or dump truck.

Quite honestly, it’s ridiculous that you even have to combine these imprecise numbers generated from under 2,000 people walking around with little devices clipped on their belt. But that’s the way it goes. So WIP won. Or 97.5 won. It depends on how you read the numbers. PLAY SONGS:

UPDATE: Two things: 1) 97.5’s stream is shockingly, impressively high. The number is confirmed, but it does jump out. 2) They also registered a 0.4 for their HD3 signal, which would bring their combined share up to 10.0, which, if accurate, is pretty substantial.