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The numbers added up nicely for Tampa's WDAE-AM 620 in the fall 2003 ratings period: revenues surging 60 percent, ratings up 30 percent.
Put it together and WDAE wound up in a three-way, fifth-place tie among the highest-rated sports radio stations in the country, according to Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal.
"It's the best fall book we've ever had," said Brad James, program director of WDAE, a.k.a. the Sports Animal. James attributed the high ratings to "a bunch of people who really love what they're doing in a town that's a great sports town."
No broadcaster was more singularly responsible for the Animal's popularity than the late Chris Thomas, he said. The admired sports talk personality died of cancer Feb. 18, six weeks after his illness forced him off the air.
"You just couldn't replace a guy like Chris Thomas," James said. "Chris set a number in the fall that was a record-setting number for us."
WDAE's rise is even more stark in contrast with its quasicompetitor in the bay area: WQYK-AM 1010. QYK's revenue in the period rose 40 percent but ratings slipped 20 percent. That put the station in a tie with four others for 33rd place out of 48 stations ranked in the national survey.