Like the Babylonian Zodiac, the Arbitron radio-ratings calendar has 13 months. Why the extra? To segregate the eggnog-fortified stations who boost their ratings with Christmas music.

Arbitron's "holiday book" shows WLTE winning the month (Dec. 9-Jan. 5) with an 8.8 share and 1.1 million listeners age 6 or older (the latter measurement known as "cume"). How much were Lite FM's ratings Christmas goosed? In November, the station had a 4.1 share.

Another jingle addict, KOOL 108 FM, soared from a 5.4 in November to 7.2 and third place. Classical station KSJN-FM, which also did the Xmas thing, posted only modest gains, from 1.7 to 2.0. 

Which stations did listeners turn from? KQRS slid from November's 8.4 to a mere 6.3 in the holiday book; Country K102 fell from 9.1 to 7.1, and KS95 lost nearly a full share point (5.3 to 4.4). KOOL's oldies competition, Love 105, slid from 2.8 to 1.9.

I don't include the holiday ratings in my long-term charting because the month is aberrant by design. However, there were some other interesting numbers. The Current posted a 3.0; had that occurred in a "normal" month, it would be the biggest share since April 2009 for the public radio alt-rocker. The station had a 2.0 in November.

Meanwhile, Christian station KTIS-FM gained less than the Current, ticking up from 4.2 to 5.0.

The sports stations appeared not to be affected; KFAN had a 4.0, virtually identical from November (4.1) and December (4.2). Those numbers are actually better than 2009, when the Vikings were headed toward the NFC Championship game. (KFAN holds the Purple's rights.) ESPN 1500 clocked in at 2.4, same as November, also up from 2009 before the station went all-sports.

The lesson, again: two sports stations seems to have helped both incumbent and insurgent.

WCCO-AM was another secular winner, posting a 6.3, its best number since March.