Be thankful, as you shovel snow and ice this winter, that you do not work in television. Praise the stars, as you hover vulture-like for parking spaces at the mall in anticipation of the holidays, that yours is not a life that includes ratings.

The obsession with ratings has cost more people in the broadcast business their sleep, hair and livelihoods than can be well believed. Envy not the minds at low-rated MSNBC who saw salvation in Phil Donahue, nor those at high-rated CBS who thought the bustiers of Victoria's Secret would bring an added torrent of interest. (Both were wrong.) The lengths to which television viziers go to pursue additional viewers - all to pad already outrageous profits - boggle the mind and bankrupt the soul.

And yet, today, judgment-free, we provide an update on the ratings for Baltimore's television stations. The upshot: No longer can WBAL-TV lay claim to being the region's top-rated station for local news.

WJZ's shift last spring to a harder edge in presenting and promoting the news may have little to do with the ratings boost that allows it to swipe the ratings mantle. But that change in tone appears not to be the cause for celebration. The most likely reason is WJZ-TV's decision to ditch its revolving door of talk show pretenders at 4 p.m. in favor of the city's earliest afternoon newscast.

Over on WBAL-TV, talk queen Oprah Winfrey's program lost about 16 percent of its share of viewers in the Baltimore metropolitan region during the November "sweeps" period, compared to figures from last November. Meanwhile, WJZ gained 29 percent over what it attracted a year ago at 4 p.m.

That has paid dividends for WJZ's 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts. Both have seen almost identical gains in audience over the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the audience for WBAL's corresponding shows dipped by more than 15 percent, although the station retains a ratings lead during the key time slot of 11 p.m.

So WJZ-TV has, for the moment, taken control of the ratings news lead. But the struggle between the two top stations is intense and likely to continue.

"Baltimore's a competitive town, and everybody puts on a good product," says Gail Bending, news director for WJZ-TV. "The 4 o'clock news provides a bigger audience to look at with pride, and to lead in to our other newscasts."

This fall has also seen a march of major stories, from the deadly sniper shootings to the November elections, to the White House preparations for war against Iraq. That's stirred up interest in the news generally.

"WJZ certainly launched their 4 o'clock news during what turned out to be an extremely heavy period of news," said Bill Fine, president and general manager of WBAL-TV. "But WBAL didn't forget how to do a newscast."

There's one catch. Advertisers care more about ratings among key segments of the population - particularly younger people, primarily those from 18 to 54 years old who are thought to be more malleable and more willing and able to spend money. (Stations affiliated with Fox, WB and UPN are chasing an even more youthful pool of viewers, those between 18 and 34.) Demographic data won't be available from Nielsen Media Research until later this month. But NBC stations, such as WBAL, tend to win younger fans than CBS stations, such as WJZ.

WMAR-TV, which had seemed to be consumed with a scientific project to reduce its audience size to purely theoretical levels, saw a strong rise in the audiences for its news programs compared to last November. Ratings rose more than 20 percent for its afternoon and early evening shows, for example. That's still half the level of the top-rated stations, but the increase represents a start in the right direction.

Over at the twin Sinclair Broadcast Group stations, WBFF and WNUV, the report is very good - and very, very bad. The mainstay 10 p.m. WBFF-TV newscast increased its audience 14 percent over last year's levels. Sister station WNUV saw its audience drop by half - half! - for its 6:30 p.m. news.

That's an extraordinary turn of events. But WNUV has not forced anchors to speak only in Bulgarian or jettison the Ravens for coverage of arena football. The nose-dive likely has far more to do with the station's removal of Judge Judy, a well-rated syndicated court show, before and after the newscast.

It is yet another illustration of how much the television news business often has little to do with television news.

Good news for MPT

Now, a word from the refined world of public broadcasting, where nobody cares about such coarse commercial concerns as ratings. Except they do - just not as much as their corporate brethren.

Wall Street Week with Fortune made its debut in late June after the departure of the show's longtime host - you may have heard of him. With new anchors Geoffrey Colvin and Karen Gibbs, it drew an audience of more than 1.2 million people nationally. After dipping during the summer, when conventional wisdom holds that fewer people are indoors to watch television anyway, the show seems to be having a steady draw of about 1.14 million viewers.

Wall Street Week can be seen in 97 percent of U.S. households, and, even without Louis Rukeyser, who defected to CNBC, the program remains the country's top-rated financial news show at a time when many are disgusted with the markets.

Larry Moscow, the executive producer hired by Maryland Public Television to guide Wall Street Week, says he is proud of its progress. "I'm thrilled with the direction of the show, and most impressed by the caliber of the guests," he says. Moscow says the program is successfully cultivating a new batch of analysts, and is posing tough questions during the big-name interviews with such business figures as Jack Welch, late of General Electric and Michael Armstrong, CEO of AT&T.;

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? David Folkenflik can be reached by e-mail at david.folkenflik@baltsun.com or by phone at 410-332-6923.