DePETRO

PROVIDENCE — Questionable data used, and since corrected, to rate WPRO radio (630-AM) was submitted by the wife of its on-air morning personality John DePetro, the station said yesterday.

Kristen DePetro returned six “radio diaries” to Arbitron, a national radio-ratings company, for its spring data, according to WPRO management in a news release.

The ratings company does not allow anyone affiliated with the media to participate in its survey and issues its diaries to local residents to record their listening habits. The submissions are then used to rank radio stations and the rankings are used by the stations to set rates for their advertisers.

“John [DePetro] states that he did not have knowledge of her actions,” Citadel Broadcasting market manager Barbara Haynes said in a news release. Citadel owns WPRO. “WPRO AM Program Director Paul Giammarco and I are profoundly disappointed by John’s wife’s actions.”

“It’s embarrassing all the way around,” John DePetro, 44, said last night. “I don’t have a lot to add. My wife was asked to take part in a radio survey, she did and she shouldn’t have. It was wrong.”

He continued, “It’s not like American Idol. She didn’t realize the impact [her participation] would have.”

In the popular reality show American Idol, people call — sometimes multiple times — to help keep their favorite singers in the competition. The winner gets a contract and instant fame.

Each radio diary counts as 640 listeners, said an Arbitron spokeswoman. According to WPRO, Kristen DePetro, 43, submitted six diaries, representing 3,840 listeners.

When the spring results were released last month, WPRO-AM was ranked the highest-rated station in the Providence metro area. Days later, Arbitron began investigating its data at the request of Clear Channel Radio, owner of WHJJ (920-AM), one of WPRO’s chief competitors.

Arbitron released new ratings two weeks ago without Kristen DePetro’s radio diaries. WPRO-AM dropped to the number-two spot overall, behind WCTK (98.1-FM) Cat Country. WPRO’s ranking in the popular morning drive-time category — when John DePetro is on the air — fell from fourth to ninth place.

“We are shocked and disappointed at [yesterday’s] news that fraudulent ratings diaries have come from the home of an on-air personality at WPRO,” wrote Bill George, program and news director for WHJJ. “Arbitron ratings are an important part of our business and it is disheartening to learn that a competitor may have had the ability to influence their outcome.”

In a letter he sent to Clear Channel advertisers that helped publicize Arbitron’s investigation, George said Arbitron reported that the six questionable diaries came from one household in East Greenwich. He said Arbitron also discovered the diaries were from six people in that home, “three women and three men, ages 27-34.” And the alleged six collectively listened to WPRO — between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. — for more than 109 hours in one week.

“Ratings are a vital tool that help us make important decisions effecting our stations, our advertisers and our listeners,” George said. “We appreciate the efforts of the Arbitron Company to rectify this situation and release accurate, non-biased ratings in a timely manner.”

apina@projo.com