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Weekend Olympic ratings

Did Saturday night's Ravens game affect viewing of the Olympics? Maybe a bit. WBAL drew 22.4 percent of Baltimore's audience for NBC's prime-time coverage, the show when Michael Phelps swam for his eighth gold, Heading into the weekend, it had been averaging about 3 points higher. The Ravens-Vikings on WMAR got 7.3. And for the record: The Orioles on WJZ got 1.8 and the Ravens simulcast on MASN2 got 0.1.

During the quarter-hour when Phelps actually swam, WBAL's rating zoomed to 37.2, with a 59 share, meaning nearly 60 percent of all televisions in use were tuned to the Olympics.

Sunday night's Olympics, the first without Phelps competing at all since the opening ceremony, dropped to 19.9, the second-lowest of the Games for WBAL, behind only Wednesday's 19.6. On Wednesday, Phelps did not swim in any finals.

About Ray Frager
Ray Frager joined The Baltimore Sun’s sports department in 1985 and has been an assistant sports editor for more than 15 years. This is his second stint writing a sports media column for The Baltimore Sun. Most sequels aren't as good as the original, but then, the original wasn't all that great either.

Frager, born in 1957, grew up in northern Delaware (graduating from a high school that since has shut down) and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Rider College in Lawrenceville, N.J. He worked as a reporter and copy editor at The Trenton Times and The Dallas Morning News before coming to Baltimore.

Surprisingly, if you look at his accompanying photo, Frager is married and has a son and daughter. He enjoys playing basketball and has organized pickup games among members of The Baltimore Sun staff for many years, which means they don't get too mad at him for shooting way too much.

He has a good beat and is easy to dance to. I'd give him an 85.
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