Following Howard Stern?s departure from broadcast radio late last year, local radio station WHFS-FM 105.7, which aired the formerly syndicated program, has seen a drastic decline in its ratings, according to numbers released Thursday by Arbitron, the media company that tracks radio listening trends.

The radio station is currently ranked 16th in the market for the morning drive time of 6 to 10 a.m. in the rating period covering winter 2006 for listeners 12 years of age and older. Specifically, the station slipped to a 1.7 AQH share during the morning drive time, marking a 68 percent decline compared with fall of 2005, when the station saw a 5.3 AQH share. AQH share is the average quarter hour share and percentage of listening each station receives in the audience. That number factors in not only the number of listeners but the amount of time listeners tune into a particular station.