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It Is Later Than You think (Or Admit)

L

L Chanon Gade

This link to this article from the RadioInsight board:

http://darrylparks.com/2014/07/11/ratings-disaster-ignore-it-talk-radio-hoping-it-goes-away/

Most trenchant paragraph:

"The June PPM ratings are rolling in and outside of a few stations, the ratings are a disaster. The monthly ratings for many talk stations are in a free fall, displaying a product detached from all but an old, small, shrinking and worthless audience."

If one gets the chance to look under the hood at the actual breakouts, one finds the situation radically worse.

Enjoy.

Chan.
 
I think part of the problem with news-talk is politics, period.

After all, the President's ratings are down, and Congress's ratings are down. People are overloaded with politics. That doesn't help news-talk. It's not just conservative talk -- progressive talk failed in my liberal metro area, where I thought it would succeed. And it was on a 50KW AM station.

Throw in the fact that Mr. Parks mentions in one of his comments below his blog article: "Did you know radios highest AQH was achieved in 1983 and has been going down since? That’s not a typo."

I've read that somewhere else before also -- radio listening peaked in the early 1980's.

So, it's not just talk. It's the entire radio audience that is fragmenting, and distributing itself to other media. There are more stations in my metro than there were even 20 years ago -- especially if you count the FM 'rimshot' stations and translators. It's better overall service for a larger population, but it's not conducive to individual stations having high ratings.

As one commenter to this blog article mentioned, the ratings for talk shows and talk stations don't always factor in the online listening, podcast downloads, etc., -- which is another example of audience fragmentation.

I agree with one of the comments to the article -- talk radio used to be a bit more fun to listen to. Now and then it made you laugh -- even when dealing with political subjects. It doesn't seem to do that anymore.
 
boombox4 said:
So, it's not just talk. It's the entire radio audience that is fragmenting, and distributing itself to other media.
Click to expand...

The first challenge to radio in the early 80s was the Walkman, released in 1980. The next challenge came ten years later with the GameBoy. It didn't even play music. But it occupied the users' time. Every new device ate away at the radio audience. People like to blame programming or consolidation. But it's actually any other device that comes along. Americans love gadgets. You name it. When iWatch comes out this fall, it will probably mean fewer radio listeners. The radio simply isn't the gadget it once was.

When it comes to talk programming, TV has a much better handle on what the audience wants than radio. If radio was smart, they would simply duplicate what's being done on TV. The Talk on Radio. Instant hit.
 
boombox4 said:
I agree with one of the comments to the article -- talk radio used to be a bit more fun to listen to. Now and then it made you laugh -- even when dealing with political subjects. It doesn't seem to do that anymore.
Click to expand...

This is mainly due to the lack of fresh meat. When was the last time a national show was launched with someone who actually did radio for the sake of doing radio, and not as a political platform?

People take this radio thing way too seriously, from the hosts, to the out of work hosts trying to undermine the industry on their blogs. There ARE younger hosts out there at the local level doing entertaining talk radio. But they'll never get a chance to go national because they're not already famous. They'll make their stations plenty of money and they'll have nice careers, but people like this blogger or the guy who posted this thread will never hear about them, so they just assume the sky is falling.
 
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New will come

Nobody can stay on the air literally forever. There will have to be new national hosts because nobody lives forever nor do many, if not most, want to work forever. When Sean Hannity started his radio talk show, he was new blood then.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger was doing a different talk show from most. Maybe it's time for a new personal advice/moral advice show. Then there's Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey. Can their version of talk grow?
 
Grow? Maybe not, but is there room for both of them where money can be made? I think yes.

I think Rush and Hannity's shows continue to be profitable for both the hosts and CC. Two posters on this board in particular, continue to push that the end is near. The facts don't support that. Obviously, the format, in its current incarnation(s) is not poised for growth, but that doesn't mean the business isn't viable and cannot be sustained.

To support the assertions in the commentary provided by the OP, the following ratings are provided:

WKRC/Cincinnati #16 2.5, 2.4, 2.2, 1.7

WLS/Chicago #19 2.0, 1.7, 1.6, 1.4

WFLA/Tampa #13 3.6, 3.6, 3.6, 3.3

WIOD/Miami #22 1.2, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1

WABC/New York #20 2.4, 2.2, 1.6, 1.3

WOR/New York #18 1.5, 1.7, 1.6, 1.5

KEIB/Los Angeles #26 0.5, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8

KABC/Los Angeles #28 0.6, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5


The only significant deltas here are for WKRC and WABC. WKRC loses listeners to Reds broadcasts, and WABC lost a lot of programming creating their ratings issue. WOR has increased its ratings. So, where in this data is the evidence that it's 'later than you think'? The demos for talk have been trending away from the ideal for some time, yet they still find advertisers. No data is provided supporting the assertion that the trend is accelerating. Feel free to continue to beat this drum as it apparently has some pallative effect for you, but that doesn't make it accurate.
 
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umfan said:
Grow? Maybe not, but is there room for both of them where money can be made? I think yes.

I think Rush and Hannity's shows continue to be profitable for both the hosts and CC. Two posters on this board in particular, continue to push that the end is near. The facts don't support that. Obviously, the format, in its current incarnation(s) is not poised for growth, but that doesn't mean the business isn't viable and cannot be sustained.

To support the assertions in the commentary provided by the OP, the following ratings are provided:

WKRC/Cincinnati #16 2.5, 2.4, 2.2, 1.7

WLS/Chicago #19 2.0, 1.7, 1.6, 1.4

WFLA/Tampa #13 3.6, 3.6, 3.6, 3.3

WIOD/Miami #22 1.2, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1

WABC/New York #20 2.4, 2.2, 1.6, 1.3

WOR/New York #18 1.5, 1.7, 1.6, 1.5

KEIB/Los Angeles #26 0.5, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8

KABC/Los Angeles #28 0.6, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5


The only significant deltas here are for WKRC and WABC. WKRC loses listeners to Reds broadcasts, and WABC lost a lot of programming creating their ratings issue. WOR has increased its ratings. So, where in this data is the evidence that it's 'later than you think'? The demos for talk have been trending away from the ideal for some time, yet they still find advertisers. No data is provided supporting the assertion that the trend is accelerating. Feel free to continue to beat this drum as it apparently has some pallative effect for you, but that doesn't make it accurate.
Click to expand...

The number you quoted are just 12+. The reality is much worse.

Let's take WABC. 20-something is an embarrassment. The real disaster comes when you see the "money demos" where they are right up against 40th place. WOR is no better regardless of the few listeners they've simply poached from WABC.

Sure, you can patch together an operation with a book full of P.I. ad's and a weekend (which begins fri evening) full of paid access -and that is exactly what they are doing. Outside of major markets, how many of these operators can survive on peanuts.

Oddly, the two dinosaurs here in NYC are somewhat insulated from the reality that is hitting smaller markets. Both WABC and WOR are about corporate vanity and a market #1 clearance. How long that will be worthwhile to their owners is anyone's guess. Disney has burbled away for 16 years at 1560 with little/no measurable audience.

The commercial talk format is heading for the same end as Pop Standards, Easy Listening, etc. FWIW: I don't think that is purely a consequence of being all right-wing-all-the-time. there is also a better product available: NPR and other local Non-comms as well as the 'Net.

Some people can't face that fact for ideological reasons.

Chan.
 
Small Market Guy said:
No insults here. You must have me mistaken with yourself in a thread about John Watson.
Click to expand...

Gee, you love to keep bringing up ancient history. Are you sure you're not "woman trapped in a man's body?" That's a chick thing. They have surgery for that.

I also appreciate that you would identify with an untalented, small-time talk show host.
 
FredLeonard said:
Gee, you love to keep bringing up ancient history. Are you sure you're not "woman trapped in a man's body?" That's a chick thing. They have surgery for that.
Click to expand...

Maybe if that ever happened to FakeLiberal, he'd get over his jealous hissyfits about any woman who's made it in the broadcast biz further than he has. Meow!!
 
JeffM said:
Maybe if that ever happened to FakeLiberal, he'd get over his jealous hissyfits about any woman who's made it in the broadcast biz further than he has. Meow!!
Click to expand...

You are really pathetic. Never contribute anything. Just take cheap shots at those that do, even if you have to keep harping on posts from months ago. You are not funny, despite what you think. You really need professional help.

Since you spend all your time on this board, apparently you have never had the opportunity to be in a workplace with affirmative action bimbos.
 
Look who's talking. Now go back to listening to your hero Rushbo, order those mail-order boner pills, and some aerosol "hair in a can" too. (Spray it on your chest.)
 
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