Cleveland Radio Feb 24 Ratings

[TheBigA]

If you listen to what little left wing talk radio there is (NPR), their presentation is mature and presented with a certain dignity.

That's because NPR is not 'left wing talk radio.' NPR has no conventional talk shows where hosts give their own political opinions. There is no left wing version of Hannity, Bongino, or Levin. No one at NPR advocates one side or the other. That's why they use that style of presentation.

If you're looking for left-wing talk radio, here's one example:

Democracy Now!

A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S.

www.democracynow.org

 

[vjm]

People said the same thing about Hammy when he took over the big chair from Herb Score a quarter of a century ago.

.Actually Hammy replaced Paul Olden, who I didn't really care for due to his nasally voice. I think he was trying to emulate Vin Scully. Hammy and Herb worked together for 8 years.

I know - I was talking about Hammy becoming the #1 lead announcer ("voice of the Tribe") i.e. replacing Herb in the "big chair".

Hamilton replaced Olden as Score's partner, and then replaced Herb as lead announcer.

Both things are true

Hammy was Herbie's "Rosey" for eight seasons before becoming the lead announcer.

Hamilton served as Score's Robin, and when Herb retired, Tom became Batman.

Rosenhaus right now is filling the Robin role, and when Hammy hangs him up, will become Batman.

 

[radiofollower]

You'd be surprised.

Radio Statistics in [y] (Listening & Advertising) - Musical Pursuits

Despite the common belief that radio is dead and not relevant to younger generations, radio...

musicalpursuits.com

This is not to say they don't do both. If you notice, it's not a one-or-the-other thing.

Once again, I am looking at the ratings of the broadcast stations which are generated by those listening ON A RADIO and not folks who may listen to that same station over the internet. My point remains: The dominant RADIO listenership are generally older demographics.

 

[radiofollower]

That's because NPR is not 'left wing talk radio.' NPR has no conventional talk shows where hosts give their own political opinions. There is no left wing version of Hannity, Bongino, or Levin. No one at NPR advocates one side or the other. That's why they use that style of presentation.

If you're looking for left-wing talk radio, here's one example:

Democracy Now!

A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S.

www.democracynow.org

Yes, I am well aware of Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" program, which is heard on public radio stations. But even here, Amy rarely resorts to childish name calling and crazy conspiracy theories which are so common among the commercial, right wing talk shows.

 

[radioislife2020]

Cleaveland Full power Spanish station would do well. What full power would you say is underperforming for sure?

 

[davideduardo]

Well yes, some do. But I am talking about who is left using a radio.

Actually, per the NAB and Nielsen study earlier this year 89% of all adults use radio. That includes about 85% of 18-34's.

Yes, they listen less than they did 20 years ago. But radio is still a huge reach medium. "Left" is a very inaccurate term to use.

 

[davideduardo]

Cleaveland Full power Spanish station would do well. What full power would you say is underperforming for sure?

Cleveland is only 6% Hispanic, and it is a mix of older people from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, mostly) and newer ones from Mexico and northern South America.

So finding a single format that would be equally liked by both is impossible.

 

[radioislife2020]

I don't think you ever saw the numbers WLFM had they normally showed up top 15 with a TSL of 8hrs and a decent cume for a station that only about 70% of the market could hear because they were on 87.7

 

[TheBigA]

I am looking at the ratings of the broadcast stations which are generated by those listening ON A RADIO

Nielsen measures both. When you see streaming broken out (-STR) that's because the commercials are different.

You can't assume the listening is only on a radio device. Radio companies don't care what device you use.

 

[Rusty Muck]

It seems like WKSU (NPR) has become the top "news" station in the area. WTAM has been drifting away from being the top news station for years, choosing to focus more on right wing talk as well as Cavs, Guardians, and more recently CSU games. I can remember when they were consistently in the top 5, if not top 3, in the ratings books. I don't think they ever recovered from the losses of both Triv and Rush. It seems to me at least that the public has lost it's appetite for divisive talk radio. I'd be curious to see the numbers for Clay and Buck, as well as Bloomdaddy. I can't imagine they're anywhere near Rush's or Triv's numbers.

Talk radio in general as a format is in a very bad position to begin with. It failed to evolve with the times and has never changed from what Rush did 30 years ago. It's gotten older, grayer and less and less viable unless the owner wants to operate it as a total loss leader (see WABC Radio). I'm not exactly sure Triv in 2024 would have done that much better than what Bloomdaddy is today, tbh.

As for WKSU, it no longer has WCPN cannibalizing it in the ratings and vice versa. It's fairly obvious now even with these 6+ beauty pageant numbers that two public radio stations divided the audience here significantly for the longest time.

 

[vjm]

Talk radio in general as a format is in a very bad position to begin with. It failed to evolve with the times and has never changed from what Rush did 30 years ago. It's gotten older, grayer and less and less viable unless the owner wants to operate it as a total loss leader (see WABC Radio). I'm not exactly sure Triv in 2024 would have done that much better than what Bloomdaddy is today, tbh.

As for WKSU, it no longer has WCPN cannibalizing it in the ratings and vice versa. It's fairly obvious now even with these 6+ beauty pageant numbers that two public radio stations divided the audience here significantly for the longest time.

Triv would have done better simply because he's Triv, and Cleveland as a market tends to stick to ol' reliable.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't think you ever saw the numbers WLFM had they normally showed up top 15 with a TSL of 8hrs and a decent cume for a station that only about 70% of the market could hear because they were on 87.7

That long TLS was what we often saw back when that was a diary market. Back then it was common to see stations with 6 to 10 hours of weekly time spent listening. Where I was, on three brief occasions PD at KLVE in LA in the early 2000's at AC station KLVE in LA, we had 12 to 13 hours weekly TSL. When the PPM hit, it went to just over 4 hours.

 

[johnbasalla]

As I see it, there is a fundamental difference in how right wing talk radio vs. left wing talk radio present themselves. If you listen to what little left wing talk radio there is (NPR), their presentation is mature and presented with a certain dignity. Compare that with right wing talk radio, which is often laced with personal insults, cute nicknames for people they disagree with and conspiracy theories. They are often hosted by people who have no news background (Rush, Sean Hannity, Triv, etc) who are more entertainers than actual news analysts or people like Dennis Prager, who presents his opinions wrapped in religious overtones.

Dennis Prager is an observant Jew. He doesn't do any of the things that were listed about right-wing talk radio although that painting conservative talk radio with one big, long brush stroke does not reveal the truth.

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

Let's not kid ourselves that left wing talk radio is all nicey nice and only those right wingers are mean spirited. I can name plenty of left wing talk shows that were foul and nasty as any supposed conservative. Mike Malloy, Al Franken, pretty much anyone on that failed Air America disaster. Jeanine Garafalo (sp) was another that will never be compared with Mother Teresa. Whatever someones belief system is they are going to think their side is perfect and the other side is mean spirited. I do agree with John that Dennis Prager is none of those things nor is Hugh Hewitt just to name a few on the right that are well spoken and have opposing voices.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Let's not kid ourselves that left wing talk radio is all nicey nice and only those right wingers are mean spirited.

It doesn't matter the political position of the host: the talk radio format has generally been built on conflict, inflammatory positions, and invective. Look at Joe Pyne, Morton Downey Jr., Gary Dee, or even Pete Franklin. It's also a older-skewing format and always has been.

The only difference between talk radio and adult standards is talk stations don't have to pay royalty fees for 80 or 90-year old songs.

 

[skiwest]

Pete Franklin was actually a nice guy until Gary Dee, Don Imus and other "shock jocks" started popping up on the radio in the early 70s.

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

Pete Franklin was actually a nice guy until Gary Dee, Don Imus and other "shock jocks" started popping up on the radio in the early 70s.

I've heard off the air that Pete was actually a very polite nice man. It was all schtick on the air with him. He was good at what he did. His tirades against Stepien were legendary I remember as a kid listening with my Dad. Also Howie Chizek was quite conservative and he was never mean spirited on the air. This silly narrative that conservatives are all mean spirited is just partisan talking points from people who just regurgitate what they heard about most of the hosts.

 

[Santa fe]

Talk radio programmers must be loving this spirited exchange between listeners about their programs and hosts. It points out that the format has involved and passionate fans who may love it or hate it but they listen! And that's what it's all about, attracting an audience, even an older and smaller one, that they can sell. And if and when the day comes that they can't, the format will go the way of radio soap operas and big band music.

 

[radiofollower]

Let's not kid ourselves that left wing talk radio is all nicey nice and only those right wingers are mean spirited. I can name plenty of left wing talk shows that were foul and nasty as any supposed conservative. Mike Malloy, Al Franken, pretty much anyone on that failed Air America disaster. Jeanine Garafalo (sp) was another that will never be compared with Mother Teresa. Whatever someones belief system is they are going to think their side is perfect and the other side is mean spirited. I do agree with John that Dennis Prager is none of those things nor is Hugh Hewitt just to name a few on the right that are well spoken and have opposing voices.

True enough, but I will point out that left wing "attack talk radio" generally failed while right wing "attack radio" is successful. I think that reveals something about the two different audiences.

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

Talk radio programmers must be loving this spirited exchange between listeners about their programs and hosts. It points out that the format has involved and passionate fans who may love it or hate it but they listen! And that's what it's all about, attracting an audience, even an older and smaller one, that they can sell. And if and when the day comes that they can't, the format will go the way of radio soap operas and big band music.

Big band is still alive on WKHR out of Bainbridge. They seem to have a pretty devoted following out there. Not my type of music but it teaches high school kids about a type of music most barely know existed. There used to be a guy on the radio boards that always clamored for the return of the Music of Your Life WRMR I wonder whatever happened to him