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Eric Bushman out WBAP

I meant "Red Eye Radio." It's home station is WBAP and, AFAIK, both of the hosts and the board op are in-studio.

I suppose if BAP were to go all news they could still produce and syndicate the show.
 
What makes you think WBAP is going all news?
I believe it was TheBigA who said, "Clearly the city of Dallas has lost interest in the talk format."

From what I understand (but I don't listen to it) the morning show has morphed into less talk and more news. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I believe it was TheBigA who said, "Clearly the city of Dallas has lost interest in the talk format."

From what I understand (but I don't listen to it) the morning show has morphed into less talk and more news. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

What I meant to say in that post is: "The city of Dallas has lost interest in conservative talk."

Because the sports talk stations are doing fine, as is KERA.

The WBAP morning show is titled: WBAP's Morning News. So yes, the morning show is mostly news. But the rest of the day is conservative talk, and I see no change in that, especially given that some of those shows are Cumulus syndicated shows.
 
What makes you think WBAP is going all news?
I meant good question because it ain't happening.

As long a few people are there. These lonesome few fight against the all news format because it takes away from them.


I sat across the table from this person and they told me how they wished me no harm in life but they would not welcome an all news format at wbap.

They were upset over the concept.
 
"The city of Dallas has lost interest in conservative talk."
This may be a good thing. There are far too many conservative talk stations anyway.
Time to think out of the box and try to appeal to more than the hyper-politicized and intolerant angry (mostly) white men, which the format has a "rep" for serving.
 
This may be a good thing. There are far too many conservative talk stations anyway.
Time to think out of the box and try to appeal to more than the hyper-politicized and intolerant angry (mostly) white men, which the format has a "rep" for serving.
10 years ago there were too many conservative leaning radio stations.


Today, there just too many darn outlets from pod casts, to social media to XM radio.

And that's not to say there aren't too many left leaning outlets.

So we need to be beyond radio.
 
NPR isn't a left-wing talk station. It's a center to slightly left, mostly news driven service that has a delivery that lacks liveliness and the entertainment factor that talk radio of all stripes has cultivated for decades.

Air America had poor management and poor strategy. They insisted stations take their full slate of programming and didn't properly develop talent.

Roughly half the American public doesn't politically align with what's being broadcast on commercial talk radio. And of those that align with the party generally supported by commercial talk radio, a not insignificant amount don't agree with that style of politics. Even the conservatives who dare to differ from the MAGA wing are ushered off of talk stations.

Perhaps those people don't prefer radio any longer because radio stopped serving them. But feel free to make it purely ideological, even if that's a dramatic oversimplification of the factors involved.
 
NPR isn't a left-wing talk station. It's a center to slightly left, mostly news driven service that has a delivery that lacks liveliness and the entertainment factor that talk radio of all stripes has cultivated for decades.

I find many NPR critics have no idea what NPR is. They never listen. Why read or expand their knowledge when talk radio hosts live rent-free in their minds?

Even the conservatives who dare to differ from the MAGA wing are ushered off of talk stations.

It's a modern day witch hunt.
As political parties use to welcome friendly debate and discussion, there's no Repub. party anymore.

If you don't agree with the regime, you're "un-American."
 
I find many NPR critics have no idea what NPR is. They never listen. Why read or expand their knowledge when talk radio hosts live rent-free in their minds?



It's a modern day witch hunt.
As political parties use to welcome friendly debate and discussion, there's no Repub. party anymore.

If you don't agree with the regime, you're "un-American."
No. No, NPR is left leaning middle supported by extremely conservative people. It's called a mega tax deduction and "penance" of some type.

Those who listen to it know it but are afraid to be branded over it.

Those who only listen to it are just about as ignorant as those who entrall themselves with Hannity, Savage and the rest.

I did mention just about as ignorant that means they know the other side exists.
 
So now it's "left leaning middle." I thought it was "liberal talk."

And yes, Air America didn't properly choose or develop talent. It's called programming and coaching which is what good program directors and consultants do in all formats. Including conservative talk. The idea that this in any way is some sort of ideological insult is silly.

There's very talented people out there of all stripes, and they often have to be coached to be at their best and do great radio. Most liberal talent never had that system or stability in the later years of radio. They had it in the 90s, which was why live and local talk stations like WLS, WSB, and others, were so entertaining. Even stations like KFI and its competitor KABC both had liberal hosts.

I'm in radio, have been in radio, and know my history and what's on the air now and what was. Liberals and non Trump conservatives have fallen out of favor in the business and the format has become basically conservative echo chambering. Setting aside any politics involved, that's not entertaining to most people and that's why the demographics get worse by the year. Radio, especially iHeart and Premiere, chose their lane and are driving it until they hit the cliff.

You should wish there were more "liberals" in radio. It would at least be something different, and maybe talk radio would have been healthier if it hadn't niched its way into being seen as one thing that gets old fast.
 
No. No, NPR is left leaning middle supported by extremely conservative people. It's called a mega tax deduction and "penance" of some type.

Those who listen to it know it but are afraid to be branded over it.

Those who only listen to it are just about as ignorant as those who entrall themselves with Hannity, Savage and the rest.

I did mention just about as ignorant that means they know the other side exists.
You obviously don't listen to NPR.

There isn't "a side" in news, unlike Glenn Beck, NewsMax and OANN who were so offended journalists accurately report on a presidency, they decided to make-up their own "news."

NPR news is not opinionated, unlike Fox "We Love Trump" News.
I have never heard any opinion presented in an NPR newscast.

Even the hosts of the general interest or news-oriented weekday shows don't dribble on about their opinions and try to shove their beliefs down others' throats.

Now, some stations may have local or non-NPR national shows that are opinionated, but not NPR.
 
To be somewhat fair, I wouldn’t use the 12+ public numbers as a judge on performance - quite simply, conservative talk is not a mass market format, but in a market the size of DFW, a niche format could still be pulling in a decent amount of listeners.

I am quite curious as to what WBAP is getting in the demo, though. Is it top 5? Top 10?
Even though I've never cared for it, conservative talk was a mass-market format for many years. WBAP was a top five station for many years with a schedule that was heavy in right-wing talk show hosts.

So something has changed.
 
Even though I've never cared for it, conservative talk was a mass-market format for many years. WBAP was a top five station for many years with a schedule that was heavy in right-wing talk show hosts.

So something has changed.
The most obvious factor to me is that the target audience has aged out of the 18-49 demo. That, plus perhaps the death of Limbaugh.
 
The most obvious factor to me is that the target audience has aged out of the 18-49 demo. That, plus perhaps the death of Limbaugh.
Talk radio's demographics are very old.
The format, as it currently stands, should go the way of oldies, big band/standards, smooth jazz.

But, it will get a reprieve. A special "preference," a "quota" or "affirmative action," if you will.

As it's nearly 24 hours of one-sided talk, talk radio will remain the "safe space" where certain views are rarely challenged, a "haven" for those that think "the media" is against them, though the practitioners in their own medium act like the "liberal media (domination)" they so hate...
 
The most obvious factor to me is that the target audience has aged out of the 18-49 demo. That, plus perhaps the death of Limbaugh.
That doesn't explain the plummeting shares of the 6+ audience -- because those ratings include listening by everyone over the age of six. So in those ratings, an 80 year old listener counts just as much as a 40 year old listener.

That said, if the 6+ shares are down as much as they are, I can only imagine how bad the numbers are for the demographics that advertisers want.
 
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