amfmxm said:
almaniac27 said:
Listening to the successful progressive talk stations like KPOJ and WXXM, it seems that they attract more local business advertising on them. I hear more commercials for quirky local shops and services on liberal stations more than conservative ones, where all I hear seems to be car dealerships.
One other thing I noticed, and one that has been mentioned on this board quite a bit is that many people of liberal persuasion have gotten used to listening to NPR. There is a message board I visit sometimes that consists of fans of indie rock. Most people on there are fairly liberal, and when the subject of Air America comes up, most of the responses are "Oh, I just listen to NPR or my iPod." Plus, someone mentioned the problem of people switching from FM to AM, and the vast majority of public radio stations are on the FM dial.
Lib-talk stations do also benefit from the "client favorite" syndrome--accounting for some of those quirky local shops and services. Sort of like the early days of progressive rock... or alternative rock... or, as you note, indie stations.
But as far as a preferred band, let me say this. Aside from the handful of "1-A Clears" like WLS, WABC, WSB, WJR, WLW & the like that provide coverage as good-or-better than a Class B or Class C FM, any format of any kind--including talk, either conservative or progressive--is generally going to perform better on the FM band. Because that's where most listeners are, already. But for an emerging format niche, as lib-talk continues to be, being on a big AM is better than not being on radio at all. And FWIW, recent history in progressive talk circles seems to indicate that not being on radio at all may be better than being relegated to a small (or daytime-only) AM that few people can hear--since it seems to lead some observers to conclude that the format doesn't work at all.
So far, all of these posts are very, very interesting and well thought-out. (Does this mean we're the only "thoughtful" ones on these boards? Just kidding...)
Indie rock fans tend to be younger in nature...these are the folks who have, probably, never listened to an AM station, ever! And yes, whenever I've come into contact with people of this nature, I, too hear a preference toward NPR for getting their news. Now, NPR, in fairness, does (here and there, anyway) air some conservative views, but quite often what you hear is liberal. This also brings up the suggestion (well heard when the topic of conservative vs. liberal talk comes up) that the liberals mostly tune to NPR, giving "prog talkers" a disadvantage as people of that train of thought have already settled on a preference of channel.
Someone here also brings up the small signaled AM's. Regardless of the politics of the station owner, good business sense would suggest that, if you were going to try something different or experimental, you don't put it on your best stick...you put it on a small stick and see if it can generate larger than normal ratings. Such owners are not expecting the 1 KW stick to beat the local class A 50 kilowatter, they just want to see if the experiment can get them bigger numbers than, say, a satellite delivered format such as ESPN radio.
I worked for WCOL-AM/FM in Columbus back in the 90's, and because of public requests, we added the Rush Limbaugh program on the 1 Kw AM stick. Within a short time, the "average" rating for that daypart doubled in size. And, if I recall correctly, we were still playing a satellite oldies format in the other dayparts, though it shortly changed to all talk. Within a year, Limbaugh's show was pushing, in demo and daypart, a 5 share on that crappy little stick. About a year later, the PTB at EIB moved Rush to the bigger AM stick in town, where his show moved to #1.
This is the kind of performance on a small stick AM that has not been seen, for the most part, with progressive talk. Even in Cincinnati, where, for a brief time, it was on 50KW WCKY-AM, it pulled about a 1.7 share 12 plus at best.
This is why I raise the thought that, perhaps some of this has to do with who listens to AM.
Another point still anecdotal in nature: At one point, when Nationwide Communications owned WCOL-AM/FM, we retooled the AM and tried to do what the current Congress apparently wants broadcasters to do with a proposed "Fairness Doctrine". We tried to allow differing points of view within the context of a 24 hour day. We had:
Imus In The Morning - 6 to 10 AM.
G. Gordon Liddy - 10 AM to 2 PM.
John & Ken PM Drive
Barry Farber (Early evenings)
Tom Leykis (late evenings)
Imus performed reasonably well (he made a decent dent on a bad signal), G. Gordon Liddy and Barry Farber did OK, but when John & Ken and Leykis came on the air, the numbers dropped badly. (and, though I often disagreed with them, I thought John & Ken were very entertaining.) At one point, Alan Colmes did afternoons. But simply put, though we received letters from professors at OSU praising us for our "even handed" programming, the liberal shows never performed as well as the conservative shows. This all, again, makes me ponder the thought that the liberal audience, for the most part is an FM animal.
