Delaying shows

[dustintv]

When a show, for example say Sean Hannity, is aired outside of its live timeslot like he is in major markets like Chicago and San Francisco, would it attract the same amount of listeners if the program were to be aired live? I know WHAM here airs Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage outside their normal timeslots.

 

[buster2]

Not necessarily. Delaying shows is commonplace, especially in the western US, where putting on someone like Imus live would make no sense since it would be 2 or 3 AM in the Mountain or Pacific time zones.

Rush found the perfect niche time when he started in 1988 by going from Noon-3PM ET. That way, he hits either early or late midday in the whole country and avoids drive time. But many hosts don't have that luxury, so local programmers will delay their shows and air them when it fits their station's local needs best.

The biggest drawback is major national breaking news. If you're listening to a four hour old show and a major news event occured an hour ago, it sounds weird for the host to not be speaking about it, which of course, would be impossible. The exception is a truly seismic event such as 9-11, in which case, your station, hopefully, is airing something else live anyway.

The other drawback is callers can't call a delayed show, but since only a miniscule number of callers get on anyway, most programmers don't care about that; nor should they. A good host is what people listen to.

 

[NewsVet]

Not necessarily. Delaying shows is commonplace, especially in the western US, where putting on someone like Imus live would make no sense since it would be 2 or 3 AM in the Mountain or Pacific time zones.

KABC in Los Angeles runs Imus live from 3 am to 5 am. And that's it for the I-Man in L.A. Makes "sense" to somebody (including me), given how bad the show is these days.

 

[greenboy]

The only time the delayed shows bother me is when something newsworthy is happening now, for example during election time
when we already know the results and your listening to the host saying exit polls saying Obama is going to win when Clinton won
the race 2 hours before.

 

[gr8oldies]

It's tough to sound on top of things when there has been breaking news and the show is delayed. On the other hand, shows like Clark Howard, Dave Ramsey and Dr. Laura are pretty much evergreen ad delay of even a few days doesn't really matter.

 

[barthgimble]

Mark Levin's show is a good example. It airs live from 6-8pm, and we get it in Orlando from 10-Midnight. During primary season, it's like a newspaper that goes to press too early. WDBO should carry him live and delay Savage for an hour.