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Glenn Beck Looking Up At Dave Ramsey?

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

The other day, I was listening to Dave Ramsey, and he was claiming that not only was his show the top independently-syndicated program right now (which probably isn't that debateable) but he also said that overall, his show is "the third" most popular talk radio show behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Of course, for years, it used to be Limbaugh, Hannity and Glenn Beck in the top three - I believe Beck was even No. 2 behind Rush for awhile. Could it be that his leaving Fox News has contributed to his popularity on the radio dwindling?
 
Number of affiliates? I bet Ramsey is ahead on that one. His show is on at all different times and Beck has lost a number of stations. Number of listeners? Who knows?

Dave Ramsey's show is growing so much because it's easy to deal with. Any hour he does sounds like any other hour. That makes him perfect for time shift. I don't know what his affiliate agreement is like, but I'd be willing to bet it's a lot less strict than dealing with Premiere.
 
Dave Ramsey was on Hartford's WTIC just weekends, until WDRC and its three CT affliates offered to air the show weekday afternoons.
 
ProducerGuy said:
Number of affiliates? I bet Ramsey is ahead on that one. His show is on at all different times and Beck has lost a number of stations. Number of listeners? Who knows?

Dave Ramsey's show is growing so much because it's easy to deal with. Any hour he does sounds like any other hour. That makes him perfect for time shift. I don't know what his affiliate agreement is like, but I'd be willing to bet it's a lot less strict than dealing with Premiere.
Click to expand...

The Dave Ramsey Show is basically a commercial for Dave Ramsey. I'll bet he pays enough strategic stations to carry the show that the smaller affiliates look at the list and figure, "If it's good enough for NYC, for example, it's good enough for us!"

If I were American Express or MasterCard, I might think twice about advertising on a Ramsey affiliate, but since the show is basically dull and uncontroversial, I doubt that his credit-card bashing ever comes to their attention.
 
del_griffith said:
Ramsey claims he doesn't pay to play.
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He's not being 100% truthful.

He may not cut a check to an affiliate to carry the show, but he might be handing over part of the network ad revenue to them. I know more than one station that was given a "financial incentive" to carry the show.

Ramsey, to me, is the second coming of Dr. Laura - form a programming perspective. (I think he's much more polite and probably helps more people with tangible problems than Laura ever could). Aside the from the content of the program, the structure is near identical to her show. It is not based on the news of the hour. Each program hour is essentially the same and pretty timeless. You could recycle hours from last year and most listeners won't know it isn't recent.
 
The two stations in my area that carry Dave Ramsey - WHIZ-AM in Zanesville, Ohio and WLOH-AM/FM in Lancaster, Ohio - air him from 3-6 p.m. weekdays. I never had any reason to suspect his show wasn't live until one Monday when he was discussing the then-recent Facebook IPO, and was talking in the 5 p.m. hour about its performance in the stock market. He made mentions as to where the stock was and how it would fare until closing, so I am thinking to myself that it's 90 minutes after the markets have closed. Not long after that, I did some sleuthing and quickly found Ramsey is live from 2 to 5, and the hour I was hearing actually was the 2 p.m. hour being repeated.
The other cue that he goes off at 5 p.m. is at the end of the 4 p.m. hour, he usually says "We'll be back before you know it" and I don't think he says that at the end of any other hour. That's as close to a sign-off as he gets.
 
NewsStud said:
del_griffith said:
Ramsey claims he doesn't pay to play.
Click to expand...

He's not being 100% truthful.

He may not cut a check to an affiliate to carry the show, but he might be handing over part of the network ad revenue to them. I know more than one station that was given a "financial incentive" to carry the show.

Ramsey, to me, is the second coming of Dr. Laura - form a programming perspective. (I think he's much more polite and probably helps more people with tangible problems than Laura ever could). Aside the from the content of the program, the structure is near identical to her show. It is not based on the news of the hour. Each program hour is essentially the same and pretty timeless. You could recycle hours from last year and most listeners won't know it isn't recent.
Click to expand...

Can you name some names? He has emphatically stated no pay to play. While not direct traditional pay to play, it still is a form of pay to play if he's rebating or otherwise providing some form of compensation.
 
We discussed this awhile back on the Raleigh board. Someone said that Ramsey was paying WPTF to air the show... I don't remember who.

WPTF is on life support and trying to build a news brand, but still runs Dave Ramsey middays. Stubbornly, they won't drop his show. If that doesn't point to him paying them to air the show I don't know what does...
 
It's a pretty safe bet WOR isn't carrying Dave Ramsey to light a fire under the NY audience. There's a financial incentive in there somewhere.
 
ProducerGuy said:
Programmers making stupid decisions is hardly evidence of pay to play.
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No, my point is that no matter what they do, Dave Ramsey remains the only "untouchable" aspect of a sinking station. He isn't carrying enough of the station to merit being untouchable.
 
@Wadio: There was a billboard promoting Ramsey's show on WOR on some New York expressway not too long ago. Went looking for it recently and it was gone. Does that mean the Ramsey "deal" is close to expiration? ???
 
DToTheJ said:
@Wadio: There was a billboard promoting Ramsey's show on WOR on some New York expressway not too long ago. Went looking for it recently and it was gone. Does that mean the Ramsey "deal" is close to expiration? ???
Click to expand...

We can only hope ;D But maybe the billboard was only meant to be an "introductory" ad, likely paid for by Ramsey.
 
I would not be at all surprised if Ramsey's recorded local spots are performed for a very small or even no fee. That alone drives more revenue to the affiliate and easier to sell inventory with his voice.
 
the lines have blurred..book deals, net casts, podcasts, tea for sale, ..isn't the last hour of savage infomercial
?
 
wadio said:
It's a pretty safe bet WOR isn't carrying Dave Ramsey to light a fire under the NY audience. There's a financial incentive in there somewhere.
Click to expand...

Dave Ramsey might not be on WOR much longer, since CC has purchased the station. I think Glenn Beck will get his New York clearance back with this development. :)
 
The best thing about Ramsey from a radio station point of view is that his show airs 24/7 on satellite. That means the station can take a "live" feed of the show anytime it wants. It's the perfect "fill" program. No recording and playing back. No worries about anything. Automation kicks in the hours you need him. That's why he seems db'd by many stations. It's not really being db'd. They just take live whatever hours are on the bird.
 
FLjack2 said:
The best thing about Ramsey from a radio station point of view is that his show airs 24/7 on satellite. That means the station can take a "live" feed of the show anytime it wants. It's the perfect "fill" program. No recording and playing back. No worries about anything. Automation kicks in the hours you need him. That's why he seems db'd by many stations. It's not really being db'd. They just take live whatever hours are on the bird.
Click to expand...

That's the best explanation I've heard for why any station would carry this trash. Yesterday I tuned in WOR to hear Ramsey giving a caller tips about how to succeed in multilevel marketing. Sheesh!
 
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