Is Comcast Killing Off Progressive Talk?

[MattParker]

The ink wasn't even dry on FCC and Anti-trust approval of the Comcast - NBC merger when the channel's highest rated host got the ax. Keith Olbermann has been fired. At least they let him say good-bye (contrary to standard industry practice). This, of course, is not the first time NBC has done something dumb (probably not the last, either). Nor is it even the first time MSNBC has fired it's highest rated - and coincidentally liberal - host: Phil Donahue was dumped for daring to challenge Dubya's invasion of Iraq (that one may have had something to do with GE being one of the largest US defense contractors).

Is this a progressive talk purge? Another one. Clear Channel programming exec Darryl Parks started cancelling progressive talk on the company's stations throughout the Midwest bragging that he wanted to be the "grim reaper" of progressive talk. Has Brian Roberts decided to assume that role? Comcast is a company known for ruthless and anti-competitive business practices and terrible service. They made all sorts of promises before the merger was approved about being good guys now. Are they already starting to break them?

What's going to happen to Big Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow? Big Ed's radio show is syndicated by Dial Global (live at 12noon, some stations take Thom Hartmann at noon and Big Ed at 3pm). Rachel dropped her radio show some time ago (although audio from her cable show was syndicated to radio for a time). Big Ed is pretty well set on radio (only question is will he stay in DC or go back to Fargo?). The progressive talk field is already full (given station demand for progressive talk). Rachel might have trouble finding a syndication deal and if she does, she might have trouble getting cleared (meaning pushing another host aside). Olbermann came from sports, not progressive talk radio. Might he try to enter the progressive talk line-up? When the music stops, who gets left without a chair? Currently Talkers Magazine estimates a dead-heat among the three Dial Global progressive talk hosts: Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz (covering 9am-6pm Monday through Friday Eastern; 6am-3pm Pacific). Bill Press in East Coast morning drive is not setting the world on fire and may be vulnerable but neither Keith nor Rachel seem like morning drive personalities.

Will another cable channel try to establish itself as the new home for progressive talk? This could provide an opportunity for the buzz-challenged HLN, which really has been foundering since it gave up all news, all the time.

Stay tuned.

 

[jh]

Firing one host doesn't necessarily mean a format change for MSNBC. Olbermann has been fired before, maybe he's hard to work with, maybe he was paid too much making the show unprofitable.

These big companies don't care about ideology, only money. If those CC progressive stations had been making money they wouldn't have changed formats. I once worked for a fairly major media company where the CEO/biggest stockholder was quite liberal. All the talk radio stations were conservative, because that's where the money was.

I can't see Ed Schultz going back to Fargo if his TV show is axed. He doesn't even have a radio affiliate in Fargo.

 

[MattParker]

These big companies don't care about ideology, only money.

That's what they keep saying. They lie.

 

[TheBigA]

This, of course, is not the first time NBC has done something dumb (probably not the last, either). Nor is it even the first time MSNBC has fired it's highest rated - and coincidentally liberal - host:

Which is part of the reason why I fail to see a connection between Comcast and this decision. The other is that Comcast has not taken ownership yet. I believe them when they say they won't interfere in news. Blaming Concast is a conspiracy theory that ignores the fact that Olbermann brought this on himself. He became more important than his work. Something's gotta give there or management loses control. So my view is that this is strictly between Olbermann and NBC News management. No higher than that. Now it's possible that some of the NBC suits are overthinking what their future owners might want. We saw some of that when GE took over 23 years ago. But I'm not about to call this a Comcast created purge. But hey if they start hiring a bunch of angry old men to take on Fox, then you may be right.

 

[umfan]

I doubt the merger drove this. Olbermann is just too difficult.

He's not likely to pop up anywhere else either. Maddow and Schultz are going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Ed Schultz owns his program. If Dial Global quits, he can find another distributor or self-distribute. Miller, Hartmann and Press are all in the same situation. I don't think Dial Global owns any of the talk shows it syndicates.

Was Darryl Parks anything more than the GM at WLW Cincinnati?

 

[MattParker]

Was Darryl Parks anything more than the GM at WLW Cincinnati?

He was a regional program manager over-seeing Clear Channel talk stations throughout the midwest. Funny, how Clear Channel puts current or former right-wing hosts in charge of progressive talk stations.

 

[TheBigA]

Funny, how Clear Channel puts current or former right-wing hosts in charge of progressive talk stations.

I wouldn't blame him or CC for the failure of progressive talk. That wound was self inflicted.

 

[TalkShowGuy1979]

These big companies don't care about ideology, only money.

That's what they keep saying. They lie.

If you say so. Clear Channel had more Progressive talk stations than anyone and they still have some on. Your premise is absurd.

 

[MattParker]

These big companies don't care about ideology, only money.

That's what they keep saying. They lie.

If you say so. Clear Channel had more Progressive talk stations than anyone and they still have some on. Your premise is absurd.

Operative word is "had." They put progressive talk on some of their weak sticks out of concern that their might be a serious push to revive the fairness doctrine. I notice those former progressive talkers did no better after CCI dropped progressive talk and in some cases did worse. They (meaning Darryl Parks specifically) tried to kill progressive talk in Madison, Wisconsin where the format was doing very well.

 

[JimmyJames]

"These big companies don't care about ideology, only money."

Which is why it's perfectly logical that they would prefer to program hosts that stuck to the formula that's easiest to sell and also, espouses philosophies and political views that are against regulation, taxation and other things that would cut into their profits. I think the major broadcast companies are quite happy with the ideologies of right wing radio. You reap what you sow.

 

[TheBigA]

I think the major broadcast companies are quite happy with the ideologies of right wing radio. You reap what you sow.

And yet it is those hosts that major advertisers specifically avoid.

 

[TalkShowGuy1979]

I think the major broadcast companies are quite happy with the ideologies of right wing radio. You reap what you sow.

And yet it is those hosts that major advertisers specifically avoid.

Auto-Zone demanded not to be placed in Rush's show Friday... I am sure that inventory will go unsold.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Sorry, Matt, you lost me a few places:

Operative word is "had." They put progressive talk on some of their weak sticks out of concern that their might be a serious push to revive the fairness doctrine.

That's just your opinion/take on the situation. You have no proof of that statement.

My OWN opinion/take is that CC saw the success it got on a second-tier talk station in Portland OR, KPOJ/620, and quickly deployed the format on other similar stations as a result.

Was progressive talk going to displace all the CC conservative talkers? Of course not. They were established moneymakers. It'd be insane to take off those formats in favor of a new, unproven format on the biggest sticks in the market.

KPOJ, by the way, is still very much in the format. Most of the others are not, of course, but KPOJ is not CC's only progressive talker in 2011.

I notice those former progressive talkers did no better after CCI dropped progressive talk and in some cases did worse.

You are looking at publically available 12-plus numbers, and NONE of these stations are going to blow off the ratings doors, if they're running progressive talk, sports, second-tier conservative talk or nostalgia.

You're also ignoring the likelihood that it's much easier to sell a low-rated sports station than a low-rated progressive talk station, even if the latter gets slightly better ratings than the former.

They (meaning Darryl Parks specifically) tried to kill progressive talk in Madison, Wisconsin where the format was doing very well.

I'm pretty sure Darryl wasn't involved in that. He was only CC Cincinnati AM operations manager until recently, and his current job of news/talk oversight outside Cincinnati happened not long ago, long after the Madison situation.

Yes, Darryl very much still hosts a Saturday morning conservative talk show at his home base, WLW/700 Cincinnati.

We don't know him all that well (he has been an OMW reader, at least in the past), but it's a mistake IMHO to say his on-air politics affects how he runs stations as a programmer.

 

[KeyTimes950]

The premise is, Comcast merges with NBC and proceeds to kill off MSNBC. Doesn't work. First, Olbermann has been in trouble before with the NBC management, specifically when he contributed to some campaigns in 2010. Second, the FCC is requiring more news on stations Comcast is acquiring. That would not be helped by cutting out a network that is more prone to support what the current majority on the FCC wants to do. This is a tempest that will settle down a lot faster than, for instance, the continued controversy over what triggered the tragedy two weeks ago in Tucson. It might even be forgotten before Rush Limbaugh's treatment of the Chinese president is knocked off the front pages and the entertainment shows. As for another issue here, Clear Channel's treatment of progressive talk, the question is, does the format sell time or doesn't it? Given the still-shaky status of CC, I'd wonder about that.

 

[radiotower40]

Saying that liberal talk was only on second tier stations was not true in the case I experienced
in Cincinnati. They changed 50kW Real Oldies 1530 WSAI to liberal talk under the historic WCKY
call letters.

The format was changed because the oldies had bad ratings. The liberal talk did even worse despite
being the flagship for Jerry Springer, the former mayor of the city.

They switched am 1530 to sports and even gave the talk format a second chance on the smaller
1360 WSAI, which is a heritage station, and it did poorly there and was taken off.

This might not have been the case for a lot of the stations the format was put on, but they couldn't
make a dent on WCKY. It was not entertaining.

 

[johnbasalla]

One of liberal talks problems is that they too often fall into the insult gutter instead of staying on the road of the marketplace of ideas. It becomes predictable and boring. If you don't agree with them, you're either an "ist", "phobe" or blamed for an "ism". Just after not-so-conservative Republican Scott Brown of Massachussets won his U.S. Senate seat, I tuned into Olberman's show and he was in the middle of this aforementioned insult parade referring to Senator-elect Brown. I just rolled my eyes and went elsewhere.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Just like there's no grand conspiracy to keep conservatives off TV, there is no conspiracy to keep liberals off radio. The media ownership has one bias. A commercial bias. They do what makes money with the least amount of effort/expense.

Olbermann got canned because no one likes the guy. He's a jerk. Maddow and the others are more professional, and will likely keep their jobs.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I read somewhere this morning that Olbermann had the highest rated show on MSNBC, and there was a discussion going on about who on the network would be gathering the highest ratings now that he is gone. Will it be Rachel Maddow, will it be Lawrence O'Donnel who takes the old Olbermann slot, or will it be Ed Schulz who takes the 10 PM (Eastern Time) slot now occupied by O'Donnel.... or will it be Chris Matthews.

I read some places that K.O. was fired, ABC TV News tonight reported that he quit. Journalism seems a bit sloppy today.

I haven't seen the ratings so I don't know. But if, BIG IF, if Olbermann had the highest ratings of any of the talkers on MSNBC, and IF, another BIG if, if the only thing driving network management is high ratings that sell for the most revenue, and if (another BIG if) they fired Olbermann, something doesn't add up.

 

[TheBigA]

I once had a boss who said about one of our talents, "The money we make isn't worth the aggravation."