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Is talk radio in a crisis?

J

Jay_F

When talk shares fell rather drastically from Fall 04 to Winter 05 I wasn't too surprised. The decline was expected post-election.

Although it's early and only a few markets have been released so far, I am surprised at how talk radio has continued it's tumble in the Spring book. Several stations hit their lowest levels in recent memory including WABC,KFI,KABC,WLS,KOGO, even WAEB-AM in Allentown PA. What do you think is going on to cause this decline? Is the format stale?
 
> When talk shares fell rather drastically from Fall 04 to
> Winter 05 I wasn't too surprised. The decline was expected
> post-election.
>
> Although it's early and only a few markets have been
> released so far, I am surprised at how talk radio has
> continued it's tumble in the Spring book. Several stations
> hit their lowest levels in recent memory including
> WABC,KFI,KABC,WLS,KOGO, even WAEB-AM in Allentown PA. What
> do you think is going on to cause this decline? Is the
> format stale?
>


People are tired of on air talent calling the other side liars. Doesnt matter if you are right or left... they all do it. Get tiring after a while.
 
I don't think the format is in crisis, but some leveling off is to be expected after the hotly contested election last year. If you see major shows being replaced, then there might be a problem.<P ID="signature">______________
Soon to set the world record for recieving Nigerian scam and phising e-mails!</P>
 
Words of wisdom

> I don't think the format is in crisis, but some leveling off
> is to be expected after the hotly contested election last
> year. If you see major shows being replaced, then there
> might be a problem.

All formats are fads.

Every fad has a finite life.

This one has just lasted a little longer than most.
<P ID="signature">______________
Yes, and even the fleas on their children's pets, the cockroaches under their sinks and the fleas on their camels.</P>
 
Re: Words of wisdom

A follow-up question - with the increase in the number of "progressive talk" radio stations over the past two years - could there be more "talk" listeners, but they are spread out over a greater number of "talk" radio stations (which could lead to a decline for individual stations, despite an overall increase)?

For example, since "conservative talk" dominated the "talk" market in the 1990's, anyone interested in listening to "political talk" pretty much had to listen to "conservative talk." But now with "progressive talk," these listeners have migrated to progresive talk stations.

Thus, my question is - could the overall talk listenership have increased, but they are now stretched out over a greater number of stations?



> > I don't think the format is in crisis, but some leveling
> off
> > is to be expected after the hotly contested election last
> > year. If you see major shows being replaced, then there
> > might be a problem.
>
> All formats are fads.
>
> Every fad has a finite life.
>
> This one has just lasted a little longer than most.
>
 
Re: Words of wisdom

As far as talk radio as a fad, its been a prety long fad. <P ID="signature">______________
Soon to set the world record for recieving Nigerian scam and phising e-mails!</P>
 
Re: Words of wisdom

> For example, since "conservative talk" dominated the "talk"
> market in the 1990's, anyone interested in listening to
> "political talk" pretty much had to listen to "conservative
> talk." But now with "progressive talk," these listeners
> have migrated to progresive talk stations.

I think you are on to something here, because the progressive talk stations are slowly building listeners, and their ratings are increasing. Part of this may be fatigue with the older show hosts, especially when their political views are becoming out of the mainstream with the majority of Americans who aren't thrilled where the country is heading. But this won't be a huge factor because the base won't defect from a program based on ideology, and they are likely the major percentage of listeners to political talk on both sides. But I'm not so sure some of the stretching defenses of folks like Rove are going to draw those listeners in either. Limbaugh was rewriting history last week by saying the yellow cake story was true, even those the Administration apologized for it. I just don't know if the moderate listener is going to sit through that. On the other side, some of the novelty factor is bound to wear off also, exposing inherent weakness in some of the talent (the Oy! Oy! Oy! thing Franken does is the poster child of this argument.)

An even better scenario is the lack of big issues (or new ones) that people want to hear about. I am not even sure the Supreme Court nominee will be enough because we already know where everyone is going to stand on this, and we'll be hailed on with talking points.
 
Re: Words of wisdom

I believe the lack of issues is a major concern right now. What is left to say about the war? The Social Security issue is not attracting much interest. The Court fight may help. But the last election fight was so intense that I believe many talk listeners simply want an extended break. Interest should pick up by the '06 election cycle.

> > For example, since "conservative talk" dominated the
> "talk"
> > market in the 1990's, anyone interested in listening to
> > "political talk" pretty much had to listen to
> "conservative
> > talk." But now with "progressive talk," these listeners
> > have migrated to progresive talk stations.
>
> I think you are on to something here, because the
> progressive talk stations are slowly building listeners, and
> their ratings are increasing. Part of this may be fatigue
> with the older show hosts, especially when their political
> views are becoming out of the mainstream with the majority
> of Americans who aren't thrilled where the country is
> heading. But this won't be a huge factor because the base
> won't defect from a program based on ideology, and they are
> likely the major percentage of listeners to political talk
> on both sides. But I'm not so sure some of the stretching
> defenses of folks like Rove are going to draw those
> listeners in either. Limbaugh was rewriting history last
> week by saying the yellow cake story was true, even those
> the Administration apologized for it. I just don't know if
> the moderate listener is going to sit through that. On the
> other side, some of the novelty factor is bound to wear off
> also, exposing inherent weakness in some of the talent (the
> Oy! Oy! Oy! thing Franken does is the poster child of this
> argument.)
>
> An even better scenario is the lack of big issues (or new
> ones) that people want to hear about. I am not even sure
> the Supreme Court nominee will be enough because we already
> know where everyone is going to stand on this, and we'll be
> hailed on with talking points.
>
 
Re: Words of wisdom

When there's major breaking news, news/talk will be up. It's a slow political season. By and large, I don't believe libtalk's numbers are at the expense of the established conservative hosts. It's not "conservative talk" that dominated in the mid an late 1990s, it was several hosts who happened to be conservative. There's a big difference that I still don't think liberal talk backers get yet.<P ID="signature">______________
Soon to set the world record for recieving Nigerian scam and phising e-mails!</P>
 
Re: Words of wisdom

> As far as talk radio as a fad, its been a prety long fad.
>


And Rock and Pop music formats too....long fads. HA!<P ID="signature">______________



</P>
 
Re: Words of wisdom

> > As far as talk radio as a fad, its been a prety long fad.
> >
>
>
> And Rock and Pop music formats too....long fads. HA!
>

I agree!

I don't think that talk radio is a fad. I do believe that it has been around long enough now to no longer be classified as a "fad". There have been local AM talk shows/talk show hosts on the air for decades now!---And I'm sure that there will be AM talk shows on the air for years to come. Local talk shows, anyway.
 
>
> People are tired of on air talent calling the other side
> liars. Doesnt matter if you are right or left... they all
> do it. Get tiring after a while.
>

Agreed. Talk radio has become very political over the past 10 yr. or so, and after this last nasty presidential election most people have gotten tired of politics and name calling. This leaves just the hard-core left and right preaching to the choir.
 
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