LA Times: Progressive Talkers Distancing Themselves from AAR

[fred flintstone]

Re: AAR "Fans" Distancing Themselves from AAR

If I'm a political operative and you tell me I can reach 1 million different people in a week by advertising on KFI, do you think I'm going to care about how many are Republicans, Democrats, or independents? Also do you have some data on these one million listeners that the rest of us don't have? What makes you think that Democrats and political indendents are not listening to KFI. The demos that the station makes public would argue against this.

No you probably won't. Maybe you should. You will be wasting your money.
Demographic breakdowns are for ad agencies, and don't include political predispositions.

There is a whole body of social research going back over 50 years showing people listen to media content which confirms what they already believe and avoid that which does not. Further, people tend to remember information that confirms their beliefs and forget what does not. Selective attention. Selective perception. Selective recall.

 

[kaufcom]

Re: AAR "Fans" Distancing Themselves from AAR

No you probably won't. Maybe you should. You will be wasting your money.
Demographic breakdowns are for ad agencies, and don't include political predispositions.

There is a whole body of social research going back over 50 years showing people listen to media content which confirms what they already believe and avoid that which does not. Further, people tend to remember information that confirms their beliefs and forget what does not. Selective attention. Selective perception. Selective recall.

Ad agencies and media buyers don't consult this "body of social research going back 50 years." They look at the stations ratings and demos.

If I'm stuck in traffic (which a lot of people in LA are every day) and I'm listening to the radio, I'm probably going to tune John and Ken even though I rarely agree with them. There are a lot of people that listen to KFI from all political parties. Again its a million different people thats a one followed by six zeros.

 

[fred flintstone]

Re: AAR "Fans" Distancing Themselves from AAR

Ad agencies and media buyers don't consult this "body of social research going back 50 years." They look at the stations ratings and demos.

If I'm stuck in traffic (which a lot of people in LA are every day) and I'm listening to the radio, I'm probably going to tune John and Ken even though I rarely agree with them. There are a lot of people that listen to KFI from all political parties. Again its a million different people thats a one followed by six zeros.

Consumer advertising is a whole different ballgame: Brand X versus Brand Y. And ad agencies and media buyers do consult a huge body of proprietary market research.

People who don't like or agree with John and Ken go elsewhere for traffic reports. Clear Channel Total Traffic puts the exact same traffic reports on every station they own in the market, including KTLK. In fact, almost every station in town has traffic reports (from Metro Networks' Shadow Traffic, Traffic.com or Total Traffic). Listeners disposed to liberal viewpoints can get traffic+Randi on KTLK, or traffic+ATC on KCRW or KPCC, but most people hit KNX and/or KFWB push-buttons when they see brake lights ahead to hear the SIG alerts. There is no need for anybody to listen to KFI to hear traffic. John and Ken do traffic reports to prevent listeners from switching away for traffic reports. And don't don't be so sure their listeners are such a politically diverse bunch (however, my impression of the show is a lot of their listeners are zeroes).

But don't tell anybody about this stuff. The radio industry makes a fortune from all that political ad money that gets thrown around indiscriminately. Unfortunately, ad agencies are a lot smarter about how they spend the clients' money.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Re: AAR "Fans" Distancing Themselves from AAR

In Los Angeles the number one talk radio station KFI reaches a million different listeners each week. The other three talk stations -- conservate KABC and KRLA and liberal KTLK also reach about a million listeners combined. If you are trying to say that a million people listening to Rush Limbaugh, and immigrant bashers John and Ken, are not something that a political group wants to go after, I'm afraid you're mistaken.

You're not arguing my point.

My point wasn't that no one listens to Rush/John&Ken/Randi/Steph/Whoever. My point is that they take up roughly 10 percent or less of the entire radio universe, and my point THERE is that I ascribe much less "world changing power" to talk radio than some of the more strident partisans do on both sides.

I'll let Fred take up the "preaching to the choir" argument.

My basic point is that AAR - and any other syndicator/network, liberal or conservative - has to think about RADIO and ENTERTAINMENT first. AAR's biggest problem is that it sees itself as necessary to the salvation of the Republic.

Well, so do many of Salem's hosts, and they aren't exactly getting the same kind of ratings as Rush does.

 

[fred flintstone]

Re: AAR "Fans" Distancing Themselves from AAR

You're not arguing my point.

My point wasn't that no one listens to Rush/John&Ken/Randi/Steph/Whoever. My point is that they take up roughly 10 percent or less of the entire radio universe, and my point THERE is that I ascribe much less "world changing power" to talk radio than some of the more strident partisans do on both sides.

I'll let Fred take up the "preaching to the choir" argument.

My basic point is that AAR - and any other syndicator/network, liberal or conservative - has to think about RADIO and ENTERTAINMENT first. AAR's biggest problem is that it sees itself as necessary to the salvation of the Republic.

Well, so do many of Salem's hosts, and they aren't exactly getting the same kind of ratings as Rush does.

No, Salem's hosts are getting exactly the same kind of ratings Franken and Randi do.

And to quote Ed McMahon: You are correct, sir! Most people are not listening to talk, don't listen to talk and won't listen to talk. Not sports talk. Not lifestyle talk. Not advice talk. And certainly not political talk.

Now the people who are in the politics business (the government, politicians and the news media) try to market their product by telling the rest of us that we have an obligation - as good citizens - to pay attention to them and their antics. But most people don't.

And if anybody is influenced by somebody in the media it's most likely by Leno and Letterman, and not by one thing either says but by the cumulative effect of what they say night after night, week after week, month after month. And the reason they have influence is because they are not seen as ideologues or advocates for any cause or any point of view.

Political operatives know most people don't listen to talk radio. But talk show hosts are free media and sometimes the choir needs a nudge. But political operatives pay to reach the great undecided masses in other media and other formats. Sure they buy some time on talk stations, too, but that's not where most of the money goes.