Lionel....is his conspiracy theories hurting his ratings?

[FightingIrish]

Yeah, and Art Bell's reliance on conspiracy theories really hurt his listenership numbers and career. :

Even after amassing 500 affiliates and tens of millions of listeners, I'm sad to see "Coast To Coast AM" be such a flop.

Come on! Let's get real here. First of all, the Drudge list is highly suspect. Second, his show airs at 11Pm weeknights, which is not one of talk radio's strongest time slots. And he's on WOR, which pales in the New York ratings beside WABC, WINS, WCBS, etc. (and which exists, IMO, mostly to syndicate their own network of shows). And above all else, late night talk programming should be a bit more edgy. Lionel delivers.

And last I checked, Lionel has been adding quite a few new affiliates, even on mostly-conservative talk stations.

Personally, I think Lionel is an intelligent and highly engaging host. And he's phenomenal with callers, too (also sounds like he doesn't screen them).

 

[evnlee]

Yeah, and Art Bell's reliance on conspiracy theories really hurt his listenership numbers and career. :

okay, if you want to equate 'Noory' or 'Art Bell' with 'progressive talk' ,have at it. It only hurts your format.

There's a reason that the 'UFO/Ghost/I saw Elvis' shows are relegated to overnights. People tune into 'dreamland' knowing they are tuning into 'nutjob' radio.

Lionel and Malloy should not be giving credibility to 'prison planet' radio types, unless they want to be judged by the company they keep.

Art Bell was named as recipient of the less-than-prestigious Snuffed Candle Award. The Council for Media Integrity cited Bell "for encouraging credulity, presenting pseudoscience as genuine, and contributing to the public's lack of understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry."

If I was Lionel or Malloy being compared to Bell or Noory, I'd be embarrassed.

It's one thing to hate this administration. It's quite another thing to actively promote a damaging conspiratorial belief that somehow the events of 9-11 were anything but an outside terrorist attack. The good people of 'popular mechanics' might have some disagreement with you , FI.

Glad to see you put your cards on the table :

 

[FightingIrish]

Yeah, and Art Bell's reliance on conspiracy theories really hurt his listenership numbers and career. :

okay, if you want to equate 'Noory' or 'Art Bell' with 'progressive talk' ,have at it. It only hurts your format.

There's a reason that the 'UFO/Ghost/I saw Elvis' shows are relegated to overnights. People tune into 'dreamland' knowing they are tuning into 'nutjob' radio.

Lionel and Malloy should not be giving credibility to 'prison planet' radio types, unless they want to be judged by the company they keep.

Art Bell was named as recipient of the less-than-prestigious Snuffed Candle Award. The Council for Media Integrity cited Bell "for encouraging credulity, presenting pseudoscience as genuine, and contributing to the public's lack of understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry."

If I was Lionel or Malloy being compared to Bell or Noory, I'd be embarrassed.

It's one thing to hate this administration. It's quite another thing to actively promote a damaging conspiratorial belief that somehow the events of 9-11 were anything but an outside terrorist attack. The good people of 'popular mechanics' might have some disagreement with you , FI.

Glad to see you put your cards on the table :

First, it's about number of listeners, then it's about your own personal credibility scale.

You claimed that Lionel did not have as many listeners as other hosts because he was spouting conspiracy theories. I gave the example of Noory and Bell, who have over 500 affiliates and millions of listeners. And no, I made no mention of 'progressive talk'. Those are the voices in your head telling you that.

It was merely about number of listeners. But we all know it's all about politics to you. And "Coast to Coast", like talk radio should be, is about entertainment first. And I think C2C is a good show, even though I don't believe in the stuff they often talk about. And I'm sure millions of listeners will say the same thing.

Sorry, try again!

 

[evnlee]

First, it's about number of listeners, then it's about your own personal credibility scale.

You claimed that Lionel did not have as many listeners as other hosts because he was spouting conspiracy theories. I gave the example of Noory and Bell, who have over 500 affiliates and millions of listeners. And no, I made no mention of 'progressive talk'. Those are the voices in your head telling you that.

It was merely about number of listeners. But we all know it's all about politics to you. And "Coast to Coast", like talk radio should be, is about entertainment first. And I think C2C is a good show, even though I don't believe in the stuff they often talk about. And I'm sure millions of listeners will say the same thing.

Sorry, try again!

A quick visit to the original post reads :" Lionel has the ability to be somewhat entertaining, is well read, and uses good music in his show.

Why is his ratings so poor in the Big Apple?

Could it be his 'wacky' theories about 9-11 hurt him in a city where they experienced a devastating terror attack?"


so FI says I 'made a claim'. Wouldn't you say I 'asked a question'? As Lionel would say 'I am looking for the truth' :

Then, this gem from our fav pod-person, FI :

"Yeah, and Art Bell's reliance on conspiracy theories really hurt his listenership numbers and career."

In that sentence, FI compares Lionel to Bell. Then gets upset when he realizes how some of those views may marginalize a host praised by the progressives.

Hey FI, what do you make of the Malloy firing? The speculation is that his 'wacky' 9-11 views may have contributed to his AAR firing. Mike never had guests on his show, by August this year he was having David Ray Griffin, Webster Tarpley and even Alex Jones on his show, spewing their stuff totally unedited. Then, he is shown the door. Buh-bye!

Janeane Garofalo Upsetting Fans By Pumping Scientology On Her Show...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/05/02/janeane-garofalo-upsettin_n_20196.html

It is entirely fair and not 'political' to ask questions on this radio board about how some 'beliefs' that are a little 'nutty' affects the ratings of a show. But, when other people hold those 'wacky beliefs' to be true, then the author must suffer the slings and arrows.


Progressive talkers that give 9-11 conspiracists HURT your format.

Here's a little something from Rolling Stone, that neo con rag. I'll paraphrase from the author "A few weeks ago I wrote a column on the anniversary of 9/11 that offhandedly dismissed 9/11 conspiracy theorists as "clinically insane." I expected a little bit of heat in response, but nothing could have prepared me for the deluge of f-you mail that I actually got. Apparently every third person in the United States thinks George Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks.

"You're just another MSM gatekeeper paid off by corporate America," said one writer. "What you do isn't journalism at all" said another. "You're the one who's clinically insane," barked a third, before educating me on the supposed anomalies of physics involved with the collapse of WTC-7.

I have two basic gripes with the 9/11 Truth movement. The first is that it gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration. I have no doubt that every time one of those Loose Change dorks opens his mouth, a Republican somewhere picks up five votes. In fact, if there were any conspiracy here, I'd be far more inclined to believe that this whole movement was cooked up by Karl Rove as a kind of mass cyber-provocation, along the lines of Gordon Liddy hiring hippie peace protesters to piss in the lobbies of hotels where campaign reporters were staying.

Secondly, it's bad enough that people in this country think Tim LaHaye is a prophet and Sean Hannity is an objective newsman. But if large numbers of people in this country can swallow 9/11 conspiracy theory without puking, all hope is lost. Our best hope is that the Japanese take pity on us and allow us to serve as industrial slaves in their future empire, farming sushi rice and assembling robot toys.



http://www.rollingstone.com/politic..._the_hopeless_stupidity_of_911_conspiracies/1


Hey FI, the black helicopters are back! Quick! Get yer foil hat on!

 

[FightingIrish]

I've never tried Ritalin. How is it?

are you sure ,FI? I mean how did you manage to sit through 'Loose Change 2' so many times? :

Never seen it. How is it?

 

[evnlee]

I've never tried Ritalin. How is it?

are you sure ,FI? I mean how did you manage to sit through 'Loose Change 2' so many times? :

Never seen it. How is it?

well, I'd hate to ruin the ending for you, but......Bush did it.

( I read it on your blog! ) :

Hey FI, scared to comment on how having 9-11 conspiracists might have contributed to the Malloy firing? I mean your site is pretty much still in mourning over that one. Care to comment?

 

[kaufcom]

what do you make of the Malloy firing? The speculation is that his 'wacky' 9-11 views may have contributed to his AAR firing. Mike never had guests on his show, by August this year he was having David Ray Griffin, Webster Tarpley and even Alex Jones on his show, spewing their stuff totally unedited. Then, he is shown the door. Buh-bye!

I thought this might have been the issue at first. But I now think it was a much a financial issue. Interestingly, Malloy is on the AAR creditors list. They owe him $114,679. That's about a years salary.

 

[kaufcom]

I have no doubt that every time one of those Loose Change dorks opens his mouth, a Republican somewhere picks up five votes. In fact, if there were any conspiracy here, I'd be far more inclined to believe that this whole movement was cooked up by Karl Rove as a kind of mass cyber-provocation, along the lines of Gordon Liddy hiring hippie peace protesters to piss in the lobbies of hotels where campaign reporters were staying.

Problem is that everytime a Republican opens his mouth they lose 10 votes. So that represents a net gain of 5 votes for Democrat.

 

[evnlee]

what do you make of the Malloy firing? The speculation is that his 'wacky' 9-11 views may have contributed to his AAR firing. Mike never had guests on his show, by August this year he was having David Ray Griffin, Webster Tarpley and even Alex Jones on his show, spewing their stuff totally unedited. Then, he is shown the door. Buh-bye!

I thought this might have been the issue at first. But I now think it was a much a financial issue. Interestingly, Malloy is on the AAR creditors list. They owe him $114,679. That's about a years salary.

so let me get this straight...

they fire Malloy, unarguably one of ( if not ) the least paid 'talent' on the network, for 'financial reasons', a month and a half before filing for bankruptcy?

Yet even Malloy himself has 'blogged' he might have P.O.'d someone in the hierarchy with his show's content?!

riiiiiight.

I am no longer shocked 1/3rd of us buy into these 'conspiracies' if your following that logic

 

[fred flintstone]

Probably the reason so many people in radio want to do late night or overnight is because you have a lot more freedom to what you want (the boss is home and probably not listening) and usually more security (nobody expects much from fringe hours programming).

What happened with Malloy?
First off, assume everything he says or AAR says is a lie.
Everybody lies (House). In radio and politics lie consistently and automatically, even when the truth would work (me).
What's left?

Malloy was p___ed when AAR took him off in New York to take cash from ABC to run The Satellite Sisters. He said so. Randi can get away with talking out of school. Malloy couldn't.
Randi is female and AAR is politically correct.
Randi is a draw and even AAR management recognizes they need her.
And even though Malloy is paid less, Randi may be the only AAR program to show a profit or come anywhere close.
(Yes, Franken may have billings as good or better but the overhead for his show is MUCH higher.)
Malloy has low overhead and even lower billings, and most stations are running something else anyway.
Buy, buy Mike.
Now costs are minimized by picking a show from Clear Channel, San Diego (Gee, another host employed by Clear Channel doing syndicated progressive talk radio).

 

[kaufcom]

so let me get this straight...

they fire Malloy, unarguably one of ( if not ) the least paid 'talent' on the network, for 'financial reasons', a month and a half before filing for bankruptcy?

Yet even Malloy himself has 'blogged' he might have P.O.'d someone in the hierarchy with his show's content?!

riiiiiight.

I am no longer shocked 1/3rd of us buy into these 'conspiracies' if your following that logic

Since when does a business decision based on dollars and cents qualify as a "conspiracy theory?" Yes, Malloy was one of the lower paid AAR host, but they were paying him over 100 grand plus production and operation costs. Now they have Jon Elliott doing the show for peanuts out of CC's studios in San Diego.

 

[evnlee]

Since when does a business decision based on dollars and cents qualify as a "conspiracy theory?"

well, ask Malloy himself. I'm not putting words in his mouth, he says there was some other reason he was fired @ AAR other the for 'financial reasons', as well as many of his 'supporters'.

Why are y'all so afraid to enter into the debate about 9-11 and progressive talk? Very strange indeed.

You NEVER hear the 'Montana Militia' on Rush or Hannity. Ever. You'll never hear skinheads, either. BUt some progtalkers WILL have on guests like 'Alex Jones'. And not to berate, either, but to give thoughtful discussion. That hurts your cause. Your collective silence says alot.

"But, he does create controversy and get lots of listeners. Isn't that what talk radio is about? And Mike Malloy is extremely controversial, but he is knowledgeable and lots of people enjoy his show.

I suspect Malloy's termination was more about personality than performance. It certainly was not about money."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-drobny/mike-malloy-and-andy-roon_b_28437.html


"Alex Jones was right. He predicted that AAR were gatekeepers and anyone truly controversial would be let go. Alex should get Mike to do a show for his network."


http://www.democraticunderground.co...sg&forum=102&topic_id=2485066&mesg_id=2487910

 

[FightingIrish]

Since when does a business decision based on dollars and cents qualify as a "conspiracy theory?"

well, ask Malloy himself. I'm not putting words in his mouth, he says there was some other reason he was fired @ AAR other the for 'financial reasons', as well as many of his 'supporters'.

Why are y'all so afraid to enter into the debate about 9-11 and progressive talk? Very strange indeed.

You NEVER hear the 'Montana Militia' on Rush or Hannity. Ever. You'll never hear skinheads, either. BUt some progtalkers WILL have on guests like 'Alex Jones'. And not to berate, either, but to give thoughtful discussion. That hurts your cause. Your collective silence says alot.

"But, he does create controversy and get lots of listeners. Isn't that what talk radio is about? And Mike Malloy is extremely controversial, but he is knowledgeable and lots of people enjoy his show.

I suspect Malloy's termination was more about personality than performance. It certainly was not about money."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-drobny/mike-malloy-and-andy-roon_b_28437.html


"Alex Jones was right. He predicted that AAR were gatekeepers and anyone truly controversial would be let go. Alex should get Mike to do a show for his network."


http://www.democraticunderground.co...sg&forum=102&topic_id=2485066&mesg_id=2487910

A post on a friggin' MESSAGE BOARD??? You are seriously reaching!

And Rush and Hannity heavily screen their calls. Rush has even admitted on-air that he only takes calls that make him look good. Nobody else's fault that they're cowards.

And they did spend a lot of time on the "Clinton Body Count", if I recall. And they peddled every bit of nonsense spewed out by the Sciafe propaganda machine. And don't forget that charade that was the "Swift Boat" thing a few years ago. Talk about your conspiracy theories!

In short, talk show hosts on both sides of the political spectrum will do many things to put on what they view as an entertaining show. And in late night slots, they can get even edgier. Simple as that.

Look, we all know that your intent is to start up a flame war here about 9/11 conspiracy theories. But this isn't the place for it. If you want to troll, that's what the OTA board is for.

And for the record, no I don't believe that jet airiners were firing missles at skyscrapers. Happy now?

Probably the reason so many people in radio want to do late night or overnight is because you have a lot more freedom to what you want (the boss is home and probably not listening) and usually more security (nobody expects much from fringe hours programming).

What happened with Malloy?
First off, assume everything he says or AAR says is a lie.
Everybody lies (House). In radio and politics lie consistently and automatically, even when the truth would work (me).
What's left?

Malloy was p___ed when AAR took him off in New York to take cash from ABC to run The Satellite Sisters. He said so. Randi can get away with talking out of school. Malloy couldn't.
Randi is female and AAR is politically correct.
Randi is a draw and even AAR management recognizes they need her.
And even though Malloy is paid less, Randi may be the only AAR program to show a profit or come anywhere close.
(Yes, Franken may have billings as good or better but the overhead for his show is MUCH higher.)
Malloy has low overhead and even lower billings, and most stations are running something else anyway.
Buy, buy Mike.
Now costs are minimized by picking a show from Clear Channel, San Diego (Gee, another host employed by Clear Channel doing syndicated progressive talk radio).

Actually it was WLIB that took Malloy off. ABC offered them money to air "The Satellite Sisters", if I recall.

And my theory about Malloy's firing from AAR is that some people on the board just didn't like him.

 

[fred flintstone]

Actually it was WLIB that took Malloy off. ABC offered them money to air "The Satellite Sisters", if I recall.

Huh! AAR took Malloy off WLIB. AAR leased WLIB for 19 hours a day, during which time there was no local programming. They did hire a local sales manager to sell some spots to air locally but otherwise WLIB was a computer in the closet plugged into the network feed. There was no "WLIB" as an independent affiliated station.

 

[evnlee]

And for the record, no I don't believe that jet airiners were firing missles at skyscrapers. Happy now?

yeah...sorry we just cost your 'blog' some 'credibility' on the wacked out 'left-o-blogosphere' :

'Fightin Irish....Unless it's fightin the Masons "

 

[evnlee]

Look, we all know that your intent is to start up a flame war here about 9/11 conspiracy theories. But this isn't the place for it. If you want to troll, that's what the OTA board is for.

sorry, FI.

If so many of your vaunted P/L Talkers thought the topic was so taboo, maybe they might not want to turn over the mic to " Crazy Eddie " or some odd nutbag.

I thought this board was 'News Talk"

It's just a shame that the people more likely to buy into the whole 9-11 conspiracy thing, want to vote YOUR way. Hey, that's your crowd. Love em and Live wid Em