All of this is true. What I don't understand is why sports talk seems to be such an outlier. Does the format do well in men 25-54 even when the 6+ ratings are in the 1 range?
These days, there are many sports/talk stations in big league markets that earn decent ratings in 6+ and great to phenomenal ratings in men 25-54.
In my home market, back when sports/talk was relegated to the Ancient Modulation band, the leading station aired local programs weekdays from 6a to 7p and syndicated garbage most of rest of the time. At night, market coverage stunk due to a very restrictive nighttime pattern.
That station usually grabbed about a 1.5 share in ages 12+ (pre-PPM). However, in men 25-54, it was usually just outside of the top 5 when viewing data for weekdays 6a to 7p and billed about $4 million annually.