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News/Talk Radio - It Sells

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

The new BIA Kelsey estimates for the top 10 billing radio stations in the U.S. are out. To virtually nobody's surprise, WTOP in Washington earned the most revenue in 2010.

In fact, six of the ten stations in the top 10 are spoken word: CBS' three all-news stations in New York and Chicago, plus WFAN, as well as Clear Channel's KFI, all finished in the upper echelon of billing for the year.
http://www.rwonline.com/article/116586
 
CBS has two all-news stations in NY, WCBS and WINS. WFAN is all-sports. I doubt even New York could support three all-news stations!

These stations are successful because they are live and local. Talk stations WABC and WOR do not bill nearly as well because most of their programming is syndicated. :)
 
Is there another facet of news out there that CBS can put together a third news station for in New York?
 
DToTheJ said:
Is there another facet of news out there that CBS can put together a third news station for in New York?
Click to expand...

I doubt it! Actually there is a third news station if you want to count WBBR, Bloomberg 1130. :)
 
radioguy39nj said:
CBS has two all-news stations in NY, WCBS and WINS. WFAN is all-sports. I doubt even New York could support three all-news stations!

These stations are successful because they are live and local. Talk stations WABC and WOR do not bill nearly as well because most of their programming is syndicated.
Click to expand...
WABC and WOR do not bill as well as news stations because they are not news stations. They are talk stations. National talk shows generally bill better than local talk shows. Less expenses, consistent quality. That's why the vast majority of talk stations use national programming in their non-drive dayparts.

The most successful locally programmed talkers generally have a long heritage in their markets and minimal or no competition from a fulltime news station.
 
musichead1029 said:
radioguy39nj said:
CBS has two all-news stations in NY, WCBS and WINS. WFAN is all-sports. I doubt even New York could support three all-news stations!

These stations are successful because they are live and local. Talk stations WABC and WOR do not bill nearly as well because most of their programming is syndicated.
Click to expand...
WABC and WOR do not bill as well as news stations because they are not news stations. They are talk stations. National talk shows generally bill better than local talk shows. Less expenses, consistent quality. That's why the vast majority of talk stations use national programming in their non-drive dayparts.

The most successful locally programmed talkers generally have a long heritage in their markets and minimal or no competition from a fulltime news station.
Click to expand...

WABC and WOR sell themselves as news/talk outlets. Many talk stations that are local or mostly local do very well. KGO SF, KFI LA, KIRO-FM Seattle, KTAR Phoenix, WGN Chicago, WLS-AM Chicago are just a few examples of talk stations that do well and air at least 50% local programming. The only station that I pointed out that has no competition from a full time news station is KTAR Phoenix. The others all have to compete with a long-established all-news outlet. Also, KFI LA is one of the top 5 billing stations in the country and most of their talk programming is live and local.

WPHT Philadelphia, which had been almost all-syndicated outside AM drive recently dropped Hannity and Beck to go more local. And yes, Philly has a long-established news station, KYW. WPHT and KYW are both owned by CBS.

Trends indicate a return to local talk programming. WABC and WOR will lag well behind CBS' NY news and sports stations until they get the memo. It is unbelievable that major markets outside NY have thriving local talk programming, while NY area talk listeners are stuck with mostly syndicated programming. :)
 
Many advertisers--both local & national--won't touch talk radio because of their aversion to controversy, and the best salespeople in the world can't crack that one.

All-newsers skew higher socioeconomically than talk stations, too. Movers & shakers... best educated & most successful listeners--people who can afford whatever-in-the-hell you're selling.
 
"All-newsers skew higher socioeconomically than talk stations, too. Movers & shakers... best educated & most successful listeners--people who can afford whatever-in-the-hell you're selling."
Then explain why in the Top 11 markets, WCBS #1, WBBM #2, KRLD Dallas #5, Houston #6 who doesn't even list a newser, all those newsers are back in the ratings. Example in LA KNX is #7. You would think that the New York market would be #1 or close to the top in the socio demo's. WCBS is #7. KRLD in Dallas is back at #10. And look at #11 market poor old Detroit and WWJ is pulling #1. Certainly not a high socio/economic demo market. All newsers may skew higher in the higher economic demo but there has to be other reasons why the theory does not hold water in other so called high economic markets.
 
Obviously not everybody in the New York metro is upscale. These stations have a higher "power ratio" - pulling advertising out of their weight class -- because of the audience they draw, even when they're not #1 25-54 or 6+.

What's amazing is that this has not made all-news more attractive than the cost of the format in smaller markets. No, the TRN product is not the answer. It doesn't sound like news radio. It sounds like the soundtrack of "Fox and Friends" or another "news" show on FNC. They're supposedly downplaying opinion but their story selection makes it clear who's side they're on.
 
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