Nice book!

[Kent]

KABQ-AM (CC) doesn't have "problems" just because the 12+ numbers have been fluctuating from book to book.

Fluctuating? HA! That's a good one! How about dropping like a stone? Remember, this is a station that doesn't even have 50% of the audience it had in the Spring. I'd call that problems. If you'd be happy running a station performing like that, good for you. I hope you get an opportunity to own stations as I'd love to get them for peanuts after you file bankruptcy! I'd be trying to get the ship back on course as quickly as possible if it were mine. Maybe Clear Channel will be able to keep it around for awhile, though, as they have a substantial amount of capital and a large cluster.

KKOB (Citadel) certainly IS NOT a "success" with a flat cume of listeners approaching retirement age.

As has already been mentioned, KKOB does very well in the money demo. That's not to say it may not have some problems in the near future, but it's doing well right now.

If anything, KABQ-AM is the succcess story here, with THE HIGHEST TSL 35+ in the market spring 2007 (source: http://ccnewmexico.com)

Spring 2007 was six months ago. The station has lost over half its audience since that book. If that's a success story, what's a failure?

In the end, of course, success isn't driven by listeners or by ratings; it's driven by the amount of money a station makes. If you can make a ton on a format no one listens to, like Salem and its religious talk stations, you're a success. I doubt it's making them much, if any, but if Clear Channel is happy with the money KABQ 1350 makes, it will be around until they're no longer satisfied with its performance. If they like the performance of KABQ, good for them.

 

[ABQTom]

Kent wrote:

"Fluctuating? HA! That's a good one! How about dropping like a stone?"

No ... Take a look at 12+ numbers around the country for progressive stations and you will see the SAME THING as in ABQ. i.e. 0.9 followed by 1.8 and then a 2.2 and then 1.4. There are theories as to why these progressive stations fluctuate so much. There are other theories for why progressive stations underperform. One (from Jay Marvin) is that more highly educated people, who listen to liberal talk, don't bother to turn their diaries in.

Kent wrote:
"Remember, this is a station that doesn't even have 50% of the audience it had in the Spring."

Again, you have to look at THOM HARTMANN, ED SCHULTZ, and RANDI RHODES. IGNORE everybody else on Air America. Call the station, and then come back with a full report. Air America has failed to provide competive talent in MOST dayparts. I don't know what KABQ runs on evenings, but most of Air America's evening programming gets low ratings - compared to daytime hosts - Thom, Randi, and Ed/Steph on Jones. These progressive stations get locked into contracts with hosts like Rachel Maddow, and then evening hosts who formerly did better - like Mike Malloy - are suddenly fired.

Kent wrote:
"I doubt it's making them much, if any, but if Clear Channel is happy with the money KABQ 1350 makes, it will be around until they're no longer satisfied with its performance. If they like the performance of KABQ, good for them."

The performance overall of KABQ as a progressive talk station has been one of the best in the country, as CC President Gabe Hobbs pointed out at the R and R TRS (talk radio seminar) in 2006 (2007?).

I don't like to see stations like KABQ-AM get trashed when they shouldn't be. Since nobody has come to my defense, I don't know if there is anyone reading my posts who is familiar with progressive talk syndication, the issues with rapidly fluctuating 12+ ratings, and how Big Ed/Hartmann/Rhodes drive ratings on most stations.

-T

 

[Kent]

No ... Take a look at 12+ numbers around the country for progressive stations and you will see the SAME THING as in ABQ. i.e. 0.9 followed by 1.8 and then a 2.2 and then 1.4. There are theories as to why these progressive stations fluctuate so much. There are other theories for why progressive stations underperform. One (from Jay Marvin) is that more highly educated people, who listen to liberal talk, don't bother to turn their diaries in.

Most every station will have some wobble. That's normal. If you look at where KPOJ in Portland (the most successful of the progressive talkers) was when it signed on (#4) and where it is now (#11), you see that it's not moving in the right direction either. By the way, the highly educated liberal people who listen to KUNM and KANW don't seem to have any problems in filling out their diaries! The numbers prove that consistently. KUNM and KANW, by the way, are also pretty consistent in the ratings. Of course, you can argue KABQ has been consistent in the ratings, too,...consistently awful!

Again, you have to look at THOM HARTMANN, ED SCHULTZ, and RANDI RHODES. IGNORE everybody else on Air America. Call the station, and then come back with a full report. Air America has failed to provide competive talent in MOST dayparts. I don't know what KABQ runs on evenings, but most of Air America's evening programming gets low ratings - compared to daytime hosts - Thom, Randi, and Ed/Steph on Jones. These progressive stations get locked into contracts with hosts like Rachel Maddow, and then evening hosts who formerly did better - like Mike Malloy - are suddenly fired.

You're basically arguing the same point I've made for a long time, which is that good talk works and bad talk doesn't. While I like Ed Schultz, the numbers were posted on this board a few posts back, and they're not good. The numbers tell a better story than anything a station manager could spin.

The performance overall of KABQ as a progressive talk station has been one of the best in the country, as CC President Gabe Hobbs pointed out at the R and R TRS (talk radio seminar) in 2006 (2007?).

That should make any progressive talk station quake in its boots! If a station performing as poorly as KABQ is one of the best in the country, that's not exactly a glowing endorsement of the format. Have you ever heard anyone say, "Great news! I can change formats and be 30th in the money demo!"?

I don't like to see stations like KABQ-AM get trashed when they shouldn't be. Since nobody has come to my defense, I don't know if there is anyone reading my posts who is familiar with progressive talk syndication, the issues with rapidly fluctuating 12+ ratings, and how Big Ed/Hartmann/Rhodes drive ratings on most stations.

No one is coming to your defense because the numbers don't support it! Even if everything you said were true, your case is still indefensible from a ratings standpoint because no one is going to buy a station that fluctuates wildly at the highest possible rate.

 

[ABQTom]

Kent you are in quotation marks....

Tom is not.....

"By the way, the highly educated liberal people who listen to KUNM and KANW don't seem to have any problems in filling out their diaries! The numbers prove that consistently. KUNM and KANW, by the way, are also pretty consistent in the ratings. Of course, you can argue KABQ has been consistent in the ratings, too,...consistently awful!

You have provided no numbers to prove this to me. And, you have used a reference to the unspecified KUNM and KANW numbers in the same context to slap KABQ as having consistently awful numbers, which as I have pointed out, isn't true, with a 6 book average of 1.7 12+. Gabe Hobbs said at the R/R TRS conference that KABQ was one of the best liberal talk performers.

"You're basically arguing the same point I've made for a long time, which is that good talk works and bad talk doesn't. While I like Ed Schultz, the numbers were posted on this board a few posts back, and they're not good."

I have read every single post on this thread. There are *NO* numbers posted for Ed Schultz in any of the posts. I agree with you - Ed is good talk radio, along with Stephanie, Hartmann, and Rhodes. All that was posted here was 12+ 6a-MID M-F. And, someone posted an arbitrary KABQ 25-54 figure for 6A-MID, not sure if this includes weekends or not, and not sure if it is men or M/W.

"That should make any progressive talk station quake in its boots! If a station performing as poorly as KABQ is one of the best in the country........................."

You know, what would be more valuable to debate than local AM's would be individual ratings for individual liberal hosts nationwide. The best place to continue this discussion is the national news/talk board if you want to check it out.

"No one is coming to your defense because the numbers don't support it! Even if everything you said were true, your case is still indefensible from a ratings standpoint because no one is going to buy a station that fluctuates wildly at the highest possible rate."

First, nobody reads the NM board. When I analyzed the Albuquerque numbers on my YAHOOGROUPS board, where several talk hosts actually subscribe, Thom Hartmann acknowledged my posts. And, there are other hosts who I know who want to get into the Albuquerque market. It's a good talk market, it's only a matter of time before KKOB gets in trouble when an entrepreneur buys 1000, 1050, 1150, 1550, or 1600.

-T

 

[davideduardo]

You have provided no numbers to prove this to me. And, you have used a reference to the unspecified KUNM and KANW numbers in the same context to slap KABQ as having consistently awful numbers, which as I have pointed out, isn't true, with a 6 book average of 1.7 12+.

The last two books are hovering around a 1. That is a downtrend, of the worst sort. Those are the symptoms of a dying station.

Gabe Hobbs said at the R/R TRS conference that KABQ was one of the best liberal talk performers.

That was a year ago, and since then KABQ has tanked; since there are so few good performing liberal talkers, that was not a compliment, anyway.

I have read every single post on this thread. There are *NO* numbers posted for Ed Schultz in any of the posts. I agree with you - Ed is good talk radio, along with Stephanie, Hartmann, and Rhodes. All that was posted here was 12+ 6a-MID M-F. And, someone posted an arbitrary KABQ 25-54 figure for 6A-MID, not sure if this includes weekends or not, and not sure if it is men or M/W.

I posted 6 to mid, 6 a to 7 p, as well as 10 am to 3 pm and men 25-54. There is no place where KABQ looks any good. All are Arbitron numbers from Max, by the way. All 6 am to mid numbers are m-f unless one creates a custom daypart, which i did not. all the 6 a to 7 p are m-f as is 10-3, which is the way arbitron builds the tables.

First, nobody reads the NM board. When I analyzed the Albuquerque numbers on my YAHOOGROUPS board, where several talk hosts actually subscribe, Thom Hartmann acknowledged my posts. And, there are other hosts who I know who want to get into the Albuquerque market. It's a good talk market, it's only a matter of time before KKOB gets in trouble when an entrepreneur buys 1000, 1050, 1150, 1550, or 1600.

Every one of those frequencies suck. When in some winter months night extends half way into morning and afternoon drive, night coverage is essential. Those 5 frequencies are dogs. Arf, arf, arf. KKOB has one of the nation's best signals, on the other hand.

 

[Kent]

You have provided no numbers to prove this to me. And, you have used a reference to the unspecified KUNM and KANW numbers in the same context to slap KABQ as having consistently awful numbers, which as I have pointed out, isn't true, with a 6 book average of 1.7 12+. Gabe Hobbs said at the R/R TRS conference that KABQ was one of the best liberal talk performers.

The 25-54 numbers for KUNM and KANW were posted yesterday at 3:12 PM. KUNM had a 3.7; KANW had a 3.4. As I mentioned before, the RRC no longer lists any Albuquerque stations. So, I can't post numbers beyond that. However, I do remember the numbers from a couple years ago as being close to that. I don't have copies anymore, and I'm not going to make up numbers. I'm just telling you what I remember. You can take whatever you want from that. If it's nothing, that's fine. As I said before, if you'd be happy with a 1.7 12+ rolling average, good for you. I, however, would not unless I were running brokered programming or rent-a-preachers and/or had a significantly higher share 25-54. Previous postings already have established KABQ is weak 25-54. In my opinion, those numbers are awful, and, as I said before, I'd be even less likely to run a liberal talk format knowing that's one of the best liberal talk performers. Those statistics make me think even more strongly that liberal talk is best done by the NPR stations.

I have read every single post on this thread. There are *NO* numbers posted for Ed Schultz in any of the posts. I agree with you - Ed is good talk radio, along with Stephanie, Hartmann, and Rhodes. All that was posted here was 12+ 6a-MID M-F. And, someone posted an arbitrary KABQ 25-54 figure for 6A-MID, not sure if this includes weekends or not, and not sure if it is men or M/W.

Check the post from yesterday at 10:37 PM. David posted them, as he has said. Those are 25-54 male numbers for Ed and all but the last hour of Thom. They're not good unless you like being in the bottom 10. They're also not inconsistent with the rest of the ratings posted as well as the 12+.

First, nobody reads the NM board.

So what? This thread has averaged roughly 100 views per day. Don't you find it odd that not even one of those viewers agrees with your posts? The facts speak for themselves. The numbers at KABQ 1350 are terrible!

When I analyzed the Albuquerque numbers on my YAHOOGROUPS board, where several talk hosts actually subscribe, Thom Hartmann acknowledged my posts.

Good for you. Good for Thom. What that has to do with the success of the station, or lack thereof, is beyond me. I wish Thom well. I hope his show does better in Albuquerque.

And, there are other hosts who I know who want to get into the Albuquerque market. It's a good talk market, it's only a matter of time before KKOB gets in trouble when an entrepreneur buys 1000, 1050, 1150, 1550, or 1600.

I hope you're right. I'd love to see KKOB get some good competition. I don't see it being done on AM, but, if someone can find a way to make it work, that would be great.

 

[DoubleC]

AM 1000 is owned by AGM and is a Christian station which makes a nice profit for AGM for the past 10 years so it isn't changing, after all we know how the fumbled talk on FM.
BTW we see FM talk with a Younger scew FAILING on 96.3. 1050 is owned by KOB and is there to protect KOB by clearing all the second level programs! so it isn't going anywhere.

I made my self listen to 1350 for an hour today and it put me to sleep, I had the best nap!
BORING UNENTERTAINING WHINE WHINE WHINE RADIO. I heard 3 callers out of 5 from portland
My favorite caller was a lady who said I am voting for Hillary because Obama looks like a Boy Scout, now thats a very progressive thought. Not one call during the time I listened had passion OR challenged the Host, this in my opinion made for Boring radio.

I understand that if you guys say their audience size is roughly the same BUT folks are not listening as long,this means to me an indication of a bad product.

 

[ABQTom]

Most of the info that you folks are providing here has been skewed here for political purposes, and those of us who work in liberal talk and are reading this know it. It happens with every book on the Albuquerque board in regards to KABQ. KABQ is not a dying station (as David says). If you want to look at a station that might have serious difficulties, look at the new changes at liberal talker KKZN in Denver, where they cancelled Hartmann and still don't have Stephanie Miller.

I don't know what your issues with the frequencies are, but 1000 is a class D with 20,000 watts day and reasonable metro night coverage. 1150 is the best night frequency. There is the potential for improving day and night coverage for both 1150 and 1350.

Meanwhile I do not wish to continue this.

-T

 

[ABQTom]

These numbers for KABQ are not accurate. I don't know who has provided them to you. From Arbitron data, in spring 2007, KABQ was 3rd middays, and 4th afternoons, for 35+. It's impossible for the station with the SAME FORMAT to drop from number 3 to number 25 just 2 quarters later! Please go to http://ccnewmexico.com to verify my statement...please click on the pdf for the "fall book review."

David wrote:

25-54 6 AM to 7 PM
KKOB #4 4.7
KUNM #9 3.6
KANW # 16 2.1
KABQ #29 1.1

In 6 to Midnight, KKOB is the 4th highest 25-54 cumer in the market, reaching 15% of the markets 25-54's. That is quite good for an AM talker anywhere. Magnificent KFI in LA reaches less than 10% of the LA 25-54 market, by contrast. I do not understand your comment that KKOB is not a good 25-54 performer... it's a stellar performer.

10 AM 3 PM Men 25-54
KKOB #3 6.6
KANW #11 2.5
KABQ #25 1.1
KUNM #29 0.6

 

[davideduardo]

These numbers for KABQ are not accurate. I don't know who has provided them to you.

Huh? They are right from Maximiser. They are Arbitron numbers. Everything you have cited is third hand, at best, and sleight of hand at worst.

From Arbitron data, in spring 2007, KABQ was 3rd middays, and 4th afternoons, for 35+. It's impossible for the station with the SAME FORMAT to drop from number 3 to number 25 just 2 quarters later!

Apples and oranges. 35+ includes 55+, while 25-54 does not. And you are talking about 9 months of time, and two books. KABQ lost over a third of its audience in the meantime.

In Spring, 2007 KABQ was

25th in 25-54 6am to mid.
18th in 25-54 in 3-7 pm
23rd in 25-54 in 10 am to 3 pm.

Nobody buys 35+, so that demo is irrelevant.

 

[ABQTom]

"Huh? They are right from Maximiser. They are Arbitron numbers. Everything you have cited is third hand, at best, and sleight of hand at worst."

That remark is unkind and not true. Every post I've made has been based from the KABQ ratings at http://ccnewmexico.com It's first hand info from Arbotron data at this CC web site.

I have not distorted anything here. The 35+ demo is not "irrelevant," MOST of your talk cume in liberal talk is 35+. How do I know this? Because I work in liberal talk and talk to PD's. Looking at that web site, for KABQ spring 2007,
the 35+ cume was 22,300 and
the 12+ cume was 25,300
the 25-54 cume was 13,300.

Since you claim that 35+ doesn't matter to advertisers, let's look at your KKOB-AM.
For spring 2007, the 35+ cume was 89,200
the 12+ cume was 107,400
the 25-54 cume was 49,200

KKOB has the same pattern as liberal talk on KABQ so I don't know what you mean by not doing well with advertisers.

 

[ABQTom]

"I understand that if you guys say their audience size is roughly the same BUT folks are not listening as long,this means to me an indication of a bad product."


Hey C.C. - The audience size is less in Albuquerque, but the TSL for KABQ is greater than KKOB, see...

http://ccnewmexico.com

This is true for other progressive markets. Progressive listeners tend to listen longer. I had an MP-3 of Hartmann on at midnight and couldn't fall asleep until 3am. Same thing occurs if I listen to liberal John Rothmann out of San Francisco on KGO, or to Bryan Styble when he was on KIRO. From your post you heard the same program as I did. Did you hear that Area Code Presidential Poll? That was fascinating.

 

[davideduardo]

That remark is unkind and not true. Every post I've made has been based from the KABQ ratings at http://ccnewmexico.com It's first hand info from Arbotron data at this CC web site.

It's old information. And I would sooner trust Hugo Chavez than something posted by a Clear Channel sales department. Anyway, you were the one who said the data from Arbitron for fall was untrue because it did not fit your wishes and expectations.

I have not distorted anything here. The 35+ demo is not "irrelevant," MOST of your talk cume in liberal talk is 35+. How do I know this? Because I work in liberal talk and talk to PD's. Looking at that web site, for KABQ spring 2007,
the 35+ cume was 22,300 and
the 12+ cume was 25,300
the 25-54 cume was 13,300.

Nearly year old data for an irrelevant demo.

Since you claim that 35+ doesn't matter to advertisers, let's look at your KKOB-AM.
For spring 2007, the 35+ cume was 89,200
the 12+ cume was 107,400
the 25-54 cume was 49,200

And what they sell is AQH in 25-54. Nobody sells cume. They are #4 in abq in 25-54, without looking at 55+

KKOB has the same pattern as liberal talk on KABQ so I don't know what you mean by not doing well with advertisers.

Agency advertisers practically never buy 55+, and more sophisticated local direct ones do not either. Nobody buys it because the ROI is so bad, so in evaluating stations, it is the 18 to 54 or 25-54 audience that makes you salable or not.

 

[davideduardo]

Hey C.C. - The audience size is less in Albuquerque, but the TSL for KABQ is greater than KKOB, see...

TSL is not a sales metric. It´s meaningful to programmers but not to buyers.

 

[EDwalker]

"Huh? They are right from Maximiser. They are Arbitron numbers. Everything you have cited is third hand, at best, and sleight of hand at worst."

That remark is unkind and not true. Every post I've made has been based from the KABQ ratings at http://ccnewmexico.com It's first hand info from Arbotron data at this CC web site.

Tom: If you don't know David Eduardo and his resources, you need to find out. Tom you're referring to numbers from a website that is proudly introducing New Mexico's Smooth Jazz 104.1 FM. Smooth Jazz has come and gone from that frequency.

And to suggest that "Most of the info that you folks are providing here has been skewed here for political purposes, and those of us who work in liberal talk and are reading this know it." is just laughable!

 

[ABQTom]

Ed wrote:

"Tom: If you don't know David Eduardo and his resources, you need to find out. Tom you're referring to numbers from a website that is proudly introducing New Mexico's Smooth Jazz 104.1 FM. Smooth Jazz has come and gone from that frequency."

Ed: No, I'm referring to KABQ-AM. I do know who David is.

"And to suggest that "Most of the info that you folks are providing here has been skewed here for political purposes, and those of us who work in liberal talk and are reading this know it." is just laughable!"

Ed, Someone posted 6A-MID, and I pointed out that Air America doesn't provide quality programming evenings, overnights, and weekends, so 6P-MID brings ratings down in many markets. While I can't speak for Albuquerque, I can tell you that in larger markets like Seattle, stations focus attention and promotions on Ed, Stephanie, Hartmann, and Rhodes....and use ratings from these shows to sell to advertisers....The skewing part wasn't fair and was going overboard, you're right. I should have explained better. -T

 

[ABQTom]

David wrote...
"It's old information. And I would sooner trust Hugo Chavez than something posted by a Clear Channel sales department. Anyway, you were the one who said the data from Arbitron for fall was untrue because it did not fit your wishes and expectations."

David, I have no wishes or expectations. I never said the Clear Channel data was untrue. I was skeptical of your numbers but you have subsequentially explained them, thanks.

For interpreting liberal talk from Air America...it's best not to count 7pm-Midnight, and weekends should be ignored. Outside of Hartmann and Rhodes, who are terrific, their lineup is terrible. Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller are on Jones and also tremendous talent. Weekends need to be totally changed. AAR station PD's would be better off with Dr. Dean Edell, Moneytalk with Bob Brinker, Handel on the Law, and gardening shows on weekends.

David wrote...
"Agency advertisers practically never buy 55+, and more sophisticated local direct ones do not either. Nobody buys it because the ROI is so bad, so in evaluating stations, it is the 18 to 54 or 25-54 audience that makes you salable or not."

I never said that advertisers buy 55+ All I said was a well known fact, that most of your cume (and I listed KABQ and KKOB cume) is over 35 for any N/T station, irregardless if it's liberal or conservative. -T

 

[davideduardo]

For interpreting liberal talk from Air America...it's best not to count 7pm-Midnight, and weekends should be ignored.

I gave you 6 AM to 7 PM numbers a few posts back. In 25-54, the 2.6 in that period (6 a to 7 p in Arbitron means M-F, by the way) is better than the full broadcast week, but is way behind the nearly 7 share for KKOB, which is #1 25-54 in that time period.

Outside of Hartmann and Rhodes, who are terrific, their lineup is terrible. Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller are on Jones and also tremendous talent. Weekends need to be totally changed. AAR station PD's would be better off with Dr. Dean Edell, Moneytalk with Bob Brinker, Handel on the Law, and gardening shows on weekends. KUNM and KANW, combined, have twice the audience, nearly. So, less than 20% of the talk audience is listening to KABQ.

[/quote]I never said that advertisers buy 55+ All I said was a well known fact, that most of your cume (and I listed KABQ and KKOB cume) is over 35 for any N/T station, irregardless if it's liberal or conservative. -T
[/quote]

You listed the cume from early last year from an interested party's website, not from a recent book. You really have to stop doing that. KKOB has a cume rating of 16, while KABQ is below a 4. There is nowhere you can compare KKOB and KABQ where there is any story to tell except that the ratings are off significantly over the last two books.

 

[EDwalker]

Ed wrote:

"Tom: If you don't know David Eduardo and his resources, you need to find out. Tom you're referring to numbers from a website that is proudly introducing New Mexico's Smooth Jazz 104.1 FM. Smooth Jazz has come and gone from that frequency."

Ed: No, I'm referring to KABQ-AM. I do know who David is.

"And to suggest that "Most of the info that you folks are providing here has been skewed here for political purposes, and those of us who work in liberal talk and are reading this know it." is just laughable!"

Ed, Someone posted 6A-MID, and I pointed out that Air America doesn't provide quality programming evenings, overnights, and weekends, so 6P-MID brings ratings down in many markets. While I can't speak for Albuquerque, I can tell you that in larger markets like Seattle, stations focus attention and promotions on Ed, Stephanie, Hartmann, and Rhodes....and use ratings from these shows to sell to advertisers....The skewing part wasn't fair and was going overboard, you're right. I should have explained better. -T

You missed my point entirely on the Clear Channel website; went right over your head.

I am a bit confused. You state that using 6A-MID is unfair as "Air America doesn't provide quality programming evenings, overnights, and weekends." Yet you're willing to include Ed during the daytime hours - who isn't a product of Air America.

 

[ABQTom]

you wrote...
"You missed my point entirely on the Clear Channel website; went right over your head."

Ed...
I am referring to their pdf link of ratings for all the stations in the albuquerque market, broken down by demos.
This web site publishes bi-annual reports, spring and fall. The fall book review should be out shortly on that web site.

As to yr other question, which is a good one, people will often say things like, "Air America does terrible everywhere," or, "Don't ever combine the two words air and america."

Well, they're partially correct, since it's true that in some markets, just taking the 24/7 air america programming off the sattelite doesn't sell. Their evening, overnight, and weekends hosts don't do as well compared to Hartmann and Randi Rhodes. That's how Air America got a bad reputation to begin with, with requiring that stations take most of the lineup, including hosts who got low ratings.

Most of the original AAR talent has been let go. And the requirement for syndicating everyone is gone, there's a station in San Diego, XEKTT 1700, that only has Lionel from AAR, nobody else.

Underperforming markets with the 24/7 clock can increase ratings by adding syndicated talkers on other networks, like Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, and Peter B. Collins, along with local hosts. This increases ratings above what the 24/7 AAR clock would give them. I include these other hosts when evaluating "Progressive Talk" station ratings. If I see a program schedule of some AAR station with AAR hosts 24/7 without Ed, Steph, and Peter B., and they're getting a 0.4 12+, I'm not at all surprised.

Indeed, Progressive stations seem to fulfill the needs of a niche market of listeners, many of whom will never listen to conservatives. It seems that AAR stations share listeners with NPR, or, local veteran hosts on heritage stations. For example in Monterey, CA, and San Francisco, CA, KGO n/t 810 ratings haven't gone down, despite the presence of strong liberal talkers KRXA/Monterey, and KQKE/San Francisco....

-T


you wrote:

"I am a bit confused. You state that using 6A-MID is unfair as "Air America doesn't provide quality programming evenings, overnights, and weekends." Yet you're willing to include Ed during the daytime hours - who isn't a product of Air America."