Much has been made of the relative failures of Air America and of some conservative networks like Salem. It is said that talk radio lends itself to red-state versus blue-state thinking. Yet there are many red state markets -- Charleston SC or Las Vegas -- where conservative talk radio way underperforms the norm. If you look at markets where liberal talk is having some success (Seattle, Portland, SF) they are also markets that support several conservative talkers -- and not one-share Salem outfits, but ratings-competitive operations -- and they usually have an NPR station unseen near the top of the ratings.
So maybe the real divide isn't between red and blue but between white and blue -- white-collar towns where talk radio of any stripe works well, and blue-collar towns where anything that's talk will underperform.
Has anyone else picked up on this correlation? What do you do to make your talk format more interesting to potential listeners in a blue-collar town -- or is it an impossible task given the limitations of a syndication menu and little if any custom programming on most talkers nowadays?
So maybe the real divide isn't between red and blue but between white and blue -- white-collar towns where talk radio of any stripe works well, and blue-collar towns where anything that's talk will underperform.
Has anyone else picked up on this correlation? What do you do to make your talk format more interesting to potential listeners in a blue-collar town -- or is it an impossible task given the limitations of a syndication menu and little if any custom programming on most talkers nowadays?