Sean Hannity Opinions

[Spindoctor]

Boys and Girls of the Radio World,
Can I get some opinions on Sean Hannity.
We run him on our station and I just need some feedback.
Good, bad, indifferent come with it.
Thank you,
The Spindoctor

 

[MattNC]

> Boys and Girls of the Radio World,
> Can I get some opinions on Sean Hannity.
> We run him on our station and I just need some feedback.
> Good, bad, indifferent come with it.
> Thank you,
> The Spindoctor
>

I don't care for that style of talk radio, but he seems to be good at what he does.

 

[Talker]

Not sure what kind of feedback you are looking for - but Hannity has certainly done well in a lot of markets. He had a lot of the same characteristics of Rush - in that he is very sure of himself, and very much into self=promotion (not that either are a bad thing.)

Hannity's biggest problem is the time of day he is on the air. Afternoon drive keeps him off a lot of good stations that can't afford to give up the flexibility local shows provide in the daypart. Rush has always demanded live clears but Hannity has not achieved it in many markets.

Questions for you are: How does hit fit with other things you air? What is he up against? How much outside promotion are you willing to do? Do you have the resources to keep the show sounding good on the air (a live board op or automation).

Hannity has been know to blow through breaks - creating real problems for stations that operate unattended during his period.

 

[middlega]

> Boys and Girls of the Radio World,
> Can I get some opinions on Sean Hannity.
> We run him on our station and I just need some feedback.
> Good, bad, indifferent come with it.
> Thank you,
> The Spindoctor
>

Like the others, I'm really not sure what perspective to give feedback from.

As a listener, I think he's probably the 2nd listenable N/T host out there. Probably only Boortz can get longer TSL from me right now & that's probably being influenced by familiarity as much as anything.

As an advertiser/buyer, show me the numbers in my target demo.

As an old programmer, it would depend on what my alternatives were & how those matched up to my overall goals. And, being realistic for a moment, how much more/less profitable overall those options would be vs Hannity would have to weigh in there too.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by middlega on 08/09/05 02:54 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[Timothy]

> Boys and Girls of the Radio World,
> Can I get some opinions on Sean Hannity.
> We run him on our station and I just need some feedback.
> Good, bad, indifferent come with it.
> Thank you,
> The Spindoctor

Phil Boyce, his PD at WABC has said that Hannity is the hardest worker he's ever seen. He is very much like Rush, and was his main fill-in for a while.

The one thing that bothers me about him, from a journalists standpoint, is that he occasionally says things that are flat out untrue. And he KNOWS they're untrue, but if there's even a link soemwhere in the neighborhood of the truth, he believes he can say it.

Last week, he made a snide comment about Air America raiding the Boys and Girls Club bank accounts. What actually happened was that an unscrupulous person at the B&G Club loaned the previous owner of Air America money under the guise that it was his own. Yadda yadda yadda, new owner agrees to pay it back even though they have no legal obligation to do so.

But hey, it's the bad, liberal guys, so it's okay. This is just one of countless fabrications Hannity makes. I was a supporter of getting Rush added to the WBT schedule when I worked there. I would never add Hannity.

 

[OldiesCat]

this is the most disturbing thing about Hannity (as well as Rush, O'Reilly and those of similar ilk).

>
> The one thing that bothers me about him, from a journalists
> standpoint, is that he occasionally says things that are
> flat out untrue. And he KNOWS they're untrue, but if
> there's even a link soemwhere in the neighborhood of the
> truth, he believes he can say it.
>
> Last week, he made a snide comment about Air America raiding
> the Boys and Girls Club bank accounts. What actually
> happened was that an unscrupulous person at the B&G Club
> loaned the previous owner of Air America money under the
> guise that it was his own. Yadda yadda yadda, new owner
> agrees to pay it back even though they have no legal
> obligation to do so.

 

[Spindoctor]

A big thanks to all of you for your input.
We are thinking seriously about dropping him in
Asheville simply because no one here seems interested.
I KNOW he kicks major butt in other markets.
Ours is the most bizarre market in the Southeast...period.
The city of Asheville is just about pure liberal, however
go outside the city limits and you find a VERY strong conservative base.
It's wacky here. Stick San Fransisco in the copy machine and you have
Asheville.
Hard as hell to program if you want to be original. Even at 10K
on the AM dial.
Thanks again,
The Spindoctor

P.S. any Laura Ingraham thoughts?

 

[OldiesCat]

Hannity Opinions

geez- Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Rush, Hannity, Savage. All cut from the same cloth. Same language, same phrasing, same mean-spirited dialogue.

There is a reason Air America seems to be catching on in so many places. Fox News would have you believe they're in major trouble but they forget that about 15 years ago it took a LONG TIME for the far-right talkers like Rush, etc., to build up respectable numbers.

There's also a misconception that with Fox News' rise in the past couple of years (combined with Rush and Hannity's radio numbers) that a majority of Americans are leaning more to the far right. That's no more true than saying they lean far left. The truth is that most of America is somewhere closer to the center- there's an extreme 10% on each end (conservative and liberal) but most of the country lives closer to that 50% mark that's halfway between. As with Cable News,
when Rush or Hannity are on (in most markets) over 95% of all radio listeners in those markets ARE NOT listening to them. Ditto w/Fox News, CNN, MBNBC etc.

Just a little perspective.
>
> P.S. any Laura Ingraham thoughts?
>

 

[Timothy]

Re: Hannity Opinions

> There is a reason Air America seems to be catching on in so
> many places. Fox News would have you believe they're in
> major trouble but they forget that about 15 years ago it
> took a LONG TIME for the far-right talkers like Rush, etc.,
> to build up respectable numbers.

It did take Rush a long time to build up the numbers. After that, Hannity, Laura, Dr. Laura et al basically waltzed in. Once a pattern of success is established, programmers flock to it, ie: Jack.

10kw on 1350 doesn't get you much outside of Asheville. It would be kind of dangerous to program a station to appeal to Hendersonville, Marion et al when your daytime signal is squarely Asheville. Plus, with a transmitter location right next to Swannanoa, you're in the heart of liberalia.

I would move *Danny Fontana up to 3-5 and follow him with Clark Howard. If that's possible. Or better yet, go sports.

 

[middlega]

> I KNOW he kicks major butt in other markets.
> Ours is the most bizarre market in the Southeast...period.

Okay, now that I know where you are, the question makes more sense to me.
And, from my occasional trips to Asheville I've gotten the same sort of impression about the market, so I see the dilemma.

In a situation like that, if the numbers aren't there & all else is equal (i.e., you've promoted the show adequately, the lead-in is reasonably compatible, etc.)
even a conservative Hannity fan like me would have a hard time throwing rocks at the notion of dropping the show.

I will offer another thought or two though, just FWIW.
1)Ingraham is certainly a whole lot more appealing to the eye than Hannity. But I don't think that's going to help on radio

2)I like her work, but if Hannity isn't working for you, I don't know how much confidence I'd have in her performing any better.

3)I'm guessing that there are other conservative hosts in your lineup somewhere, is he significantly underperforming them? And if so, what's the quality of competition he's facing vs what they're up against? Are the listeners tuning elsewhere (not good) or are they just turning off (seems much worse).

4)Given the political makeup of the audience, I'm really not sure that you can reasonably serve two masters simultaneously, at some point you probably have to consider picking one or the other, because I can't imagine there's going to be much that will appeal to both.

 

[Spindoctor]

Re: Hannity Opinions

> 10kw on 1350 doesn't get you much outside of Asheville. It
> would be kind of dangerous to program a station to appeal to
> Hendersonville, Marion et al when your daytime signal is
> squarely Asheville. Plus, with a transmitter location right
> next to Swannanoa, you're in the heart of liberalia.
>
> I would move *Danny Fontana up to 3-5 and follow him with
> Clark Howard. If that's possible. Or better yet, go
> sports.
>
Timothy,
While I agree with your "liberalia" comment (unless you travel 10 niles in any direction to conservative-land), I completely disagree with the
Hendersonville and Marion issue.
Are you an engineer? Check your facts.
Not the Clear Channel bunk someone is feeding you.
Do you realize how far 1350 can hit?
I travel to Charlotte EVERY weekend and NEVER lose the signal
until at least Morganton and sometimes (on a good AM weather day)
Maiden. I also take 74 every now and then and have yet to fade out
until (in that direction) Shelby.
(Which is a tad farther than Hendersonville, right?)
1350 also hits Spartanburg fairly easily. (That's in South Carolina, right?)
AND they get calls from Sevierville, TN. on a regular basis.
(not from the stream)
Do you actually know HOW AM works?
Here is a very rudimentary 'splanation for ya.
First off, an optimod is a wonderful toy that squashes a wave
AND IT TRAVELS FARTHER!
True, the higher on the dial the more difficult it is to push a wave.
Why? Because the wave is more closely packed at higher frequencies
and does not penetrate as easily as lower frequencies.
BUT cut out all the rhetoric about 10kw not being sufficient power.
The only areas that 1350 can't penetrate well are inside a few of the
downtown buildings due to the tremendous amount of concrete.
AND a few parts of the West side of town due to 1380 over-modulating.
And this area already HAS a sports station IT AIN'T CUTTIN' IT!
Why put on another one?
Danny Fontana doesn't refeed at that time and Clark Howard is just
as difficult to catch unless you take all three hours.
Dang, where is my hypertension medication? Must be time for my monthly
cardiac arrest.
The Spindoctor
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Spindoctor on 08/10/05 12:28 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Timothy]

Re: Hannity Opinions

> as difficult to catch unless you take all three hours.
> Dang, where is my hypertension medication? Must be time for
> my monthly
> cardiac arrest.
> The Spindoctor

Hose 'em down and move 'em off, it's time for a break.....

I don't mean to say your coverage is weak, just that there's not much out there beyond Asheville to serve. It's hard to sell spots using anecdotal evidence of callers from out of your MSA, which an advertizer wouldn't care about anyway.

You have this big city there that is not a conservative bastion, and you have these disparate small towns that don't amount to much in the way of population. Lots of large land masses of red state, lots of large people masses of blue state.

Additionally, there is a powerful news/talk station with deeeeeep pockets, Rush, and they also operate a liberal version of talk radio, which is a daytimer that is seeing some success. I had forgotten WISE was now all-sports, but that shouldn't be write off. WISE doesn't even have a web page. You have to go after somebody unless you can come up with some new, non-politcal, non-sports, non-opinion talk radio.

At one point, a previous manager of WBT was talking seriously about creating a BT network, the way WFLA has in Florida. You might think about asking them if you could take the Jason Lewis show. He's a conservative, but he's whip smart and very listenable for liberals.

 

[middlega]

I'm really confused now

I hope you see this & respond, partly because I thought you posed an interesting problem originally & partly because I've now looked at the numbers (presumably I've figured out the call letters correctly after someone mentioned your dial position & location elsewhere in the thread).

After looking at the Sp05 book, both Buncombe County & the G-S-A DMA, I'm a bit perplexed as to why Hannity's performanc is causing such concern, at least relative to the rest of the programming on the station.

-- He's doing as well (or better) 12+, both AQH & Share, as anything else on the station.
-- His M25-54 could be better & does underperform the morning but he's also the only thing after breakfast that's having to build audience from a standstill. The lack of a lead-in is clearly hurting the timeslot if you look at the hour-by-hour.
-- His M35+ (which I believe might actually be a more realistic target audience in this situation) compares well to the rest of the day & his 4p-5p produces the 2nd largest share of that demo of any hour on the station (other than 9a-10a).

After looking through at least this limited sample, here's what I see:
- I see a daypart that's sandwiched between a flat-line lead-in (audience-wise, I've obviously got no idea what revenue it generates) and a near flat-line follow-up.
- I see a program that's more than holding it's own compared to the rest of the station lineup.
- I see at least an indication that Hannity's show is doing about as well as anything could, short of hiring away the local talent that's beating him in format since the far left position appears to already be staked out at this point.
- I think you could have had made an argument, from a ratings standpoint at least, for trying to grab the left-wing audience in the market BEFORE anyone else did. At this point though, I'm afraid you'd be tossing away the audience you have in order to maybe get a split of that audience & that probably doesn't represent much of a gain.

From a programming challenge standpoint, it's a pretty interesting situation IMO (and I'm glad it's you instead of me dealing with it *g*), I'd be interested in your thoughts on my thoughts, if you're willing to discuss it further.

 

[Spindoctor]

Re: I'm really confused now

Middlega,
Thank you so much for the input. I really appreciate your thoughts.
This is (along with all the other posts) is what I need to hear.
Would you be willing to give me your email address on the reply?
If not, I will give you my generic email in the next thread.
Thanks again,
The Spindoctor



> I hope you see this & respond, partly because I thought you
> posed an interesting problem originally & partly because
> I've now looked at the numbers (presumably I've figured out
> the call letters correctly after someone mentioned your dial
> position & location elsewhere in the thread).
>
> After looking at the Sp05 book, both Buncombe County & the
> G-S-A DMA, I'm a bit perplexed as to why Hannity's
> performanc is causing such concern, at least relative to the
> rest of the programming on the station.
>
> -- He's doing as well (or better) 12+, both AQH & Share, as
> anything else on the station.
> -- His M25-54 could be better & does underperform the
> morning but he's also the only thing after breakfast that's
> having to build audience from a standstill. The lack of a
> lead-in is clearly hurting the timeslot if you look at the
> hour-by-hour.
> -- His M35+ (which I believe might actually be a more
> realistic target audience in this situation) compares well
> to the rest of the day & his 4p-5p produces the 2nd largest
> share of that demo of any hour on the station (other than
> 9a-10a).
>
> After looking through at least this limited sample, here's
> what I see:
> - I see a daypart that's sandwiched between a flat-line
> lead-in (audience-wise, I've obviously got no idea what
> revenue it generates) and a near flat-line follow-up.
> - I see a program that's more than holding it's own compared
> to the rest of the station lineup.
> - I see at least an indication that Hannity's show is doing
> about as well as anything could, short of hiring away the
> local talent that's beating him in format since the far left
> position appears to already be staked out at this point.
> - I think you could have had made an argument, from a
> ratings standpoint at least, for trying to grab the
> left-wing audience in the market BEFORE anyone else did. At
> this point though, I'm afraid you'd be tossing away the
> audience you have in order to maybe get a split of that
> audience & that probably doesn't represent much of a gain.
>
> From a programming challenge standpoint, it's a pretty
> interesting situation IMO (and I'm glad it's you instead of
> me dealing with it *g*), I'd be interested in your thoughts
> on my thoughts, if you're willing to discuss it further.
>

 

[middlega]

Re: I'm really confused now

I've got a generic I don't mind mentioning here (it gets so much spam already that there isn't much risk of getting harvested for any more at this point).

(just replace the "AT" with the symbol)
JGL AT mailcity.com

> Middlega,
> Thank you so much for the input. I really appreciate your
> thoughts.
> This is (along with all the other posts) is what I need to
> hear.
> Would you be willing to give me your email address on the
> reply?
> If not, I will give you my generic email in the next thread.
>
> Thanks again,
> The Spindoctor
>
>

 

[mike704]

> Boys and Girls of the Radio World,
> Can I get some opinions on Sean Hannity.
> We run him on our station and I just need some feedback.
> Good, bad, indifferent come with it.
> Thank you,
> The Spindoctor
>

Political talk = snore! (zzzzzz....)

 

[goatboy]

> > Boys and Girls of the Radio World,
> > Can I get some opinions on Sean Hannity.
> > We run him on our station and I just need some feedback.
> > Good, bad, indifferent come with it.
> > Thank you,
> > The Spindoctor
> >
>
> I don't care for that style of talk radio, but he seems to
> be good at what he does.
>


I can't explain his success. He is a butt-boy of the administration (to the point of nearly pleasuring himself on-air at the results of the prez's latest physical exam results), but he is VERY popular and has LOTS of listeners.