• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Sick of the lack of real talk radio in CT.

P

progressivetalk

As a progressive (the new word for us liberals) it sickens me that the only progressive radio heard in CT :mad: is from WHMP in Springfield which isn't even on the air the whole day. When will someone in this market realize that there is more to talk radio than Rushie,Sean and Beck and our ex-felon governor?
 
Read the latest ratings for Hartford and how does WNEZ stay on the air with a 0.1 rating in the January book? Does this market really need four Spanish language stations, three religious stations and two wingnut stations??? Hello no!!!!
 
The Stephanie Miller Show is played back weekdays between 1:00 & 3:00 on WMRD 1150 Middletown and WLIS 1420 Old Saybrook. After 3:00 they take a sharp right turn with the Dennis Miller Show (no relation). WWKB 1520 does come in at night out of Buffalo... small consolation, I know.

Conservative and liberal (progressive) talk radio are not exactly on equal playing fields. It's easier to pinpoint the profile of a conservative talk listener, and it's one that many advertisers want when delivered in big numbers over the dominant AM signals in most markets. Whether or not you think NPR stations lean left, the fact is that any commercial progressive talk station would have to compete directly for ears that are often glued to public radio. The liberal audience is more fragmented. Air America failed partly because their station lineup consisted of weaker signals with no heritage as information leaders.

Local results can vary. WPRO in Providence, while not lib talk, is an example of how a live and local focus can even leave WHJJ's strong syndicated conservative lineup in the dust. WXKS in Boston - Rush Radio - gets beaten by bigger signals on AM & FM. Left leaning talk needs both a solid local news presence and a full market signal to have any chance at success, just the way right wing talk does.
 
Glenn totally nailed it, and there just isn't the full market signal or a company to bankroll the considerable cost and risk of such a startup. Air America really gave it the old college try, and they should be applauded for working to fill a potential format hole, even if they did totally blow it.

The simple fact is that news/talk are the most expensive formats to run. They're staff intensive and need to have considerable local content.

Example: Colin McEnroe, a successful progressive talk host had his own local show on WTIC 1080. When he was cancelled in 2008, the cost of his salary was cited as the reason. The reason I buy this is that the same thing happened to conservative Jim Vicevich two years later. The backlash, however, was stronger when it happened to Jim and he was brought back. If you can't have successful progressive talk on the blowtorch that is WTIC, I just don't see who else would have a shot.

And all this from a bleeding heart liberal! I get my fix from NPR.
 
I understand your points, but if the reason commercial radio stations exist is to....make money, thus the word commercial, then wouldn't it make sense that in a market with three other competitors, that GOIS would flip WNEZ to progressive talk, which I'm sure if marketed right, would get a better AQH than 0.1 and a cume of 8900 as it did in January?? Simply airing a test signal gets you better ratings than that.

Also I noticed that WDRC AM had a 0.6 AQH in January. Despite WDRC's very strong signal in the Hartford area, its lineup from Brad Davis (who's older than dirt) to Beck, Ingrham, Lovallo, Malzberg and racist Savage is killing them.

If marketed correctly, progressive talk in Hartford would make a run at the drugster and Blow-dried hair boy Hannity. ;D
 
I believe the main problem with liberal talk is that most liberals do not listen to AM radio. Libs read the Courant and the NY Times, listen to NPR and watch MSNBC. Conservative talk works well because saying high taxes, too much state spending and lack of jobs pushes a lot of buttons.

I think the WDRC quadcast does very well with guests, callers and ratings despite lack of promotion. I've never seen WMMW advertised on billboards or in the newspapers in Meriden/Wallingford. There were Brad Davis-WWCO billboards in Waterbury years ago, but I haven't seen anything else since.

I prefer WDRC's Dan Lovallo over Rowland/Marotti on WTIC. Dan is a better and more experienced radio person, he has plenty of good guests and callers, and his show flows better because of fewer interruptions.

Rowland on TIC is very good with facts and figures about state budgets (how many other hosts have submitted them?), and airing the local show is much better than running Hannity.
 
I'm a "lib" and while I do read the Courant, only on Sundays. If I read the Courant, it's at the local library. As for the NY Times, I don't read it, period!!! Watch MSNBC, yes, but usually with a radio close by to listen to the local liberal station in Springfield.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom