So who replaces David Bellavia?

[Rob Piotrowski]

Yes, the "official" word is that he's on an "extended leave". But with him re-enlisting (a requirement to get the MOH) and what comes afterwards it's a pretty safe bet you won't be hearing him with Mr. Bauerle any more.

So what will Tim Wenger do?
Partner Joe Beamer with Bauerle? (Has a nice ring to it...)
Keep Bauerle solo?
Start Hannity earlier?

Over to you!

 

[flybynight]

Yes, the "official" word is that he's on an "extended leave". But with him re-enlisting (a requirement to get the MOH) and what comes afterwards it's a pretty safe bet you won't be hearing him with Mr. Bauerle any more.

So what will Tim Wenger do?
Partner Joe Beamer with Bauerle? (Has a nice ring to it...)
Keep Bauerle solo?
Start Hannity earlier?

Over to you!

Beamer is awful in every way. So there's that.

 

[four4rock]

Could one of the cloaked government operatives, that Tommy claims have been observing him, join as a co-host?

honestly, if the show is as it was the last time I listened, it's probably a trainwreck due to be cancelled, no?

 

[flybynight]

Could one of the cloaked government operatives, that Tommy claims have been observing him, join as a co-host?

honestly, if the show is as it was the last time I listened, it's probably a trainwreck due to be cancelled, no?

Cancelled? Not even close.

The core audience of WBEN is so thoroughly indoctrinated into the world of rightwing misinformation and conspiracy theories, that Bauerle doesn't seem half crazy to most of them.

WBEN, just continuing to do it's part in furthering the divide in this nation, one hyper-partisan untruth at a time.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Thank goodness people have a dial - and a computer - so they can choose the hyper-partisan untruth that reinforces their nation-dividing point of view...

BTW, does every thread about WBEN have to devolve into a partisan political discussion. The bottom line is that they're making money - lots of money. What would you do with a AM station that was making serious money by locking in 8% of the available audience? You'd cash the checks, that's what you'd do.

 

[four4rock]

Yeah, I wasn't talking about the political position of the guy or the station. I was talking about the general pacing & presentation. [Admittedly, that may be different no... 'cuz the last time I was exposed to his broadcast specifically was years ago.] I found it (then, at least) to be more of a monologue-ish discussion with himself. He'd pose a question; then answer it; the rebut his own answer; then rebut the rebuttal;and repeat... literally for probably 20 minutes or so. He'd debate himself.
Then he'd bring in a caller... and the cycle would start all over. It was just weird, IMO. If 8% is a lot, then, sure, why change a winning formula. I'd not blame the station for success... if that's what 8% is(?).

No matter, I still think it'd be ratings genius (at least in the short term) to team him with one of his so-called invisibility stalkers. Even a "shtick"... it'd be gold if done properly.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

ABB, Anybody But Beamer. Even Rambo Jim ( a frequent caller) would make for better radio!

 

[flybynight]

Thank goodness people have a dial - and a computer - so they can choose the hyper-partisan untruth that reinforces their nation-dividing point of view...

BTW, does every thread about WBEN have to devolve into a partisan political discussion. The bottom line is that they're making money - lots of money. What would you do with a AM station that was making serious money by locking in 8% of the available audience? You'd cash the checks, that's what you'd do.

Considering they're part of a nationwide rightwing misinformation campaign, I couldn't care less about their health as a radio station. As a matter of fact, I hope they go out of business.

You seem to take pretty lightly what rightwing media has done to the nation's political discourse, not to mention civility. You're not paying attention.

 

[flybynight]

ABB, Anybody But Beamer. Even Rambo Jim ( a frequent caller) would make for better radio!

Talk about lesser evils! But you're right, Rambo Jim would be TERRIBLE! But still better than Beamer.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Considering they're part of a nationwide rightwing misinformation campaign, I couldn't care less about their health as a radio station. As a matter of fact, I hope they go out of business.

You seem to take pretty lightly what rightwing media has done to the nation's political discourse, not to mention civility. You're not paying attention.

Yeah, we saw civility and polite discourse in action this past week at the Democratic debates. You seem to take pretty lightly what leftwing media has done to the nation's political discourse, not to mention civility. It's not like Air America didn't try to fire up their base. It just couldn't make any money. There are no innocents here. You just happen to agree with one propaganda point of view and not the other.

 

[flybynight]

Yeah, we saw civility and polite discourse in action this past week at the Democratic debates. You seem to take pretty lightly what leftwing media has done to the nation's political discourse, not to mention civility. It's not like Air America didn't try to fire up their base. It just couldn't make any money. There are no innocents here. You just happen to agree with one propaganda point of view and not the other.

What Air America "tried" to do? LOL! I'm talking about a 25+ year misinformation campaign by major national hosts in talkradio and Fox news. One conspiracy theory after another. Constant cutting the corners off square pegs to fit facts in round holes.

I have voted Republican as much as Democrat in my life. The difference here is the far right bent has overtaken rightwing media and completely perverted reality for their audience. They don't even accept demonstrably true information anymore!

And so-called "leftwing media" is hardly a blip on the radar. They've done nothing to national discourse.

 

[SirRoxalot]

And so-called "leftwing media" is hardly a blip on the radar. They've done nothing to national discourse.

You really don't watch much TV, do you? If you think that leftwing media is "hardly a blip on the radar" you're woefully uninformed. Maybe this will help you out:

https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/AllSidesMediaBiasChart-Version1.1_0.jpg

 

[flybynight]

You really don't watch much TV, do you? If you think that leftwing media is "hardly a blip on the radar" you're woefully uninformed. Maybe this will help you out:

https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/AllSidesMediaBiasChart-Version1.1_0.jpg

I like how you conveniently ignore ALL of nationwide talkradio, which, audience-size-wise, is far more influential than any TV network.

That's right, millions upon millions of people regularly fed rightwing misinformation, outright lies and conspiracy theories, often fed via heritage talk stations that built credibility and trust for decades, only to have it exploited by a lazy, irresponsible cash-grab by companies that couldn't care less about honesty, integrity or the whole goddamn nation for that matter.

 

[davideduardo]

I like how you conveniently ignore ALL of nationwide talkradio, which, audience-size-wise, is far more influential than any TV network.

That's right, millions upon millions of people regularly fed rightwing misinformation, outright lies and conspiracy theories, often fed via heritage talk stations that built credibility and trust for decades, only to have it exploited by a lazy, irresponsible cash-grab by companies that couldn't care less about honesty, integrity or the whole goddamn nation for that matter.

Let's look at the size of talk radio audiences.

Averge quarter hour listening to some typical strong conservative talkers:

WMAL DC 18,000
WSB Atlanta 21,000
KMOX St Louis 9,000
KEIB LA 7,000
KOGO San Dgo 7,000
WJR Detroit 9,000
WTAM Cleve. 6,000
WPHT Philly 8,000
KTRH Houston 15,000
WOR NYC 16,000
KOA Denver 8,000

Below the top 50 markets:
WERC B'ham 4,000
WBEN Buffalo 9,000
KFAB Omaha 5,500
KNWZ Palm Sp 1,600

Compare with Maddow on MSNBC with a weekday average of 2.7 million viewers in a recent report.

The sum of the AQH audience of all those talk stations comes nowhere near that of the viewership of just one MSNBC show. If you look across the board, liberal / progressive talk on cable averages consistently higher levels than conservative radio talk.

 

[flybynight]

Let's look at the size of talk radio audiences.

Averge quarter hour listening to some typical strong conservative talkers:

WMAL DC 18,000
WSB Atlanta 21,000
KMOX St Louis 9,000
KEIB LA 7,000
KOGO San Dgo 7,000
WJR Detroit 9,000
WTAM Cleve. 6,000
WPHT Philly 8,000
KTRH Houston 15,000
WOR NYC 16,000
KOA Denver 8,000

Below the top 50 markets:
WERC B'ham 4,000
WBEN Buffalo 9,000
KFAB Omaha 5,500
KNWZ Palm Sp 1,600

Compare with Maddow on MSNBC with a weekday average of 2.7 million viewers in a recent report.

The sum of the AQH audience of all those talk stations comes nowhere near that of the viewership of just one MSNBC show. If you look across the board, liberal / progressive talk on cable averages consistently higher levels than conservative radio talk.

We're talking about cume, not AQH. As in, overall exposure and influence, not how much at a given moment.

Limbaugh alone has 15+ million. That dwarfs MSNBC several times over. There is no liberal equivalent to rightwing talkradio. That is sheer massive unchallenged misinformation on a daily basis. Add to that Fox news and their pygmy offshoots.

 

[davideduardo]

We're talking about cume, not AQH. As in, overall exposure and influence, not how much at a given moment.

Limbaugh alone has 15+ million. That dwarfs MSNBC several times over. There is no liberal equivalent to rightwing talkradio. That is sheer massive unchallenged misinformation on a daily basis. Add to that Fox news and their pygmy offshoots.

Cume is rather proportional to AQH. Cume does not indicate passion, though. There are occasional cumers who just "check to see what they are saying" and there are regular viewers. That is why ad decisions are not based on cume.

If the one-night audience of Maddow or Hannity is around 3 million, the weekly reach of each show is likely 3 or more times that. The reach of MSNBC or FOX is in the tens of millions. Cume is not often published, but going back a couple of years I saw that the two leaders averaged around 60,000,000 weekly cume, increasing considerably in big news weeks.

Limbaugh does not reach 15 million and has not for many, many years. For example, his weekly cume in LA is under 150,000. In New York it is just under 300,000. In Chicago it is around 160,000. In Miami it is 120,000.

Limbaugh cumes about 1.5 million in the top 10 markets. Those markets have nearly 20% of the US population. If Limbaugh performs at par in average share in all markets, that means he reaches much less than ten million people a week. And that is for a show that spans multiple hours. Were we to take the cume of, let's say, Matthews, Hayes and Maddow together... three hours of evening time on MSNBC, it would cume several times over what Limbaugh reaches. And that is without adding in the additional cume of mornings and afternoons and late nights.

This lower audience is why in markets like NYC, Boston, LA and San Francisco Limbaugh has been moved of the big signal talk station and put on a lesser signal. He's not performing like he used to. And neither is conservative talk radio in most markets.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Well, Fly, maybe you just need to build your backing, buy some airtime, and take on those wingnuts. Build your affiliate list and you could be bigger than Rush. After all, all of the sane people will rally to your side, right? Heck, all you really need are the left wingnuts in numbers as great as Rush Windbag gets from the right. Get those numbers in one market and other markets will beat a path to your door. You could save the country from itself - and the business people who own radio stations will throw money and awards at you for saving their stations.

If you don't have friends with money, get that podcast going. Everybody's got to start somewhere - and according to you the US is starving for your under-represented point of view. C'mon - don't be afraid of success! Get movin'!

 

[flybynight]

Well, Fly, maybe you just need to build your backing, buy some airtime, and take on those wingnuts. Build your affiliate list and you could be bigger than Rush. After all, all of the sane people will rally to your side, right? Heck, all you really need are the left wingnuts in numbers as great as Rush Windbag gets from the right. Get those numbers in one market and other markets will beat a path to your door. You could save the country from itself - and the business people who own radio stations will throw money and awards at you for saving their stations.

If you don't have friends with money, get that podcast going. Everybody's got to start somewhere - and according to you the US is starving for your under-represented point of view. C'mon - don't be afraid of success! Get movin'!

There's nothing you can do to make liberals seek refuge in a radio station the way righties do. Conservatives enjoy being preached to and quickly march in lock step.

Lefty's don't cling to guns, religion or talkradio, no matter what you put on it. They also tend to think for themselves. That's definitely a weakness come election season.

 

[davideduardo]

There's nothing you can do to make liberals seek refuge in a radio station the way righties do. Conservatives enjoy being preached to and quickly march in lock step.

Lefty's don't cling to guns, religion or talkradio, no matter what you put on it. They also tend to think for themselves. That's definitely a weakness come election season.

Actually, when Air America was running the consensus was that the difference between conservative talk and liberal talk was that conservative radio was entertaining while the liberal voices were too serious, too committed, to much on a crusade to have any fun while they did it.

Different critics and analysts took different perspectives on this, but in general the feeling was that the intensity of the Air America hosts did not make for fun listening.

 

[TheBigA]

Different critics and analysts took different perspectives on this, but in general the feeling was that the intensity of the Air America hosts did not make for fun listening.

I agree with that. Now it seems like nobody is trying to be entertaining or fun any more.