Stephanie Miller on Talk Decline

[listener-in]

Rush's guy backed up his claims with real numbers. Media Matters has been caught in outright lies more than once, so take all of both sides with a huge grain of salt. The truth is more like Rush improved some really bad stations, but they're still in rough shape.

If people are just discovering his new station, it's easy for "Rush's guy" to boast an increase of 230%. Starting from a minute base, you can generate some pretty phenomenal percent increases to a plateau that's still small. Anyway, that's not the point. Rush's guy has to make lemonade from his boss being bumped from a big station to a small one, which was not without cause.

Holland Cooke is a good reference for Rush's decline in audience.

http://hollandcookemedia.wordpress.com/

 

[Small Market Guy]

The question is: Why did CC move their most successful show to its own stations in two major markets? Was his presence having an effect on sales for the primary talk stations in those markets?

Because they want total control. They think Rush alone can get these stations billing enough to be profitable, which is entirely possible.

 

[Small Market Guy]

I
Holland Cooke is a good reference for Rush's decline in audience.

http://hollandcookemedia.wordpress.com/

Do we have to do this again? Holland is an MSNBC analyst. Again, take it with a grain of salt. We used to get his newsletter at my old station. Every single issue was the same. "DROP RUSH NOW! RUSH IS EVIL! DROP RUSH!" I see nothing has changed in the past 3 years. The guy makes a living off consulting for the stations that don't have Rush. So he bashes Rush.

Is there even an unbiased analysis of this sort of thing anywhere? Sure doesn't seem like it.

 

[Legend City]

Do we have to do this again? Holland is an MSNBC analyst. Again, take it with a grain of salt. We used to get his newsletter at my old station. Every single issue was the same. "DROP RUSH NOW! RUSH IS EVIL! DROP RUSH!" I see nothing has changed in the past 3 years. The guy makes a living off consulting for the stations that don't have Rush. So he bashes Rush.

Is there even an unbiased analysis of this sort of thing anywhere? Sure doesn't seem like it.

We get it, you love Rush, you really, really love Rush.

And everyone else is biased....

oy vey

 

[TheBigA]

Because they want total control. They think Rush alone can get these stations billing enough to be profitable, which is entirely possible.

They could have left him where he was and done that.

 

[Small Market Guy]

We get it, you love Rush, you really, really love Rush.

Pay attention. I've repeated said that I don't care for his show.

I also said the analysis of Rush's spokesman was also biased.

EVERYONE IS BIASED. EVERYONE. EVERYONE. THAT MEANS EVERYONE.

Learn how to read before you try to presume to tell me what I'm saying.

 

[Small Market Guy]

They could have left him where he was and done that.

I guess they're trying the old Rush Radio gimmick for the 3rd or 4th time. If I had to guess, they knew he wasn't going to do as well in LA (he does better in "flyover" country, we all know that) and wanted to move him. They sell it to his people as "you get your own station". Egos are satisfied and KFI gets to be all local, which seems to work for KFI. Everyone wins.

 

[TheBigA]

Everyone wins.

Except that Rush moves from the #1 station in LA to the lowest rated station. It's not about egos, it's about making money.

How about the reason they moved him is because advertisers said their spots can't air in or adjacent to his show? That makes a lot more sense.

 

[flybynight]

All because he is on MSNBC doesn't mean he's a shill. By the way, Holland will be the first to tell you that he has consulted Rush stations as well as Rush's competitors. When he's consulting a Rush station, Rush is promoted as the best thing since sliced bread, whereas when he's consulting against him, he's pitched as a buffoon. Holland does his job well. He also has a lot of insight. His criticisms of Limbaugh are legit. Maybe you disagree.

If you ever have an opportunity to talk to the guy, do it. You'll find he is one of the brightest radio programming/consulting guys you'll ever meet.

 

[Avid Listener]

All because he is on MSNBC doesn't mean he's a shill. By the way, Holland will be the first to tell you that he has consulted Rush stations as well as Rush's competitors. When he's consulting a Rush station, Rush is promoted as the best thing since sliced bread, whereas when he's consulting against him, he's pitched as a buffoon. Holland does his job. He also has a lot of insight. His criticisms of Limbaugh are legit. Maybe you disagree.

If you ever have an opportunity to talk to the guy, do it. You'll find he is one of the brightest radio guys you'll ever meet.

I do not know Mr. Holland. But I do know that your description, especially the part I highlighted, does not make him sound credible or reliable. I would think that when a station hires a consultant for the consultant's expertise, if the station management is smart, then they want the truth, not just what they want to hear. On the other hand, my own experience with consultants is usually that they first determine what the clients wants to hear, then that's what they tell them. Consultants tend to be the same regardless of what industry they're working in. That is what has made me so leery about believing anything any consultant has to say.

And to cover my rear end, I must repeat, what I said about about Mr. Holland is 100% conjecture, based only on what I read in flybynight's post.

 

[flybynight]

I do not know Mr. Holland. But I do know that your description, especially the part I highlighted, does not make him sound credible or reliable. I would think that when a station hires a consultant for the consultant's expertise, if the station management is smart, then they want the truth, not just what they want to hear. On the other hand, my own experience with consultants is usually that they first determine what the clients wants to hear, then that's what they tell them. Consultants tend to be the same regardless of what industry they're working in. That is what has made me so leery about believing anything any consultant has to say.

And to cover my rear end, I must repeat, what I said about about Mr. Holland is 100% conjecture, based only on what I read in flybynight's post.

What Holland Cooke personally thinks about Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant. He isn't hired by a station to tell them to fire Rush just because Rush is bad for the country. Cooke's job is to help grow a station's audience by, among other things, creating the most favorable image of the station. Yes, this may include personnel suggestions, but I can almost guarantee you, no consultant is going to suggest flushing Rush, unless there's a financial consideration.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And to cover my rear end, I must repeat, what I said about about Mr. Holland is 100% conjecture, based only on what I read in flybynight's post.

There are a handful of us who keeping bumping into each other in the hallway and we dart from one to another of about four threads. I thought I had said about all I could say with any integrity and I would just sit on my hands. And then you "dropped this t--d in the punch-bowl".

Why on the worst day of your life would you write a paragraph about a man that you have not researched and probably don't have any intention of looking up. Holland Cooke..... (you haven't given him the courtesy of even knowing his name!. It's not Mr. Holland. It is Mr. Holland COOKE.) About Holland Cooke- He is a gregarious character who apparently enjoys saying things in creative way just to get attention, and sometimes to tweak someone's nose. For a while I regularly read his blogs and publications and followed his website. He is opinionated, and he is not bashful about sharing his opinions. I don't always fully agree with him, but if tomorrow I became the owner and/or manager of a broadcast property, there is a significant possibility I would call on him for some service. And that is because the last thing I expect him to do is to size me up, figure out what I want to hear, and make me feel good by feeding my own opinions back to me. I fully expect he would offer me a spoonful of medicine that didn't taste too good... but medicine that would help me run my property more successfully.



In spite of your efforts to cover it... I can still see your rear end. And as we say out here in the rolling hills.... it ain't purty!

 

[davideduardo]

On the other hand, my own experience with consultants is usually that they first determine what the clients wants to hear, then that's what they tell them.

In no case where I have been a consultant have I been concerned with contradicting an owner's opinion on programming. I have been paid to give my own opinion, based on my experience and knowledge. If the client, after a complete review, still disagrees, I would gladly leave the business on the table; fortunately, that has never happened.

And the broadcast consultants I have known have all given frank, honest opinions and recommendations. That is the only way to avoid disaster and the insure an ongoing relationship.

 

[Small Market Guy]

What Holland Cooke personally thinks about Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant. He isn't hired by a station to tell them to fire Rush just because Rush is bad for the country. Cooke's job is to help grow a station's audience by, among other things, creating the most favorable image of the station. Yes, this may include personnel suggestions, but I can almost guarantee you, no consultant is going to suggest flushing Rush, unless there's a financial consideration.

Have you ever read his newsletter? I have. Every month. It's the same exact deal every single time. The guy is OBSESSED with Rush.

Again, I loved his 12 seconds of greatness stuff, and otherwise he gives good advice, but the guy is absolutely obsessed. There is no other way to put it.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Except that Rush moves from the #1 station in LA to the lowest rated station. It's not about egos, it's about making money.

How about the reason they moved him is because advertisers said their spots can't air in or adjacent to his show? That makes a lot more sense.

And putting him on a different station sold by the same people is going to solve that problem? Wrong answer.

 

[flybynight]

Have you ever read his newsletter? I have. Every month. It's the same exact deal every single time. The guy is OBSESSED with Rush.

He is a newstalk consultant who believes, like many others, that Rush is hurting the format at this point, not helping it.

 

[Avid Listener]

Why on the worst day of your life would you write a paragraph about a man that you have not researched and probably don't have any intention of looking up.

I wrote a paragraph about the description that flybynight gave. I don't know or care who he was describing, I wrote about the description.

 

[davideduardo]

I wrote a paragraph about the description that flybynight gave. I don't know or care who he was describing, I wrote about the description.

Hey, aren't you the guy who invented spin control?

 

[davideduardo]

I wrote a paragraph about the description that flybynight gave. I don't know or care who he was describing, I wrote about the description.

Ah, a proponent of the Scientific Method.

Not.

 

[Small Market Guy]

He is a newstalk consultant who believes, like many others, that Rush is hurting the format at this point, not helping it.

Yes. I know who he is. But there is more to the format than Rush. I'm telling you, at least half of the material the guy has put out in the past several years is Rush-related.