The possible future of AM talk radio

[tfsports]

Came across this article today, and it raises some interesting questions. Is AM talk radio in for a change? Will calmer, more rational hosts soon be on the horizon? Interested to hear your thoughts.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2012/03/is_conservative_talk_radio_on.html

 

[schmave]

Calmer, more rational hosts might be coming, but I don't think talk radio is in danger. There's a reason conservative talk has survived and been huge the past 20 years and the likes of Air America have flamed badly. The latter was just desperate to get on the air as a rebuttal and obviously didn't think through the business plan or how to get the talent to successfully deliver the message. Meanwhile, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. have known how to get their message out and in a better way for a long time.
Yes, I do lean right and am one of the moderates supposedly hated by both sides according to that story. But the facts have been facts for a long time.

 

[Mediafrog+]

AM talk radio is going to change...into FM talk radio. ;D

The future of AM in larger markets is probably brokered/niche/microniche formats, many of which will not broadcast in either English or Spanish.

 

[KTN Corp]

AM talk radio is going to change...into FM talk radio. ;D

Political talk probably won't make the transition to FM.

Music does better on FM than political talk because it has broad appeal. Political talk is a niche format and drives away half of your market. Contrast that with all-news, which out of all three commercial spoken-word formats, is useful to everybody. The only talk left would be sports talk since that has a much broader appeal than political talk.

Plus isn't the target audience of political talk getting closer to the grave? The commercials for Extenze are telling! ;D No-one under 40 listens to AM!

 

[mrbeasley]

That's because fewer and fewer people under 40 are politically literate. Most can't even tell you what the Declaration of Independence was written for, or what the Constitution is. They don't understand the political process, much less any discourse on it via the media.

 

[sdh483]

That's because fewer and fewer people under 40 are politically literate. Most can't even tell you what the Declaration of Independence was written for, or what the Constitution is. They don't understand the political process, much less any discourse on it via the media.

Wrong, as usual.

 

[willdav713]

That's because fewer and fewer people under 40 are politically literate. Most can't even tell you what the Declaration of Independence was written for, or what the Constitution is. They don't understand the political process, much less any discourse on it via the media.

Are you also speaking some of our elected officals, too? If so, I can agree with your statement. I am 31 and I listen to AM radio, I listen to Mark Levin on AM 550 in San Antonio. Rush, and Ed Ward, and others on AM 590 KLBJ out of Austin. Due to the reception of translator 99.7 I have to flip the dial down to AM 590. I also listen to Alex Jones, and Neil Boertz. Air America was like listening to Al Gore debate against G.W. Bush in 2000 they had a limited rebuttal, if any.

Air America: Bush did Bush did Bush did...
Al Gore: Prescription Drugs Prescription Drugs, Prescription Drugs...
Now that is poorly executed rebuttals.

I can see political talk radio gaining more recognition, and ratings. Austin's KLBJ-AM does really exceptional in the PPMs.

 

[turkeydance]

+1 KTN.
sports is a 23-43 male.
talk is a 45-65 male.
FM is female.
all of them.

 

[foursider]

I can certainly agree that some of our elected officials have difficulty with understanding the political process, too. This is evidenced by some of the downright goofy things they say when being interviewed on the radio or television. But, without talk radio, we would never hear most of they dumb things they say.