WHAM rumblings

[gr8oldies]

If Morning Edition rivals Limbaugh, liberals have nothing to complain about

 

[SirRoxalot]

When the commercial broadcasters are so far off center, NPR becomes villified as both "too liberal" and "too conservative". Sounds to me like they're pretty much down the middle. The old "liberal elite" labelling is a red herring.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

When the commercial broadcasters are so far off center, NPR becomes villified as both "too liberal" and "too conservative". Sounds to me like they're pretty much down the middle. The old "liberal elite" labelling is a red herring.

That seem to me an accurate assessment, Rox.

If Morning Edition rivals Limbaugh, liberals have nothing to complain about

How's that? Serious question. Morning Edition doesn't ascribe to any political dogma, at least as far as I (being former news-talk PD) have heard.

I've always appreciated the work of the NPR/local stations, especially when competing with them. WBEN was WGR's primary in-format rival, but it was impossible to discount the presence of WBFO-FM and WNED-AM. It is a concern that, like commercial talk radio, NPR is trying to figure out where the listeners are going to come from next year, let alone five to ten years down the road. Frankly, I'm not sure those listeners will be there in the numbers they've been available in the last five years and present. The variety of media options and the diversity of platforms available, as well as the habits and needs of listeners below the age of 45 pose major challenges to the viability of news-talk radio.

Last week, I listened to WBFO's live forum with its interim GM, but refrained from calling the program primarily because other listeners were asking incisive, thoughtful questions. It seems to me that WBFO has charted a course to insure its success as a news-talk station rather than a news-talk-jazz station, at least during the daytime hours, Monday through Friday. However (as a WBFO member) it concerns me that WBFO has appropriated some of its newfound talk programming from WNED-AM, which I believe is an outstanding, diverse, news-talk outlet. I'm committed to listening to On Point on WNED-AM out of habit, loyalty and because WNED-AM offers both hours of the program in succession. Buffalo is fortunate to have two NPR affiliates staffed by dedicated professionals. How long this luxury might last is the salient question.

 

[shakes]

Are there any numbers for NPR in the Rochester area? Do they subscribe to Arbitron? I would be very interested to learn what they are. I'm a really big fan of almost all the shows on 1370, both local and NPR, and would love to know what they are? If they're big, I think there's still hope for people like me who are pretty jaded at the talk offerings on the commercial stations.

 

[Ed Trefzger]

Non-commercial radio ratings can be found at: http://www.rrconline.org/

 

[audio4tv]

Non-commercial radio ratings can be found at: http://www.rrconline.org/

This will get you topline 12+ data and only for those stations that subscribe to the RRC/Arbitron data. It won't get you the specific daypart you might be interested in.

 

[Upstater51]

WHAM has Beck, Lonsberry, Rush, etc. and does well with their desired demo. I don't know why they would change what works for them. But this being a fairly liberal community, wxxi also does well serving the liberal listener base. 1370 Connection has become the de facto voice of Bob Duffy and Louise Slaughter crowd. Duffy is a virtual co-host with Bob Smith and Slaughter is the patron saint of wxxi. The other day the entire hour was spent with Brother Wease bashing conservative talk radio. So the conservatives have WHAM and the liberals have wxxi. Something for everyone.