My working knowledge of satellite radio in negligible. Will any objective measure of Michael Smerconish's success there be published? Is there a way to know whether he is able to build an audience based on civil, moderate talk? Assuming he does not get the full-time cable TV gig he wants, will he just disappear from satellite if his performance doesn't meet expectations?
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What about Smerconish?
- Thread starter tce
- Start date
Tales from the Bald Side
Lots of “wheels within wheels” over at Sirius/XM. Many shows stay on-the-air because they have a marquis value to the company. They look good to advertisers because of their celebrity host or unique point of view. As boring and self-centered as Smerc is, he does fit into that latter category. “Look, we have a civil moderate talk show. That makes us special.” It is a conundrum, however. Since he is about as interesting as listening to spackle dry, will his “unique” type of talk radio offset that and keep him employed? Along with many whose paths have crossed the ego who walks like a man, I hope not.
Lots of “wheels within wheels” over at Sirius/XM. Many shows stay on-the-air because they have a marquis value to the company. They look good to advertisers because of their celebrity host or unique point of view. As boring and self-centered as Smerc is, he does fit into that latter category. “Look, we have a civil moderate talk show. That makes us special.” It is a conundrum, however. Since he is about as interesting as listening to spackle dry, will his “unique” type of talk radio offset that and keep him employed? Along with many whose paths have crossed the ego who walks like a man, I hope not.
Re: Tales from the Bald Side
Stand in a paint store and listen as the customers come in.
"I'm painting my living room. what have you got in a purple?"
"I'm painting my family room. What have you got in a cream color with emphasis on some yellow tones."
"I'm painting my great room. What have you got in a tan... something of a khaki tone."
We don't all share the same tastes in food, in color, in radio content. We don't even agree on what to call the room!
What kind of audience share does the BEST talk show get? 5%?
There are some of us who might enjoy the sound of spackle in the drying process.
There are some of us who are not interested in the sound of outhouse contents composting that some of the "popular" talkers provide.
TalkRadioIsSleeping said:
Stand in a paint store and listen as the customers come in.
"I'm painting my living room. what have you got in a purple?"
"I'm painting my family room. What have you got in a cream color with emphasis on some yellow tones."
"I'm painting my great room. What have you got in a tan... something of a khaki tone."
We don't all share the same tastes in food, in color, in radio content. We don't even agree on what to call the room!
What kind of audience share does the BEST talk show get? 5%?
There are some of us who might enjoy the sound of spackle in the drying process.
There are some of us who are not interested in the sound of outhouse contents composting that some of the "popular" talkers provide.
F
FredLeonard
Guest
OK, what about him?
I'd call what Salem does a "civil moderate talk show" (except for Gallagher) but it seems like they are largely forgotten - and unheard. Conservative talk is basically Rush, Hannity and Other. Beck pretty much has fallen into Other. Smerconish is definitely Other - or was. Other shows mostly get shares to the right of the decimal point (a fraction of a percent); under two per cent tops.
People talk about how progressive talk didn't get ratings but except for the Big Two, the Other conservative shows get ratings in the same range.
Howard Stern could get people to pay to listen. I don't see many putting down plastic to hear Smerconish, Martha Stewart and (who else???), plus TV audio and hosts not carried locally. Maybe for out of town sports. Maybe for music you can't hear on the radio. They can't be paying him much, otherwise they are loosing money. Maybe Smerconish still has his law practice on the side. I guess he could always clean Larry Kane's pool if he gets desperate.
I'd call what Salem does a "civil moderate talk show" (except for Gallagher) but it seems like they are largely forgotten - and unheard. Conservative talk is basically Rush, Hannity and Other. Beck pretty much has fallen into Other. Smerconish is definitely Other - or was. Other shows mostly get shares to the right of the decimal point (a fraction of a percent); under two per cent tops.
People talk about how progressive talk didn't get ratings but except for the Big Two, the Other conservative shows get ratings in the same range.
Howard Stern could get people to pay to listen. I don't see many putting down plastic to hear Smerconish, Martha Stewart and (who else???), plus TV audio and hosts not carried locally. Maybe for out of town sports. Maybe for music you can't hear on the radio. They can't be paying him much, otherwise they are loosing money. Maybe Smerconish still has his law practice on the side. I guess he could always clean Larry Kane's pool if he gets desperate.
Sirius doesn't even share their internal "ratings" numbers with the talent. Smerconish can pretend he has all the listeners he wants to, and no one will ever be able to prove him wrong.
In reality, he'll be lucky to have listener numbers in the low 5 digit range.
In reality, he'll be lucky to have listener numbers in the low 5 digit range.
F
FredLeonard
Guest
Smerconish is getting paid. And he gets to do what he wants. Every broadcaster's dream. No PDs. No consultants. No FCC.
Is SiriusXM even able to track listeners? Does Arbitron measure their listeners? Do their stations have PPM encoding? Are they even selling time on any channels?
Is SiriusXM even able to track listeners? Does Arbitron measure their listeners? Do their stations have PPM encoding? Are they even selling time on any channels?
Interesting that Sirius does not review "ratings" with the talent. If there is a programming disagreement with management, only one side holds the data and can decide whether to use it.
I did enjoy aspects of his WPHT program - although more when it had significant local content, even though I only spent 4 years in the region, four decades ago. I even paid for a year of podcasts. But, eventually, his ego, pandering (Specter, Obama, Matthews) and fawning staff got to me.
Somehow, though, his concept and rag-tag smattering of affiliates convinced Sirius. Maybe they used the same focus-group testing that got us burnout song rotation and buried oldies radio.
I did enjoy aspects of his WPHT program - although more when it had significant local content, even though I only spent 4 years in the region, four decades ago. I even paid for a year of podcasts. But, eventually, his ego, pandering (Specter, Obama, Matthews) and fawning staff got to me.
Somehow, though, his concept and rag-tag smattering of affiliates convinced Sirius. Maybe they used the same focus-group testing that got us burnout song rotation and buried oldies radio.
FredLeonard said:
Oh....they have PDs. And said PDs act exactly like every other PD.
As for listener tracking, they do polling of subscribers. They left Arbitron years ago when the numbers weren't showing what they thought they would show. No PPM encoding, either. As for selling time, aside from the Clear Channel channels, I don't think they broker time out. I think they could make a few bucks doing that, but Sirius is EXTREMELY focused on exclusivity. Especially with talk programming.
I see this as the beginning of the end for Michael. Next stop, brokered radio or, if he's lucky, a spot on NJ 101.5 until they figure out he's about as entertaining as a vasectomy without anesthesia.
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said, "
Stand in a paint store and listen as the customers come in.
"I'm painting my living room. what have you got in a purple?"
"I'm painting my family room. What have you got in a cream color with emphasis on some yellow tones."
"I'm painting my great room. What have you got in a tan... something of a khaki tone."
We don't all share the same tastes in food, in color, in radio content. We don't even agree on what to call the room!
What kind of audience share does the BEST talk show get? 5%?
There are some of us who might enjoy the sound of spackle in the drying process.
There are some of us who are not interested in the sound of outhouse contents composting that some of the "popular" talkers provide.
Well said. I did listen to Smerconish sometimes on WPHT. I found his show interesting, especially when he wasn't talking local Philly stuff [but then I don't live in Philly]. Rush, Beck, and Hannity are boring, for my ear.
Stand in a paint store and listen as the customers come in.
"I'm painting my living room. what have you got in a purple?"
"I'm painting my family room. What have you got in a cream color with emphasis on some yellow tones."
"I'm painting my great room. What have you got in a tan... something of a khaki tone."
We don't all share the same tastes in food, in color, in radio content. We don't even agree on what to call the room!
What kind of audience share does the BEST talk show get? 5%?
There are some of us who might enjoy the sound of spackle in the drying process.
There are some of us who are not interested in the sound of outhouse contents composting that some of the "popular" talkers provide.
Well said. I did listen to Smerconish sometimes on WPHT. I found his show interesting, especially when he wasn't talking local Philly stuff [but then I don't live in Philly]. Rush, Beck, and Hannity are boring, for my ear.
F
FredLeonard
Guest
MikefromDelaware said:
You must not have listened very often. The show was in national syndication starting in 2009.
While I agree with what he said about conservative talk in his departing statement, I never did cotton to the idea of a lawyer as a talk show host.
If SiriusXM doesn't work out maybe he can be one of those cable infomercial lawyers suing drug companies and workers comp.
TalkRadioIsSleeping said:
As long as Sirius is around, he'll continue to collect his inflated paycheck. A major name getting signed by them is like hitting the radio lottery. You don't need to worry about growing an audience, and they overpay big names.
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