Why does Tom Jicha consistently misrepresent South Florida talk radio audiences?

[smedge2006]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/tv/2009/10/wftl-adds-conservative-host-to-lineup.html

In this blog announcing Jeff Katz' hiring by WFTL, Jicha insists that "there's no conspiracy" and conservative talk "is what listeners have indicated they want to hear."

Jicha has been in South Florida more than two decades. He saw firsthand the success of Neil Rogers and Randi Rhodes. If he bothered to dig a bit, he would have found out about Nicole Sandler beating WIOD in 25-54 men... THEN getting canned. He would have known that Rush Limbaugh made no headway whatsoever
in So Fla until the late 1990's, when South Florida's long heritage of liberal talk was hammered into submission by the likes of Bud Paxson. South Florida's talk radio is historically live, local and liberal.

I could see some newbie (and ideologue) like Glenn Garvin making this mistake in characterizing the South Florida talk audience, now and historically. For Jicha to do it, can only reflect willful finger-in-ear ignorance, and is simply unforgivable.

BTW, I support WFTL hiring Katz because I support local talk radio. Even when it serves up the same right-wing swill it's an improvement over cookie-cutter syndication.

 

[davideduardo]

If he bothered to dig a bit, he would have found out about Nicole Sandler beating WIOD in 25-54 men...

That was in one trend, when WIOD was performing poorly and WINZ even worse (they are owned by the same company, so the owner did not care).

The leading talk stations in the market are ultra-conservative.

 

[smedge2006]

That was in one trend, when WIOD was performing poorly and WINZ even worse (they are owned by the same company, so the owner did not care).

... and it was ONE PERSON competing with an entire news staff on the other station!

WIOD AND WFTL both consistently underperform compared with conservative talkers in other markets. Language is a huge factor in the Miami/ Fort Lauderdale market, of course, not so much in WPB -- but another factor is that the English-speaking population in these three counties tilts heavily liberal, and until about ten years ago, so did talk radio.

The predominant liberal but not all-political-all-the-time talk radio in South Florida in the 90's was represented by WIOD and to a lesser extent the original WFTL. It was destroyed by the machinations of Bud Paxson, who personally didn't like that style of radio (and who especially didn't like Neil Rogers), and who was determined to exalt Limbaugh, whose style of talk had been rejected consistently by the So-Fla market. He was the first to clear Limbaugh live, on WINZ 940 (where it still couldn't outdraw Neil). He finally acquired WIOD and did everything he could to drive out Rogers and destroy that station, and since he was the owner, he succeeded. If you don't think his actions were driven by ideological/religious concerns, read his autobiography.

Limbaugh-clone conservatalk has never equaled what South Florida's homegrown liberal talk drew in the 80's and 90's.

 

[davideduardo]

... and it was ONE PERSON competing with an entire news staff on the other station!

WIOD AND WFTL both consistently underperform compared with conservative talkers in other markets. Language is a huge factor in the Miami/ Fort Lauderdale market, of course, not so much in WPB -- but another factor is that the English-speaking population in these three counties tilts heavily liberal, and until about ten years ago, so did talk radio.

To base an analysis on a junk fact, the one about WINZ beating WIOD in mornings in men in some age group, is absurd. The diary survey was so wobbly for Miami that agencies bought 3 and 4 book averages, not single boods, and the gods forbid, not one single unweighted trend.

And, as I said, neither WIOD nor WINZ were doing well at the time. And the two leading talkers were ultras conservative, with total shares equal to the double or more of WINZ and WIOD combined.