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Drop in right-wing talk radio ratings

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Bob Cook, Feb 9, 2011.

  1. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    A key point is that it appears the "growth" isn't there. The market is saturated. You're not going to get new listeners without doing something different or presenting the format in a different way.
    I've heard Dennis Miller's show a few times and enjoy his mix of topics. It's not all conservative stuff, he brings on authors, celebrity friends etc.
     
  2. reformedhack

    reformedhack Well-Known Member

    By and large, they don't. If you ever get a chance to look at a local radio ratings book, you'd be fascinated by how many people actually listen. Or, more accurately, how many *don't*.

    In most top 20 markets, the third news/talk station seldom pulls more than a 0.1 ... if it shows up in the book at all. And what's really funny is to listen to salespeople trying to spin that. "We have 100% penetration among retired conservative Catholics who own homes valued at $100,000 or more!"

    But I digress.
     
  3. Shaggy

    Shaggy Guest

    I agree about the predictability of viewpoints ultimately hurting a program. It's why I don't bother with Olbermann or Beck or Limbaugh.

    I'm fiscally moderate and I actively seek shows that present both sides of it featuring people who aren't afraid to concede even one minor point to the other panelists.

    But that's rare. I remember after the DNC in 2008 when Anderson Cooper had 1 conservative and 1 liberal on to talk about Obama's speech. His final question to each was:

    "To (the conservative), what was one thing you think Obama said tonight that you agreed with?"
    "Nothing."

    "OK, and to (the liberal), what was one thing you think Obama said tonight that you disagreed with?"
    "Nothing."

    That type of they're-not-budging-so-I'm-not-budging crap is why politics and political discussion in this country is so terrible.

    Conservatives and liberals are like that bad couple that's in a toxic relationship, they hate each other's guts, but they want it to work so long as the other side does all the compromising. Both parties are guilty of that, and it's trickling down to the talking heads sucking on their teats.

    The smart people lose interest. The blind people play along. Good to see the smart people are starting to win out.
     
  4. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Who says it's "too much"? When you have 400 million potential listeners and eight shows, you're going to average better ratings than when you have 400 million potential listeners and 800 shows.
     
  5. geddymurphy

    geddymurphy Member

    I'm not a fan of talking-head culture in general -- lefty, righty, sporty, whatever. We have a local *news* station that isn't bad. I should listen to NPR, but it's just a little too dull for me.

    How radio survives is beyond me. Advertisers have to know their listeners are all in cars flipping between stations, skipping ads and switching to their iPods if they get bored.

    And I think wingnut culture is declining. Jon Stewart's Rally for Sanity might have had some impact, or it may have just been an outlet for the rising "plague on both their houses" movement. (See the rise in voters who register as neither Democrat nor Republican.)

    Hopefully, the punditocracy on cable "news" will be a fad. If I ran CNN, I'd declare that we're not in competition with MSNBC or Fox. CNN is news (well, Parker Spitzer aside). MSNBC and Fox are entertainment for people who like to be angry.
     
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    He probably has a good point in there. And if their ratings are down, it's a pretty straight story; he can certainly make the conclusions he did. But it's hard to take him seriously when he uses the word "wingnut" in his lede and he happens to have a book out called, Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America.
     
  7. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    Tony, I believe the point of the story is the industry thinks that not only are ratings declining, but the total potential audience is declining. In other words, in 1995, you might have had five major players trying to reach, say, 50 million listeners (completely meaningless and made up numbers, by the way). Now you have 50 players trying to reach 40 million listeners. So it doesn't add up.

    And, again, I don't think there are fewer conservatives. There are fewer conservatives who need a radio voice and/or a talking head to preach the political gospel to them.

    I'm wondering if, in a the context of the big picture, if the right-wing radio phenomenon was a sort of lightning in a bottle thing that applied to a particular generation that's sort of phasing out. I would bet that these shows don't do as well with, say, the 30-50 demographic as it did in 1990. This genre doesn't appeal to that age group so much as it appealed to a specificd generation that had a specific series of experiences.

    The parents of my friends who would listen to Rush when I was in school in the 80s grew up in the late 50s-60s, and experienced counter culture, civil rights changes, etc., and a backlash against all that change really resonated with that specific generation. It does not appeal as much to people who grew up 15-20 years later and whose childhood memories were of Rocky III and Rambo.

    You even see that, in some extent, in the Tea Party movement with its insistence that it's independent (whether or not it really is). There's very much a need to say "I'm not my father's conservative."
     
  8. jfs1000

    jfs1000 Member

    Reason talk radio works is that conservatives like to have their views reinforced. Liberals love to argue and get angry. So, they both listen to talk radio.

    You challenge a conservative, the conversation ends in anger. You agree with a liberal, it ends from boredom.

    In all seriousness, I think the genre is declining because it is so mainstream now. Older people listen to Rush and Glenn Beck. The rest of us are working.

    There isn't much talk radio after right wing talk and sports talk. That's about it. If you want outrageous, listen to Glenn Beck. I find it hilarious.
     
  9. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    I'm old enough to remember when Miller was funny.

    He has a right to flip right . . . but just wish he'd brought his sense of humor with him. Just another example of conservatives having real difficulty locating and maintaining the mainstream humor vein.
     
  10. terrier

    terrier Well-Known Member

    The biggest problem with Miller isn't that he stopped being funny when he went conservative (I actually enjoyed his MNF work), but that he started putting topics off limits. He supported Clinton in the '90s, but still made dick jokes about him.
    But after 9-11...Dubya - off limits. Guiliani - off limits.
    Nothing's worse than comedy with certain topics of hilarity off limits. Example: One of the worst recent SNLs ever was when Annette Bening hosted. The two most fertile sources of comedy (her being married to one of the greatest cocksmen who ever walked the earth and her most famous movie role, as the absolute schrew wife in "American Beauty") were put off limits to the SNL cast and crew by the host. No wonder that show sucked.
     
  11. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Because there's no competition?

    In this whole thread, not one soul has yet to point out that conservative radio could completely tank in the ratings - and it wouldn't be going anywhere. That's because the media conglomerates who own the radio stations don't want it to go anywhere.

    Talk radio isn't about what people <i>want.</i> Obama super-slammed McCain in the last election. Are we really supposed to believe that the only people who listen to radio hate Obama? That conservatives are somehow born more prone to the soothing, dulcet sounds of radio? Of course not.

    Clear Channel and others <i>do the bidding</i> for the Republican Party. Rush Limbaugh, yes, he's been around, he's the top voice, he's terrific. But Michael Levin? He doesn't even have a pleasing voice! Who in their fucking right mind <i>wants</i> to listen to <i>any</i> political persona, conservative or liberal or neutral, with a voice that sounds like Jim Carrey's bleating sound in Dumb and Dumber? Some of these other assholes? Rusty whatever? You wouldn't give him a nickel if he asked for a dime. You wouldn't trust that kook to paint your fence.

    But people have no choice. They turn on the AM dial, and they can choose some faint Disney signal from God knows where, swap meets, Cowherd, or conservative radio. And since Rush is midday and he's considerably more interesting than Cowherd, swap meets, lunch menus and the like, all rivers flow into and from his work. And the conglomerates make no bones about it: <i>We own three stations in your town. One will play Beck, Rush, Hannity. Another will play Ingraham, (what used to be) Dr. Laura and O'Reilly. Another will play those late-night psychos. Period. End of story. Or find a new job.</i>

    It's even more depressing on the FM side, where wonderful artists are nowhere to be found.
     
  12. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    At this point, I pretty much assume that anyone who listens to ANY form of radio except actual sports events and traffic reports is branding themselves as a cultural (and probably all-around) loser.
     
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