Posted on 10/08/2005 6:50:27 AM PDT by SIRTRIS
WASHINGTON - When the White House wanted to talk to its political base about a Supreme Court nominee this week, there was no doubt where to go: talk radio.
Vice President Dick Cheney took the administration's case to the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity programs, speaking simultaneously to the normally sympathetic hosts and their audiences of like-minded Republicans.
A decade after Republicans credited Limbaugh with helping them win control of Congress - they called him the Majority Maker - they still look to his conservative-dominated medium for a lopsided communications edge over Democrats. Today, they count on talk radio to rally support for President Bush, attack those who criticize or question him, and stir passions leading into the 2006 midterm congressional elections.
There are signs that the Republicans could be losing some of their overwhelming edge, however. Ratings for Limbaugh and Hannity slipped this spring in some markets. Liberals such as Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Al Franken are carving out their own radio niche. And Democrats argue that they have an edge on the Internet, where explosive growth could dwarf the political impact of radio.
Some of that could be just wishful thinking by Democrats. The slip in ratings, for example, could be a normal drop in political interest after an election year. They also could be untrue - radio ratings are difficult to measure. And even if Limbaugh and Hannity have fewer listeners than they did in the past, they still have millions more than liberal talk show hosts.
"We're not there yet," Franken said in an interview.
"My numbers are going up, and theirs are going down. But if I have a million and half people listening to me, that's still just one-tenth of Rush's audience."
Like most people in and around radio, Franken credited Limbaugh's personal talents for creating the genre of conservative talk radio in the late 1980s and dominating it ever since.
"He's very talented, I'll give him that," Franken said. "He's a good storyteller. He's good at framing an issue, whether honest or not. ... He's very good at kicking dust up in the air so you don't see the crap on the ground. It's an evil talent. But he's talented."
Yet Limbaugh, who didn't respond to a request for an interview, lost ground this year in several markets.
Limbaugh lost 30 percent of his audience in Minneapolis-St. Paul this spring from a year earlier. He also lost 9 percent in Miami and 7 percent in Kansas City, Mo. He did have gains in some smaller markets, however, including Charlotte, N.C., and Fort Wayne, Ind.
Some of the loss can be attributed to listeners tuning out after an election year. But they also might be growing weary of the Limbaugh and Hannity format.
"They're pretty much talking about the same thing every day," said Holland Cooke, a Cleveland-based radio industry consultant who said the hosts tend to talk about the same subjects and interview the same guests over and over.
"Last week, Sean Hannity had Newt Gingrich coming on. I've already heard that show. Then he said he had Ann Coulter coming on. I've already heard that show. It's a rerun. You already know what he's going to say."
The 40-somethings with their hands on the driving wheel and money in their pockets - prime radio audience targets - are more likely to listen to news about gas prices than the Supreme Court and more interested in new approaches to their lives than old opinions of politics, Cooke said.
"Most political talk stations (ratings) are down over last fall, conservative or not," added Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, an industry publication owned by Clear Channel Radio. "You can surmise that people are a little burned out on the partisan back and forth. Culturally, this may not be a time when political talk sells."
Democrats insist they have some radio outlets that help them take their case to targeted audiences. Bill Clinton and Al Gore, for example, spent as much time courting urban radio host Tom Joyner as they did television network anchormen, said former Gore aide Chris Lehane.
And they think they can reach more people through the Internet than Republicans. Internet users are younger and more independent-minded than radio listeners and more open to the Democratic message, Lehane said. Democrats Howard Dean and John Kerry showed in their 2004 presidential campaigns that they could reach and organize millions of people through the Internet.
Yet if the communications of politics is changing, it hasn't changed that much yet.
Limbaugh still has about 14.75 million listeners, according to Talkers Magazine. Hannity has about 13 million.
Even the most successful liberal hosts, such as Schultz, Miller and Franken, don't come close yet. None made the top 30 talk radio shows as ranked by Talkers Magazine.
Yeah. Some. About 100%.
Oh, and "Farkin" 13, "Lowd Dowd", 6....
If they removed all of the ways to call someon a liar from the English language Franken would be unable to hold a conversation.
More like scratching at a sheet of steel with a pin.
If similar (or any!) allegations were made against Rush Limbaugh or any conservative host I am sure the employee of the newspaper would have omitted any reference to the problem.
(My joke of the day)
WHO? Let's see. Whine about Bush. Whine about Rove. Whine about Haliburton. Cuss a lot. Scream bile at anyone who does not conform to the PC dogma. Yeah, that is REAL good radio for people who want a fight instead of THINK.
Sorry Liberal Talk radio sucks because it is no different then what you hear on any of the Alphabet networks or Public TV and Radio or "news papers" Conservative Talk Radio is dominate because it is THE ONLY outlet for the Right. Liberal Talk radio is just same old same old you can get anywhere. You know Joe, you don't HAVE to automatically take the hyper critic role on EVERY issued. You might want to actually THINK once in awhile instead of just automatically being a contrarian.
Listening to live streaming on the Internet.
I was tired of the local station cutting into Rush's show to bleat on an on about some stupid march of 5 or 10 people on the state capitol, local police chases, fires and stupid crap like DUmocrat press conferences (which the try to have every other day) just to interrupt the broadcast. I also got tired of the locals taking the morning shows and delaying them until late in the evening when you could listen live on the net. They may be losing listeners on AM stations, but unlike ERR America, they haven't lost stations carrying the show.
Typical liberal response. Attribute success and talent to "dishonesty" and something "evil". I guess we should attribute Al Franken's success to angelic virtuousness and Jesus-pure motives. BWAHAHAHAHAH!
Hogwash.
WHAT in Philly announced they were dropping Err America last week or the week before. And somewhere else, I heard this week, an EA outlet is dropping Springer...
They are trying to pin an "Old & Boring" label on the conservative talk hosts.
For what it's worth, it does make sense to be developing new talent. That's hard to do if the old ones occupy the radio dial from 9 am til 10 pm(Beck,Rush,Hannity,Kramer,Savage)
It'll have to be smaller market folks who grow, which appears to be the track that Beck followed.
Savage seems vulnerable to replacement.
Ping for later.
All over America pigs are flying in the new post Katrina world where liberal media dulls the public appetite for truth. Bacon prices will surely rise as the new breed of pigs escape the butcher's ax by flying off.
NONE of the Liberal shows made it in the top 30!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I didn't even know there were 30 conservative or garden shows on! They aren;t even beating out "how to fix your Volvo" shows!
Yeah, but that's by Franken, not by the author. The author perhaps simply copied the comment from his note or from the interview transcript.
The next "Limbaugh" will be out there though. I would not be terribly shocked if Rush drops behind Hannity, or somebody else we don't think about, sometime in the near future. It's the nature of the beast.
I also believe that the internet does play a part in this. People like more interactivity. When talk radio blossomed, it was a lot more interactive than listening to Dan Blather at night. Now, you can go on FR, read articles, watch video links, discuss issues, etc. It's more engaging than tuning in the radio. Your chances of actually dialing into a show and getting on the air are really slim.
Conservative talkradio is still a powerful medium for getting the message out. And lately Hannity has been doing a superior job compared to Rush. Rush has been playing the Bush/GOP cheerleader too often in recent months. OTOH. Maybe Bush fatigue is beginning to set in.
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