Posted on 12/05/2008 6:38:35 AM PST by abb
Bill O'Reilly has formally confirmed he's giving up one of the most successful syndicated radio shows in the country, saying he has just run out of hours in the week.
O'Reilly said the radio show, which he launched in May 2002, will end "in the first quarter of next year." Most of the time he saves, he said, will go into his top-rated Fox News Channel show.
"The media business is getting more and more intense," O'Reilly said Thursday. "We've got to keep the TV show at the level we have it now, and that means more and more time to keep it competitive and fresh. I've been working 60, 65 hours a week and I just can't keep doing that."
Nationally, O'Reilly's radio show is carried on 430 stations, including WOR (710 AM) in New York). Talkers magazine estimates his weekly audience at more than 3.5 million, putting him in the national top 10, and while no official figures are available on advertising, executives close to the show described it as very profitable.
O'Reilly said he had "a great time" doing the radio show, and will miss the listeners.
"Radio is more intimate," he said. "TV has more power, because of the images, but you can say things on radio you wouldn't say on TV. It's less formal.
"The one thing I found about radio listeners is you can't talk down to them. You have to respect them."
He said he also found that radio listeners don't just want a host who preaches their viewpoint.
"I knew my show couldn't be ideological," he said. "Going up against [Rush ] Limbaugh, that would be suicidal. Why would a listener who's already got Rush turn to someone else to hear the same things?
"So I was doing a show that was fact-based. It was more news/talk. And we were very competitive. In some cities, like Boston and St. Louis, we beat Limbaugh outright."
A big challenge for both radio and TV now, said O'Reilly, is drawing eyes and ears away from the Internet.
"On the Internet, everyone produces their own show," he said. "On radio or TV, I'm the producer. So I have to be compelling enough to pull someone away from his own show – which means I have to give him something he can't get on his own."
maybe thats why he was trashing other conservatives for being worried about the fairness doctrine, because he’s getting out of it so he’s not worried
mistake...he should give up tv and keep the radio gig
I like how he talks down his audience while telling us about how important it is not to talk down to his audience. I think its an old Jedi mind trick or sumthin’.
Give the show to Mary Katherine Ham, S.E. Cupp, Amanda Carpenter, or someone else worth listening to.
Sounds like SPIN to me. Buh-bye, BOre.
One of the most listened to radio shows?
Jeez, until just recently I never even knew he had a radio show!!
(I don’t get out much.; )
I cant even watch his TV show unless Ingrahm is hosting. I really loved Michelle Malkin on Fridays 2007 but BoR stabbed her in back because she was a conservative, so she quit. She was 100X better than him because he is just a prostitution and she have values and beliefs.
“I am just looking out for the folks...”
blah blah blah. Bye bye Bill.
Rush smashes another "competitor" in the same time slot?
He’s entering the “No Ratings Zone”................
“I need to spend more time with my family” was the only thing missing.
“It takes a lot of time to prepare these remarks for the show, OK? A lot of time.
Ya can’t just come in here and wing it. You can not wing it. You just can’t, OK?
These gems don’t just write themselves, ya know. They just don’t. OK?”
O'Reilly Giving Up Radio Show, Will Focus On TV 19 September 2007
Savage outrating Levin?
Ugh!!!
There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose...
So he is implying that Rush's show isn't "fact-based"? This is why I never liked O'Reilly. He thinks that he is the intellectual superior of everyone else and he talks down to everyone. He always talks about "no spin" while spinning so fast himself you could use him for a fan.
I say take his time and give Rush or Glenn more hours on the air.
Buh-bye Bill. Don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.
BOR is a pin head compared to Rush.
“...one of the most successful syndicated radio shows...”
It’s possible, considering lots of cat and dog owners leave the radio on to keep their pets company while they’re out.
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