Posted on 08/07/2009 8:48:32 AM PDT by DanZanRyu
Conservative talk radio has never been more angry and extreme than today. You might think that’s a response to the Obama presidency. But even more, conservative talkers are responding to a collapse in advertising revenues.
According to Scott Fybush, the proprietor of North East Radio Watch, talk radio has lost 30-40% of its ad revenues over the past two years.
Further, in an interview with a talk radio trade publication, Talkers Magazine, late last year, Talk Radio Networks CEO Mark Masters said: “2008 will be known as the year that weak syndicated programs began dying off in droves,” adding that “it has only just begun.”
In this environment, radio hosts believe that anger is their only path to survival. “If you’re not the most extreme person on the radio or making the most outrageous headlines,” says Fybush, “there is going to be some portion of the base that is going to ignore you and move onto someone who is more extreme.”
One of the most civil voices in talk radio, Michael Medved, explains the economic pressure upon the industry. He told NewMajority: “In this [economic] environment, you have something of a push to be outrageous, to be on the fringe, because what you’re desperately competing for is… P-1 listeners [those who tune in most frequently]. The percentage of people on the fringe who are P-1s is quite high,” he explained. As a result, talk radio hosts are feeling more pressure than usual to yell harder, scream louder, and insult further. Talk shows “are fighting for an ever- smaller pie, [which means that] you’ve got to be even louder about it because you’re trying to get the attention of an ever-smaller niche,” said Medved.
All these factors exacerbate the existing negative tendencies of conservative news talk radio. Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine, notes that “news talk radio has traditionally been a street medium… [that employs] the language and emotions and attitudes that one would hear on the street, by the fence, in the schoolyard.” Of course, schoolyard emotions evoke schoolyard results: a downwards descent into name-calling and fringe politics. Talk radio’s fascination with the “birther” movement is the logical end point.
As conservative politics attempts to reach out and rebuild, the incentives for conservative radio hosts point in exactly the opposite direction. The fact of the matter is that the survival of news talk radio “depends on ratings and revenue, not on getting people elected, or even on bring right,” says Harrison. If the economy worsens, expect more venom on your AM dial.
The Medved mindset is what brought us to this point of ruination, much like the mindset that led to millions of Jews mindlessly shuffling onto the trains to go to their certain slaughter.
Medved is a prime example of people completely unaware of their current position in the flow of history. Dead people walking.
Let’s just think about this a minute...
Is radio ad revenue overall up or down? Has radio advertizing revenue been affected by the global recession?
Might as accurately say that hip-hop music programming is suffering an ad revenue drop.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics....this blogger is so lazy he doesn’t even try to provide actual data.
Little bits of info like this say more to me than the pretty little madeup newswhores.
He’s not doing it for the money. He’s doing it because it’s so awesome to brag about being a Bigtime Blogger when you’re trying to impress single urban women in trendy bistros.
Ya Rush is staving to death. Did you see him on the Greta interview? He was so skinny! Poor Man! ! ! LOL
Nothing, but it is about economic causation and correlations.
Methinks someone is suffering from delusions.
In Boston it got taken off due to low ratings in 2006. Late last year it came back, only because someone did brokered time: PAID a mostly sports station to run it. The result:
a morning show that even libs are decrying as boring, then
stuff like Notfunnie Miller, Thom Fartmann, and Big Dumb
Ed Schulz.
http://www.radio-info.com/site/markets/grid/boston
ratings: the station, WWZN, does not even show up (though maybe they don’t subscribe to ratings?) Meanwhile WBZ with
conservative Dan Rea at night: #2 overall. Conservative
WRKO: #4 overall. Boston.
LOL - this is frickin’ hilarious!
Left-wing talk radio defines the words niche and hate-filled, yet not a single, solitary mention in this entire article - only the ‘fringe, kooky’ Conservatives get that honor.
Can’t get any more biased than that, can you?
Here’s the real story; ratings for the top hosts (and stations) have skyrocketed in recent months, for a couple of reasons.
First, with the coronation of the “annointed one” (and the GOP essentially leaderless), talk hosts are filling the vaccum and providing a rallying point for conservatives.
Secondly, Arbitron (the radio ratings firm) recently introduced a new “people meter” system that provides better audience data than ever before. Measurements from the people meter show that talk stations had been under-represented under the old “diary” system. As a result, talk stations have posted higher ratings in most markets. Look at the numbers for KFI in Los Angeles; WLS in Chicago and WABC in New York, to name a few. In most cases, their ratings are running a half-point to a full point higher than under the old system.
So why are revenues down? It’s called the recession. When the economy tanks, ad budgets are among the first to be slashed. Advertisers are spending less money across the board; in fact, the TV networks are having to slash rates to attract sponsors this fall.
I was talking with a sales rep earlier this week for the Rush affiliate in Norfolk, VA (WNIS). He told me that Rush is the highest-rated program on any outlet in their five-station cluster. Rush is the primary reason the station is now #2 in the Norfolk market, and it’s the only “non-urban” station in the Top 5.
Which shows?
The pretender shows have been failing.
Err Amerika is gone.
Liberal talk has vanished except for the weekly “new face that will take on Rush.” (until next week’s new face..)
The problem is there is no comparison with the lack of quality with the local shows vs the larger shows.
When advertising insults the consumer, when advertisers use hollyweird actors and actresses who have anti-american sentiments, WHY would we support their product?
Advertisers are clueless. Too much NYC not enough United States of America.
Not agreeing with Obamacrats IS supposed to be extreme.
Remember the USSR declared anyone opposed to communism to be mentally ill.
The ivory tower professors declare anyone who is not leftist to be mentally incapable.
Um, haven’t the networks themselves seen a decrease in ad revenue of 70% - 80%?
Shouldn’t the libs be phrasing this as a gain in conservative talk radio ad revenue as their losses are not as great as everyone elses?
I know. Still trying to figure it out myself.
Add revenue for CBS down 40%
Why listen to radio when you can hook up your MP3 player to your new government subsidized car? No need to be enslaved to THEIR programming.
You just plug in and listen to the podcasts of your choice.
Or play your satelite radio with conservtive talk.
seems the same arguments broadcasters have against cable news.
The only angriness that I see is from a demented, unravelled frustrated left that is being resisted in its push to marxism.
Truth hurts, Dan.
CBS Profit Plunges 96% as Ad Slump Continues (Wall Street Journal AUGUST 6, 2009 KATHY SHWIFF)
Liberal Talk Radio Host Hopes Conservative Glenn Beck Commits Suicide on TV
CNS News ^ | 8-5-09 | Staff Writer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2309408/posts
Liberal talk radio host Mike Malloy lashed out at conservative commentator Glenn Beck...
(ex Air America host)
Many of the radio hosts are now offering subscriber content (special access email addresses, bonus programming, downloadable podcasts of the programs).
This too will cut into radio revenues (but not into the hosts’ revenue)
The depression will wipe out thousands of companies.
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