Free Republic

The new “Rush Radio” station has taken off, nearly quadrupling its audience since flipping from a Spanish music station to a conservative news talker last month. WXKS-AM (1200) - which snagged Rush Limbaugh from right-wing rival WRKO-AM (680) - fetched a 1.1 share of all Boston listeners older than 6 during the month of March, according to Arbitron ratings released yesterday.

Obama's liberal philosophy dictates that when the news is bad, shoot the messenger. The newest data from Arbitron, the company charged with measuring the size of radio audiences, suggests that listenership to hip hop, inner city, and minority radio has been overstated in the past and that the popularity of conservative talk radio has been under-reported. This conclusion - ideologically inconvenient for Obama - comes from the company's decision to dispense with the Stone Age way it has been measuring radio audiences - by hand written diaries based on listener memory - with modern machines which automatically record what the...

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he intends to sue Arbitron Inc. over the planned rollout of a new electronic radio-ratings system in New York, saying it may drastically reduce advertising revenue at minority radio stations.

[snip] In a letter to Arbitron president Stephen Morris, Obama and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said they were concerned that the meters -- which are replacing paper diaries in radio-audience measurment -- were undercounting minorities. [snip]

The test of a new method for measuring radio audience in New York showed big ratings declines for stations appealing to blacks and Hispanics last week, causing considerable consternation among station owners and programmers. Arbitron, which measures ratings for the radio industry, has been testing a new electronic measurement tool that monitors exposure to radio stations throughout the day. The results of the so-called personal people meter in New York followed the pattern set by two earlier tests, in Houston and Philadelphia, in which stations appealing to minorities also fell. The results also seem to echo a decline in ratings...

New York radio got the first look at its new ratings system Wednesday, creating smiles at mainstream pop and rock stations and causing at least one urban station to say it reads like a death warrant. "These numbers could put us out of business," said Vinny Brown, program director of WBLS. "And it's not just us. Listeners need to know this could threaten the future of black and Hispanic radio across the board." Overall, the October Arbitron ratings put WLTW (106.7 FM) back at No. 1. WHTZ (100.3 FM) was a close second and WCBS-FM (101.1) a strong third, ahead...

For the latest national ratings of your favorite talk show host, please click the link or past in your browser http://talkers.com/talkhosts.htmSome of the numbers may amaze you and some are smaller than what some of the show hosts claim. This is the most quantified collection of weekly cume numbers that I can find.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. Rush Limbaugh's rule over liberal talkers is confirmed by the Arbitron Summer 2005 ratings survey of the top 25 radio markets. Individually, in each market, and as an aggregate total for the market group, Mr. Limbaugh beats liberal talkers Mr. Al Franken, Mr. Ed Schultz, and Mr. Jerry Springer in the all-encompassing sex/age category of Persons 12+. For the key target demographic of Adults 25-54 in the top 10 market grouping, Mr. Limbaugh beats Mr. Franken by a three to one margin. Mr. Limbaugh also enjoys a seven to one margin against...

What's it going to take to get talk radio out of this increasingly-dismal ratings slump? The Radio Equalizer is tired of the post-election cycle excuse, since better-programmed stations are falling a bit less, while incompetently-managed outlets are getting creamed. The emerging Spring 2005 figures paint an especially bleak picture that must serve as an urgent industry wake-up call. Spring and fall Arbitron releases are considered the most important for media buyers, a loose parallel to TV's "Sweeps" months.

(latest radio ratings in Boston): WBZ holds first place with a 7.3. Conservative talker WRKO up slightly, from a 4.1 to a 4.3, for sixth place overall. Conservative WTKK-FM turns in a flat performance and ranks 10th. Air America's two Boston stations disappear from the radar screen, that's right, they are no-shows. Blame the signal quality all you want, but they were getting at least some ratings before. Even major free publicity from the Boston Globe didn't help one bit. Can't wait to hear the lame excuses. Bet the Globers won't be dwelling on this news.

Newly released Arbitron radio ratings bring some questions to mind, such as: --- Will Air America's apologists finally come up with a fresh batch of excuses, after insisting more time was needed for it to catch on? Isn't that one getting stale? --- Will some of the traditional talk stations, now showing audience declines, make changes soon?

If there was any doubt that my fellow Democrats with white skin, the notorious white liberal, is the most intolerant creature on the planet, all you have to do is check one of their most popular daily blogs, the Daily Kos, to see how they operate. After I posted the column below, Daily Kos ACTUALLY SHUT DOWN the site and banned me from posting there. Keep in mind, I didn't use profanity. All I did was disagree with their opinion on Air America Radio. Also keep in mind that Daily Kos himself called for a boycott of Time Magazine after...

The latest Arbitron radio ratings showed Rush Limbaugh beating both Al Franken and Bill O’Reilly in New York City with O’Reilly’s audience slightly larger than Franken’s in the one hour they go head-to-head, 2-3pm. The Reuters headline, as posted by Yahoo: “Al Franken Beats O'Reilly in NY Radio Matchup.” The July 21 Washington Post slapped this headline over the same Reuters dispatch which focused on the 25-54 year-old age bracket: “Franken Trumps O’Reilly in N.Y.C. Ratings.” An excerpt from the July 20 article by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles: Despite the rocky start of his liberal Air America radio network,...

If Democrats were hoping that the bogus pain-pill probe launched by partisan Florida prosecutors against Rush Limbaugh was going to topple him as the nation's number one talk host, they got some bad news on Wednesday. The phony scandal has actually boosted Limbaugh's ratings. Arbitron numbers released by Limbaugh's Premier network showed a nine percent increase in listeners age 12 and over compared with ratings for the summer survey. Major urban markets coast-to-coast showed a healthy boost in Limbaugh's listenership, with affiliates in New York City up by 8 percent, Los Angeles up 14 percent, Chicago up 15 percent and...

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- "The Rush Limbaugh Show" increased nine percent in the Arbitron Fall 2003 survey for Persons 12+ when compared to similar data in the Top 10 DMA market grouping during the Arbitron Summer 2003 survey. Within the Top 25 DMA market grouping, the show experienced a three percent increase when compared to similar Persons 12+ data in the Arbitron Summer 2003 survey. When compared to the entire Arbitron Fall 2003 12-week survey, the program experienced only a three percent decrease for Persons 12+ within the Top 25 DMA market grouping during those weeks that Mr....

Some of the major markets have reported ratings this past week. New York, Philly, Detroit, LA, Boston, Chicago, San Diego. Here are the results for the total day Rush stations by market comparing Fall 02, Summer 03 and Fall 03. While it's difficult to say that Rush was or wasn't a factor since I don't have daypart information, the stations overall didn't suffer and in 7 out of 8 stations, they had higher ratings than this time last year and 6 of 8 were better this fall than last summer when Rush was on.Below are the numbers from All Access:...