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.
Talk radio gets angrier as America at large becomes angrier.
invalidated at the title.
I remember when Florida Orange Growers Association and Snapple used to advertise on his program. We bought plenty of both products until the leftists and the homosexuals complained and they cancelled.
Sales of Snapple fell drastically because it's such a mediocre product that we, and no doubt others, bought it just because it sponsored Limbaugh's three hours.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Rush’s revenues are at an all time high.
How are the revenues at Frum’s little site?
I wonder why they used the last 2-year period? It would be interesting to see the numbers since January 20.
Any questions?
Liberal talk shows went busto when the economy was doing well.
Ping me when Rush has to steal from the Boy’s and Girl’s Club to support his show.
WHERE’S THE BARF ALERT/
And what has happened to Goofy Left Radio???
Here’s one:
D.C. Station Dumps Its Failing Liberal ‘Obama 1260’ Talk Format
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2009/02/02/d-c-station-dumps-its-failing-liberal-obama-1260-talk-format
Angry, and justifiably. But extreme? Only if one considers the Constitution and advocacy of limited government extreme.
[conservative] talk radio hosts are feeling more pressure than usual to yell harder, scream louder, and insult further.
As opposed to liberal talk show hosts, who've always been soft spoken and polite. /sarc
I thought this was going to be a piece on the Air America talk host (Mike Malloy or Mallory or some fool name) who said he was hoping to watch Glenn Beck succumb to the same depression that had brought other family members to commit suicide. He said that if Glenn Beck killed himself on air, it would be YouTube’s highest viewed clip.
So your only sources for this are Leftist clown propaganda outlets? Hate to disillusion you but Everyone's revenue, including your beloved Government's, is down 30-40%. That what is know in economic terms as a "recession".
Nice try but we know propaganda when we see it around here.
Barf alert needed
OK... the url for this "source" is fybush.com... of course they would say that conservative talk radio shows are losing ad revenues...
Funny thing about Air America. First they steal taxpayer dollars from a childrens’ charity and then they steal the vote.
And Randi Rhodes made several on air death threats against President Bush.
Conservative talk radio has NEVER been as “angry” as the rhetoric you’ll hear on Left Wing hate radio.
As a casualty of the radio industry, I can say that sales and advertising revenue is down across the board from country to hip-hop. Not just on talk stations.
When you listen to any station and you hear back to back
PSA’s and 1-800-Buy-Our-Crap ads, that tells you the station has not sold all of their available inventory. Also, if music stations are running more ‘commercial-free’ hours, same thing. They ain’t doing it for your listening pleasure. :)
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