Posted on 02/05/2015 9:38:11 AM PST by fifedom
It’s all part of the plan to get the people used to it.
Rush won’t retire.
He enjoys his work too much.
dear red,
I concur with your surmise.
dear very,
I’m going on 63 years ain’t gonna git used to it, don’t like it, want it back in the closet until it expires, then buried in the backyard composte heap for recycling, under the new moon, so no one will see what is going on!
As far as I can tell, conservative talk radio doesn’t in any way spread or advance conservatism, and never has.
“These re-pube-lickans must be stopped. If they don’t defeat this bill right now...It’s the end of the world as we know it, Stamps.com!
It was printed, so it must be true...
Crap radio will have crap revenue.
Radio is a rigid but ubiquitous delivery system giving it high value. If you’re a talker fan, ignore the demise the article portends.
Same here, Mame. And it’s even worse at the top of the hour where you also get local news, sports, weather, traffic, advertising that goes with those shows. Rush’s fastest 3 hours is the fastest 3 hours because he probably talks for only about 90 minutes out of that 3 hours. I like Rush. I like his product....if it can get heard before you get home or to work...what for all the commercials.
You raise a very important point; with the emergence of nationally-syndicated shows in the early 90s (beginning with Rush), many local stations went on auto-pilot, quite literally. It became easier (and cheaper) to fill your schedule with the national guys, leaving only one or two local hosts, usually in morning or afternoon drive.
As a result, a lot of the stations stagnated, and lost their local identity. Additionally, many cut their news departments, giving listeners one less reason to tune in. Milwaukee is lucky to have a couple of talk stations (WTMJ and WISN) that are well-programmed and compete fiercely for the local audience. They also prove that Wisconsin isn’t quite as blue as most believe, since WTMJ is usually near the top of the ratings, and WISN isn’t far behind.
Around the country, there are a number of news/talk outlets that are doing well, and many of them use the same techniques found on the Milwaukee stations: a good mix of local and national hosts, plus solid coverage of news, traffic and weather.
One more note: I’m a long-reformed broadcaster, but still follow the industry. In his daily broadcast management newsletter, Tom Taylor quoted the CEO of a medium-sized radio chain railed against the “quality” of today’s broadcast sales reps. He noted that selling air time is hard work, and his group has a hard time finding individuals who are willing to put in eight hours a day—let alone the overtime that’s often required to connect with clients and keep them happy.
The CEO said today’s culture “cuts against” the qualities required to be a successful sales rep. Having been in the business, it’s hard to disagree. On the other hand, a lot of local stations make it almost impossible to earn a living as a broadcast ad rep, so there’s a lot of turnover in the sales department. That type of “churn” makes it harder to sell more airtime and add to the bottom line.
Like every other industry, radio took a beating in the recession and revenues didn’t start recovering for almost five years. Making matters worse, the growth of podcasting and other on-line options creates even more competition for local stations, regardless of market size. And it didn’t help that a lot of the larger chains went on a buying and/or privatization binge before the recession, leaving them with heavy debt loads.
Still, I’m a much more optimistic over the future of radio than newspapers. One item I didn’t see in the WSJ piece is the trend for big media companies (Tribune and Gannett come to mind) to spin off their print holdings into separate companies. That makes their stock look more attractive, and reduces their debt significantly. And, at some point in the future, the parent companies will pull the plug on their print spin-offs. The WSJ will survive, but it will be one of the few.
” I wonder if the WSJ is trying to turn people off talk radio to ease the heat their rino Jeb would get.”
Interesting possibility.
Interesting. I appreciate your insights.
I never hear ads for any of the national brands.
Isn’t LifeLock a national brand? They advertise on Rush’s show. What about Sleep Number beds? They advertise on Hannity’s show.
In his daily broadcast management newsletter, Tom Taylor quoted the CEO of a medium-sized radio chain railed against the “quality” of today’s broadcast sales reps.
I think the station owners are reacting to the Leftwing pressure in changing formats. The article mentions the change to all-news instead of talkers format. Here in the Frisco area (I refer to it that way to annoy the locals), one of the two conservative talkers changed to an all-business format. I do not think that is a coincidence.
Started listening to talk radio in '94 with Rush and Steve Malzberg, but the advertisements drive me up a wall-and it just gets progressively worse.
It's so bad that I just switched to NPR.
You may be on to something. Leftists and their enablers have this way of insisting on their own version of reality so they write totally made up bs to convince the great unwashed that their version of reality is so even if it is not.
Both of those companies are very well known. Perhaps you just manage to avoid most commercial advertising in your daily travels.
The only “advertising problem” I have is that every time that 1-877-KARS 4 KIDS commercial comes on, I smash my radio... it’s getting expensive.
I use Tune-In as well... if the stream on Levin is bad in one market, I switch to another. It’s at the point I feel like I live in Indiana sometimes because I know all the local Indy advertisements on Freedom 95 (KZRG) by heart.
In the beginning there was Bob Grant, period.
I listen to Wretched Radio and Fighting For The Faith
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