Thursday, December 25, 2008

Is This Talk Radio's Time To Shine?

From Dan Cody:

On a final note… One thing I never understood is local talk show hosts bragging about how they’re first or second in the Milwaukee market in terms of ratings and how at this very moment, there may be almost 10,000 or 15,000 people listening!

I always cringe when they go off on that rant because it’s rather pointless and embarrassing chest thumping. Yeah, 10k is a lot of people… but compared to what? It’s like the Division 20 High School football championship held in a stadium built for 100,000. Yeah it’s great all their supporters are there and the players are thrilled to have the biggest crowd of their lives, but even the massive turnout of 1,000 fans who made the trip look a little odd in the first 4 rows of the stadium built for 100 times their number. The kids are thrilled though because it’s one. thousand. people.

…and being first in the time slot between 3pm and 6pm is great too! But who exactly are you up against on the radio dial at that time? Old time Christian story hour on the WGOD? The home improvement call in show out of Beloit on WWTF? Minor league baseball coverage out of Appleton? I mean seriously… put me on from 2pm to 3pm with a harmonica and two spoons and I could probably win the time slot too.

As for me, I expect talk radio to be around for a while, although most people seem to be taking it less and less seriously as they continue to make complete asses out of themselves.

But it also shows me the fallacy of the right wing squawkers faux fear of the Fairness Doctrine. I doubt that anyone would be looking to get into a business they thought would be shut down anytime soon.

14 comments:

  1. Allow me to put some perspective on the estimate of 10,000-15,000 listeners. The weekday circulation of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, often ridiculed by Charlie and Jeff, is 212,156. The Happiness Boys are more like a neighborhood newspaper, drawing about as many people as the Waukesha Freeman and the West Bend News.

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  2. "I mean seriously… put me on from 2pm to 3pm with a harmonica and two spoons and I could probably win the time slot too." Go ahead and try it. Liberal radio sure can't win the time slot.
    The Milwaukee market is over 1 million people. If they get just 10% of those people, then that is 100,000 people, a lot more than 10-15 thousand people.
    Ahh jealousy, the left's best friend.

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  3. You missed the joke about the 2-3pm time slot Dan, but how do you know "liberals" couldn't win that or any other times slot since it's never been attempted?

    Your argument was the same that was used for years in the cable TV industry by the way.. The, "they couldn't get ratings on PBS or local cable access, so why give them a show on a large cable news channel?" theory has been blown out of the water though.

    The highest rated 2 hours of nightly cable news commentary isn't on FOX News, it's with "liberals" on MSNBC.

    You'd see the same thing happen if it were tried with talk radio. But we all know that will never happen right? Outside of the reluctance of the corporate owners of those radio stations to make a move like that, as one talk radio show host put it recently, "competition would kill conservative talk radio" which is exactly the point I made in the post that capper linked to.

    And as yet, I haven't heard a logical argument against that.

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  4. The radio stations are out to make make money. If you and your harmonica can make money they will put you on. If a liberal could make more money than a conservative, they would do it. in addition, Milwaukee has tried liberal talk radio in the past, how has it worked out?

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  5. It was rather successful, actually. That was before the agendas changed.

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  6. It took years for conservative talk radio to catch on, but with the encouragement of right wing owners and advertisers it found it's audience.

    Tell me Dan, when did liberal talk radio get that chance in Milwaukee?

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  7. Dave Mellnick on WTMJ and I believe WISN hired one for the mornin show through a contest. I never heard her but I know Belling was complainiing about it.

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  8. Dan said: The Milwaukee market is over 1 million people. If they get just 10% of those people, then that is 100,000 people, a lot more than 10-15 thousand people.

    Actually, the number of people listening to WISN from 3-7pm weekdays is in the 20,000 range, if you count every age 12 and up.
    That's about 1.5% of the total audience in the listening area.

    If you add WTMJ, maybe you get to 3% listening to one of the Big Two during that time period.

    Sykes gets about 2% in his time slot.

    Unfortunately, when the newspaper reports the ratings it uses each station's share of the audience listening at that time, which inflates it. You might have 2% of the population tuned in, but a 10% share of the people who have their radios on.

    Either way, the numbers are underwhelming.

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  9. As to Melnick, one spoon and no harmonica would have been better. Hardly a fair test of a liberal show.

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  10. Surely, if you think there is a conspiracy to limit liberal talk raido in Milwaukee and elsewhere, you would have to agree then that there is a liberal consipracy regarding the MSM. Clearly there is a liberal agenda in most newspapers and network television news shows.
    So, KR, capper, would you agree to this?
    And xoff, where do you get you figures? I realize just came out today but it appears from Tim Cupersin, Belling numbers are at 10%. With a population area of around 1,400,000, it can represent up to 140,000. It may not be that much, but it certainly more than the 20,000 number that has been bantied about. Certainly more than any liberal can get.
    It would be interesting to see if they can measure the podcasts listeners. I would like to compare Belling vs any liberal talk radio personality.
    BTW, I do think there are some good liberal hosts out there. Phil Hendrie and Ed Schultz are not bad.

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  11. Actually, Dan, no, I don't agree.

    The MJS is becoming ever so more conservative, which I am sure is having something to do with their plunging readership.

    The local TV news is conservative biased. Instead of stating something like "A suspect was described as African-American standing at....", we get the much more sensational, "This black thug terrorized these people". The first is reporting the news, the second is editorializing.

    I can't say that I really watch much national news, so I won't go there, but to say that from what I have seen and read, FAUX News is hardly liberal.

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  12. Dan said:"With a population area of around 1,400,000, it can represent up to 140,000. It may not be that much, but it certainly more than the 20,000 number that has been bantied about."

    Xoff was being generous. The latest Arbitron shows an average of 12,900 persons aged 18-54 listen to WTMJ between 8:00AM-12:00PM weekdays.

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  13. Dan, the media bends over backwards to present both sides of the story, even when so often it presenting the conservative side it is BS. If you note way to often conservative nonsense gets run without comment or challenge when it should be. Otherwise "death tax" and "partial birth abortion" would not be in our lexicography.

    Though I went to school for it I never practiced journalism -- I am a PR person after all -- I resent the attacks on journalists as a profession. This is yet another cheap shot from the right

    In the news, as in science, how can the messengers help it if the facts don't support conservative fantasies?

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  14. Ok, I see, when the conservative talk radio stations don't liberals on the air it's called a conspiracy. But when the MSN is liberal, then it is not a conspiracy.
    Interesting concept. conservative= bad Liberals = good
    Now I get it. :)

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