Is "106.1 FM Talk" in ratings trouble?

I had a conversation with a person who post here on occasion and thinks that WTKK 106.1 in the Triangle is having trouble in the ratings, he went on to say that one of the reasons why is listeners are tired of certain national talk show hosts talking the same things over and over and over, i've known for years that talk radio's mission is to declare who's right or not, and although i follow the issues, many aren't paying attention to those on the air, and for those who say talk is the #1 format in the United States right now, think again!.

Look at the ratings across the country for these types of stations... from WABC on down through the markets the ratings are, to be kind, shockingly low with few exceptions. It's over. Many of these outlets have or had their reputations made in the Image of Rush, which today is mostly an unsellable, dead-bang loser that they can't quit. You might have thought that when WZTK went away 2 years ago, the stations formerly known as the Rush Radio Twins would have reaped the reward of knocking out the FM talk competitor that had a total of 100,000+ cume when adding Raleigh and Greensboro together. They didn't budge at all. The audience scattered to the wind, because those listeners wanted no part of the 24/7 Hate Obama-Right Wing Sewer format. These stations have the NASCAR/Republican Party problem--- too old, too male, too white, too angry, too contrived, too predictable, too repetitive. Other than that.... perfect!

Agreed - Right Wing Talk is not a good format now.

Rush Limbaugh has poisoned it. As for left wing talk, it never got sold properly and just never took off. It was too little, too late for that format.

Speech based radio though is not in trouble. One only needs to look at the local powerhouse that is WUNC - though why WFDD in the Triad is getting the awful Nielsen numbers they have been lately is beyond me. I like WFDD but when you're out and about around the WNAA transmitter, WFDD and WUNC break up awfully bad. I know WFDD has a relay on the WNAA tower but it sounds like it's broadcasting on 104.8 or 104.6 - because it sounds so off channel on 104.7.

As for ratings overall, the days of seeing a particular station getting huge numbers (i.e. 20% or more share) in big markets have been long gone and I don't think we'll ever seem them again. In small markets like Asheville - yes a station can get that nice sized share.

106.1 actually dropped BELOW WPTF!

And people have been talking about how poorly WPTF is doing.

There may be another problem with 106.1. For some reason, they have now adjusted their program processor so that you can clearly hear every mouth noise that Rush makes. There are many people, myself included, who refuse to listen to people who smack when they eat their food. The mouth noises that are abundantly clear over the air prevent me from being able to listen to Rush.

If you listen to Rush's Internet stream with his HD video, the mouth noises are very much suppressed indicating that at least the gating on the station's processor is severely misadjusted. The change happened all of a sudden. I have not been able to listen since then.

(This post is rich with material for Rush haters, but please rise above the temptation and keep the discussion on a technical basis.)

It's been that way from the start if you ask me. I listen to WTIB in Greenville and audio is clean on Rush's show. WTKK has better audio on other shows, but it's weird that it's so compressed on Rush.

If it wasn't in ratings trouble before Rush's passing, it certainly must be now!