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Nothing NEW in NEWstalk

RadioPatrol said:
New article out showing how Talk Radio specifically is split in choosing between Trump or Cruz.
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To me that's indicative of the problem with talk radio, in that they feel THEY have to choose.

This emphasis on taking sides means you're going to piss off a percentage of your audience. That was easier when the choice was liberals vs. conservatives. This split among conservatives puts radio in the crosshairs, which is not where they want to be. It's safer letting the audience talk about it, and leaving the hosts to moderate. That's more work and less attractive to hosts with big egos.
 
It is, however, driving very good ratings. The Talk format had a big jump last month and led in many major markets using 6+ PPM.
 
I find the split refreshing. Like I said before, one of the biggest criticisms of talk radio in recent years has been the lack of original, diverse opinions by the hosts. They all seemed to be working from the same talking points. Nobody can say that now!
 
umfan said:
Yeah, and WNYC is doing SOOOOOOOO much better!

Give it up Chan, your act was dated years ago.
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Not doing too well in #2: Los Angeles:

KFI: 3.2 3.2 3.5 The only reporting N-T in the top-ten. I don't see any "big jump" here.

Market #3:
WGN @#7: 4.2 3.6 3.8 See that "big jump"?
WBEZ-Fm @#13: 2.4 2.7 2.8 " "
WLS-a @#20: 1.8 1.8 2.2 -Another great leap forward. Gramps is loyal if nothing else.

I don't have access to the breakouts on these markets. I doubt they've improved from what I last saw a year ago.

See, the problem with lies and misinformation is that eventually someone will take you up on it.

LCG
 
L Chanon Gade said:
Not doing too well in #2: Los Angeles:

KFI: 3.2 3.2 3.5 The only reporting N-T in the top-ten. I don't see any "big jump" here.

Market #3:
WGN @#7: 4.2 3.6 3.8 See that "big jump"?
WBEZ-Fm @#13: 2.4 2.7 2.8 " "
WLS-a @#20: 1.8 1.8 2.2 -Another great leap forward. Gramps is loyal if nothing else.

I don't have access to the breakouts on these markets. I doubt they've improved from what I last saw a year ago.

See, the problem with lies and misinformation is that eventually someone will take you up on it.

LCG
Click to expand...

It's a little more complicated than you make it out. In markets where the non-Hispanic white population (which Nielsen disingenuously combines with Asians and calls "Other") is a smaller portion of the population, talk formats (not including sports talk) tend to do poorly.

In Miami, where about 70% of the market is ethnic, talkers like WIOD do poorly. LA, with a similar percentage of ethnic and first generation immigrants from other countries than Latin America, does not have a high total usage of talk although KFI still manages to be in the top 10 due to the extreme fragmentation of most music formats.

NYC is similarly affected by a large Black and Hispanic population and many first generation immigrants from places other than Latin America, reducing the usage of talk radio.

Yet when we look at the next tier of markets, like Detroit and Atlanta and St Louis or Cleveland, talk does much better. This evaluation has to be "weighted" for the available audience, and the larger ethnic groups in America severely under-index on listening to traditional talk radio.
 
David, my point was in response to a claim that "the Talk format had a big jump last month and led in many major markets using 6+ PPM" where there is little/no evidence to justify that statement.


"NYC is similarly affected by a large Black and Hispanic population and many first generation immigrants from places other than Latin America, reducing the usage of talk radio. "

However, twenty years ago both 710 & 770 were firmly inside the top-10. Today they are near 20th place in 6+ and hovering @ 40th in the desired demos. The spots have a lot of P-I and weekends are at least 1/3 paid....and look at the age medians and their trend.

"Yet when we look at the next tier of markets, like Detroit and Atlanta and St Louis or Cleveland, talk does much better. This evaluation has to be "weighted" for the available audience, and the larger ethnic groups in America severely under-index on listening to traditional talk radio."

Of the markets you mention, only Detroit's WJR-a is up. If you know about the situation there, it is difficult to believe that anything other than a large dose of statistical alchemy would bring that result. I guess that is the weighting you mention. . The poor and black core of the city is not the sort of place where a PPM mule would easily be found.The other two markets, Cleveland is status-quo and St. Louis is down a full share from January.

The listeners, medium (AM) and format of right-wing talk are all doing a long fade into oblivion. You know that as well as anyone here.

LCG
 
If it wasn't for right-wing talk, the Democrats would have had one-party-rule with no opposition 20 years ago, and we'd have Utopia but nooooooo!
 
The fact of the matter is, because of the elections, the Talk format is having a good year. The data bears that out.

"The listeners, medium (AM) and format of right-wing talk are all doing a long fade into oblivion. You know that as well as anyone here."

The same demo trends you attempt to cherry pick to make a contrived case against Talk, work the same against NPR and Public Radio in general. I doubt either will die off completely, but neither is doing as well as they were two decades ago.
 
umfan said:
The fact of the matter is, because of the elections, the Talk format is having a good year. The data bears that out.
Click to expand...

Name one or two stations. I only follow the ratings in a few markets, but it hasn't seemed like a great year for talk in those markets. One of which (NYC) LCG already listed.
 
umfan said:
The same demo trends you attempt to cherry pick to make a contrived case against Talk, work the same against NPR and Public Radio in general.
Click to expand...

There have been discussions about NPR's aging demographic on several other boards, including public radio. This is not a liberal/conservative or any other black & white issue. Bringing up public radio's problems doesn't address the specific topic here.
 
L Chanon Gade said:
"Yet when we look at the next tier of markets, like Detroit and Atlanta and St Louis or Cleveland, talk does much better. This evaluation has to be "weighted" for the available audience, and the larger ethnic groups in America severely under-index on listening to traditional talk radio."

Of the markets you mention, only Detroit's WJR-a is up. If you know about the situation there, it is difficult to believe that anything other than a large dose of statistical alchemy would bring that result. I guess that is the weighting you mention. . The poor and black core of the city is not the sort of place where a PPM mule would easily be found.The other two markets, Cleveland is status-quo and St. Louis is down a full share from January.

The listeners, medium (AM) and format of right-wing talk are all doing a long fade into oblivion. You know that as well as anyone here.

LCG
Click to expand...

The problem is that you are looking at month to month comparisons rather than a longer trend line. Even the agencies that buy off Nielsen PPM data use multi-book averages. And overall, the last 4 months have been very good for those talk stations that were already successful.

Keep in mind that many talkers have to be individually evaluated, as some have seasonal sports play by play and others, particularly in the Northeast and upper Midwest, vary widely due to Winter weather conditions.

Ethnic communities and lower income areas, in general, perform just as well in the PPM as other population segments. In fact, they often perform better because the incentives given by Nielsen represent a higher percentage of family income and can mean that they can get that new refrigerator this year... All surveys have some weighting to insure proportionality, but radio ratings generally are not severely weighted up or down due to oversampled or undersampled demographic cells. One of the advantages of the PPM is that it uses a panel, and panels are designed to be as close to perfect samples as is possible.
 
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