More “personalities” are trying to get into the market of Right Wing talk radio as a result of two straight Democratic landslides. Go figure.
Is right wing talk radio is about the only “market” that reacts inversely to market conditions in this Country?
Country shifting to the left? More right wing talk radio hosts!
Fewer and fewer listeners? More right wing talk radio!
Declining ad dollars, increasingly aging demographic? More right wing talk radio!
Threat of competition? It will kill right wing talk radio!
All of which is fine of course. It’s a dying industry these days anyways which is mostly fueled by it’s own paranoia, conspiracies and agenda of division. With fewer and fewer listeners, more options than ever for media consumers and a bunch of high profile names elbowing each other fighting for the remaining listeners to boost their own careers, it’s not a great time for talk radio. Or any format for that matter.
The next four to eight years are going to be interesting. In their desperate attempts to increase ratings and divisiveness, the right wing radio machine is going to be hurling everything it can at the new Democratic administration. If anyone thought the Clinton years were the moral low water mark of the Right, just wait to see what they try to do to the Obama’s.
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.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
Once wireless makes its way into cars local radio may not be necessarily dead, but right wing talk radio dominance will be.
Dan, I think you’d need more than a harmonica and two spoons to win the time slot. I’m thinking you’d need to add a banjo in there, because everyone loves a banjo!
There is a major assumption that the nation has moved to the left. The author needs to keep in mind that that President-elect Obama ran a political campaign on several key conservative issues including a concession to drill for oil, a concession on FISA, and on cutting taxes for 95% of Americans.
I can’t recall the last time a democrat ran a presidential campaign on tax cuts – especially a campaign that convinced the American public that a liberal would be more likely to cut taxes than a conservative.