Let’s Tune Out Talk Radio
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Media, Partisan HacksIs this story from the Star Tribune a sign that people are getting sick of partisan hacks? Let’s hope so.
Locally, conservative-talk icon Rush Limbaugh’s show has lost 43 percent of its audience among 25- to 54-year-olds in the past year. Sean Hannity’s show is down a whopping 63 percent. The shift is serious enough that “we’re weighing where these shows fit for us in the future,” according to Todd Fisher, general manager at KSTP (1500 AM), which carries both syndicated programs.Many Americans also are switching the dial. While ratings for political talk radio typically drop the year after an election, experts around the country sense something else in the air. Many metro listeners are turning to local, often sports-oriented shows.
“We’re not sure yet what’s really going on,” said talk radio veteran Ken Kohl, Clear Channel’s director of news and talk programming for northern California. “In general, the talk shows that are succeeding are ones that haven’t been reliving the election, or constantly harping on the polarization between liberals and conservatives.”
Personally, I think this has more to do with the iPod and podcasting, but I’m calling on everybody here to do yourself a favor and tune the partisan hacks out. Poisonous words quite often lead to poisonous thoughts, and if we can stop that by simply turning the dial, then let’s start now.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 20th, 2005 and is filed under Media, Partisan Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 20th, 2005 at 8:42 pm
There is more to it than partisan politics. Perhaps the decline has to do with the zeal that folks like Hannity (I never listen to Limbaugh, so I cannot address him) hit one note or one story all the time. For example, Hannity covered the Shiavo case for ages and talked of nothing else. He is now doing the same thing with the Halloway case. Heck, at this point, perhaps his one note is John Roberts. Who knows and for that matter, who cares.
I’ve switched over to Alan Nathan on Radio America. He goes after everyone, changes topics all the time, and takes sides based on the issue not the party.
August 20th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
As a liberal, I can’t say I’m upset about Rush and Hannity losing audience. I think it has as much to do with the anger level as anything else. I really like Stephanie Miller on Air America, because she keeps it light and funny despite her partisanship, and Al Franken, because he’s also funny but is a policy wonk who (in my view) goes in depth on issues and doesn’t just blather inflammatory remarks that make clear that he has no insight into issues (like Hannity and Rush.)
However, I also like Jay Severin, because he’s a certified right-wing nut job (he was calling for the use of nukes in the first week of the Iraqui war), but he’s also quite glib and entertaining. But when Lauara Ingraham comes on after him in the Boston market, I can’t dive for the dial fast enough, because she’s so humorless and again, seems not to have any insight into issues. Her arguments always seem to boil down to “C’mon, ewveryone knows that’s not true.” By the same token, I find Randi Rhodes unlistenable on the left side of the dial, because although I probably agree with her most of the time, the entertainment value just isn’t there.
August 21st, 2005 at 10:55 am
TV cable news ratings have also been on a slow decline for months now. Fox still leads CNN, but O’Reilly will get 2M viewers instead of the 3M he would get in previous years.
The net? TiVo? Satellite radio competition? Podcasting? People just want to be entertained?
August 21st, 2005 at 4:27 pm
I never did listen to partisan talk radio. I’m a faithful NPR listener.
Though I do admit to channel surfing to O’Reilly every so often…but only because he makes me laugh.
August 21st, 2005 at 4:38 pm
I used to do that too, but I get most of my news through RSS and online sources. I trust it more than the 24 hour news channels and the “Crossfire” types of shows.
And O’Reilly is such a hack it hurts. That whole sexual harassment thing really cinched it for me that this is a guy who is drunk with power and can’t be trusted to tell me that if it’s raining or not.
August 22nd, 2005 at 2:56 am
I host my own talk radio program which is mostly news and comment with bloggers with a topic du jour at the start of the second hour and we end it with a brief Battlestar Galactica series update. Not a whole lot of politics here just a heavy dose of news to you and to me and opinion.
Subject2Discussion is LIVE Wednesdays at 6pm PST, 8pm CST and 9pm EST as a webcast on http://www.lvrocks.com click on LISTEN and click on CAM/CHAT or podcast here is the RSS url:
http://podcasts.lvrocks.com/rss.aspx?channelid=5
Please join Justin on my program this coming Wednesday at 6pm PST LIVE.
I need all the help and listeners that I can get to help broke the corporate hold of talk radio.
Shaun
August 22nd, 2005 at 8:08 am
“experts around the country” lol
next time, just say “they” say it..it’s a more reliable source..
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:25 am
Satellite radio competition?
Actually XM now has two entire channels, America Right and America Left devoted to 24/7 political talk. (I don’t know about Sirius.)
I wonder if that may have something to do with the decline in these channels’ broadcast counterparts. After all if you’re already listening to XM and decide (for whatever reason) that you want to listen to some political hack jabbering on instead, why bother turning off XM (which you’re paying for anyway) and turning on your AM radio when you can just switch over to America Right/Left?
August 23rd, 2005 at 10:06 am
[...] In a previous post in the past few days, I called for our readers to shun the fringe and tune out talk radio. From Rush Limbaugh to Randi Rhodes, both sides are now guilty in this charade. Vote with your silence and turn this garbage off. [...]