The conservative echo-chamber believed Air America Radio would be dead quicker than George Bush’s Social Security privatization plan, but new recent data is proving otherwise. Barely a year after its formation, and contrary to conservative spin, Air America Radio is building an audience at a rate that any radio station would envy.
In the Colorado market, which encompasses Denver and Boulder, KKZN 760-AM reached a milestone in its young life, gathering a 2.0 share in the spring 2005 Arbitron rankings. A year ago, the station's rating was a paltry 0.4. "The Al Franken / Ed Schultz duo in the middle of the day is kicking butt," said Jerry Bell, the station's program director. This marks yet another increase, in yet another market, for the newly formed and rapidly expanding liberal radio enterprise.
In the previous quarter, KKZN received a 1.6 rating. Thus, KKZN has shown an increase of 25% in just 3 months. By contrast, KOA, which broadcasts conservative talkers such as Rush Limbaugh has registered a drop in the last 6 months from a 6.9 rating to a 5.5 rating. Thus, while conservative talkers are still at a structural advantage, the station’s audience has dropped by over 20% in just 6 months.
It has been a pretty consistent trend throughout the country that conservative talk radio and conservative news, such as Fox News, are losing viewers in droves. Part of the loss is a credibility problem from the conservative side. Moral values czars such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill Bennet have been caught with drug addictions and gambling addicitions respectively. Bill O'Reilly was caught sexually harassing his employees. The pro-war, right wing cheerleaders like Sean Hannity have been exposed by and large for what they are, draft-dodging cowards who aside from talking tough in the safety of their studio, let others do their fighting for them.
Thus, advertisers should stand up and begin taking notice, the public is losing interest in the less and less credible right-wing talk network, while the rapidly expanding liberal talk network is an untapped resource to reach highly motivated, highly educated, and highly consumer conscious Americans.
By Balletshooz
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Berlin
Nice piece, Balletshooz. Let's face facts, though: conservative news on TV and radio is still dominant. But it's wildly encouraging to see these even modest in-roads in a medium where it was long thought that liberal radio could not gain a foothold.
It's vitally important to have a counter-balance out there, even if it's to shout back against the shouting of the other side.
2 - Balletshooz
No doubt. With a 20 year head start, one would expect conservatie radio to still have the lead, but they are losing it quick as shown by the statistics. AAR is not only needed to "shout back against the shouting of the other side", it is also needed for the commutes of half the country or more that are sick of pro-bush cheerleading from immoral people.
3 - Lono
As a Coloradan, and fan of Air America... I have an AM system for radio. I don't listen to FM anymore, Clear Channel and Jack Johnson drove me away from that medium. In my truck I keep three AM stations active (and geograpically applicable)
On the far left is 760 AM (Air America)
in the middle is 1340 AM (NPR)
on the right is 630 AM (local conservative gibberish, featuring Dr Laura at night)
between the three, I feel I get a decent perspective on things. However, I spend most time listening to NPR because people on either far side of the political spectrum are annoying, pushy, and work too hard to make facts prove a certain point.
that being said, I should also disclose I am a Dem and truly can not stand any aspect of the currect GOP ideology of pro-corporate and pro-church.
One last thing, though a dash pushy - Randy Rhoads RULES. She is a great broadcaster. She is funny, intelligent, passionate, and generally dead on with my mindset on issues. That is why I don't listen much. I already think most of this administration is a bunch of dicks... so no need to get all fired up. We'll just wait our turn and watch this group unfold.
4 - billy
hillarious comment rob. that may help AAR's ratings if anyone actually reads it. anyways the washington times reports there are wmd in iraq, saddam committed 9-11, and bush is the second coming of christ, so if they report it, its probably wrong.
5 - Dave Nalle
Isn't this the third of these posts, each of which has been followed by definitive debunking of the claims of the post as being mathematically invalid. Is there any reason to take this one more seriously?
Remember, a 400% increase from almost no listeners to very few listeners seems exciting as a percentage, but in terms of actual listenership it's still insignificant.
A 2.0 share is still enormously less than a 5.5 share and there's no reason to think AAR will be able to continue their initial gains. I notice that you don't mention what happened to the local NPR stations when AAR showed up. If the local conservative station lost .8, the other 1.2 must have come from somewhere and I'm guessing NPR. So good job - radical, extremist talk radio which is as bad as Limbaugh but from the other extreme - stole a good chunk of the listener base of good quality, educational liberal radio. What a coup.
Dave
6 - Balletshooz
"definitive debunking of the claims of the post as being mathematically invalid"
I would like to see that one, unless in your view arbitron are a bunch of liars.
7 - Matt
AA is at the bottom, with dropping ratings in most markets, with the exceptions of Portland and Denver. They have fallen off the charts in Philadelphia. In Cleveland, ratings are down by 60% since Springer replaced Beck. The network is DOA. It may have a niche in a few selected cities, but forget New York, DC, Philly, etc.
In addition, AA has now dissembled, offering 3 different accounts of the use of $800,000 in money from the charity in New York, first saying it had no obligation, then saying it had agreed to pay it back, now saying they are in discussions with the charity.
AA is not necessarily bad policy, but just bad radio and may soon be brought down by the activities of its owners.
8 - Matthew T. Sussman
How have UPN's ratings jumped lately, and should we be optimistic?
9 - Balletshooz
"WJMP AM/1520 made a big splash in May when it became the first Greater Cleveland affiliate of "Air America Radio,"
To the person who posted AAR is going down since they dropped in Cleveland, are you kidding me? They have been in Cleveland for 60 days. how can you say their ratings are going down when they just opened there? desparation?
10 - Dave Nalle
Ok, I did some research. Let's set the record straight once again.
First off, the losses for conservative talk radio KOA are non-existent. While they did have a surge of listeners in the winter season, raising their share to 6.6, they have traditionally had a 5.5 share prior to that and returned to 5.5 this spring when the Air America station took off. So they suffered no actual long-term loss of listeners.
Second, there are THREE conservative talk radio stations in this market. In addition to KOA there are also KNUS and KHOW. KNUS also had a slight drop in share, but KHOW remained stable. In looking at conservative vs. liberal talk radio their share should be considered together. Here's how it tracks.
SU4 FA4 WI5 SP5
KHOW 2.8 2.7 2.5 2.6
KOA 5.5 6.9 5.5 5.5
KNUS 1.9 2.6 1.9 1.5
Total 10.2 12.2 9.9 9.6
So it looks like conservative talk radio overall declined about 1.4 over the average for the previous 3 seasons, while at that same time KKZN's AAR programming gained .4 share. Ok, sounds respectable.
But what is not being mentioned at all here is that at the same time the conservative stations seemed to drop there was another entirely NEW station that debuted in the Spring, KLDC Christian talk. KLDC debuted with a .5 share, larger than the increase at KKZN. If you add KLDC into the Christian numbers then their total share is 10.1, about the same as it was a year ago - suggesting that AAR had no impact on their listenership at all.
What also isn't taken into consideration is NPR listenership. There are two NPR stations in the area, KCFR and KCFC. They don't do Arbitron, so we don't really know if they lost listeners, but it's reasonable to assume that's where some of the increases for KKZN came from.
But wait, there's yet another station in play. Hispanic talk radio KMXA has lost a total of .4 share during the time that Air America has been on the air in Denver.
So what we have is basically a situation where Conservative talk lost listeners to Christian radio and Hispanic talk and NPR lost listeners to AAR.
Conservative talk, including Christian talk now has a total share of 10.1 compared to AAR's share of 2.0 - that's 5 times as many listeners. The new Christian station also debuted with a higher share than the AAR station had at its debut a year ago.
So the real news isn't that Air America is making gains - and those are modest at best - but that AAR is crushing Hispanic Talk Radio and that Christian Talk Radio has gained a good starting share on its debut in Denver. And of course, conservative talk as a whole continues to completely dominate all other formats.
Dave
11 - Dave Nalle
>>"definitive debunking of the claims of the post as being mathematically invalid"
I would like to see that one, unless in your view arbitron are a bunch of liars.<<
The arbitron figures aren't in question, it's what you do with them that's flawed, as well as what you choose to overlook, as shown by my last comment. The fact is that overall liberal radio gained nothing in the Denver area - AAR just stole listeners from Hispanic talk radio. And at the same time Christian talk radio debuted and did far better than AAR, starting from zero.
But keep spreading the manure of misinformation. Keep hope alive.
Dave
12 - DJRadiohead
Who cares whose ratings are higher/gaining? Is somebody in need of some validation?
13 - Chubbles
Man, Dave is Desperate.
Great rundown, Balletshooz.
14 - Dave Nalle
Yep, Chubbles. I'm desperate for a little truth from the fairycake factory where Balletshooz is one of the assembly line workers.
Dave
15 - Balletshooz
"What also isn't taken into consideration is NPR listenership. There are two NPR stations in the area, KCFR and KCFC. They don't do Arbitron, so we don't really know if they lost listeners"
So Dave, you have debunked my claims how? Since you dont know NPR's ratings, you assume they lost listeners, and conclude liberal radio didnt gain?
Aren't you assuming something you don't know to support a conclusion you have no evidence for. Now who is spreading manure?
16 - Dave Nalle
>>So Dave, you have debunked my claims how? Since you dont know NPR's ratings, you assume they lost listeners, and conclude liberal radio didnt gain? <<
I just pointed out that your interpretation of the gains is a bit off. I didn't conclude that NPR lost listeners, though they may have. The AAR gains seem to have been at the expense of Hispanic Talk.
The point here is that there are no more liberal talk radio listeners, just that they switched from one source to another.
This isn't some great victory as you make it out to be.
>>Aren't you assuming something you don't know to support a conclusion you have no evidence for. Now who is spreading manure?<<
Since you didn't bother to actually read my conclusion, how would you know?
Dave
17 - Bob A. Booey
Dave Nalle ... furiously fighting modernity, tooth and nail, since 1825. The industrial revolution was pathetic!
I seriously doubt that the Hispanic talk market overlaps with liberal talk radio at all -- usually Hispanic stations only overlap with music stations. I know that disproves race-baiting theories about how the only people who would listen to liberal talk radio are minorities, but it's not correlated. The Hispanic station probably went up or down of its own accord.
I don't listen to political talk radio. It bores me. Pathetic! I'm furious!
That is all.
18 - Bill Costley
I've just come back to Santa Clara CA from listening to Air America in Ann Arbor MI on WLBY-AM 1290 AM. I was surprized to hear Jerry Springer and Bill O'Reilly on it. What's with that?
19 - billy
how could that be, o'reilly and springer together? the end times must be near.
20 - Brainster
Who wrote these claims:
"Denver's KKZN AM was up 300%"
"Thus, KKZN has shown an increase of 25% in just 3 months."
Why I believe it's the same person!
21 - Balletshooz
"Denver's KKZN AM was up 300%"
they started out at 0.4, now at 2.0.
That is more than 300% by my calculation. Whats your problem? Is 300% too low and therefore not accurate enough for you?
22 - Jon
Take at look at this article though before you celebrate... http://www.newsforreal.com/
23 - billy
that guy is real pessimistic. he thinks the gop winning the two closest elections in history to two marginal candidates signifies something more than it is.
24 - RJ
I haven't yet read all the comments. So perhaps someone else has already pointed this out.
Let's say I live in Anywhereville, Utah. There are 7 AM radio stations that I am able to pick up with decent reception. One of them is Christian (presumably LDS, in Utah...). Another is sports. One is NPR. Three more are right-wing talk show hosts. And the last is AAR.
Now, let's say AAR gets a "big" 3.0 share. And the three right-wing radio shows get a 4.0 share, a 2.5 share, and a 1.5 share.
Sounds pretty good for AAR, right?
Wrong!
If you combine the shares of these hypothetical right-wing shows, you get a 8.0 to 3.0 advantage.
IOW, those relatively few listeners out there who want to subject themselves to lame, leftist tripe have only ONE place to turn to. But right-wingers have THREE options.
So, liberal talk radio actually has an ADVANTAGE of sorts, in this regard.
25 - El Bicho
RJ,
in your post it does sound good for AAR because radio makes money off selling commercials which are sold based on the ratings of the station they are going to appear on.