Time For New Excuses?
Liberals Flat, Others Mixed, Air America Owes Wages
The Radio Equalizer
Brian Maloney
(With Weekend Updates)
Newly released Arbitron radio ratings bring some questions to mind, such as:
--- Will Air America's apologists finally come up with a fresh batch of excuses, after insisting more time was needed for it to catch on? Isn't that one getting stale?
--- Will some of the traditional talk stations, now showing audience declines, make changes soon?
The Radio Equalizer has been providing a monthly forum for discussing talk radio's national performance, broken down city-by-city and based on available data. There's been a consistent pattern of lackluster showings by liberal talk radio stations running Air America and other "progressive" programming.
This month's data, so far, has not provided any rays of hope for the leftist talk radio format.
Since our last report, network execs and local managers have become increasingly defiant about its future prospects, even as its failure becomes more clear.
Many management egos are on the line with this latest stab at providing an alternative to conservative talk radio. It doesn't look like they will give up easily.
But what is the thought process in a place like Providence, where once-strong conservative WHJJ-AM was destroyed after its switch to Air America programming? How does a situation like that play out? Does the format change, are managers fired, or do they hold out until the inevitable, sad end?
To the Radio Equalizer, most telling is the recent report that Al Franken has purchased a home in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, gearing up for a potential 2008 US Senate run. Franken's clearly making backup plans.
Liberals haven't been willing to concede any ground so far on the format's performance, repeating the same excuses and attacking the messengers (this one included). For the sake of credibility, it's time for some new ones. What will they cook up?
On a side note, Air America got another fresh dose of bad news today with this report, by reporter Dareh Gregorian, that fired host Lizz Winstead was seeking unpaid wages from the network:
<<<
A former Air America talk-show host claims the lefty radio network isn't very liberal with money.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Lizz Winstead says she was fired, then stiffed out of nearly $300,000.
The suit says Winstead, best known as co-creator of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," started at AAR on Aug. 1, 2003, as "the first creative and third employee overall hired" and became its "principal developer" of programming and co-host of the show "Unfiltered."
The suit puts her salary at $250,000 a year but says AAR owner Piquant LLC owes her about $200,000 for on-air work from May 2004 to March 4, when she was fired.
She's suing for that $200,000 plus $83,333 in severance pay, $14,423.08 in unused vacation time and $5,960.55 that she says the network pocketed from her on-air ads for the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.
>>>
These are especially high wages for a co-host on a tiny radio network. The other perks are outrageous, as well. In these circumstances, with performance unproven, one would expect compensation of far less than half of this amount.
So far, conservative talk's results continue to be strong, with some exceptions. WABC in New York City hasn't recovered from its big recent drop and programming changes have yet to be announced. There were small declines in San Diego and Los Angeles as compared to last month's figures.
Here's a look at key markets:
#1 New York City:
WABC continues to be in trouble, down over a share since the Fall 2004 survey and slipping another tenth this month. It's still in eighth place overall for all listeners 12 and older.
WOR, still glued to horrible special-interest programming through much of its schedule, stubbornly refuses to enter radio's modern era. It is, however, giving WABC heartburn in the evenings, when it puts Michael Savage up against their weak lineup. It turned in a flat 21st place performance overall.
WLIB, Air America's flagship station, continues to show no growth, coming in at 24th place with no change in audience share. The station's inability to grow by even a measly tenth of a share must be frustrating to the corporate suits.
#2 Los Angeles:
KFI, the Southland's Limbaugh station, drops from a 4.6 to a 4.2, good for third place overall. Not a reason to panic. John and Ken continue to generate the lion's share of media attention in the market, jumping on hot stories and gaining attention.
Always struggling KABC continues its recent downward trend, turning in a 16th performance, with a 2.2 share of the audience. Last fall, it had a 2.9.
Liberal talker KTLK rose a tenth, from a 0.3 to a 0.4. That was good for second-to-last place, one notch above a tiny Spanish news-talker. New programming, including live, local talkers, isn't delivering ratings so far.
#3 Chicago:
WGN, where baseball is king, held steady in second place, but hasn't yet regained off-season ratings losses. Another month or two should fix that.
WLS, about to gain skilled, veteran programmer Kipper McGee, had a flat, fifth place showing. McGee should bring fresh energy into addressing some of the station's recent weaknesses. It's the Windy City's Rush station.
#17 San Diego:
KOGO-AM takes a half-share dip from recent highs, to a 4.8 share from a 5.3. Nothing to sound the alarm over, yet. This is the Limbaugh station in San Diego.
Rival KFMB-AM hasn't recovered from a massive recent ratings drop, which took it from a 4.8 to a 3.2. This is the Savage affiliate for the market. A lack of local programming has stalled this station.
Air America's KLSD-AM weighs in at a flat 1.6 share, no change since last month, but off the earlier high of 2.3. This is the station touted as lib talk's great hope, but it's in no danger of taking off, ever.
#18 Long Island:
WABC is especially weak here, falling to a 3.6 share, from a 5.1 in the fall, for eighth place.
WOR jumps from 2.6 to 3.1, good for 12th place, again showing where Savage has been a boost for the station.
WLIB rises from a 0.7 to a whopping 0.9. That's good for 29th place on Long Island.
Wednesday Updates:
#6 Philadelphia:
WPHT, Infinity's conservative talker, is flat with a 3.8 share, good for ninth place overall.
Liberal talker WHAT-AM slips slightly, down to a 0.6 from a 0.7, good for 26th place.
#10 Detroit:
ABC's WJR is as strong as ever, holding first place with a 6.1 share.
CHUM's Canadian talker CKLW registers a 0.5 share on the American side of the border.
WDTW, Air America affiliate, finally shows up in the ratings, but with a 0.5. So it's a neck-and-neck battle for the bottom of the ratings between an Ontario talk station and liberal talk.
Thursday Update:
#4 San Francisco:
KGO held number one, as always, with a slight gain to a 6.8 share.
Conservative talker KSFO jumped from a 3.1 share to a 3.7, moving into sixth place. Ratings had recently been dropping, so this is a good turnaround.
Clear Channel's KNEW, meant to be a rival to KSFO, remains stalled in 23rd place.
Air America/ liberal talker KQKE actually drops, from a 1.0 to a 0.9, for a 28th ranking. This has to be very disappointing.
#9 Boston:
WBZ holds first place with a 7.3.
Conservative talker WRKO up slightly, from a 4.1 to a 4.3, for sixth place overall.
Conservative WTKK-FM turns in a flat performance and ranks 10th.
Air America's two Boston stations disappear from the radar screen, that's right, they are no-shows. Blame the signal quality all you want, but they were getting at least some ratings before. Even major free publicity from the Boston Globe didn't help one bit. Can't wait to hear the lame excuses. Bet the Globers won't be dwelling on this news.
#33 San Jose, Calif:
KGO a strong first place.
KSFO in great shape, up from 3.7 to 4.0, so the conservative talker takes third place. Well done.
KQKE shows up with a 0.6. Must be quite a celebration at Air America headquarters.
#77 Monterey-Santa Cruz-Salinas:
In the Radio Equalizer's hometown, KGO holds fifth place.
Local talker KSCO gets a flat 1.1 share.
Conservative talkers KNEW of SF, KSFO of SF and Fresno's KMJ each get about a half share, hovering in the low end of the Monterey Bay rankings. This market still lacks a strong local talk station, fairly atypical in talk radio.
#8 Washington DC:
WMAL-AM continues to decline rapidly, even as other conservative stations had a good month, with gains in many cities. It's dropped from a 4.4 share in Fall 2004 to a 2.8 now, falling to 13th place overall. It's very likely that the 25-54 demographic will prove uglier. We'll just have to remind the Washington Post that this is station-specific, not a nationwide trend.
WJFK-FM drops slightly, coming in at 16th place.
Liberal talker WWRC shows up in last place (35th) with a 0.4.
Many more updates coming Tuesday and Wednesday after 5pm EDT. Check back here for your city.
Saturday Update: BizzyBlog thinks I'm overstating the stability of conservative talk, Tom thinks blogs are starting to cut into talk radio ratings overall. He also brings up other points which will be the subject of a longer piece here.
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posted by Brian Maloney at 14:35
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