[BC] who listens to talk radio these days?

[Rich Wood]

------ At 01:41 PM 1/21/2008, Donna Halper wrote: -------

>Some of you on this list are PDs or jocks (current and former), so I 
>am trying to find out the demographics of today's talk radio, for 
>the book I am writing.  Anecdotally, it used to be a truism that the 
>typical talk listener (and caller) is an older white male, often 
>very irate about something (WEEI radio used to refer to them as 
>"bloodthirsty shut-ins").  Is that still the case?  Do any of you 
>have access to ratings information? I have the 12+ from most cities, 
>but it doesn't tell me the age group that listens to talk these 
>days. Again, there is no ideology in my question.  Rightie, leftie, 
>sports, cooking show, whatever.  I am just seeking more information 
>about who calls and who listens.

It really depends on the show. Politics usually attracts what we 
called "angry white males." If you listen to Dr. Joy Browne on the 
WOR Radio Network you'll find a much younger caller. I think you need 
to expect "irate" callers to a sports show. Very few people agree on 
the talent of a particular player or what play should have been made. 
That's showbiz. Part of the fun of sports is arguing about it.

Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, et al, on both sides, are often very 
mean-spirited. That often brings true anger from both the host and 
caller. I recently read that one host is actively getting people 
together to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign. That's much easier 
than doing a positive promotion of the host's choice of candidates.

If any of us had detailed ratings information we couldn't give it to 
you without violating Arbitron's contracts. At WOR I had all Arbitron 
markets and Marketron to crunch the national numbers. Most larger 
networks do. Individual stations have only their markets and 
Maximiser to analyze them. Strictly for sales. Arbitron is very 
touchy about pulling hour-by-hour and dayparts for publication, 
especially when the information divulged includes non-subscribers.

Rich