[BC] who listens to talk radio these days?

[Glen Kippel]

On Jan 21, 2008 10:41 AM, Donna Halper <dlh at donnahalper.com> 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?


<snip>

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OK, I just brought up the Eastlan data on KPSI and KNWZ/KNWQ, and I see that
talk radio does tend toward an older demo.  For KPSI's local talk show in
the morning, this ranges from a 0.6 male, 0.3 female 25-34, to a 4.4
M, 2.4F 65+.  There are vastly more male listeners 45-65, but more
female in the
35-44 segment.  In the 10-3 daypart, which encompasses Rush Limbaugh and
Bill O'Reilly, females 18-49 are nowhere to be found, though males 25-49 are
about 0.5 AQH.  Things pick up in the 50+ demo, with females slightly better
represented; 2.1 vs. 1.0 male in the 50-54 sement.

I don't have racial data, But this does show that the talk radio demo tends
toward the high side.  I don't have any psychographic data (which would be
invaluable) but I would suppose that the 65+ typically have more time
available to listen to the radio.  Especially since overall PUR has been on
a downward trend for years.  Maybe also, older people listen to radio more,
since they are familiar with it, than to "new media."

I hope this helps somewhat.