[BC] who listens to talk radio these days?

[Rich Wood]

------ At 01:08 PM 1/22/2008, Donna Halper wrote: -------

>Wasn't asking for the gory details.  Just wanted a general sense of 
>whether my statement that X demographic is the one that listens to 
>talk radio (of any political stripe, and as I said, not just 
>politics-- advice shows, sports, whatever) is correct!  Some talk 
>formats like to say they attract younger demos, and I was trying to 
>see if you guys and ladies had found that to be the case.

The sense is that Talk Radio appeals to significantly older 
demographics. Primarily male. Political talk is older, probably 50+.. 
Younger demos don't seem to like confrontation or the constant 
repetition of issues and opinions. It's a little like soap operas. 
You can miss a month or two and they're still on the same topics. 
Nothing very new. We all know young attention spans are very short, 
thanks to MTV.

Advice shows tend to skew a little younger and will usually have a 
better mix of demos, both age and sex. Again, younger if it's not 
confrontational. Older if it is.

Sports tends to be male and all over the road, especially when the 
station has the local sports franchises. Those that have sports talk 
without the games tend not to work well. The primary reason WFAN, New 
York, was the highest billing station with relatively low ratings was 
that they delivered a young male audience. That's unusual for an AM 
station and extremely desirable for ad agencies.

FM Talk tries desperately to attract younger audiences. I believe 
it's a content issue rather than the band. FM Talk tends to be more 
lifestyle and pop culture than politics. If you put and AM political 
format on FM I believe you'll get the same demos, assuming the 
signals cover comparable areas.

Rich