GASBAG RADIO IN DECLINE?

Some time ago I noted that right-wing radio seems to have gotten pretty boring and I recall one caller to Fats Limbaugh asking him if he isn't getting bored with repeating the same think week in, week out.  It's hard to get national breakdowns by show host but John Avlon has gotten numbers for WABC in NYC:

An apples-to-apples comparison of ratings between November ’09 and November ’10 in the New York area shows that Rush Limbaugh’s ratings on WABC declined from 5.4 to 5.0—despite the crescendo of a GOP election year landslide. Likewise, year-end to year-end comparisons of the crucial 24 to 55 demographic show that Rush declined from 3.7 to 2.6

In addition to boredom, Avlon points out this decline may also be due to an aging demographic: wingnut radio appeals to older people and that's a declining demo.  I looked at the two main wingnut stations in Tucson - KNST and KQTH - and they both declined from Fall 09 to Fall 10. KNST went from 5.1 to 3.8 and KQTH went from 3.2 to 2.7.

Avlon also reported this tidbit:

“I don't hear a lot of program director who are just loving, loving on Sean Hannity,” says Bloomquist. “The attitude towards Sean among stations that carry him seems to be ‘we're stuck with him. He's doing okay, but he's not setting the world on fire’… and anybody who wanted to drop Levin who also carries Hannity has a bit of a problem because Hannity is very close personally and professionally to Levin.”

The implication is that if a program manager wanted to drop Foamer Levin, Hannity would threaten to pull his own show and that would present the manager with the harder task of replacing 6 hours instead of 3.