MORE TALK RADIO INDUSTRY BULLSHIT

Harker Research has fiddled with the rating statistics to show that Fats Limbaugh really has helped the NYC and LA stations his show moved to in January but the actual numbers in both cities are dismal.  Edison Research is much closer to the truth:

Talk About Talk: Many broadcasters have pinned their hopes on spoken word programming, but that franchise is diminished and not promised to AM/FM radio either. With a 1.7% share of ear, podcasting isn’t top of mind for most broadcasters when discussing Talk radio’s recent travails, but I’ve just come from a holiday barbecue where 35-plus men, who might have discussed NPR a few years ago, instead compared notes on podcasts. Interestingly, several in the group were willing to listen to podcasts with opposing political viewpoints because they were thought-provoking, a functionality that has long disappeared with broadcast talk radio. And when one considers how the 4-share talk powerhouses of a few years ago have become 2.5 share stations, that 1.7% number suddenly looks more than coincidental.