They say if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
Howard Stern “fixed” something that wasn’t broken (the kind of show he did) and is looking a bit now like the broadcasting equivalent of damaged goods.
The Washington Post reports:
The Howard Stern exodus has begun. Unfortunately for Stern, it’s his audience that’s leaving, not him.
The shock jock won’t jump to satellite radio until January, but in the meantime, his listeners in the Washington area seem to be heading for the exits. Stern’s nationally syndicated morning program, which is heard locally on WJFK-FM (106.7), suffered a dramatic fall in the summer audience ratings, which in turn helped drag down WJFK’s overall popularity.
How dramatic? Judge for yourself:
Stern’s share of radio’s most lucrative audience (adults age 25 to 54) fell by nearly one-third during the July-September period, bottoming out at 3.4 percent, according to Arbitron Inc., which measures radio audiences. That was the lowest total for Stern in years, and possibly decades, given his long and successful career.
During the same period in New York, Stern lost 15 percent of his listeners. (Because he had been so far out in front of the pack, though, he remained tied for No. 1 with all-news WINS-AM
So, what’s happened?
Stern’s problems with the FCC made him decide to go to satellite but, aside from that, he started changing the CONTENT of his show….from that of a radio talker whose audience tuned in for his off-the-wall comments on sex and political personalities to that of an angry broadcaster ticked off at those who fined him and, he feels, persecuted him.
Memo to HOWARD: People don’t CARE about your personal problems after a certain point. You may see yourself as the Lenny Bruce of radio — but do you remember how Lenny Bruce wound up? It wasn’t a good career move. Protest against the FCC is not what skyrocketed you into becoming a part of radio culture — unless you have a naked FCC commissioner on your show.
Howard has gotten too Sirius:
Almost from the minute he announced last October that he would leave conventional radio for Sirius Satellite Radio, Stern has been a) railing against alleged censorship by his employer, Infinity Broadcasting, and by the Federal Communications Commission; and b) promoting his move to satellite radio, which is free of FCC restrictions on “indecent” speech.
So it’s no surprise that Michael Hughes, the executive who oversees WJFK and other Infinity-owned stations in Washington, wasn’t surprised by the cratering of Stern’s audience. “His focus has shifted,” Hughes said yesterday, “and the listeners have picked up on that.” Of Stern’s editorial approach, Hughes commented, “I can’t begin to understand his motivation.”
The real question may be why Infinity has stuck with Stern as he’s repeatedly gnawed on the hand that has fed him. The most important reason is that Stern’s bash-Infinity/promote-satellite shtick has held up pretty well in the ratings — until recently. What’s more, Infinity has no one waiting in the wings who is likely to produce the same kinds of regular ratings windfalls as the putative King of All Media.
You can write this one off as a miscalculation that undermined his radio persona.
But there’s ANOTHER factoid in this piece that is even more jarring:
Air America, the liberal talk network carried on WWRC-AM (1260), went from bad to nonexistent. After WWRC recorded a mere fraction of a rating point in the spring with syndicated shows from the likes of lefty talkers Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Stephanie Miller, Arbitron couldn’t detect a measurable listenership for the station this time around.
Why is this happening?
In our humble opinion, it’s because some Air America shows (and their local counterparts) don’t wear too well. They make the mistake of being crosses between NPR and liberal versions of Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh ridicules and demonizes his political foes while promoting his political beliefs and his party — everything is in black and white, everyone is either good or bad. And there’s little straying from political subjects.
Once upon a time, Rush WAS witty and fun – during the good, ‘ol days when he mercilessly lampooned and blasted the first George Bush…until Poppy Bush got smart instead of mad and invited Rush to sleep over in the Lincoln bedroom — and Rush emerged as an unabashed man of the party elite.
If Air America hosts went for Rush’s early playful, searing wit (pre-Lincoln bedroom Rush) versus a self-absorbed political activist with a mike (post-Lincoln bedroom Rush) they could probably steadily expand their audience. You wonder if some of them slept over in the Lincoln bedroom under Bill Clinton (figuratively speaking, of course…).
Air America hosts are falling into the trap of preaching to the choir (which is OK) but you have to do MORE than that to build your audience. More troublesome: TMV personally has met several people who agree with Air America politically but are totally turned off by their shows because, they say (each has described it the same way), the programs sound way too much like liberal versions of Rush Limbaugh…complete with with dittoheads of the left. One friend, who is a Democrat, said he just finds the shows “tiresome” after 30 minutes or so.
Does this mean Air America will fail? Not necessarily. But, as in the case of Stern, a little more sober analysis of long range goals and ways to achieve them might be helpful — if the bottom line goal is indeed increasing audience share and advertising revenue growth.