The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

19 January 2006

Al Franken's Worst Quote Ever?

FRANKEN-SENSELESS

Plus: Ratings Claims Questioned




From the Billings Outpost, here's an Al Franken quote to quite possibly top them all:


Quote of the week

“Right now, money is being stolen, and that is killing our soldiers. That makes me furious. I’m very sad about where my country is going, and I love my country.”

- Author/comedian Al Franken, talking about the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority in a live Air America radio program broadcast last Friday in Missoula.


Quote of the week? How about year, at least?

How is Franken able to roam the country and pretend the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club scandal, where $875,000 of taxpayer grants were instead diverted to the liberal radio network, didn't actually happen?

Al, isn't it time to finally admit that money was in fact stolen from inner-city schoolchildren to pay your salaries and expenses? Why didn't that make you furious?

Since Missoula's largely a liberal college town, it's yet another safe haven for Franken to hide from the truth.


Many are writing the Radio Equalizer about Air America's recent claims of major ratings success in New York City. Meanwhile, an About.com columnist, Cory Deitz, has a great way of cutting through the crap:


Some portion of the outcome of any Arbitron rating report can almost always be finessed to position a station or program in a positive light.

This is just part of the Radio business and how it creates value from its programming for sales or promotional purposes.

In a press release, Air America Radio has chosen to highlight some specific demographics and has also chosen to contrast particular programs against specific competitors - which is its prerogative.

I don't say this to diminish any claims, but I would be remiss to not point out that the data below is a sliver of a larger pie and simply what Air America Radio has chosen to release to the press.

During the Fall ratings period, Air America Radio says its flagship station, WLIB/1190 AM made gains with various shows.

Specifically - in Men, 25-54 (3 - 7 p.m.) - “The Randi Rhodes Show,” received a 3.3 Share against WABC’s Sean Hannity, who received a 3.0 share. (Hannity's program airs from 3-6 p.m.)

In New York, Al Franken is heard Noon until 3 p.m. on WLIB and Bill O'Reilly's show airs 2 - 4 p.m on WOR so they actually only go head-to-head for one hour. But, during that overlapping hour of 2 - 3 p.m., "The Al Franken Show" pulled in a 2.3 share of Persons 12+ where O’Reilly earned a 2.1. Also, in adults 25-54 during the same period, Franken had a 2.3 share and O’Reilly a 0.8.


Thanks, Corey, for shedding light on the truth here.

In Randi's case, that's a narrow demographic being used, men 25-54. As for WOR, I would never blame any individual host for their performance on what is overall a badly mismanaged radio station.

In addition, other than in San Diego, Air America's national outlook has been very weak in ratings released so far, especially poor in Los Angeles. As Deitz points out, they aren't releasing any of those numbers, are they?

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Thurston Franken by David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer

8 Comments:

  • Brian,
    I agree that ratings can always be massaged, but you fail to acknowledge that the men 25-54 demo is considered THE KEY DEMO among advertisers. True for TV as well.

    By Blogger Justin, at 19 January, 2006 07:27  

  • WOR (We're Oldster Radio) is a dead dog of a station in NYC that WLIB still couldn't manage to beat. Now that Bob Grant is gone, WOR is gonna tank, big time. If Air Idiot doesn't meet or beat them by the end of the Summer, they are totally hapless.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 19 January, 2006 08:52  

  • I agree WOR is definitely going to tank (save for the O'Reilly slot) and all those old Bob Grant listeneners are now going to turn to WABC. Just the other day, Hannity had Bob Grant on as a guest and a lot of callers were saying the only thing that ever kept them from tuning to Hannity was that they were loyal to Grant. Now, according to them, WABC would be their station of choice.

    Even if there was a modicum of truth behind any of the claims that AAR is ahead of Hannity in any category (which I still don't buy), there will no longer be any statistic, no matter how deep they drill that will show AAR ahead in any category.

    WOR's loss is strictly WABC's gain. Now, imagine Bob Grant decides not to retire and joins the WABC team? Something he didn't dismiss after several half-joking comments from callers and Hannity. I don't know what time slot, but it would be a ratings coup for the top talk station in town.

    Meanwhile, the only way AAR can barely manage to creep up the ratings are when other stations are shooting themselves in the foot.

    By Blogger Dr. T, at 19 January, 2006 11:56  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger Lidsville, at 19 January, 2006 20:01  

  • Why do these AAR fans continue to tout numbers but offer no proof to back them up?? The ratings are available here for free:

    www.radioandrecords.com

    just click the 'Ratings' tab and enter the market you want. AAR is doing terrible. Now if you've got a link PROVING otherwise please post it. I won't hold my breath.

    By Blogger Lidsville, at 19 January, 2006 20:02  

  • Thanks for confirming what air america is saying. they're making progress all the time. why aren't falafel boy and sean vanity pounded those libs into dust? and by the way brian-- you still can't get a talk show?

    By Blogger Nevada Political Overspin, at 20 January, 2006 19:17  

  • MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- As Arbitron continues to release radio ratings from the recently completed Fall 2005 survey period, affiliates of Air America, the progressive radio network, which launched behind one of the most heralded promotional pushes in radio history are showing continuing signs of listener erosion.

    Full story here:

    http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060116/cgm041.html?.v=34

    By Blogger Lidsville, at 21 January, 2006 21:58  

  • These libs are so damn funny. They can offer no proof, and tout vapor ratings that can't be proved. It's like saying "AAR is leading in the ratings among left handed, 18-22 year old, transgender, eskimos". The numbers are here: www.radioandrecords.com

    They rate all the stations *equally* and AAR is at the bottom of the heap in nearly EVERY market. Spin that.

    By Blogger Lidsville, at 22 January, 2006 08:43  

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