Friday, August 19, 2005
MN and America are waking up!
Locally, conservative-talk icon Rush Limbaugh's show has lost 43 percent of its audience among 25- to 54-year-olds in the past year. Sean Hannity's show is down a whopping 63 percent. The shift is serious enough that "we're weighing where these shows fit for us in the future," according to Todd Fisher, general manager at KSTP (1500 AM), which carries both syndicated programs.
Many Americans also are switching the dial. While ratings for political talk radio typically drop the year after an election, experts around the country sense something else in the air. Many metro listeners are turning to local, often sports-oriented shows.
"We're not sure yet what's really going on," said talk radio veteran Ken Kohl, Clear Channel's director of news and talk programming for northern California. "In general, the talk shows that are succeeding are ones that haven't been reliving the election, or constantly harping on the polarization between liberals and conservatives."
Kohl thinks many listeners have tuned out because of "war fatigue. I don't think a lot of people want to talk or hear about the war at this point."
Or maybe Minnesotans are switching party sympathies: last November, Bush got within three points of Kerry here in MN with 47% of the vote ... his state-wide approval rating is now 39% according to SurveyUSA. In the same election, DFLers picked up a whopping 13 seats in the state's House, a few of them in the "safe" Republican Twin Cities suburbs and exburbs.
MyDD notes that political independents are now closer to Democrats in Bush approval in all 50 states.
// posted by Erik @ 8/19/2005 11:50:00 PM
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