Jason Barrett's Poll: Sports Radio Listeners Value Callers The Least

Poll

Sports radio consultant JASON BARRETT got almost 22,000 votes in a TWITTER poll he posted about what listeners value least on sports radio, and the result was that the elements listeners want to hear the least are callers.

The poll had callers as the least valued part of sports talk with 51% of the vote. In second place were News-Traffic-Weather at 34%; guests (8%) and sports updates (7%) were far behind.

In analyzing the results at his blog, BARRETT, head of BARRETT SPORTS MEDIA and the BSM SUMMIT, warned that "just because the feedback says one issue is a bigger tune out than others, doesn’t mean it works this way in every market." But he also noted that the result might be related to the ascendance of social media, texting, and podcasting as outlets for listener opinions, and younger audiences' aversion to talking on the phone. But while BARRETT noted, "I do believe there is more entertainment value in hearing someone express a passionate opinion or outlandish thought than listening to a host read it thru a text or tweet. It can also lead to a great reaction from a personality which can make the show more entertaining," he warned, "if the audience has to sit thru 3-4 meaningless calls that bring the show to a screeching halt just to potentially get that one great payoff, they’ll lose interest and tune out."

Read the entire blog post, which includes advice on the use of guests, sports updates, and service elements, by clicking here.

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