Talk Show Boot Camp Starts Up In Cincinnati

Talk Confab

DON ANTHONY and GABE HOBBS kicked off the 11th annual TALK SHOW BOOT CAMP in CINCINNATI THURSDAY afternoon.

The agenda began with HOBBS' 6th annual "Talk Radio Report Card" analyzing NIELSEN PPM data on 2019 talk radio ratings for 157 stations in 44 of the top 52 markets and finding a 0.1 uptick in average share year-to-year for adults 25-54 to 2.5, consistent for the format since 2014; however, adults 35-64 fell from 3.4 to 3.0. Average quarter hour persons fell 11% for 25-54, the result of lower overall listening and a continuation of a trend that has lasted since 2011 with a brief upward move for the 2016 election. AQH persons were also down 10% for adults 35-64. And cume was down for both demographics, off 4% for 25-54 and 8% for 35-64.

Shares, persons, and cume for the News-Talk format have declined substantially in the past nine years, but "don't think 35-64 will save you," HOBBS warned, noting that the same declines plaguing the 25-54 demographic apply to 35-64 as well. He pointed out that News-Talk has lost about one-fourth of its 25-54 cume since 2011 and 15% of 35-64 cume in the past two years.

A panel on the current content of News-Talk radio moderated by the RAB's ERICA FARBER focused on the positives of spoken word on broadcast radio, although GREAT LAKES MEDIA founder TOM LANGMYER pointed to the need for a multiplatform approach and radio's strength as a local medium and iHEARTMEDIA News-Talk WOOD-A-F/GRAND RAPIDS noted talk radio's troubling performance as shown in HOBBS' report but voiced optimism that radio is poised for better days while also calling for greater innovation ("there's no reason we CAN'T do it"). Consultant GREG MOCERI added that it is crucial for radio to find a way to replace the generations of listeners lost to the industry as Boomers die and subsequent generations turn away from radio "or we're dead." But EMMIS News-Talk WIBC/INDIANAPOLIS and syndicated host TONY KATZ pointed to a need for authenticity and diversity in approach to topics. The panel also discussed the need for storytelling and the industry's continuing lack of diversity.

THURSDAY's festivities closed with a presentation on the history of the talk format by RANDY MICHAELS, setting the record straight on radio's "100th anniversary" (a fiction, he noted, promulgated by WESTINGHOUSE that ignores other early players). MICHAELS’ talk went from historical to anger about the state of radio today and the effect of risk-averse private equity investment stifling innovation. Mistakes are being made, he said, “because it sells on WALL STREET.” But the good news, he added, is that “spoken word is hotter than ever,” just as podcasting. “We need to be broader than ever,” he said, calling for radio to look beyond politics and sports. Yet, he insisted, radio is a great technology, because the capital costs are low — the cost of transmission stays the same no matter how large the audience.

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