I don’t think conservative talk radio is dead.
That puts me at odds with the corporate types, the consultants and the people who send out those radio e-mails every morning.
They say politics is death, conservative politics is double death, Rush and the Rush Juniors are dinosaurs, the world has changed, the new world is going to be very different.
Personally, I just don’t see it that way.
Certainly, things go through cycles of popularity, and most things do eventually go out of style and out of business.
But talk radio isn’t there. And it isn’t anywhere near there.
And in most of this gloom and doom, what I hear is wishful thinking. And maybe some self-fulfilling prophesy.
There is also an undeniable glee. It was interesting to see, the morning after the recent election, all the Facebook posts and e-mails from radio types doing an end-zone dance, they having interpreted the defeat of Romney as a death knell for conservative talk radio.
America has spoken, one message said.
That’s right. America has spoken.
And for a generation the most popular and profitable radio format in America has been talk radio.
Specifically, conservative talk radio.
America speaks every day when it turns on its radio and when it shops with the sponsors of talk radio.
Speaking of sponsors, the talk radio audience is, I believe, the most desirable to advertisers. Sure, talk radio listeners aren’t the impulse buyers who listen to teeny-bopper stations, but they have jobs, homes and disposable income.
They also actually listen to what’s on the radio, and to the people who are talking.
And when they turn 55, the threshold beyond which advertising demographics say they have no value, they still have 20 years of dynamic life left, in which they will be consumers, investors and, increasingly, workers.
They are America’s parents and grandparents, and they appreciate the businesses who support the stations and programs they listen to. They are America’s best listeners and customers.
The irony – or hypocrisy – of the radio prophets and puppet masters is that they who condemn conservative talk radio have been employed their entire careers because of conservative talk radio.
Without Rush and the industry he created and sustained, all these radio geniuses would have spent the last 20 years selling insurance or managing a store in the mall. Without Rush, the stations and companies over which these people rule wouldn’t be in business today.
As a listener, certainly Rush goes through cycles. Sometimes he gets dull. We all wish he’d bring back the Frog Man and updates. But he always brings it back around and he always keeps himself in the game.
And even on his worst days, or in the trough of his cycle, he’s still bigger and better than anything else on the airwaves.
In some areas of late, the audience for Rush and the Rush Juniors has been off. In some situations reportedly as much as 30 percent.
That’s not good. That’s something to work on.
But let me remind folks that 70 percent of Rush is still bigger than anything else that has ever been.
And even when he says something stupid – and you can’t be on the air three hours a day every day without saying something stupid occasionally – and the liberals pressure innocent advertisers into withdrawing from the show, he’s still a cash cow.
If Rush or the Rush Juniors get in a flap and lose five percent, you’re still 95 percent better than you would be without them and you shouldn’t act like the house is on fire.
Further, for those who point to the presidential election and see the end of conservative talk radio, I’d like to point out that if you consider the 48 percent of Americans who voted for Romney as potential likely listeners to conservative talk radio, that segment of the population is substantially larger than the population segments associated with any number of very successful music radio formats.
Not only is the current audience for conservative talk radio massive, it still has tremendous potential for growth.
If you think conservatism has gone extinct, you misread the election.
Certainly, every mass media product must, while holding to its core identity, continually renovate itself. There are new listeners and new times.
And many of us would like our radio politics mixed with a bit more entertainment value. Add in more life and humor, on a bedrock of American values, and you’ve got just the ticket.
But the Rush model works, and tweaks are not to be confused with denunciations. Nobody should foolishly throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Millions of people count Rush Limbaugh as their workday friend. Other national shows round out the day with large audiences and huge profit. Anybody who thinks that juggernaut is off the tracks is nuts.
Or speaking out of their own political or philosophical disagreement with the tenor of conservative talk radio. Some radio gurus also resent the current model, I believe, because they didn’t invent it and can’t take credit for it. They see it as an obstacle to their own ambition for innovation or advancement.
As a listener and observer, my greatest fear for talk radio is homogenization. As fewer people make decisions for more stations, and as those decisions become dictates, you breed the life and creativity out of the medium.
Let the natural differences of people and places show through. As nameless hosts repeat themselves to hypothetical 45-year-old listeners named Bill who drive crossovers, drink imported beer and get their news from the Daily Show, maybe some of the innovation and originality that would naturally improve talk radio is diminished. The best bosses and the best companies have always recognized that and they always will.
I concede that as a third-tier minor leaguer with a sputtering career, I don’t know squat about talk radio.
But I believe in it. I believe in its people, in its sponsors, in its audience and in its future. I listen, and I enjoy.
And I know tens of millions of Americans feel the same way.
