Radio Column August 11, 2006

Listening In

August 11, 2006

By Sandy Wells


Study shows NPR listeners lean Democratic


People who listen to news/talk programs on public radio stations such as KPCC-FM 89.3 and KCRW-FM 89.9 are 18 percent more likely to lean Democratic or identify themselves as Democrats than the population at large, according to the new study “Public Radio Today 2006” released by Arbitron.

That doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering that just about everyone I know who listens to non-commercial radio is a Democrat. But then again, this is Los Angeles County. Not exactly a Republican stronghold.

Nationally, public radio listeners who also listen to news/talk on AM stations are 44 percent Democratic versus 36 percent Republican. On the other hand, more than half of the people who tune in just to AM radio talk shows are Republican or lean to the right politically and only 30 percent are Democrats or lean Democratic.

The study shows that 26 million people across the country are tuning into public radio every week. Most are 35 or older and slightly more are male than female.

“Public radio is home to a unique mix of formats,” commented Mike Powderly, Senior Account Manager, National Radio Services, Arbitron Inc. “While news/talk is the leading format for public broadcasters as well as for commercial radio stations, public stations serve different audience segments for music than their commercial colleagues. Classical Music, jazz and album adult alternative are the leading music formats among public radio stations. This is in contrast to the leading music formats on commercial radio: adult contemporary, contemporary hit radio and urban.”

Last fall, Arbitron had reported NPR’s audience was stagnant or declining for the second year in a row, after years of strong growth. The news sent NPR execs into some serious soul searching.

However, last fall’s disappointing report was offset by a more recent survey by The Media Audit, which said that NPR was the fourth-most listened to format in the country, behind news/talk, country music and contemporary hit radio (CHR). Even more encouraging, the report also said that NPR was the most successful format of any in the top ten at converting listeners into “loyal” listeners. Nearly 60 percent of NPR listeners surveyed said that they listened to NPR “most often,” indicating the kind of loyalty sought after by radio executives.


Jack hires Freddy Snakeskin


Ex-KROQ DJ Freddy Snakeskin has joined the Jack FM (KCBS-FM 93.1) staff as a writer-producer for the retro-rocker. That has fueled speculation that Jack FM might be adding another voice to the on-air presentation. But no, says station spokesperson Chad Fitzsimmons. Snakeskin is just there to help write those witty liners voiced by Howard Cogan the voice of Jack and to run the controls. Jack is actually run as a live station with human beings pushing the buttons, something programmers feel gives the station a better sound than if a computer was simply firing off the songs and commercials. Still, all the music, commercials and announcements are stored in a computer hard drive as is standard for the industry now.

Ex-KROQ-FM Tami Heide is heard voicing station “Jack-tivities” about concerts and other stuff, but Jack remains the sole host. Cogan voices scores of fresh lines every week, all of them unique to the LA version of Jack and not shared by the other Jack stations around the country featuring his attitude-laden quips.


Sports reporter blues


There was apparent recent belt-tightening at news stations KFWB-AM 980 and KNX-AM 1070 with three ‘WB sports reporters getting pink slips; Joe Cala, Geoff Witcher and Bob Harvey. Almost immediately, Cala was rehired by sister station KNX (the stations are housed in the same building), according to laradio.com. Additionally, sports station KSPN-AM 710 local sports anchor Dave Stone was released from his gig reporting the sports headlines. While he had his job with the Disney-owned station, he was working for the same company that employs talk superstar Sean Hannity, carried locally by KSPN sister station KABC-AM 790. Hannity has mentioned Stone on the air as the guy who as program director for a talk station in Huntsville, Ala., gave him his first job in commercial radio. Aside from the sports changes, KNX also released news reporter and commentator Michael Ambrosini.