4-5-2012
With the national launch of the Mike Huckabee show only days away, Cumulus Co-COO John Dickey tells Radio Ink listeners are fatigued by what they are hearing now and Huckabee is coming along at just the right time. "I think people are fatigued. We can see that in ratings in these talk stations. You can look at Rush's ratings which have trended down, look at Hannity's ratings which are trending down. You can look at what's become of Beck and his business and his model. People are tired." Mike Huckabee is on the cover of an upcoming issue of Radio Ink where Dickey goes into more detail of how this relationship came about. Here's more of what you'll read in that issue."
Here is more from our upcoming interview with John Dickey. "I think the Governor is bringing to the table a wealth of experience, and intelligence, and perspective on a whole host of issues. Just naturally, he is an entertainer. He certainly has the gift of gab. I think above and beyond all of that, he's got a sensibility and a civility about him that I think has been very much absent from the talk landscape over the last few years. I think people are fatigued. We can see that in ratings in these talk stations. You can look at Rush's ratings which have trended down, look at Hannity's ratings which are trending down. You can look at what's become of Beck and his business and his model. People are tired. It's no different than music based stations. If you burn out a record, you are going to lose TSL. If you burn out a subject and a perspective, you are going to lose TSL. I think what's happened in our format in talk and in news talk, is there hasn't been enough of a balance from a delivery perspective. It's not so much a balance left and right. It is just a balance of how a product is delivered and presented. I think the Governor is going to change that. He's going to open up the discourse to a wider group of people, by virtue of the fact that he's not going to intimidate and shout at people. I think you are going to see the Governor being more successful at bringing younger demos in, females in, minorities into the format. I think he's going to be more successful at holding people longer, because he is an entertainer. He's not going to lose sight of that, but he's also a very smart guy who has an opinion and he's not afraid to give it, but he does it in a very respectful way. I think that is what's going to happen. That's our perspective on what needs to be offered up here."
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(4/5/2012 6:50:54 AM)
I think Dickey is on point here. We all know the greatest enemy of success is the status quo--the habits listeners have formed over the years--but I expect CC to engage in some very aggressive marketing to take advantage of the discontent with edgy, hyperbolic talk radio and to perhaps even attract some new ones.
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