Program format changes are afoot at WSNO 1450am. Conservative talk radio appears to be no more. In a way I’m not surprised. I would often listen to Glen Beck and especially Rush Limbaugh to get a does of sanity in a world increasingly going insane. The station recently switched from Sean Hannity to Howie Carr to perhaps a local New England conservative talk show host would pull better ratings. Apparently that experiment also failed.
But one couldn’t help but notice that during the breaks for local commercials there would be nothing but “dead air” or listen to the network countdown to cue the program back on.
Was it because no Central Vermont businesses wanted to advertise on conservative talk shows? Did they worry that their liberal democrat customers would boycott them? Did they really try hard to sell advertising?
Well I don’t hold anything against them. Radio is a business like everything else. And it comes down to ratings. Probably most of the people who would have listened have day jobs where the boss frowns on them listening to the radio. No doubt to many would refuse to listen because of preconceived notions about conservatives and will not lower themselves to listen to anything that might pierce their liberal bubble.
You can’t run a business and continue to be in the red. Those show cost money. Low ratings mean you can’t charge as much for advertising and even break even, let alone make a profit. So you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
It’s good that I my blog isn’t a business. looking at my viewer numbers which have been declining for some weeks, I wonder if the only people who read my blog are my friends and relatives. Oh well, I enjoy it .
Fortunately I’m able to pick Rush up on 620am out of Burlington.
So there.