Conservative talk radio on the wane

2 posts / 0 new
Last post
NorthReport
Conservative talk radio on the wane

This is indeed good news for what happens in California usually happens in Canada later on.    Conservative talk radio on the wane in California

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-talkradio15-2009mar15,0,39114.story

Tune in to conservative talk radio in California, and the insults quickly fly. Capturing the angry mood of listeners the other day, a popular host in Los Angeles called Republican lawmakers who voted to raise state taxes "a bunch of weak slobs."

With their trademark ferocity, radio stars who helped engineer Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rise in the 2003 recall have turned on him over the new tax increases. On stations up and down the state, they are chattering away in hopes of igniting a taxpayers' revolt to kill his budget measures on the May 19 ballot.

But for all the anti-tax swagger and the occasional stunts by personalities like KFI's John and Ken, the reality is that conservative talk radio in California is on the wane. The economy's downturn has depressed ad revenue at stations across the state, thinning the ranks of conservative broadcasters.

For that and other reasons, stations have dropped the shows of at least half a dozen radio personalities and scaled back others, in some cases replacing them with cheaper nationally syndicated programs.

martin dufresne

Certainly good news... if it doesn't extend to more liberal programming.

In Quebec, reactionary talk radio has taken a swift kick in the ratings with Quebec City uberjock Jeff Filion's demise after a woman sued him and won for defamation at the same time the CRTC was - finally - pulling his employer's license. Minority group activists had long been protesting this station's attacks on minorities. Now that André Arthur - who originated this genre in Quebec City - is in Parliament (as an Independent voting dutifully with the Grim Harper), and that Filion has been banished to satellite radio and minuscule audiences, the up-and-coming shock jocks are not doing too well. A few weeks ago, Quebec City radio host Stéphane Bouchard (93.3 FM) got generally lambasted after he invited teenage listeners to tear up a school ethics exercise book to win Guitar Hero software (because the book featured a picture of feminist leader Francoise David)...!

Now if we could only get rid of Don Cherry and Rex Reed...