Talk radio ratings tanking

Across the country, audience ratings for talk radio are dropping. It could be a function of the election cycle, say some. And it could be a reflection of the fortunes of the current Administration, since most talk radio is Republican.

Writes Tim Rutten of the LA Times:

We're ... in the middle of a war of which fewer and fewer people approve. Moreover, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party, most of talk radio has to explain a president whose poll numbers are in freefall and, in California, a governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose popularity is tanking as badly as some of his films. It's a political axiom that, when you grab a guy's coattails, his direction becomes yours.

Despite the ratings trends, Hugh Hewitt continues to add stations, Rutten writes.

His Republican politics and unwavering certainty on every question large and small are standard issue, but, unlike most radio hosts, he actually talks rather than shouts and is witty and civil. He describes his show, which continues to add stations, as "primarily for political junkies who are center-right" and argues that "nothing is anomalous in a medium that is only 80 years old."

Hewitt, in his blog, talked about being interviewed by Rutten, noting that the majority of their talk focused on the waning circulation of the LA Times. That, of course, did not end up as part of the column, but Hewitt had nice things to say about The New Yorker writer who wrote a lengthy piece about him.
Meanwhile, the editor & publisher of Talkers magazine, predicts "radio populism" is the next trend waiting to happen -- whatever that is.
[LA Times]
[hewitt.com]