Are we in the twilight years for Rush Limbaugh and other similar talkmeisters? That’s what Darryl Parks believes, and according to him, the twilight is taking place right on schedule.
Part of the problem is that the audience for political talk is aging into irrelevance.
The other part is that the format has not evolved to pick up new listeners from younger demographics.
Much has been written about the difficulty of associating brands that seek universal approval with the political opinions of radio talkers who seek to appeal only to those of a certain political or ideological stripe.
Parks seems to think the problem is more general than that, simply noting, “There isn’t a 747 on a tarmac full of advertisers waiting to buy into shows like Rush Limbaugh’s.”
Parks says that most of the talkers are serving their own agenda, and have forgotten their prime directive: “get listeners, get ratings and make money.”
Asked how many years talk radio had left by John Hogan of what was Clear Channel at the time, Parks said his answer was four. He says he gave that answer in 2012.
The problems being reported for Limbaugh in particular in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are what lend credence to his prediction.
RBR-TVBR observation: Just about every form of programming seems to have an expiration date.
We used to discuss Limbaugh’s at RBR back in the 1990s. We could imagine a number of scenarios that would finally erode listenership, and if anything, it’s testimony to the genre that it has lasted as long as it has, especially with its legion of practitioners.
The advent of the presidency of George W. Bush, we thought, could have been damaging. Any political commentator has an advantage when there is a prominent target available – but as we all know, there was no particular damage to the format during those eight event-packed years.
Although the newfound fear of controversial programming has certainly taken its toll, we also thought back in the 1990s that eventually Limbaugh’s audience was going to age with him, and that as much as anything seems to be what is happening.
But maybe, just maybe, somebody will figure out how to inject new life into this format. Stay tuned.
