Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 13, 2009 at 10:19:00:
Strong summer for sports talk radio
Posted by Ed S.
at 10/12/2009 2:06 AM CDT on Chicago Business
When the Cubs and White Sox tanked in August, leaving little baseball to drive the meter in September, I figured it could be bleak for sports talk radio in this town.
Turns out, I underestimated the power of the Bears and Jay Cutler.
Both WSCR-AM and WMVP-AM posted strong numbers in the summer (July-September) ratings compiled by Arbitron. Mr. Cutler probably deserves a commission because talk about him definitely brought listeners to sports talk radio.
"The Cutler excitement building (football training camp) and just the overall sports atmosphere (Favre news, etc)....it's clear that sports were a nice distraction for a larger audience than we've seen over the summer in quite some time," said WMVP's Justin Craig.
WSCR's Mitch Rosen said the summer ratings were a confirmation that the sports talk format "is huge in this market."
Both stations had reason to be bullish. In the men ages 25 to 54 category, the all-important demographic for sports talk radio, SCR and MVP each ranked fourth with a 4.4 share (percentage of listeners tuned into the station).
Indeed, this was one of those rare ratings reports that was mostly a good-good for both stations. The big winner was the morning team of Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley at WSCR.
The pairing of Sun-Times writers, whose show airs from 5-9 a.m., topped the Mike Greenberg-Mike Golic duo on WMVP; 6.3-6.2 in men 25-54.
That's the first in a long time that a WSCR local morning show beat the ESPN national powerhouse.
"It shows that Chicago listeners want to listen to Chicago sports," said Mr. Rosen. "Mully and Hanley have exceeded expectations. They are leading the way for the radio station."
WMVP, though, still holds the edge in midday and afternoon drive. "The Afternoon Saloon" of Carmen DeFalco, John Jurkovic and Harry Teinowitz did a 4.7 rating from 2-6 p.m,, compared with 4.3 from Terry Boers and Dan Bernstein on WSCR.
The Marc Silverman-Tom Waddle show did a solid 5.1 rating in the 9 a.m.-1 p.m. slot, ranking third in the men's 25-54 category.
"A show like Waddle and Silvy is one that demonstrates how great chemistry and personalities really help develop a significant following," Mr. Craig said.
Dan McNeil and Matt Spiegel are building that chemistry during middays at WSCR. There has been progress since they first teamed in June. Their summer rating was a 3.9 (10th in the men 25-54 demo), up from 2.7 (18th) in the summer of 2008.
(Full disclosure: Mr. McNeil and I worked together on a book on Chicago sports.)
As for the entire sports talk category, both stations seem to be set with their lineups for a while. Now it is a matter of continuing to grow the audience for the entire sports talk format in this market.
One, two, three: Go Bears.
"With the prospect of the Bears being very good this year, that should certainly bode well for sports talk in the city," Mr. Craig said.
Indeed, the summer could be a prelude to a strong fall in sports talk radio.