An op-ed in the Boston Globe last week began with “One more note on the significance of the presidential election of 2008: It’s the first one in more than 30 years on which talk radio had no major impact.” The authors suggest that talk radio’s influence is on the decline because:
- Radio, like print media, is facing more competition from new electronic media.
- Talk TV is attracting more viewers.
- “American listeners no longer expect talk-radio hosts to be reasonable – or even rational.”
- Talk radio hosts are spending less and less time engaging with callers.
Jay Severin has been hammering on the “fairness doctrine” for a few weeks now and complaining that an Obama administration is a direct threat to his livelihood. Sounds to me like his ratings are declining and he’s trying to lay the groundwork for scapegoating someone else if and when he loses his job.