News/Talkers dial up the news to remain relevant.

Story by Inside Radio

News/Talk ratings experienced their typical seasonal bump in Nielsen’s September survey, inching up to an 8.8 (6+) share, its highest since April. But the longer term trend lines aren’t so rosy and that’s forced some news/talk stations to do things differently. The result is they’re bucking the ratings downdraft.

Buoyed by the mid-term elections and a pick-up in the news cycle, the current ratings uptrend is expected to continue in October. But the format isn’t likely to reverse its years-long ratings decline. News/Talk’s mostly white male audience is getting older — and smaller.

After peaking at a lofty 14.1 national share in fall 2008, the format has been on a steady downward slope. Pundits point to an over-reliance on syndication and conservative political talk and say news/talk radio needs to become more inclusive — in the hosts it employs, the topics they talk about, and the audience they target.

“The old school talk of grab the newspaper, find a couple of red meat issues, hock them out there like you’re fishing, throw out some opinions and then try to reel in callers — that is a tired format and the ratings across the country show that,” says Pete Gammell, director of news & programming at Bonneville news/talk KIRO-FM, Seattle (97.3).

Some news/talkers are dialing up the news content as way to remain to relevant. Three-hour news blocks in morning and afternoon drive are becoming more common. “News is the gateway drug for hooking news/talk listeners,” says iHeartMedia EVP of programming Brad Hardin. “That right balance between the news and the entertaining talk is the recipe that wins.”

“News Radio” KFBK, Sacramento (93.1, 1530) was tied for second place in 6+ in September and tied for fifth in 25-54. Not only are both of the iHeartMedia station’s drive time dayparts devoted to local news blocks, it carries local hosts for all but 6 hours from 6pm-12midnight. And the two syndicated hosts it does air in primetime — Fox News Radio’s Tom Sullivan and Premiere’s Rush Limbaugh — were former local hosts on the station.

Being located in the capital of a state with no shortage of news and issues certainly helps KFBK tap the pulse of its audience. So does having an AM-FM simulcast. But most of its listening still happens on AM. In fact, the station gave up the stronger 92.5 frequency in January to launch a new country station, moving to the lower-powered 93.1 — without missed a beat in the ratings. In fact, iHeartMedia has unwound many of its news/talk simulcasts to use the FM to launch a new station.

“Most of the time, most of the listening still came from the AM,” Brad Hardin reasons, adding that he’s not worried about news/talk’s aging demographics. “As guys get older, the stations are going to age. And as far as creating a new generation of talk fans, they’ll listen regardless of what delivery system it’s on — if it is something that entertaining.”

Broadcasting solely on FM has helped Seattle’s KIRO-FM deliver a younger audience than the average news/talker and a nearly 50-50 male-female spilt. The station has improved its 25-54 share from 3.0-4.9 during the past year and currently ranks fourth.