Radio Daze

Lotsa discussion lately, both here and over at Desipio, about ESPN 1000 and WSCR. Many of us wondered about how Murph and Fred did vs. Mike & Mike and what Hot Dog Boy needs (ratings wise) to do to justify his bump in pay and new time slot. Well, I went to the source for my answer: The Suntimes' Bob Feder. Here's what he wrote me in an e-mail.

In the latest Arbitron quarterly survey (sic), WSCR was in 25th place in mornings
with a 1.4 share, while ESPN 1000 was tied for 26th with a 1.2 share.

Murph and Fred had an audience nearly 17% larger than ESPN did. I'd venture that unless North widens that margin, he won't last long. I'd also venture that he needs to do this by not just robbing ESPN's audience, but by adding new listeners. That's purpose of the format change to "All Things Considered" and not sports, only.

If Hot Dog Boy pulls a 1.5 or 1.6 while ESPN falls to 1.1, he's basically treaded water in terms of sports listeners, but not added new listeners. If he pulls a 1.6 while ESPN stays at 1.2, he's been a success.

Check back in about 120 days.