What are Your “Likes” Like?

February 4, 2011
What Are Your “Likes” Like?
Over the past week, the world has watched a
revolution unfold in Egypt, in real time and
on live television. It’s certainly not the first
time that Americans and others around the world have seen such events,
but what makes this one different is its connection to social media -specifically Facebook and Twitter. In fact, the use of social media to
communicate was of enough concern to cause Egyptian authorities to
essentially shut down the Internet almost as soon as protests began.
We’ll leave the political ramifications of that decision as a topic for
another discussion. The real point for Talk broadcasters to note is how
events in the Middle East have once again shown just how profoundly
social media is changing the way people communicate. Think about it,
the life of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerman was turned into a major
studio motion picture that did big business at the box office and, more
recently, in DVD rentals and sales. Imagine that, people actually paying
to watch a story about a sort of nerdy computer scientist! The film is
even nominated for an Oscar this year as “Best Picture.” And let’s not
forget a comment made at last year’s Talk Media Conference & Talk
Show Boot Camp by D: All Things Digital co-founder Kara Swisher,
who told attendees to “get your mind around the idea of Facebook
Radio” as the model for broadcasting’s future success.
With that in mind, this week we decided to check out a broad cross-section
of national Talk radio shows and personalities to gauge their level of
activity on two new media platforms. We specifically looked at Facebook
and Twitter because they are unquestionably the most ubiquitous social
networking tools among both broadcasters and consumers. Facebook
and Twitter are also among the easiest of the social media platforms
to master and their respective brand names are familiar to listeners.
With Facebook we chose to use “Likes” as the standard of measurement
for the purpose of this review. In the case of multiple Facebook pages, we
used the one with the highest number of “Likes” registered, which was
always the most active page. With Twitter we simply used “Followers”
as the number to measure a host’s activity. In the case of multiple Twitter
accounts, we tried to list all followers of all feeds we noted. All shows are
full-time, weekday, nationally syndicated Talk shows. Numbers shown
are raw data drawn directly from the Facebook pages and Twitter feeds
and were recorded on February 1, 2011. We’ve listed them in descending
order of their Facebook “Likes” numbers, with the Twitter followers
below that. While certainly not a scientific survey, the numbers would
seem to at least suggest that some Talk radio hosts are more active than
others when it comes to interacting with fans via social media networks.
Glenn Beck (Premiere Radio Networks)
1,638,308 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @GlennBeckNews (16,643); @GlennBeck (342,997)
Dave Ramsey (Independently Syndicated)
746,798 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @Ramsey Show (117,928);@daveramsey (25,875);
@daveramseyshow (8,915);@ daveramseylive (34,394)
Rush Limbaugh (Premiere Radio Networks)
708,883 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @limbaugh (73,638)
Sean Hannity (Premiere Radio Networks)
604,040 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @seanhannity (117,703)
Mark Levin (Citadel Media Networks)
242,997 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @marklevinshow (61,174); @mark_levin 8,303)
Jim Rome (Premiere Radio Networks)
171,872 Facebook “Likes” Twitter Followers: @jimrome (197,436)
Clark Howard (Dial-Global)
68,663 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @clarkhowardshow (18,339); @clarkhoward (2,535)
Laura Ingraham (Talk Radio Network)
65,699 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @IngrahamAngle (44,110)
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(continued on page 3)
NTS MediaOnline Weekly
February 4, 2011
Page 2
GIG ALERTS
NETWORK /SYNDICATION NOTES
Talk Radio Network is seeking anchors and producers for the next
phase debut of the company’s new syndicated all news programming,
America’s Radio News Network. If you have “the right stuff” to handle
a national radio news gig, email your resume, audio and cover letter
HERE … Got a gig open? Looking for a new challenge? Just e-mail
the details and contact info to [email protected] and we’ll post it
here, free of charge, as a service to industry professionals.
Syndicated talker Dave Ramsey moves to a new 10pm-1am time slot on
WSB-AM/Atlanta. The move comes in the wake of WSB evening host
Herman Cain opting to take a hiatus from his nightly radio show on
the Cox Media-owned News/Talker, while he explores the potential of
running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 … Compass
Media Networks Free Beer & Hot Wings show re-ups with Townsquare
Media in a multi-year pact that will keep the morning show on a number
of the company’s radio stations across multiple markets … Skyview
Networks partners with Arizona-based home improvement radio show,
Rosie On The House, to take the program statewide. Skyview will
provide satellite distribution services and affiliate relations to expand the
show throughout Arizona. Hosted by Rosie Romero, the weekly show
currently airs on KTAR-FM/Phoenix, KNST/Tucson, KQNA/Prescott
Valley and KAZM/Sedona.
PERSON-TO-PERSON
As he gets set to add a new TV show to his schedule, WLW/Cincinnati host
Bill Cunningham opts to sell one of his Willie’s Sports Café restaurants
in Mason, OH. Cunningham, who hosts a daily local show at WLW and
a national weekend radio show for Premiere Radio Networks, cited his
increasingly “hectic” schedule as the motive behind the restaurant sale
… KPRC/Houston morning host and WOAI/San Antonio afternooner
Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo is also beefing up his already pretty full schedule,
with the addition of a new live weekend show on sister Clear Channel
News/Talker KOA/Denver … Emmy winning entertainment journalist
and bestselling author Deborah Norville has been tapped to host the 2011
Golden Mike Awards in New York. Honoring Post -Newsweek Stations
CEO Alan Frank, the gala will benefit the Broadcasters Foundation of
America … Condolences: To the family and friends of longtime Savannah
radio personality and sports broadcaster Al Jennings, who died January
28th at age 88 … WKDL/Warrenton, VA is now airing a full simulcast of
talker WTNT (The Truth)/Alexandria, VA. The suburban DC AM’s were
recently acquired by Metro Radio from Red Zebra Broadcasting.
Actually, He Does Know Jack
EMERGING TALK MEDIA
CBS Radio’s interactive Radio.com platform for Android phones has
launched nationwide. Radio.com for Android includes a host of features
such as background streaming to allow for multi-tasking, presets for
favorite stations, the ability to share stations using Facebook, Twitter or
email, and pause functions on streaming radio stations. More details at
www.radio.com/mobile … Dino Costa re-ups to continue as evening host
on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Radio. GET BREAKING NEWS
alerts by following us on TWITTER, or “friend” us on FACEBOOK.
Find one-click links to both at www.NTSMediaOnline.com.
Veteran KNX/Los Angeles reporter Jack Salvatore recently retired after
26 years with the CBS Radio all-newser. Pictured as Salvatore is honored
for his years of service with a Proclamation from the City of Los Angeles
are (l-r) KNX reporter Claudia Peschiutta, the happy honoree, KNX
reporter Bill Cooper, and L.A. City Council members Tom LaBonge
and Dennis Zine.
©2011 NTS MediaOnline ™ — All rights reserved. To subscribe visit www.ntsmediaonline.com
NTS MediaOnline Weekly
February 4, 2011
(continued from page 1)
Dennis Miller (Westwood One)
65,095 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @DennisDMZ (28,811)
George Noory (Premiere Radio Networks)
63,866 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @coastToCoastAM (20,928)
Dan Patrick (DirectTV Sports/FOX Sports Radio)
34,093 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @dpshow (39,488)
Michael Savage (Talk Radio Network)
32,754 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @ASavageNation (6,132)
Ed Schultz (Dial Global)
21,479 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @WeGotEd (16,007); @edshow 3,455
Randi Rhodes (Premiere Radio Networks)
13,148 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @randiradio (7,929)
Erich “Mancow” Muller (Talk Radio Network/Dial Global)
11,194 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @mancowmuller (14,043)
Stephanie Miller (Dial Global)
9,653 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @SMShow (9,859)
Thom Hartmann (Dial Global)
8,896 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @Thom_Hartmann (8,093); @thomhartmann (1,429)
Norman Goldman (Compass Media Networks)
5,559 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @liberaltalk (463)
Lou Dobbs (United Stations Radio Networks)
5,498 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @loudobbsnews (10,079)
Alan Colmes (FOX News Radio)
4,955 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @alancolmes (12,277)
Neal Boortz (Dial Global)
4835 Facebook “Friends”
Twitter Followers: @talkmaster (43,761)
Michael Smerconish (Dial Global/CBS Radio)
3,822 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @smerconish (3,017)
Roger Hedgecock (Radio America)
3,771 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @rogerhedgecock (8,837)
Todd Schnitt (Compass Media Networks)
2,431 Facebook “”Likes”
Twitter Followers: @theschnittshow (28)
Don Imus (Citadel Media Networks)
2,230 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: (No official Twitter found)
Jerry Doyle (Talk Radio Network)
2,224 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @jerrydoyle (2,028)
Mike Gallagher (Salem Radio Network)
2,063 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @radiotalkermike (2,876)
Dr. Joy Browne (WOR Radio Network)
1,989 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: (No official Twitter found)
Rusty Humphries (Talk Radio Network)
1,830 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @talktorusty (1,289)
Bill Press (Dial Global)
1,102 Facebook “Likes”
Twitter Followers: @bpshow (3,494)
CONTACT NTS MEDIAONLINE
Al Peterson
858.486.7559
[email protected]
Brooke Trissel
512.218.8228
[email protected]
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