http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/Radio and Records has the 12+ numbers...just find the market with the AAR affiliate list.
AAR is doing just fine right now. Advertising in radio overall is waaaaaay down. A lot of the same "poor" ads are heard on the hate radio shows as well. Remember, radio relies on advertising that has little to do with politics and a lot to do with economics. When companies scale back and downsize, the first thing that usually gets cut is the advertising budget and radio, thanks to deregulation, has fallen to the bottom of the media food chain. Most stations take anything they can get these days.
Right now AAR owes a ton to Clear Channel...who owns the most AAR affiliates and the new deal they just struck with XM that will guarantee they have satellite clearance for the forseeable future. The network has done very well in its year plus of operation, but this isn't the only Progressive and liberal talk on the radio...there are a lot of public programs...most not rated that are worth listening to and supporting. Democracy Now and Pacific are great examples.
AAR's ratings won't blow you away, and there are many variables that are rarely explained that can give one a better picture of these numbers. Many of the stations are low power and don't cover the entire survey area (a big disadvantage) thus you're trying to compare a 50,000 signal to a 1,000 watt one.
If you want some good ammo to throw back at a wingnut...look at the ratings of the Salem Broadcasting stations. This is the company that operates primarily religious stations (including The Fish) but also "The Patriot"...a network of the worst hate talkers. They've got Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, Savage...and Salem's gone on a big spending spree in recent years buying up stations to get this format on across the country. No ratings needed here...and none are generated.
For example...in Detroit:
WDTW-AM Clear Channel Talk 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5
WDTK-AM Salem News/Talk 0.8 0.7 0.0 0.4 0.3
The sets of numbers refer to the last 5 quarterly reports...and note that WDTW didn't become an AAR affiliate until April...the 0.5 is their first "book" and a big difference from the goose-eggs for the year before that.
WDTK also in a relatively new station. The 0.8 and 0.7 are from a former owner and format...the 0.0, 0.4 and 0.3 are for "The Patriot"...and, as you can see, AAR blew the Salem station away in it's first book compared to Salem's 3.
I was going to examine New York, but while I found WLIB's numbers...I couldn't find any for WMCA..."The Patriot" there. They didn't show any numbers at all.
The fun with ratings is how you can play with these numbers all day...and if you're good at it, people throw money at you. LOL.
Cheers!
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