Olbermann 'mad as hell,' and MSNBC the winner

[babylonsister]

http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/news/celebrity/mmx-0703260204mar28,0,7231789.story?coll=mmx-celebrity_heds
Olbermann 'mad as hell,' and MSNBC the winner


By Gail Shister
McClatchy/Tribune newspapers

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Keith Olbermann types with one finger.

His right pointer. Eighty words a minute. We saw.

"I taught myself at 8," he says. "Every time I try to learn real typing, I get a little confused. I usually charge admission for people to see me."

MSNBC doesn't pay its liberal provocateur to type. It pays him because, almost single-handedly, he has made the once-foundering network a serious player in the cable wars.

"Keith is MSNBC's rock star," says Phil Griffin, NBC News senior vice president and executive in charge of its corporate cousin. "People follow him. They believe in him."

Well, liberals do. On "Countdown," a newscast built around Olbermann's acerbic wit and passionate rants, he relentlessly pounds at President Bush and Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, his nemesis at 7 p.m. weeknights.

The numbers don't lie

That partisan approach works. Check the numbers.

"Countdown" averaged 709,000 total viewers in the February sweeps, up a whopping 77 percent over the same period in '06, according to Nielsen Media Research. Among 25- to 54-year-old viewers, the demographic advertisers pay a premium to reach, Olbermann spiked 59 percent. He easily beat CNN's Paula Zahn in both categories.

more...

[wordpix]

1. proudly one of the early bird Keith fans---love his wit & interview questions

Also, his mix of serious journalism, World's Worst and comic releif.

:loveya:

[WiseButAngrySara]

6. Same here!

:loveya: K.O. and K.O. Lovers!

[Yavin4]

19. Oh Yeah? I Fell In Love with KO When He Was Doing Sports In L.A.

Way back in 1988. Top That!

[mzmolly]

21. Me as well.

:hi:

[Chimichurri]

2. "Well, liberals do." I don't think you have to be liberal to like Keith.

My mother is a conservative and she likes watching him. She likes the way he allows his guests to talk without interrupting them.

This piece is attempting to seperate Keith from a fair newscaster to a "liberal" one which is unfair IMHO. I don't think demanding accountability from politicians is inherently liberal - or maybe it is.

[Morgana LaFey]

30. Anyone with a "thing" for truth and accurcy would like him

IMO.

[azmouse]

3. KO deserves every bit of success he gets!!

I'm glad to see his ratings are skyrocketing!

[redqueen]

4. The partisan approach works? This is news?

Did they not notice how well it worked for FAUX?

[waiting for hope]

5. Off to the GP with ya!

K&R!

[walldude]

7. 77% increase.. YEAH BABY! Wonder how many viewers

Billo has lost in the same time period... hehe

[WiseButAngrySara]

8. This is so wonderful! KNR. 80 wpm w/ one finger?!!!? Wow. ....n/t

[babylonsister]

9. LOL!

With all of Mr. Olbermann's wonderful attributes, your picking up on his typing skills, or lack thereof, is funny/made me chuckle! :D

[WiseButAngrySara]

13. Oh, I so well know all of his other attributes! I just can't

imagine anyone (even Keith) typing that fast with One finger!

[Cabcere]

18. I know! It's hard enough to type that fast with all ten fingers

(or eight fingers and two thumbs, if that's the way you want to look at it). :shrug:

As for the requisite dirty thoughts...well, it looks like other DUers beat me to it, so I'll leave it at that. ;) :P :hi: Oh, Keith... :loveya:

[WiseButAngrySara]

23. ROFL! ....n/t

[Der Blaue Engel]

10. Makes me wonder what else he can do with....

...oh, dear, that was just bad. :blush: I'm going to pre-emptively spank myself.

:spank:

[MelissaB]

11. It must be one talented finger.

:spank:

:rofl:

[WiseButAngrySara]

12. Oh NoI got a laugh and a blush too! ....n/t

[donco6]

14. Love Countdown.

Best news show on TV anywhere, any channel.

[malaise]

15. Go KO

I was with you from the beginning. :yourock:

[Sapere aude]

16. I do not understand the number of viewers. There were 709,000 viewers?

Out of how many millions in this country? Looks like nobody is watching. That can't be the correct interpretation can it?

[Bryan]

26. Relative to cable TV news programming, it's large

Audiences for cable news are very small as a percentage of the population, but they're also small as a portion of the TV audience, and expectations are set lower as a result (Fox "News" Channel seldom cracks more than two million viewers at a time, and it's a runaway success).

Countdown's 700,000+ viewers don't put it in FNC's range, but they do make it the highest-viewed program on MSNBC, which has struggled for almost its entire life in the shadow of CNN and FNC (The TVNewser blog tracks the ratings for the primetime lineups of the all-news networks, and here* is a picture of how Countdown stacks up to its competitors on an average day).

More arcanely, Countdown also gets a relatively good percentage of viewers aged 25-54. In the industry, this group is called "the money demo" because advertisers consider it the most desirable section of the news audience, and the more viewers in this group a show can deliver, the more a network can charge advertisers for ads. Countdown's tiny audience has a fairly good relative value.

*http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/the_scoreboard_thursday_march_22_55628.asp#more

[Forkboy]

17. People want to see someone actually stand up to the bastards.

[Jacklyn75]

20. Love, Love, Love KO!!!!!!!! n/t

[Greyskye]

22. dang

I consider myself pretty fast on the keyboard, especially for someone who doesn't make a living doing 'typing'. I haven't timed myself in years, but I'm probably still around 60 wpm. KO does 80 with one finger!?!? DAMN! As folks have noted up-thread, that's one talented finger!!!

[WI_DEM]

24. If Keith is MSNBC's "rock star" as NBC News senior VP says, What is Tweety?

[Bucky]

27. If newsmen are rock stars, then Tweety is the Air Supply of MSNBC

But really, aren't you tired of hearing "rock star" as a metaphor for guy with an attractive public persona?

[The Count]

25. If KO rules, beating CNN, why is Faux calling itself #1?????Seems it wasn't even

in the competition! Time to debunk the lies about themselves no one seems to challenge.

[Bucky]

28. Usually Fox has the highest cable ratings of any news network.

That probably says more about their demographics than their abilities, but their ratings are consistantly higher.

[The Count]

36. Not so sure this is true.

[SoCalDem]

29. And yet....

MSRNC still does not "get it".. People are flocking to keith BECAUSE he's saying what we all need to/want to hear..

They need to BE the voice of the left if they want to be #1.

They COULD do it, but they are too timid.

Fox became #1 by going headlong into territory that was new.. they became the voice of the right wing .. People on the right "knew" that no matter what time of the day it was, they could tune to Fox and get their slant on things.

They need to dump the schlocky "blonde girl-gone-missing", tabloidy stuff and turn to hard-hitting news..real news..with real analysis.

There are plenty of left-leaning people with no public voice..

They could even do a 2- hour, traveling "town hall forum" style show with NO plants in the audience.. take the Pulse of the nation..that's a reality show we need, and that people would watch.

They need to dump Tucker (on his pointy little SanFrancisco-born head)..

they need to stop pretending that Pat Buchanan has anything interesting to say.. He's said it all before, and we all know he's not even remotely "fair".

[SharonAnn]

34. They need Phil Donahue back.

[joshcryer]

31. It's his voice. His lovely lovely voice.

I swear to God, I'm a straight man, but that voice gets me every time. Such conviction.

[eleny]

32. Honesty works!

[Cha]

33. People believe him because..

ta Da! He tells the truth to the Power.

Rabid propoganda "Partisan" works for faux too..but they have to make up shit. Keith can just tell it like is..makes that part easier but keeping up with outting the faux lies is major work. cnn is partisan too but instead of telling the truth they went for imitation faux..redundant, I know.

Keith is "Mad As Hell" like the Dixie Chicks cd "TAking The Long Way"/"Not Ready To Make Nice" that I'm listening to right now.

[EstimatedProphet]

35. Oh yeah - it's "partisan"

Especially in comparison to Fox News! Boy is Keith ever biased! Just look at Sean Hannity to see how news really should be done!

Jerks.

[bluedawg12]

37. Keith has the heuvos to rant about shrub and mean it n/t

[Patiod]

38. Loved him calling out DeLay 2 nights ago

He rocks.

I've started going to the gym later in order to watch "Countdown" while I'm on the elliptical. Gets to heart going! Since he's the one thing that might tempt me to start shelling out $60/month for cable, I watch it there instead

What I don't understand is why don't they let Faux, CNBC and CNN fight it out for the conservative 30%, and go after the totally untapped liberal viewer? There's clearly a market for it...