Talk Radio’s Advertising Problem

There are plenty of people listening to talk radio. But over the past three years, it has become increasingly difficult to make money off it. More than 50 million people in the US tune in each week to news-talk radio stations that carry advertising, making it radio’s second-most popular format, behind country music, according to Nielsen. But many national advertisers have fled from such stations in recent years, seeking to avoid associating their brands with potentially controversial programming. As a result, advertising on talk stations now costs about half what it does on music stations, given comparable audience metrics, according to industry executives.