...WJFK (106.7 FM) yesterday dropped Bill O'Reilly's nationally syndicated show, "The Radio Factor," and replaced it with a sports-talk program hosted by Jim Rome. O'Reilly, an avowed independent who takes many conservative views, occupied a two-hour afternoon slot on WJFK.
The popular Fox News Channel TV host never attracted much of a radio following in Washington -- in the most recent ratings period, his program had about 1.2 percent of the audience. But then, neither have many other conservatives, whose programs are popular in many cities but barely move the ratings needle in the Washington area, the nation's eighth-largest radio market.
In defense of Bill O’Reilly, the article goes on to say that political talk radio isn’t especially popular in Washington D.C. at all; liberal talkers haven’t fared much better than the conservative ones. That’s understandable: when you work in politics all day, who wants to listen to politics in your leisure time?
Still, I can’t resist a bit of schadenfreude at hearing Bill O’Reilly got yanked from a radio station in Washington D.C., of all places. That’s more than irony; it might explain why he’s so unpopular:
Chris Berry, president and general manager of WMAL, says there's nothing particularly unusual about Washington and political talk radio, except that "people in D.C. are smarter" than talk audiences in other towns. "In Boston, Chicago, even L.A., it's more emotional," he says. "In D.C., people really do know the issues."
Oh, snap!
