It’s time to check out the results of our “Radio Wars” survey. A few notes:
— We had 416 responses.
— Average time spent listening: 2.75 hours per day.
— 90% listen to KNBR at least part of the time.
— 71% listen to “The Game” at least part of the time.
This is not likely to be an accurate representation of the average sports radio listener, so drawing any conclusions should be for entertainment purposes only. The sample is neither random nor do we have any way to gauge how accurately it represents the demographics of the Bay Area radio market. In addition, we did not control for people who may have voted multiple times.
Now that we have that out of the way, onto the charts and graphs! *
1. Station Listening Habits
I guess it makes sense that only 1% of people who clicked on a radio survey don’t listen to either station. While KNBR predictably had the advantage, with 60% of respondents listening either to KNBR exclusively or KNBR more than 95.7 FM “The Game,” it was interesting that 32% of respondents said they predominantly listened to the newer station.
2. Time Spent Listening
Again, not too shocking that people taking the time to fill out a survey about sports talk radio listen to a lot of sports talk radio. Okay, onto the juicier stuff…
3. Favorite Shows (Both Stations)
Congratulations to Damon Bruce, who takes the overall points title in our unofficial poll with 811 points and 119 1st place votes (first place equals 5 points, second place equals 3 points and third place equals 1 point). The Razor and Mr. T was named on the most ballots overall (58%) and took second place overall. The Rise Guys were a bit of a surprise, with the third-highest amount of first place votes.
And here are the numbers from the table above in all their graphical glory:
4. Favorite Show (KNBR)
Damon Bruce dominated here, followed by The Razor and Mr. T. Murph and Mac and Gary Radnich (with Larry Krueger) finished in a virtual tie, with Fitz and Brooks and Sportsphone 680 bringing up the rear.
5. Least Favorite Show (KNBR)
Fitz and Brooks … yikes. These numbers aren’t exactly a shock; maybe the most surprising result was how few people listed the Razor and Mr. T as their least favorite show. Even though the show hosted by Ralph Barbieri and Tom Tolbert consistently draw the most listeners for KNBR, Barbieri is such a polarizing figure I would’ve assumed that more than 7% listed R&T as their least favorite. Maybe that’s why Ralph’s staying with “The Sports Leader” for a while longer (more on that later).
6. Favorite Show (“The Game”)
One of the real success stories at “The Game,” at least according to this survey, were The Rise Guys, who finished fourth overall in our weighted voting among both stations and led the way in terms of sports fans who listen to 95.7. However, “The Drive” wasn’t far behind here.
7. Least Favorite Show (“The Game”)
The results on the “least favorite” question were pretty much the opposite of what we saw from the “favorite show” question.
8. Hardcore Radio Heads
9. Casual Radio Fans
According to these numbers people who listen to very little sports talk radio have extremely similar tastes in shows as people who spend all day listening to this stuff. Huh.
Thanks to all of you for voting, even the ones who work for either KNBR or “The Game” (you know who you are). And congratulations to Ralph Barbieri, who called Rich Lieberman over the weekend to let him know that he’d be sticking around on KNBR for an unspecified period of time for an unknown amount of money. Barbieri also told Lieberman that he pays for his own road trips to watch Giants and Sharks games, and that he didn’t tell Scott Ostler about how he’s been suffering from Parkinson’s as a negotiating ploy.
Whatever you think of his personality, how he conducts interviews or those commercials for a certain thin-crust pizza outfit, Barbieri’s staying power is impressive in what is an extremely tough and stressful industry — just ask anyone who works for KGO.
* Thanks again to Scott Willis for tabulating the results and providing his graphical and charting wizardry.
