Blog | Federated Media

Who Listens To News/Talk Radio?

Written by Federated Media | May 28, 2024

Beyond the weather, there’s one subject that most people bring up when small talk starts – the news.

95.3 MNC and WOWO are your one-stop-shops for down-to-the-minute updates on current events and relevant discussions. 

Advertising on these stations is incredibly effective, as news/talk listeners are highly brand loyal. Let’s dive in so you can create an audience profile that’s as accurate as possible. 

At A Glance

In order for talk radio to be successful, the voices behind the content must be informed and trustworthy. Fortunately, that is most definitely the case for both 95.3 MNC and 92.3 WOWO.

MNC’s top hosts include Jon Zimney, Laura Smith and Casey Hendrickson alongside syndicated hosts Brian Kilmeade, Dan Bongino, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. WOWO’s top hosts include Kayla Blakeslee, Casey Hendrickson and Pat Miller locally, with syndicated shows from Glenn Beck, Dan Bongino, and Mark Levin. 

What’s beneficial about both of these stations is that their ads don’t strike the listener as annoying interruptions. Instead, each ad is valuable and provides worthwhile information that a listener can benefit from. Plus, when listeners hear endorsements from influential voices that they know and love, the ad content goes even further. 

As far as numbers go, MNC has a 20-mile listening range with over 40,400 weekly listeners, and WOWO wows with a 100-mile range and over 81,000 weekly listeners. 

The disparity of the numbers comes down to the fact that WOWO has been in the talk radio industry for nearly 100 years, which means generations of families have been listening to the station together. Rest assured that MNC’s audience is just as fiercely loyal.

Demographics

What’s interesting about the listeners of MNC and WOWO is the fact that their listener base is very even in respect to gender. With MNC, 53% of the listeners are male and 47% are female. For WOWO, males are at 58.9% and females 41.1%. So, it’s a pretty even split. 

For both the male and female audiences of both stations, the TSL (total listening time) is notably high. MNC  leads the South Bend market by 2 hours per week, over the #2 highest-rated station. As for WOWO, the TSL is 8 hours per week for Metro and 12 hours per week for TSA. This high TSL for both stations shows that listeners stay tuned for the entire duration of a show, which encourages connection with the hosts, news breaks, and advertisers.

Since many listeners are Baby Boomers (the majority of listeners of both stations are 65+), traditional advertising with clear-cut, straightforward messaging performs well, as that’s how that generation prefers being spoken to.

Employment and Income

The largest portion of MNC listeners make over $150,000 and the largest portion of WOWO listeners make between $50,000-$75,000. Even wit these two segments coming out on top, the spread of income is pretty even across the board for both stations. 

Many work in management, own a business, or work in farming. Since these occupations allow for radio listening throughout the day, both MNC and WOWO listeners likely have the stations on all day, with listening incorporated into their daily routines. 

Marriage, Homeownership, Education

Listeners’ levels of education is evenly spread, for both stations, across having a high school degree, having finished some college, or having a college degree. People with all sorts of educational backgrounds listen to this type of content. 

Most people who listen to news/talk radio are married, with 83.6% of MNC’s audience fitting the bill and 72.2% of WOWO’s. The majority of listeners of both channels own their homes, and most listeners have zero children under 18 living with them. 

In A Nutshell

When you picture these audiences, picture educated empty-nesters with full-time jobs. 

MNC listeners are mostly parents and grandparents with disposable income and extra money to invest. They are affluent people who buy quality products and they’re passionate about the news, and MNC is the perfect place to keep their finger on the pulse of current events. 

WOWO listeners are also affluent, and they are likely influential in their businesses and within their communities. They look for trust and longtime loyalty when it comes to the products they invest in; they want a company to create a relationship with like the one they’ve created with WOWO. 

Radio Gives Back

Volunteering and charity work means a lot to both radio stations, and they both have the achievements to show for it. 

MNC’s community involvements include:

  • MNC – 2021 Cardinal Community Service Award
  • Five Star Life Radiothon
  • MNC NOISE! 
  • MNC Networking Golf Outing
  • Annual Most Patriotic Photo Contest
  • Annual Virtual Home Contest Giveaway
  • 2021 Cardinal Community Service Award
  • Pass the Mic Lunch Events

WOWO’s involvements include:

  • Talk Tank WOWO
  • Penny Pitch

WOWO’s awards include:

  • 2014 NAB Marconi Award – Station of the Year
  • 2014 IBA Spectrum Award
  • 2018 NAB Service to America Award
  • 2022 NAB Marconi Award – Medium Market Station of the Year

The Talk of the Town

Whether you’re a longtime listener of WOWO or newer on the scene thanks to MNC, Federated Media thanks you for being a part of our news/talk radio stations. 

To learn more about who’s listening to these stations and how you can best advertise with them, check out the WOWO 92.3 and 95.3 MNC pages. If you’d like to learn more about radio advertising in general, reach out to our team – we’re glad to answer any further questions you might have.