Even if people didn't like Stephanie and she caused the ratings to go down, Mark isn't going to have "the talk" with Stephanie or kick her off.
So we can bitch about it all day but she isn't leaving.
You don't think that ratings matter to me? That is just incorrect. I care about the same two things that management of any radio company cares about: ratings and revenue.
Revenue is not as relevant, since it is too soon to for expectations and there is nothing for us to compare it too. We are getting revenue off of Sunday now, when before it existed we did not. The Sunday show is revenue positive and has been since the first month. win.
Ratings are largely unavailable for Free Talk Live generally. The best gauge we have is downloads. Downloads of the Sunday show have increased in comparison to the other Sunday shows, my guess as to why is professionalism. If any other of the hosts had their own Sunday, they would likely see increased downloads as their professionalism increased. BUT the Sunday show is getting good downloads vs the regular show TOO. Imagine that for a moment. The regular show has nearly 10 years of continuity!
At this moment the 1-1-12 show is 5th; 1-8-12 6th; and 1-15-12 is 10th in the list of downloaded January shows. Newer podcasts have a disadvantage since they have not had the time to get the downloads that the older ones. These are impressive numbers to me.
I find some of Stephanie's opinions grumble-worthy, but opinions are the most important thing a talk show host can have. She has them, she jumps in with them and she isn't afraid to express them. I have worked with many co-hosts that can't or won't stand up for their opinions resulting in an echo-chamber and a stifling of thought.
I am not keeping Stephanie because I am hard-headed, I am keeping Stephanie because she does what she is supposed to do; she has an opinion, her voice contrasts with mine, she gets ratings and by all accounts should be good for revenue.