Late last year, Newsmax ventured into radio with “The Rob Carson Show” in the noon-3 pm daypart at independently owned Talk Radio 680 WCBM Baltimore.
“Newsmax is going to be moving into other audio opportunities,” Lee Kinberg, CEO of Newsmax Radio, said. “We’re looking at opportunities via certain assets, to possibly have stations or network opportunities.”
“We’ve got millions of people on email lists that we’re talking to on a regular basis. Newsmax punches way above its weight in terms of interactions on Twitter. Radio was a natural place for us to go because it’s where we haven’t been.”
The company views audio as a new frontier, one that permits it to foster synergies and leverage the connections it has developed with patrons that visit its website, read its magazine, or watch its cable TV shows.
“Over the summer, [Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy] decided that he was ready to really ramp up an audio presence for Newsmax,” Kinberg added. “And one of the first things he wanted to do was take Rob and put on a radio show.”
Rob Carson states his show is different from today’s talk radio. It ventures past politics and into pop culture, personal experience, and liberal use of humor to produce a point, including creating satire pieces.
“It’s a little bit of ‘The Daily Show’ meets talk radio,” Carson said. “I come at it from an entertainer’s background, an entertainer who can do serious stuff. I can pivot from comedian to pundit.”
In Baltimore, “The Rob Carson Show” moves the ratings needle. Among persons 35-64, WCBM’s AQH share in the noon-3 pm daypart rose 4.1-5.1-8.3 from October to December 2021 and ascended 5.2-6.1-7.0 in the same period, according to Nielsen PPM data supplied by WCBM.