I’ve recently received several emails curious in Live 105.3 talk-show host Russ Martin. Not in his “situation” per se – we’ve already covered that from incident to indictment – but more so in the fallout, if any, from his July arrest and recent misdemeanor charges.
Since I aim to please, I did some digging and arrived at this thesis:
The Russ Martin Show is more popular now than it was before his arrest.
Drilling down into Arbitron’s summer ratings book (June 26 – Sept. 17), I found that in the three weeks prior to his July 18 arrest Martin had a 1.3 rating per average quarter hour (AQH) among his targeted demographic of Men 25-54.
For the week after the arrest – when Martin was off the air and Live 105.3 ran “Best of” programming – that number plunged to nothing, literally 0.0.
But in the eight weeks after returning to the air, Martin gradually, significantly re-built his audience. In fact, in the final two weeks of the summer book Martin’s AQH rating rocketed to 2.7, more than doubling his pre-arrest rating.
For the overall period, Martin trailed only The Ticket’s Hardline in Men 25-54. For the month of September, Martin was No. 1.
What does it all mean?
Grudges fade. Boycotts fizzle. And, in the end, talented people – be it Pacman Jones or Marv Albert or Russ Martin -- will always be afforded second chances. – Richie Whitt
