BROOKE GLADSTONE: Murdoch strongly backed the War in Iraq. For him it was personal conviction, but it may also have been good for business. Certainly that's the opinion of some media consultants who say they have the numbers to prove that a certain brand of patriotism turns tidy profits. Vivian Goodman talked to a few.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: Headquartered in Cleveland, McVay Media consults 150 radio stations including WAJI in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

ANNOUNCER: And you say you need a daily dose of patriotism? We've got it for you. National Anthem at 12 noon each and every day. The Pledge of Allegiance done by local school children, 6:57 during Magic in the Morning --it all happens on Magic 95.1, WAJI, God bless America.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: WAJI is following Mike McVay's war manual, a collection of radio programming tips offered on his web site, the advice tailored to format.

MIKE McVAY: In rock, we're a little more liberal-leaning, and in rock we're more encouraging of dissent. Country radio, boy, you better be waving the flag.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: He points talk hosts to the Washington Post/ABC news poll taken the night of March 17th after President Bush's speech. It showed 71 percent support for going to war with Iraq. Based on that, McVay and other radio commercial consultants say it's just good business sense to make sure the majority of talk show callers are pro-war.

MIKE McVAY: What we are, are, are mercenaries, and we're just mirroring the image or rather we're mirroring the opinions of the people. If the people were to become 70 percent against the war, then we would be encouraging our hosts and hostesses and our music radio stations to mirror that as well.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: McVay's way of mirroring the community doesn't sit well with Kent State University journalism professor Tim Smith.

TIM SMITH: The idea of mirroring the public means you mirror everything that goes on -- not just the stuff that is the more popular aspect. If people want to find out what's going on in this country, I think they have to be able to rely on the fairness and balance of the news media. That means seeing all sides of events, not just simply the ones that are the most popular.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: But commercial radio has to make a profit, and Mike McVay says playing to public opinion polls is the best way to do it. It's too early to tell whether his strategy will boost ratings long term for his clients. The Arbitron winter rating survey for all radio markets due out in mid-May covers only the early days of the war, and the spring survey won't be out until this summer. But Neilsen research already shows that exploiting patriotic fervor seems to work for at least one cable channel. Since the war began, Fox news, honcho'd by former Republican political strategist Roger Ailes, has maintained a solid ratings lead over second-place CNN. Some critics attribute that to Fox anchors and pundits cheerleading for the war effort. But Fox says that it's delivering fair and balanced news. Glen Beck, a conservative radio host, makes no such claim and questions those who do.

GLEN BECK: At least I have the honor and integrity to stand up and say you know what -- I'm doing this for ratings! I'm doing this to - so you will buy stuff on the commercials! That's why I show up to work every day! Otherwise, if I wasn't getting ratings, if I wasn't selling commercials, I got news for you -- the company would fire me! [ON ECHO MICROPHONE] "But they need to be fair and balanced." Bull crap! You're doing it for ratings.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: And it seems to be paying off, according to Tom Mocarsky, vice president of communications for Arbitron. He's been looking at preliminary data on war coverage in a Philadelphia test market for Arbitron's new portable people meter survey.

THOM MOCARSKY: Glen Beck. His audience in the first week of the war was up 41 percent. Rush Limbaugh --his audience was up 23 percent. And then a, a local Philadelphia talk show host, Michael Smerkonish [sp?], his audience was up 29 percent.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: Mocarsky says radio in general is drawing more audience in wartime, but he says the challenge for a station is to exploit the heightened interest for war coverage to grow and hold on to its audience. That's true not only for Philadelphia's WPHT where the Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh shows air. Arbitron's Mocarsky says one of the city's public stations is working just as hard to appeal to its core audience on the FM side of the dial.

THOM MOCARSKY: If you look at the ratings for the NPR affiliate in Philadelphia, you'll see that the Morning Edition has nearly doubled. You'll see that there is a doubling of radio listening in the noontime hour when people break for lunch.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: Public radio prides itself on growing audience with more analysis and in-depth coverage -- an intellectual approach. Meanwhile, Mike McVay's clients go for the ratings gold by unabashedly going for the emotion.

MIKE McVAY: I believe that the National Anthem is good whether you're for the war or not. I believe that the Pledge of Allegiance is good whether you're for the war or not. And right now those patriotic things are good for radio stations, and, and they do mirror the communities.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: Kent State Professor Tim Smith says exploiting patriotism may win the ratings battle for the hearts and minds of media consumers, but not the war.

TIM SMITH: I think if you attempt to take advantage of a particular situation you run the risk of offending people who can tell that you are in fact doing just that. So you run a risk when you attempt to play patriotic music that you would ordinarily never consider playing. [CHER SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM UP & UNDER] People aren't stupid.

VIVIAN GOODMAN: In Kent Ohio, for On the Media, I'm Vivian Goodman.

CHER: [SINGING] AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE, THE BRAVE, THE BRAVE-- [BLUEGRASS VERSION OF NATIONAL ANTHEM]