• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Anyone listen to Tom Leykis these days

W

westfield60

I've always been skeptical about the viability of Podcasting and Internet Radio no matter how many LA Times articles would be published praising the purported success of Adam Carolla or Tom Leykis. So I decided to check out Tom Leykis who admittingly I used to religiously tune to his terrestrial show. What I observed is exactly why I am skeptical about Internet radio. It sounded like a mom and pop operation. The Commericals were from local dives, the music was generic, the news was from the so called screener and producer and worst of all was the incessant begging from the host that if they didn't get enough paid subscribers then the show would end. This was something that Brian Whitman and Tim Conway Jr used to daily threaten the listeners with when they had their short lived podcast.

I do understand the financial aspect of running a radio show, but the begging and threats is so stomach churning. These people are resourceful enough to go find advertisers without having to threaten the listeners and offer ultimatums. I hate to be told by the millionaire hosts that they have lots of other offers, but they are doing Internet Radio just for you, so you better subscribe otherwise they are leaving.

I couldn't take it.
 
..."local dives"? "Music was generic"? "Begging [for] subscribers"? You obviously never bothered to listen to Leykis' online show in the first place...
 
Yeah I don't know what show he's talking about either. Tom's show is a hell of a lot better than you seem to give him credit for -- certainly better than anything else on the actual airwaves these days -- but you obviously prefer the inherent lameness of AM talk radio doing exactly the same thing they've been doing for decades (like incessant right-wing shouting and 20 minutes of home-refi and colon blow spots every hour...)
 
Dave Atonement said:
Yeah I don't know what show he's talking about either. Tom's show is a hell of a lot better than you seem to give him credit for -- certainly better than anything else on the actual airwaves these days -- but you obviously prefer the inherent lameness of AM talk radio doing exactly the same thing they've been doing for decades (like incessant right-wing shouting and 20 minutes of home-refi and colon blow spots every hour...)
Click to expand...

Must be what the public prefers too because KFI is the number one rated talk station and Tom's show is available online somewhere if one chooses to seek it out like an Easter egg.
 
KFI is fortunate Leykis is available only online, because if he were competing against them (on any station with a full-market signal) they would lose, by a significant margin.
 
Dave Atonement said:
KFI is fortunate Leykis is available only online, because if he were competing against them (on any station with a full-market signal) they would lose, by a significant margin.
Click to expand...

I agree. Robin must be quivering in her boots even as we speak as she ponders the horror that could come to the station from such formidable future competition.
 
...don't kid yourselves, 'Flipper and 'Field. Leykis has more listeners worldwide than John&Ken draw in SoCal any afternoon you can pick...
 
Actually the purpose of my post was not intended to bash Tom Leykis since I too was/am a fan of his. But it was to discuss whether podcasting or internet radio really is as big and viable a competitor to terrestrial radio as the bloggers and media tend to say it is. I don’t know.

Listening to Leykis, or FHF when they had their podcast, you sense that these people really are just doing this until they can get a real gig on terrestrial radio. Sure Leykis may have more listeners than John and Ken, but that doesn’t mean anything if the guy can’t sustain it financially. The ugly truth is that Radio is business first.

However in looking at the pathetic state of terrestrial talk radio today it would be a welcome to have some real competitors that would spur the Robin’s and Jack Silvers to do something more exciting and relevant rather than fill the air with useless folks like Larry Elder, Tim Conway Jr, David Cruz etc. But until the world of Podcasting and Internet radio gets registered in the ratings then program directors will continue to hide in their bunkers thinking the crap they are putting out is welcomed by the public.
 
SuperRadioFan said:
Well then why isn't TL on cable TV? Or why not go the Steve Harvey route if there are so many interested?
Click to expand...

A. Same reason you'll never hear Howard Stern's show on terrestrial radio again -- neither Leykis or Stern want to have the content of their programs hamstrung by the Federal Communications Corruption or sponsors and local station managers who have yellow streaks down their backs.

B. Leykis has also repeatedly stated he will never take a pay cut demanded by non-broadcasters who luck out and weasel themselves into the radio business and then use the "saved" money to pack into their own golden parachutes.

C. Leykis has specified that he wants The New Normal to be sponsored and subscribed to by fans of his program who are much more likely to support what he does with his program. He has, in fact, placed some further restrictions on what he'll accept as sponsorship; he's already stated on-air that he won't take advertising from medical marijuana dispensaries, for example.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom