Are Spots In Right-Wing Talk Shows Not Effective?

[FredLeonard]

I was wondering how long it would take you to trot out the tired old "disgruntled ex-employee" line.

If you want to believe I have some ax to grind in my criticisms of radio, fine. But if you want to play that card, then let's talk about the ax you keep grinding: Hear, see, speak no evil of broadcasting. The industry line is gospel. Everything's fine. Radio will last forever. It is run (and sold by) by brilliant, creative and impeccable human beings.

I can appreciate that back under the former management, posts got deleted and people got banned for disagreeing with your "expertise," so being challenged and confronted must be something of a shock.

I'm flattered you've paid so much attention to obscure references I've made to early parts of my resume. One thing I have learned: Most people in radio are really clueless about how the biz and the medium work.

 

[davideduardo]

I was wondering how long it would take you to trot out the tired old "disgruntled ex-employee" line.

I am simply looking for reasons for why you are so bitter, mean and foul-mouthed about radio broadcasting.

There are a number of possibilities, and I suggested the more likely under the "if you hear hoofbeats" rule.

let's talk about the ax you keep grinding: Hear, see, speak no evil of broadcasting.

Again, you don't read very well. I recognize the problem radio faces in making the transition from steel in the air to new media. We all do. Our solutions vary from company to company, but everyone knows that eventually distribution and reception will involve different systems and devices. Like all new technology, those systems are not static and are still evolving.

But to condemn an industry and its practitioners because everything is not being done the way you envision it is absurd. To take out your irrational dislike of salespeople the industry is insane. And you base your criticisms almost 100% on inaccurate data.

So, rather than "speaking no evil" several of us here are simply correcting your false data.

The industry line is gospel. Everything's fine. Radio will last forever. It is run (and sold by) by brilliant, creative and impeccable human beings.

Radio will go on longer than any of us will be around. But it will evolve. In the listener's mind, XMSirius is radio. Pandora is radio. Uforia is radio. Podcasts are radio. And all of us are moving, albeit at different speeds, toward full new media distribution of our content.

And, for the most part, radio is run, sold and programmed by smart, honest and creative people.

I can appreciate that back under the former management, posts got deleted and people got banned for disagreeing with your "expertise," so being challenged and confronted must be something of a shock.

I don't know of anyone who got banned for disagreeing with me. I know, simply by seeing them disappear, that rude, profane and ad hominem filled posts were deleted or "taken outside" more often in the past. Obviously, self control does not come easy when bitter is the plate of the day for those like you.

I'm flattered you've paid so much attention to obscure references I've made to early parts of my resume. One thing I have learned: Most people in radio are really clueless about how the biz and the medium work.

As usual, a broad tar-and-feathers statement with no example, even at the anecdotal level, and no facts.

 

[davideduardo]

At most companies I've worked in, including one radio station, most people knew how their department worked. Few understood the entire business. I'll wager that most of the top selling recording artists don't know how the machine that stamps out CDs works. I'll wager that Walter Cronkite couldn't disassemble and reassemble a broadcast TV camera. Howard Stern probably doesn't know how to put a satellite in orbit, not in the detail needed to actually build and launch a rocket.

Your examples are all related to machines and hardware. I believe the reference was to how the industry as a whole "worked" and not the inner workings of the devices that assist us in creating content.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Your examples are all related to machines and hardware. I believe the reference was to how the industry as a whole "worked" and not the inner workings of the devices that assist us in creating content.

Example of people who do a job sans hardware expertise. 20 years ago. I am parading around pretending to be a competent Systems Analyst in a project being built on an IBM heavy-iron main-frame using IDMS-ADSO. Never mind that IDMS is fast going out of favor and we may be the ONLY shop in this significant mid-western city using the ancient concept. Every week 3 geniuses are flown into our town, put in the hotel for the week, fed, and flown back home. And paid top-dollar consulting rates. I am occupying the cubicle next to one of the geniuses. He looks like Jerry Colona from the radio comedy broadcasts of the 1940s. I'm not sure he could tie his shoelaces. He had one of those new-fangled Lap-Top thingies and he couldn't figure out how to put a diskette in the slot.

So he and I had a deal. I tied his shoes when needed. I inserted and copied 3-1/2" "floppies" when appropriate, I explained to him where he might find a new restaurant for his evening meal, and he proceeded to tell me about the day when he was on the team that created the IDMS-ADSO data base concept years earlierl And why they created it. Philosophically he knew now programming code should be different than if you were using the then hot item call DB2 for the IBM 390s etc, and he could give management a philosophical justification for NOT buying the latest state-of-the-art main-frame hard drives and why they should buy addition OLD STYLE drives while they were still available.

But I had to tie his shoe laces, and insert floppy disks for him.

I don't care if a salesman cannot figure out how to turn on the radio in his car and how to insert a CD in the drive. If he can sell advertising... he's gold.

Same for the GM of the station. I don't care if he wouldn't recognize a transmitter final tube if he tripped over it in the hall way. If he can manage and direct people and make business decisions.... he's gold.

 

[davideduardo]

Same for the GM of the station. I don't care if he wouldn't recognize a transmitter final tube if he tripped over it in the hall way. If he can manage and direct people and make business decisions.... he's gold.

I've known several engineers with various versions of this story:

The engineer works in a tight budgetary situation for any new gear or even supplies. He knows the GM is engineering challenged. So he keeps a badly burnt out large final tube in the shop. The tube looks "big enough" to be worth $3 or $4 thousand. When there is some urgent need in engineering, the tube is lugged in and put on the GM's desk, hopefully shedding some burnt metal flakes in the process. "Boss, the transmitter took another lightening hit. Need a tube. It is $3,700 plus shipping. Gotta' get it today because there is no backup." Boss, not wanting to seem ignorant, says, "Boy, that one got wiped out pretty badly. Order the new one fast!"

Of course, most transmitters don't have tubes today, but a crispy PA module will work just as well.

And the station stays on the air and the GM goes back to making sales happen.

 

[Avid Listener]

Your examples are all related to machines and hardware. I believe the reference was to how the industry as a whole "worked" and not the inner workings of the devices that assist us in creating content.

Even at that, I doubt if many of the actors on television know how business deals are structured. I doubt if many of the ordinary radio on-air personalities on most stations pay any real attention to the business end of things. Some do, certainly. But not everyone working in radio wants to one day be a suit. For many people working in radio, it's an entry level position in show business, and their ambitions are for better jobs as entertainers, not as bean counters.

I don't care if a salesman cannot figure out how to turn on the radio in his car and how to insert a CD in the drive. If he can sell advertising... he's gold.

Same for the GM of the station. I don't care if he wouldn't recognize a transmitter final tube if he tripped over it in the hall way. If he can manage and direct people and make business decisions.... he's gold.

And if an on-air personality can crack open the mic and make an audience laugh and tune back in to hear him the next day, even if he doesn't have a clue about how the financials work at the station --- he's gold.

 

[Small Market Guy]

I am simply looking for reasons for why you are so bitter, mean and foul-mouthed about radio broadcasting.

The obvious answer is that he's just a bitter racist a-hole.

 

[davideduardo]

The obvious answer is that he's just a bitter racist a-hole.

What is amusing... or perhaps just sad... is that in another part of the board he said he had decided to put me on ignore. This, of course was after I corrected totally incorrect ratings data on KYW in the Philadelphia and Wilmington markets and an intermediate response in which he questioned my access to the data I posted and said I was probably making stuff up.

He has posted an almost non-stop run of inaccurate / wrong / incorrect data to support his belief that radio is dead and that both internal research procedures and syndicated radio ratings are fatally flawed.

 

[willdav713]

What's questionable about all this is the idea of true progressives dining in and hanging out at red meat, expense account joint like Ruth's Chris. Not that one would expect to find Archie Bunker - teabagger types there, or in any place with white table cloths. And it's the dittohead and dummy demo that listens to right-wing talk - not real Wall Street and country club Republicans, who frequent establishments with wine lists.

Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor was a liberal. As liberal as James Taylor. Both talented people whose viewpoints I disagree with, though I might agree with them 5 percent of the time. White table clothes? Are you suggesting the Tea Party is part of the KKK? Country Club Republicans? No way, those are the establishment type known as RINOS. (Republicans in Name Only)

I don't think that I would see a real progressive at a Ruth Chris or any steakhouse because remember eating cattle destroys the planet in the eyes of a progressive, or maybe I am confused?????

 

[Small Market Guy]

I don't think that I would see a real progressive at a Ruth Chris or any steakhouse because remember eating cattle destroys the planet in the eyes of a progressive, or maybe I am confused?????

There are plenty of bed wetting liberals that eat meat. And I'm sure they go to Ruth's Chris as much as anyone else.

 

[Avid Listener]

There are plenty of bed wetting liberals that eat meat. And I'm sure they go to Ruth's Chris as much as anyone else.

The so-called "limousine liberals" are a well recognized segment of society who spout all of the liberal cliches while living lives of conspicuous consumption. Just as well known as a group, though not as individuals, are the hippie throwbacks who choose a life of "off-the-grid" poverty, alongside the right wing survivalists who lead an almost identical lifestyle, save for the possession of self-defense tools and an emphasis on the hunter portion of the "hunter/gatherer" lifestyle.

Perhaps the most misleading practice we engage in is slicing and dicing humanity far too coarsely. Almost every statement that attempts to micro-define terms like liberal or conservative, or the even less useful "right and left" single axis division, is going to be wrong.

I spent some time learning about the science of taxonomy in describing life forms on earth. I learned the mnemonic Kings Play Cards On Friday, Generally Speaking to be able to keep straight Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. And, I remembered to throw in Variety at the end, even though it's not on the mnemonic. Divisions like "liberal" and "conservative" are almost as coarse as dividing all life forms into "Plant" and "Animal". It's only truly useful if taken through the entire system. An oak tree and a rosebush are both plants, but they're so different from each other than few useful conclusions can be made from identifying that they're both parts of the same kingdom.

The thing is, a radio station that gets only one in 20 listeners to tune it in is considered a successful station. Get one in twenty listeners, and you should sell plenty of commercials, yet 95% of your potential audience is ignoring you! I think it's safe to say that even if liberals and conservatives were evenly split 50/50, a conservative talk show that only got 5% of the total audience, meaning 10% of the total conservative audience, would still have enough listeners who like expensive steaks and could afford an expensive restaurant to make a Ruth's Chris ad effective. And, I'll wager that the same would be true if a station got 10% of the liberal audience as well.