John Batchelor premiered on WTKK last night; sampled a bit of it. It's debatable as to whether it can
be considered a talk show; in terms of "only a talk show if listeners call in" it isn't, as there are no
call ins (or they're discouraged)--though Sliwa's show was pretty much also the host and guests but
callers were rare. But if you consider "hosts plus guests" as talk, then it is. Wikipedia's entry for
Batchelor actually calls it a "Radio News Magazine"
And this NY Times piece says the show isn't full of hollering people, it's more sedate and erudite...
and might be considered "BBC without the British accents" or "NPR on Drugs".
>>He does not stray far from the political leanings of Laura Ingraham and some of his other WABC counterparts. But in a landscape of radio often dominated by shouting, Mr. Batchelor's show has enjoyed the rare distinction of being a source of sophisticated — and at times impossibly erudite — political debate and quirky subject matter. Mr. Batchelor, 57, has described his show as the BBC without British accents, but others in the world of talk radio have referred to it as NPR on drugs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/19wepers.html?_r=1
So in other words, no "what's the latest on Tiger?" No death pools, crusading against uni-health-care
or against the war(s). Some may find it interesting--not quite what I'd like but who knows.
Supposedly his weekend shows on WABC got boffo ratings and they expanded it to weeknights
(sorry, Curtis). For now it's 7 nights/wk but will shrink to 6 eventually.
And the bumper music is unexpected, too; tense pieces from movie soundtracks, maybe classical?
Not exactly "In Da Club" (Sliwa), "Mississippi Queen" (Carr), or "Smashing A Perfectly Good Guitar"
(Ingraham)
be considered a talk show; in terms of "only a talk show if listeners call in" it isn't, as there are no
call ins (or they're discouraged)--though Sliwa's show was pretty much also the host and guests but
callers were rare. But if you consider "hosts plus guests" as talk, then it is. Wikipedia's entry for
Batchelor actually calls it a "Radio News Magazine"
And this NY Times piece says the show isn't full of hollering people, it's more sedate and erudite...
and might be considered "BBC without the British accents" or "NPR on Drugs".
>>He does not stray far from the political leanings of Laura Ingraham and some of his other WABC counterparts. But in a landscape of radio often dominated by shouting, Mr. Batchelor's show has enjoyed the rare distinction of being a source of sophisticated — and at times impossibly erudite — political debate and quirky subject matter. Mr. Batchelor, 57, has described his show as the BBC without British accents, but others in the world of talk radio have referred to it as NPR on drugs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/19wepers.html?_r=1
So in other words, no "what's the latest on Tiger?" No death pools, crusading against uni-health-care
or against the war(s). Some may find it interesting--not quite what I'd like but who knows.
Supposedly his weekend shows on WABC got boffo ratings and they expanded it to weeknights
(sorry, Curtis). For now it's 7 nights/wk but will shrink to 6 eventually.
And the bumper music is unexpected, too; tense pieces from movie soundtracks, maybe classical?
Not exactly "In Da Club" (Sliwa), "Mississippi Queen" (Carr), or "Smashing A Perfectly Good Guitar"
(Ingraham)
