D
D. R. Tucker
Guest
While conventional wisdom would hold that those who are fans of Howie Carr would regard Tom Finneran with contempt (and vice versa), I’m sure that there are more than a few folks who actually like both hosts, and who will find themselves torn between Carr and Finneran this fall.
Granted, I agree with those who believe that Carr’s show will significantly hurt Finneran in the ratings, but it’s realistic to think that those who have become accustomed to Finneran’s style will not necessarily abandon Finneran for Carr, especially if Carr decides to stick with some of the “fluffier” elements of his current show.
Finneran is surely wise enough to realize that if he has any hope of competing against Howie, he must jettison the idle chatter about his wife, kids, grandchildren, alma mater, etc. and focus more on real issues. I expect that he’ll make an effort to clean up his act over the next eight weeks (or that Jason Wolfe will pressure him to!).
I also expect that WRKO will attempt to lure even more “main-event” guests and guest hosts to appear on “Finneran’s Forum” once Finneran and Carr go head-to-head. I wouldn’t put it past WRKO to begin advertising Finneran’s show as the ONLY morning opinion show that features the big names. Howie didn’t need big names to dominate afternoon drive, and he may not need them in morning drive either, but Finneran’s access to the newsmakers will provide some small degree of advantage.
While there are plenty of folks in the pro-Finneran/anti-Carr and pro-Carr/anti-Finneran camps, what about the ones caught in the middle—those who enjoy both men’s conservative perspectives, those who feel that Finneran did as much to “fight the good fight” as House Speaker as Carr did in his Herald columns and on WRKO? Who will the majority of those listeners choose—that is, if they don’t want to bother going back and forth?
Granted, I agree with those who believe that Carr’s show will significantly hurt Finneran in the ratings, but it’s realistic to think that those who have become accustomed to Finneran’s style will not necessarily abandon Finneran for Carr, especially if Carr decides to stick with some of the “fluffier” elements of his current show.
Finneran is surely wise enough to realize that if he has any hope of competing against Howie, he must jettison the idle chatter about his wife, kids, grandchildren, alma mater, etc. and focus more on real issues. I expect that he’ll make an effort to clean up his act over the next eight weeks (or that Jason Wolfe will pressure him to!).
I also expect that WRKO will attempt to lure even more “main-event” guests and guest hosts to appear on “Finneran’s Forum” once Finneran and Carr go head-to-head. I wouldn’t put it past WRKO to begin advertising Finneran’s show as the ONLY morning opinion show that features the big names. Howie didn’t need big names to dominate afternoon drive, and he may not need them in morning drive either, but Finneran’s access to the newsmakers will provide some small degree of advantage.
While there are plenty of folks in the pro-Finneran/anti-Carr and pro-Carr/anti-Finneran camps, what about the ones caught in the middle—those who enjoy both men’s conservative perspectives, those who feel that Finneran did as much to “fight the good fight” as House Speaker as Carr did in his Herald columns and on WRKO? Who will the majority of those listeners choose—that is, if they don’t want to bother going back and forth?