Funny...I've had more unsatisfying meals at the Outback's and such than at a local Anthony Jack's (a Southington restaurant) type eatery. I prefer a place called Ragozinno's, a deli here in Plantsville to any McDonald's. You get better quality, more nutrious food at the same price (maybe a few cents higher) than eating at McDonald's. When you go to McDonald's, many times you have to deal with teenagers who can barley add in their head (and now, more and more language barriers). When I go to the deli, I get a competant server who knows more about the meats in his store than the teenagers at McDonald's know about Paris Hilton. Everytime I try a "new" McDonald's I wonder if it will be ANY good...when I try a "new" deli, I am rarely worried about the quality. And I know that if I am unsatisfied, the deli will go above and beyond to earn my service. At McDonald's, if they mess up your order...they act like it's your fault that they put a fish burger in your bag instead of the chicken you ordered. And then you have to worry that they spit on the replacement meal.
Anyway..huge success in radio at least starts with Marketing. Rush wasn't born with all his listeners. It took many years and a ton of marketing to get stations to pick him up and to get people to listen. And as more people started listening...and as he added stations, he was developing his skills. In the mean time as they added those new stations, and added more listeners they were able to add advertisers, which in turn generates revenue to hire consultants to help polish the rough edges. Yes, it is marketing.
I have had many people tell me how tired they are of Rush, but there are few alternatives. Here in Hartford, TIC has it locked up because you can't really hear WELI, or WICC in most of the areas that TIC reaches; they aren't as listenable but TIC's signal is listeneable in those areas the smaller stations cover. So, by default people listen whether they like it or not. And in many cases, as it was with WXCT, people are such creatures of habit, they were not aware we were Talk too. So without a massive ad budget like CBS has to promote the station, we had to rely on word of mouth to "change peoples habits". And many people were finding us simply because they were scanning the dial because they were tired of "the polished hosts". You have to understand how advertising works to really understand that a friend telling a friend ONCE about "a new station" isn't enough to change the habit of a 30+ year old. However, repititiously seeing billboards, newpaper ads, cross promotion on the FM's, and TV ads can actually influence a person's behaviour. People just know, because of years of marketing, that they can turn to TIC for certain things; TIC has the position because they have been at it so long. Again, they win by default, not because the talent is necessarily better. Tell me, can Rush, Hannity et al interview without a script? Can they listen to their guest (or callers) and derive their next question spontaneously? Can there actually be a conversation instead of a series of "sound bytes" that were decided on at the prep meeting?
Also, the local hosts don't have the types of resources Rush has to make such a "great" show. Rush is tapping in to millions of callers across the country, so it is easier to pick and choose who you will put on the air. On a local level, you have less listeners to pool from, plus you want it to be the local point of view, even if it means putting on someone who has stage fright and stutters to get their point out. It's local, not over-produced. But I'm sure some local hosts could benefit from some constructive criticism.
I can agree that many people do have a low tolerance for unprofessionalism. I do not know of the hosts you are comparing to. But again, I have to go back to marketing and say that because there is so much in marketing such hosts as Rush, Beck, Miller, Ingraham, etc the companies can afford coaches and consultants to "direct" the show and give it the homogenized sound that seems to appeal to so many Americans. Think about pop music. It's the same thing. Make it generic, cookie cutter because we know it will sell. Not because it is truely better quality. But on the local level there isn't alot of money available for "talent development", and in some cases the ego is so big, that the talent isn't willing to take the criticism.
I don't knock Rush, Hannity, Beck et al's success. They have worked hard for where they are, and deserve their success. So please don't misunderstand. When you reach a certain level of success, you are expected to perform and you must do what is necessary. There was a time when Rush was more entertaining. As the audience grew the expectations changed, and in order to "deliver" he had to become more bland and less colorful in order to sell himself to as many people as possible. After all it is about money. Just because more people listen doesn't mean it's better quality. It just means, more people listen. More people are apt to slow down and "rubberneck" a grewsome accident than to slow down and "rubberneck" God's great creation. But which is better quality?
