del_griffith said:
I'm not a huge Joel fan. But last year at at a similar time, WTVN had a 7.8 share in April of '12. Has he had hosted the show 5 months by that time. Joel hasn't gotten worse over the past year. And there's been no new competition in the arena since WMNI flipped to news which has been nothing but a farce. Almost half the audience didn't leave TVN for MNI.
I don’t think things deteriorate so quickly. It was one thing to listen to BC in the morning, there was just something soothing about hearing a guy who’s been on the radio for almost 50 years in the same city. It wasn’t so much what he said, but what he didn’t say that made him so appealing. And when he did say something political, it was usually on the money when it comes to the pulse of what flies in Columbus.
I think people have certain ingrained habits from the last ten or fifteen years of being a news-talk station. The momentum keeps going for a while, but then drops off over time. If you think back to any failing company … Big Bear didn’t fail right away. It took about 10 years for the mismanagement to sink in. General Motors didn’t, either. It took a generation to sink from 50% market share to bankruptcy.
Speaking of General Motors, I think that is the perfect analogy for what is going on with Clear Channel right now. GM ALWAYS had the ability to build world class vehicles, they just couldn’t afford to because of all of their obligations. Between the unions, the retirements, and the health care, the only way they could keep it all going was by cutting costs. They kept cutting costs to make their nut, and the only way to do that was by cheapening the product. Cheapened product resulted in lower sales, and the cycle kept feeding upon itself right down to 18% market share and bankruptcy. You can see the same thing going on with WTVN right now running at just half the ratings they once had.
At least they brought back Johnny Hill to do traffic during peak periods. At least it’s not outsourced to Detroit and Cleveland during those times.
Back to Joel.
If you ask me, I think WTVN should follow what has always worked in TV around here. Our most polished TV anchors (Kristen Hartman, Bob Kendrick, Doug Adair, Mona Scott, Jim Finnerty, Tom Lawrence, and others too numerous to mention) are rejects that came from bigger markets. They were memorable because they were so polished. Doug Adair reading the news to me was like Pavarotti singing opera. They should find the most polished TV anchor reject they can find and put him on the radio in the morning, if they can afford him. Bruce Kirk (remember him? – WNCI and WTVN-TV) was doing that after his TV days were over … maybe Pat Lalama is getting desperate for work but she may be too big time. Dean Mucchio on WLW (WTVN at nights) sounds great to me but I guess he used to be a big-time announcer.
del_griffith said:
You also noted: I think the sweet spot in political radio right now would be someone with more Rand Paul-style views (small government, low taxes, stop being the world's policeman). If people are turned off by Levin and Beck, or maybe not turned on by Levin or Beck, why would they want someone ever more libertarian than these two guys.
(Tangent alert!!! … sorry to go on the following tangent, but I think it gives people some idea of why these guys don’t resonate anymore.)
I think there politically there is a changing of the guards going on right now. For example, I am a Reagan-type voter. I believe in small government and low taxes for a number of reasons too numerous to mention here, but the biggest reason being that if you take everything someone makes and decide how its spent for them, that means you take away their chance to get ahead in life.
Take health care, for example. If I’m in my 20’s, I don’t need to spend $2,500 to $5,000 for health care. That money can be used to for a lot of fun at that time of my life. Of if I’m ambitious, maybe I save that money or use it to start a business or buy a duplex. Instead, of throwing it at other people so that it can get consumed. This is why the more money you take away from people, the less opportunity they have to get ahead.
I also care about the plight of the middle class. Some of the decimation of the middle class is from the natural course of events that couldn’t be stopped. You simply have way too many people out there making $12 just barely scraping by. I think ignorance from both parties and their catering to what Wall Street wants as opposed to catering to the nuts and bolts of what people need to make a living has exacerbated this problem.
But I digress … talk radio and the media in general are still fighting battles from the last generation. I just turned 50 … I don’t care about abortion, or the Cold War, or Israel, or fighting Muslims, or gay marriage or anything else that seems to animate the national powers. I want a prosperous economy, money in the bank and food in my tummy!
Levin … is one of these neocons that sent us on a fruitless expedition in Iraq. Beck … and sorry if this offends anybody … but I don’t want to hear some fallen Catholic talking about God and wearing his new-found Mormonism on his sleeve on the radio three hours a day. Again, sorry if this offends anybody, but that’s what makes him unlistenable. He was much better as a funny guy on WFLA than he is as a budding media mogul who takes himself too seriously.
Bottom line is that the hot button issues of either the right or left don’t resonate with the average person. It’s time for someone with some more populist leanings (but with radio talent) and that’s why Rand Paul is kind of near where I see the sweet spot these days.
del_griffith said:
… but over the years the show was WAY stale. I have no love for the car show, but was listening a few weekends ago and it was mentioned they were the #2 show in their time slot. I had a dream several months ago that Bob returned to Sat Open Phones to give some class once again. But honestly, even under him, it had deteriorated.
As for WTAM, they seem to be suffering the same fate as WTVN.
You may be right about WTVN and SMOP, but I think the local element is important. I like hearing the local guy, whether it’s the funny DJ from the 1960’s through the 1990’s or just the impeccably polished broadcaster that is interesting to listen to simply because he just so good at what he does.
Running local talent only during peak hours simply kills station momentum in my opinion. It would be like Kroger being open only from 4 pm to 8 pm because those are the only hours where they make money.
Nu_Roo_2 said:
Interesting thoughts about the state of talk radio. One station that has slipped a lot over the past year is WIBC Indianapolis, even though it is on a strong FM signal and -- I believe -- provides a fair amount of local content and hasn't cut the news staff as much as other news-talkers.
Also -- while I haven't seen the data -- it would seem that talkers' reliance on TSL would put them at an even bigger disadvantage in PPM markets. Plus, all of them have to deal with increased agency do-not-buy dictates regardle
Their content simply isn’t very interesting anymore. Rush Limbaugh is an institution, but the rest of them are bores. This whole syndication thing has played itself out, in my opinion. It not only isn’t very entertaining anymore, but this 20 years of yapping has resulted in very little politically to show for it. I think people have simply thrown their hands up and don’t care anymore.
