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CONSERVATIVE programmers are a disgrace

C

cm454

They have turned many of this nation's biggest talk stations into audio recruiting posters for the Republican/conservative party.

Most people don't dwell on politics from one end of the day to the other, so why must radio talk?

Many have numbers because that fringe has been catered to by many of these stations for so long, that there is this false impression that no other style will suffice.

There are plenty of shows/hosts who can magae to discuss a multitude of subjects without looking through the political prism to do it.

The ill-informed think that the Limbaugh clones aree all that will work. Well, with the current (and shrinking) audience that you have dedicated your programming to for so long now, I grant you that for those who enjoy a constant political drumbeat, this will work...for a while.

Here's to a successful FM talk format that has the sustantive qualities of traditional talk, without the one-dimensional political choir-preaching.

More vibrant, less stuffy talk has a future, it's just that those who have attempted FM talk never seemed to understand that T&A talk is NOT the future of FM talk.

JV & Elvis? Leslie Gold? They had to be kidding.
 
Conserva-clone radio has been downtrending for years. It has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with the lack of creativity and imagination. The good news is that things are getting so bad now that soon a lot of managers will be desperate enough to try anything, even (gasp!) non-political talk... :eek:
 
Of course, firing local employees en masse as Citadel is doing right now, and other chains have done, will for the short term ensure more syndication and probably more conservaclones. The question is, when does it reach the breaking point?
 
smedge2006 said:
Of course, firing local employees en masse as Citadel is doing right now, and other chains have done, will for the short term ensure more syndication and probably more conservaclones. The question is, when does it reach the breaking point?
Click to expand...

That, Smedge m'man, is the $64,000,000 question... ;D
 
Can you give us some expamples of topics which would would work in place of politics / current events? Who can you name as good hosts? You weren't referring to, I hope:
1.) Whoopi Goldberg,
2.) The Young Turks,
3.) Free-FM,
4.) Joan Hamburg telling us secrets of the best florists in New York and who has a trunk sale coming up
5.) Ed Walsh in his WOR days
6.) The old Broadway guy on WOR who used to do a Saturday night show reminiscing about how he joked with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland at some long-defunct bar. He may be available.
7.) Please don't stick us with dull topics such as the home gardening show, money talk, home repair talk,
8.) No radio cooking shows where people call in with recipes they remember half of. (Have a listen Fay Middleton on "The Food Schmooze" some time - "I found a great recipe using goat cheese I will share with you after we talk about the new dessert menu at one of my favorite restaurants, and why everyone won't use quality chocolate in their torts.").
You will be begging to say "Bush" to Rush or Schultz.
 
Jimme said:
Can you give us some expamples of topics which would would work in place of politics / current events?
Click to expand...

You don't get it.

So many of these agenda hosts always filter whatever they're talking about through a politcal filter.

It is actually possible to discuss MANY subjects, ALL to do with current events, WITHOUT being a shill for one party or the other. That doesn't mean you don't have an opinion, it just means you don't turn everything into a political issue.

You obviously assume current events means politics. That's absurd. While you can certainly tie politics in to many things, it doesn't need to be the fulcrum of every discussion on any particular current event.

What topics you ask? Open up the newspaper and look. There are pages and pages of them everyday. You just don't HAVE to put a political spin on everything.

Who even does that in daily life? Anyone who does, either has few friends, or socializes in a tight-knit circle of bores.
 
OK..you're the GM and you have to make budget, and you've just inhertited a station with the standard morning news/beck/rush/hannity, savage c&c lineup. How do you blow up this lineup, what do you replace it with and how long do you xpect to remain employed?

OK...UFOs in the daytime. That'll work. How about bringing the astrologers back?
 
gr8oldies said:
OK..you're the GM and you have to make budget, and you've just inhertited a station with the standard morning news/beck/rush/hannity, savage c&c lineup. How do you blow up this lineup, what do you replace it with and how long do you xpect to remain employed?
Click to expand...

I would look for talent that speaks independently of any party agenda, someone who gets the concept that there are plenty of important and interesting topics to discuss/argue WITHOUT having to make everything a political issue. What, you can't discuss anything without implying a liberal or conservative conspiracy? Do the names Clinton, Kennedy, Bush or Cheney have to be worked into EVERY friggin' discussion of EVERY friggin' subject? How boring.

There is this unseemly and unspoken rule now that all is to revolve around politics. It is unreasonable and ultimately out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Americans.

Yes, yes, I know: "But we're just trying to please our customers!" Well, your customer base will continue to shrink over time, because most of talkradio is predictable, monothematic, homogenized and a lot of overly sanctimonious drivel. Whether or not you believe that is true, this IS more or less the reputation the format currently has among those who might be great talk listeners, but won't even give it a try.

You want more listeners? You want to snap that "I don't listen to AM" mentality?

End the borefest.

Find talent that ISN'T trying to immitate Rush Limbaugh.
 
OK..right now you have inherited a format and station that's drawing listeners and advertisers. I'm asking if you are going to take the extreme ratings and revenue hit that blowing up that lineup would entail, and possibly take years to build this fictional, non-partisan, all-opinions-are exactly equal station, if it catches on at all.

Frankly, some of you just need to admit you want no effective rebuttal to liberalism, and talk radio is the only one out there. We frankly have a mainstream media that is so in love with Barrack Obama that they won't ask him any tough questions (even the Clinton campaign is complaining about it...and SNL spoofed it). You want all political opinion filtered through liberals, and the fact that any one could oppose you makes you ill.
 
Even Brian Maloney admits the Citadel collapse is threatening talk radio as a whole. I say it threatens to expose the format's long-term weakness.
 
Has anyone sourced anything about the talk product being the source of their ills?
 
gr8oldies said:
OK..right now you have inherited a format and station that's drawing listeners and advertisers. I'm asking if you are going to take the extreme ratings and revenue hit that blowing up that lineup would entail, and possibly take years to build this fictional, non-partisan, all-opinions-are exactly equal station, if it catches on at all.

Frankly, some of you just need to admit you want no effective rebuttal to liberalism, and talk radio is the only one out there. We frankly have a mainstream media that is so in love with Barrack Obama that they won't ask him any tough questions (even the Clinton campaign is complaining about it...and SNL spoofed it). You want all political opinion filtered through liberals, and the fact that any one could oppose you makes you ill.
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Oldies guy...the format you espouse will get none of my advertising dollars.

I just forked out $1,000 (probably more than your weekly paycheck) to help bring Stephanie Miller to Columbus. And I am working to bring Ed Schultz here in July.

The fact that Phil Boyce's company, Citadel, is following Clear Channel's lead in slashing talented radio people in major markets from employment indicates the format itself is in trouble.

Be thankful you are still working. Because, as you admit, the advertisers rule. And advertisers will not pay overinflated prices for stations who replace local programming with a satellite dish. Meanwhile, WVKO has increased its programming and staff.

Advertisers are the ones responsible for you having a job, Oldies guy. And we are the ones with the power to fire you. Remember that.
 
pbf1 said:
Sean Gilbow said:
(probably more than your weekly paycheck)
Click to expand...


Speak for yourself. Not true, in the case of me and plenty of others here.
Click to expand...

My paycheck can beat yours. That's why I'm the one writing the checks.

But until you are ready to identify yourself, there is no way you can prove me wrong.
 
I really think it is unfair to brand all conservative programmers a disgrace. If you want to know the reason why people like Rush, Hannity,
Savage and the rest remain popular is because when you tell people they are mind-numbed robots because they choose to enjoy the host
of their choice that makes that conservative host more popular. Let me give you an example on the liberal side, when people use Senator
Obama's middle name to make unfair connections in people's minds does that not anger people who might have been undecided between
He and Senator Clinton and sway them towards Senator Obama's side for the fact that certain people are not talking about the issue's but
instead trying to ridicule him because of his name? To be completely honest the more times a post like this appears(which seems to be
too often on the N/T board) it just makes the people you don't like more popular. So if you don't like conservative hosts or conservative
programmers stop giving them free publicity.
 
There are some "conservative" hosts who understand that it's about entertainment; Bob Grant and Willie Cunningham come to mind.
New Jersey 10.5 in Trenton also does a pretty good job across the board. And check out Paul Harris, filling in for Don and Roma on WLS later this week. Paul is a great host whose act transcends all the partisan political nonsense.
 
There are some hosts who are great at transcending partisan political nonsense. Those who don't are either willing shills for the far right conservative movement or ego-driven maniacs (Rush, Cunningham, Savage) who get drunk seeing their name in the headlines.
 
gr8oldies said:
Frankly, some of you just need to admit you want no effective rebuttal to liberalism, and talk radio is the only one out there. We frankly have a mainstream media that is so in love with Barrack Obama that they won't ask him any tough questions (even the Clinton campaign is complaining about it...and SNL spoofed it). You want all political opinion filtered through liberals, and the fact that any one could oppose you makes you ill.
Click to expand...

You really don't get it, do you?

You can't help but invoke the word liberals, because in your narrow world, if someone doesn't think all-conservative all the time is good programming, it must be because they want a liberal filter.

God man, WAKE UP!

It's not about liberal vs. conservative. It's about trying to get the MOST amount of audience to listen to entertaining radio. Slanting all of your programming to one niche is a great way to limit yourself.

When you are narrowminded, you tend to not look at the big picture--which explains why some cannot get past looking at everything through a political (lib vs. conservative) prism.
 
indydood said:
There are some hosts who are great at transcending partisan political nonsense. Those who don't are either willing shills for the far right conservative movement or ego-driven maniacs (Rush, Cunningham, Savage) who get drunk seeing their name in the headlines.
Click to expand...

...or organizations on the Left purposely set up a talk radio lineup loaded with nothing but shills for its own agenda.

Thsi difference between the Rushes, Savages, etc. and the Rhoadeses, Malloys, etc. is that a large number of listeners with disposable incomes listen to them.

While there is a demand out there for mroe balanced political talk (excluding those posters on this thread who are merely upset with the success of Right Talk vs/ Left Talk), hosts who do this still need to be engaging, informative and entertaining. Until such hosts are discovered, funded and produced well, this will not happen.

Are there any talents out there that might fit this bill?
 
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