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Could the election results shift talk radio's approach?

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b-turner said:
Dondd - can you eliminate the political name calling, ie: Sean "Stupid" Hannity. You make a post political in doing so and it's minimizes your credibility.
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We are all skating close to the edge of the "this has more to do with political arguing than with broadcasting" line. Please exercise caution.
 
gr8oldies said:
You're living in the world of 20 years ago. It's a myth that the New York Times is all Democrat, all-the-time. Have you seen liberal criticism of Maggie Halbertson? There's even a parody account called "New York Times Pitchbot" spoofing their sanewashed headlines, papering over some of Trump's unhinged rants. It's been argued they led the charge for Biden's ouster. The Washington Post's ownership spikes the Post's planned endorsement of Vice President Harris. A day later Jeff Bezos and Trump met. The Los Angeles Times also spiked its endorsement of Harris, as well as a week of stories about the dangers of Trump 2.0.

A lot of the right-wing memes and stories you see originate with Russian troll farms, then are picked up by Fox, talk radio and your Mom on Facebook. Then enter Elon Musk. Meidas Touch and David Pakman are no matched for podcasters being funded from Russia through Tenet Media.
www.nbcnews.com

How Elon Musk amplified content from a suspected Russian election interference plot

Musk, apparently unaware of the company’s Russia funding source, engaged with content from Tenet Media and its creators at least 60 times.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com
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Point taken on WA Post and LA Times not endorsing anyone. However, I haven't seen any evidence that either paper is turning into OANN.

I never said either the NYT or WA Post were all liberal, all the time. They're actually center left. That's because they're real news media. They're not organs of either party. But the fact that they do have opinion pages that criticize Trump (as many other media outlets do -- The Atlantic being a classic example) indicates that the Democrats do have a lot of voices in the major news media ecosphere, and there are plenty of Democrat leaning and progressive internet podcast outlets also.

I'm not living in the world of 20 years ago. Just look at the podcast subscription numbers. Liberal ones have subscribers, and a lot of them. The info is out there.

I've never heard of the three conservative podcasters mentioned in the story you linked. They obviously are pretty low on the media totem pole. And that seems to be backed up by the subscriber numbers. After looking up some stats, Pool has 1.3 million subscribers, and Rubin has about 2.5 million. Pakman alone has 2.7 million subscribers, more than either of the conservative podcasters brought up in the article you linked. DemocracyNow has 2.4 Million subscribers, also outnumbering, or at least matching them. Meidas Touch has 3.3 Million subscribers, outnumbering the Tenet podcasters. TYT -- The Young Turks -- have over 6 Million subscribers, far outnumbering the Tenet podcasters. The Justice Democrats YT channel has 8.1 Million subscribers. The Other 98%, a progressive organization which has sent out a lot of memes on FB, has over 7 million followers there -- more followers (getting their memes and info) than TYT has subscribers.

Like I said, there is a Democratic / progressive media ecosphere. If there are Democrats who either aren't aware of its actual reach, or think that the Democratic and progressive media ecosphere is ineffective, it's not because the media isn't out there.

To veer this back towards radio, I think that radio is going to stay pretty much the way it has been over the past decade and a half. What we've been discussing here over the past handful of posts has been mostly internet and print/online print media, and unfortunately since the demise of Air America there hasn't been a counterpoint to conservative talk radio. I think that the continued erosion of Radio and TV consumers towards online podcasting will still proceed.
 
mightynine said:
As for talk radio, it'll continue to talk to the one audience it's always talking to, while giving empty platitudes that "all are welcome" while they happily slam, slander and vilify anyone who does not walk the Trump line, while shilling limp-you-know-what pills and GOLD GOLD GOLD.
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...and that audience is getting older and smaller by the day.

And, so are the older generation of hosts. Salem has the geriatric all-stars of conservative talk: Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager and Larry Elder, all of whom are on the south side of 70. (Elder recently reclaimed his show from 37-year-old Brandon Tatum, who took over when Elder decided to "save" California and run for governor after the Gavin Newsom recall.) Another Salem host, Mike Gallagher, is 64. I'd be very surprised to hear all four still on the mic come Nov. 7, 2028 (the date of the next Presidential election).

Prager will probably be the first to go, as his most recent contract renewal with Salem allowed him to cut his show down from three hours to two, which he said would give him more time to write books–in other words, he's greasing the skids for a soft retirement landing.

As for Sean Hannity (also now in his mid-60s), I'm surprised he still keeps his radio show at this point. My understanding is that it's mostly in the can and rarely airs live, because of his prep for TV. I want to say he may give up radio first, but probably not. After all, he's both BFF and neighbor to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and loves both his bully pulpits to prop him up.

And on the other side...will Stephanie Miller and/or Thom Hartmann make it through the next four years? Will Amy Goodman pass the "Democracy Now!" torch to a younger generation? Will Cenk Uygur (mid-50s) still be on "The Young Turks" every day, and with a newer, younger female co-host?

We shall see. With no disrespect intended, this may very well be the Baby Boomers' Last Stand–both in politics and political talk radio.
 
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I think your post raises a good point in that after a protracted period of intense political activity you'd think that people would burn out on that and want to talk about something else. I would think there would be a place for someone like the late Doug Hoerth in Pittsburgh, doing an eclectic show covering a broad array of non-political topics. Could that work? It's been awhile.
 

Could the election results shift talk radio's approach?​

I'd like that to happen... some less emphasis on all-politics-all-the-time.

Art Bell - one of the greatest hosts ever who make most of today's partisan right-wingers look like pikers -- pegged it in the 1990s. He asked a listener how often he and his family spend a day talking politics. An hour? Nope.

He could feel the creep to narrow programming and didn't like it.
I don't either.

When I listened to talk radio in the 1990s very heavily, I didn't get a chip on my shoulder or my nose out of joint if I didn't agree with the host. So what? He/she could have other views.

Would I go cryin' and b'ing to the station's PD and tell them they should censor and remove the host, merely because I don't hold the hosts' views?

Today's PD's wear blinders. They're infected with the malady that all listeners want to hear is their own hatreds and prejudices.
 
Dondd said:
Today's PD's wear blinders. They're infected with the malady that all listeners want to hear is their own hatreds and prejudices.
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That's not the way it works.

Talk is driven by ratings and research. PDs try to give the available listeners content they would spend some regular time listening to.
 
There won't be any change.
When one conservative host dies or leaves, they're replaced with another RNC clone who goes little beyond the party line.
Others are rarely considered.

It's like a factory mold.
"Democrats, "lefties," never Trumper Rs and non-Rs need not apply."
 
DavidEduardo said:
That's not the way it works.

Talk is driven by ratings and research. PDs try to give the available listeners content they would spend some regular time listening to.
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Ok but don’t you think the even maga audience might also enjoy listening to different views at least sometimes on conservative talk radio also? I barely even hear any callers that disagree…. Are the people who are in charge of these shows directing the call screeners to not even allow them on if they have differing views I wonder.
 
Syfy said:
Are the people who are in charge of these shows directing the call screeners to not even allow them on if they have differing views I wonder.
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It's up to the host. Call screeners usually give the hosts some choices of who's on the line and what they're going to talk about.

There's a reason why Rush used to refer to his callers as "ditto-heads." Mega-dittos have become maga dittos.
 
Syfy said:
Ok but don’t you think the even maga audience might also enjoy listening to different views at least sometimes on conservative talk radio also? I barely even hear any callers that disagree…. Are the people who are in charge of these shows directing the call screeners to not even allow them on if they have differing views I wonder.
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No, the right lives in a hermetically sealed bubble
 
TheBigA said:
It's up to the host. Call screeners usually give the hosts some choices of who's on the line and what they're going to talk about.

There's a reason why Rush used to refer to his callers as "ditto-heads." Mega-dittos have become maga dittos.
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I did some research and found some interesting results on this subject of call screener I guess discretion regarding this. In relation to a situation where someone sued because they were told they were too old essentially to be be a caller on a particular show the person sued and lost.
Syfy said:
Ok but don’t you think the even maga audience might also enjoy listening to different views at least sometimes on conservative talk radio also? I barely even hear any callers that disagree…. Are the people who are in charge of these shows directing the call screeners to not even allow them on if they have differing views I wonder.
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First Amendment rights and that the plaintiff was unlikely to prevail on the merits because he “has not made a prima facie showing that he was treated any differently than any other caller” and because the Unruh Act “cannot be applied to impose upon broadcasters a viewpoint unwanted in their message to targeted audiences.”
The other major negative is 'super-screening' where it's made to make sure that callers not only identify with the host's views, but totally agree with him/her almost at all costs.

That is boring radio when the host and caller agree on everything.
 
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-dittos- (duplicate)
:)
 
Syfy said:
That is boring radio when the host and caller agree on everything.
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I loved open lines and shows where the callers weren't intensively screened.
Larry King was great about that, as was Art Bell.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
I think your post raises a good point in that after a protracted period of intense political activity you'd think that people would burn out on that and want to talk about something else. I would think there would be a place for someone like the late Doug Hoerth in Pittsburgh, doing an eclectic show covering a broad array of non-political topics. Could that work? It's been awhile.
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Dennis Prager does not only talk about political issues. Every week he as "The Male-Female hour", covering marriage and relationships, "The Happiness Hour" which strives to help people find happiness, even in challenging times, and during other hours covers more than political issues, although politics is something he covers often.
 
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