Mario Cuomo did a weekend syndicated show that did OK for a syndicated weekend show.
It has been 16-years, but IIRC the hope behind Cuomo's weekend show was that he would prove himself to be the Liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh, and once his popularity was proven, and his radio skills developed, his show would be moved from weekend syndication to a regular weekday schedule, possibly in direct syndication competition with Limbaugh.
The fact that he started with syndication, and did not do just a single station first, shows the faith the radio types that put it all together had in his abilities. It might have done OK as a weekend show for the year that it was on, but the fact that it just fizzled when the contract ended and he didn't do any more radio ought to indicate how well it was received in the radio world.
This line from the
Daily News story would be hard to believe if his radio show still showed any promise or potential when it was dropped:
Cuomo is giving up his syndicated weekly talk radio show to spend more time with the Democrats and CNN.
After all, it was only a few hours out of his weekends, and a good syndicated radio talkshow offers a much bigger and influential public megaphone than appearing on CNN does. Just look at the audience figures and compare them.
I, for one, would have liked to see Mario Cuomo succeed with his talk show. But, the bottom line is that it did not succeed, and certainly didn't live up to the original expansion dreams.
And speaking of CNN and former NY governors, Eliot Spitzer's TV talk show didn't work out so well either.
Let's hope David Paterson has better luck in broadcasting than his gubernatorial predecessors.
