• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Good local shows

J

JimmyJames

Guest
I ask this occasionally:

What are some good stream worthy local hosts, moderate and not angry that are worth a listen? I enjoy talk from time to time but am tired of the extremes on both ends, and the national formula talk shows.
 
I find Roe and Roeper on WLS in Chicago to be a good listen. There are some
politics, yet there are a lot of news of the day, pop culture topics discussed.

They are on from 2 PM until 6 PM Central.

www.wlsam.com

If your looking for a live overnight show, Steve and Jonnie on WGN. Mostly pop
culture topics, car reviews, and things like computer talk. They are on from Midnight
until 5 AM Central, Monday-Thursday. They start at 2 on Sunday night/Monday morning.

You might also want to check the weekend hosts Nick DiGilio and Brian Noonan at WGN

www.wgnradio.com
 
WNIR/100.1 FM in Akron, OH. Don't let the location fool you, WNIR is a fanastic station. Local 17.5 hours, live 21.5 hours a day.

5:30am-10:00am - The Morning Show starring Stan Piatt, Steve French, Jim Midock & Maggie Fuller.
10:00am-3:00pm - Howie Chizek, The KING of Ohio talk for over 37 years.
3:00pm-7:00pm - The Bob Golic Show starring NFL great Bob Golic and Phil Ferguson.
7:00pm-11:00pm - Tom Erickson, featuring Comet the Wonder Dog.

Weekends 7:00pm-10:00pm - Bob Earley, where the callers are the stars.

Also, Bennie Da Bookie sports report at 8:58am weekdays

www.wnir.com
 
JimmyJames said:
I ask this occasionally:

What are some good stream worthy local hosts, moderate and not angry that are worth a listen? I enjoy talk from time to time but am tired of the extremes on both ends, and the national formula talk shows.
Click to expand...

I have to ask, why would you want to listen to a local talk show that wasn't from the town you live in? Any good local talk show should consist of mostly topics of local interest. No matter how good a job someone like Mike Pintek might be on KDKA as a talk host, why would someone who didn't live in Pittsburgh want to hear him talk about things related to Pittsburgh? (Not that 100% of his show is strictly local, but much of it is.) How entertaining would a local talk host working in Peoria, and talking about events in Peoria, Illinois and the surrounding area be to someone living someplace else?

I'm guessing from your "WNYX, may I take your order?" tag that you're from the Hudson Valley in New York. (Which is a nice place, BTW. I've driven through there a few times. Nice scenery.) Why would local talk shows about local issues pertaining to distant locations interest you?

I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious about why anyone would want to go out of their way to listen to local talk about someplace other than where they live.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

Talk_Dude, as someone who is within the "radio business" - I find local content interesting even if it's not local to my market. For one thing, there are both calmer conservative, moderate and liberal politics at play in local issues, and that's of interest to me as a political junkie and broadcaster. The angles the stories are approached from, and when national issues are discussed, local and regional views of them interest me.
 
Al Roney was good on WGY in Albany, NY before being replaced by the Hemmoroid with Ears and getting a job on a station with a very weak signal. He had a Libertarian bent to his political beliefs and distrusted politicians from all parties.
 
Al Messitti Monday - Friday's 9am-12noon WDEL Wilmington Delaware. Fill in host Ted Efaw on WILM Wilmington Delaware, when the regular host is off- Monday-Friday 9am-11:30am. The regular host misses the mark, because he interrupts every caller, won't let them say a complete sentence without interrupting, and even when he has knowledgeable guests on he does that, but the fill in host Ted Efaw does an excellent show. Unfortunately, he's the fill in host.
 
Howie Carr on WRKO in Boston M-F from 3PM-7PM is a gem. He is also in the Radio Hall of Fame. Jay Severin from 96.9 Boston Talks is also good from 2PM-6PM M-F.

At night, sometimes I listen to Dom Giordano from the Big Talker 1210 in Philly. He is usually on from 6PM-10PM M-F but is interrupted by Phillies games during the summer. He listens to his callers and has great guests.

Jamie Allman from KFTK in St. Louis from 6AM-9AM CT is good too, but you can often hear him filling in for Laura Ingraham on her national show.

Two other shows I sometimes listen to online: Bill Carroll from KFI in LA and Bill Cunningham from WLW in Cincinnati, although the latter also has a syndicated show on Sunday nights.
 
newhampshiredude said:
At night, sometimes I listen to Dom Giordano from the Big Talker 1210 in Philly. He is usually on from 6PM-10PM M-F but is interrupted by Phillies games during the summer...
Click to expand...

I understand he still does his show on the WPHT Internet stream during Phillies games.
 
When I was stationed at Pease AFB, back in 1971 I used to listen to the then 1210 WCAU at night. It was great to be able to hear a bit of home (news from Delaware Valley, weather, even commercials, also I could hear the Phils while in NH ( I did the same thing about 10 years ago while living in Atlanta as 1210 came in at night there too). I made my first visit back to Portsmouth a few weeks ago while traveling up that way on vacation. The base of course is gone (during the Clinton years), but the area is still very beautiful (somehow NH was able to say no to the developers unlike Delaware and the Philly Metro Area). 1380 WBBX was an MOR station which today has different owners (back then Kurt Gowdy of ABC Sports fame was the owner). WRKO was a great Top 40 station back then. Down here, we can listen to WBZ Boston at night, but nothing from NH makes it this far South.
 
The big AM blowtorches still boom in at night, despite the IBOC hash in some outlets?
 
WGMD in Rehoboth Beach, DE has some great local shows that also address national issues. You could check out their online stream. The guy that does the 7-10 pm shift is particularly good, especially if you want a show that talks about more than just politics.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned KGO in San Francisco. A nice selection of local hosts for just about every taste, and topics are usually not limited to Northern California-specific events. Former CBS Radio evening host and long-time ABC News voice Gil Gross is heard 2-4 PM PT/5-7 PM ET. Ronn Owens is a very good example of a "moderate" host, for those tired of the left/right struggle on the air.

And yes, check out our local WNIR, particularly local talk radio fixture Howie Chizek (10 AM-3 PM ET). There's a lot about WNIR that doesn't translate outside of NE Ohio, but Howie's pretty universal...king of the zingers and quick wit.
 
Local talk in NYC is almost non-existent. In fact, it's like forbidden fruit! Markets of all sizes outside NY have excellent local talk. The issue seems to be that although there is plenty of out-of-work talk talent in the NY/NJ area, no one has the drawing power that Madison Ave would pay for. Therefore, there is virtually no local talk in New York, the #1 media market!

IMHO, if a competitor came in to NY with the $$$ and the marketing savvy and put a talk station on FM, it would eat the lunches and dinners of WABC and WOR. WABC does as well as it does with a 100% syndicated lineup because it has no strong competition. WABC always beats WOR substantially in the ratings. WOR is nothing more than a WABC wannabee. :)
 
Interesting how that has changed, based on what I remember. I can remember back in the late 60's and 70's where large markets like NYC avoid network programming such as NBC radio's Monitor and the NBC radio News and Information Service even though both programs were produced there at 30 Rockefeller Center. I also believe the CBS radio Mystery Theater didn't air in many large markets. That tended to be the death knell for network programming as they could sell the small and mediums markets on such programming (was probably cheaper for those markets to air vs paying local talent and probably was a higher caliber program , but the Big Apple and other major markets wanted to do their own local programming and seemed to avoid the network shows (medium market then #61 today #75 Wilmington DE- WDEL aired Monitor and WILM aired NBC NIS). I seem to remember reading that both Monitor and NBC NIS had issues selling those programs in the major markets including NYC, which had a lot to do with their demise (Monitor had a long run from 1955 to 1975, but apparently the larger markets were dropping it in the latter years). I'm sure there's some here who either worked in NYC at the time who could offer more clarification as I may not have this story totally correct, that was a long time ago, but that is what I remember...............

As far as today goes. Given that NYC is the #1 market, and all talent is unionized unlike most in medium and small markets, the cost to produce a local show with all unionized on air talent, plus unionized board ops, call screeners, etc, probably makes the syndicated shows far far less expensive to air, thus increasing the profits substanially for their respective station. Bottomline, radio is a business and making the largest possible profit is what their goal is, just as it is in any business or in industry. So in that respect, the larger markets may be at a disadvantage in terms of doing local programming, even though the talent is excellent and the cream of the crop, no one can afford to use them.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
I seem to remember reading that both Monitor and NBC NIS had issues selling those programs in the major markets including NYC, which had a lot to do with their demise (Monitor had a long run from 1955 to 1975, but apparently the larger markets were dropping it in the latter years). I'm sure there's some here who either worked in NYC at the time who could offer more clarification as I may not have this story totally correct, that was a long time ago, but that is what I remember...............

As far as today goes. Given that NYC is the #1 market, and all talent is unionized unlike most in medium and small markets, the cost to produce a local show with all unionized on air talent, plus unionized board ops, call screeners, etc, probably makes the syndicated shows far far less expensive to air, thus increasing the profits substanially for their respective station. Bottomline, radio is a business and making the largest possible profit is what their goal is, just as it is in any business or in industry. So in that respect, the larger markets may be at a disadvantage in terms of doing local programming, even though the talent is excellent and the cream of the crop, no one can afford to use them.
Click to expand...

NBC NIS' flagship in NY was WNWS (97.1 FM), in Chicago it was WNIS (101.1 FM). NIS only lasted from about June 1975 through December 1976. WNWS couldn't make a dent against WCBS-AM and WINS, then owned by CBS and Group W respectively.

It's a valid point that larger markets may be at a disadvantage for local talk due to unions. However, local talk is very much alive in markets 2 through 4, LA, Chicago and SF. CA and IL are union states. Costs there are comparable to New York, all things being relative. :)
 
radioguy39nj said:
Local talk in NYC is almost non-existent.
Click to expand...

WABC has some local content on the weekends.Rabbi Shmuley has a good bit of local discussion and Mark Simone's Saturday night music show is local as well.
 
NYC being "The Center of the Universe", as it were, many of the syndicated shows originate there...Hannity still does, Rush used to, etc. etc.

But local talk is lagging, and that syndication (via WABC as "flagship" in most cases) is one reason why.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
NYC being "The Center of the Universe", as it were, many of the syndicated shows originate there...Hannity still does, Rush used to, etc. etc.

But local talk is lagging, and that syndication (via WABC as "flagship" in most cases) is one reason why.
Click to expand...

Very true. NY is where many national talk programs originate from. However, local talk is lacking severely. WABC does some local programming on weekends, but it's just a token. WABC's Mon-Fri lineup, the one that really counts, is 100% syndicated.

NYC is generally thought of as "The Center of the Universe", but talk radio in markets of all sizes outside the area is far superior. :)
 
Of course, Hannity, Mark Levin and others started off as local shows. Even Rush had a local WABC show, basically an exchange to Ed McLaughlin (Rush's first syndicator and former ABC exec) so Rush could originate his then-nascent national show there.

IIRC, that WABC show lasted about a year...maybe less. As I recall, Rush needed to be in NYC to get out of his Sacramento contract.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom