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GUEST HOSTS ON TALK SHOWS

F

F.M.Hertz

The holiday season is here, and you'll probably notice that a lot of hosts are using up a lot of vacation time before the new year rolls around.

My question: Do you still listen to the talk show even if it's a guest host that you may not care for? Or, do you listen to something else and "wait out" the time until the regular host come back.

Also, if you work in talk radio: What are your thoughts of working with guest hosts? I'm sure that there are a few horror stories out there that we've all had at one time or another.
 
I had a guest host once and it didn't work out at all. So I instead use a "timeless" episode that is entertaining whether I'm live or not.

Its difficult for me to find a guest host because he would need to be a primary care doctor who had no issue fielding various health and current event questions coming out of the blue...plus not be dry. Not to mention having the time to do the story prep and research what's going on politically.

But I don't have to worry about it this year since I'm not going on vacation.

Anyhow, Happy Holidays!!!!!
 
This topic comes up all the time. The big people are also worried about the guest host becoming competition as well. I would use the best of stuff, but have a bit of new material spliced in.
 
Rush Limbaugh has, bar none, the WORST roster of replacement hosts in radio talk show history.
The sole exceptions being Mark Steyn and, on rare occasions, Dr. Walter Williams.

Some of his early guest hosts (Sean Hannity, Tony Snow) went on to their own shows.
I guess Rush is afraid of breeding more competition?
 
Walter Williams aside, doesn't Rush have to use Clear Channel hosts for fill-ins now? That sort of reduces the pool of talent. I'm pretty sure Rush Limbaugh of all people doesn't really worry about "breeding competition". He doesn't strike me as a guy without confidence.
 
All I know is the two best by far are Steyn and Williams, neither of whom have any
desire for a full-time career in radio.

If they have to use fill-in hosts from CC, I wonder why Jim Quinn from Pittsburgh never
made the cut? He and Rush crossed paths at the Groovy Q-vie back in the day. Maybe
too over the top for them?
 
Cumulus Management made it plain that guest Talk Hosts were their "farm system", and that they were auditioning replacements while their talent was on vacation....

Of course, it could have just been me...After all, I only averaged a 3-share and change in PPM while I was there...

J-D
TWR
 
jondavidvox said:
Cumulus Management made it plain that guest Talk Hosts were their "farm system"
Click to expand...

Could always be worse. They could be hiring non-radio people to replace talent. These days I think there are more lawyers and bloggers doing radio than real radio people.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
Rush Limbaugh has, bar none, the WORST roster of replacement hosts in radio talk show history.
The sole exceptions being Mark Steyn and, on rare occasions, Dr. Walter Williams.

Some of his early guest hosts (Sean Hannity, Tony Snow) went on to their own shows.
I guess Rush is afraid of breeding more competition?
Click to expand...

I agree with you that Steyn and Williams are the only two good replacement hosts for Rush. Williams can be dry but he tries and seems to enjoy it.
I remember one time Williams remembered last Christmas when he bought what he thought was the perfect gift for the long-suffering Mrs. Williams. Walter said he thought long and hard and got what epitomizes Mrs. W's character. Walter said he could not tell you what she said when he presented her with a dozen vacuum cleaner bags. Walter said his wife was not placated when he explained to her these were premium grade wire reinforced bags, and when he saw them she immediately came to mind.


I think Limbaugh does care about who substitutes for him. Bill Cunningham was a horrible replacement. Instead of talking current affairs, Bill did a show on whether fat women make good lovers. Limbaugh actually apologized to the audience on his next show and said he would have to review who fills in when he is gone.
 
You kidding me?? That's horrible. You'd think if one was given the honor of being a fill-in host, they'd respect/preserve the genre. I get to fill in for Alan Stock a few days in January and will totally behave myself..... ;)
 
FreddyE1977 said:
Some of his early guest hosts (Sean Hannity, Tony Snow) went on to their own shows.
I guess Rush is afraid of breeding more competition?
Click to expand...

He's breeded a lot of it...a LOT of his guest hosts went on to national syndication on their own...not just the two you mentioned.

* Michael Medved - now a long-running host for Salem Radio
* Tom Sullivan - his former KFBK colleague, now syndicated by Fox News Radio
* Jason Lewis - one of the first generation of CC fill-ins, now with his own show (now with Genesis, I think, originally syndicated by Premiere)
* Matt Drudge (did a few days for Rush, I think, later syndicated)

Those are just the first four I can think of, off the top of my head.

Lewis, and Cunningham, both fell off the Rush fill-in roster when they got their own syndicated shows, even if they were in the company. And of course, Medved and Sullivan were gone when they went to other syndicators.
 
I could be wrong, because it was so long ago; but didn't Rush have Chris Matthews fill in one day? That sure didn't last long; had to have been worse than Cunningham.

cd
 
Very early on and I'm talking late 80s, Jim Kerr, "I'm not a talk show host, I'm a disc jockey" filled in for Rush. I liked him. I like WABC's Mark Simeone filling in for Hannity better than I like Hannity himself (he's also filled in for Imus and Mark Levin)

On the local level, Clear Channel News/Talk VP Darryl Parks keeps his on-air chops in practice by doing Saturdays and vacation fill at 700 WLW.
 
James Golden (aka Bo Snerdly - Rush's official program observer and Obama criticizer) co-hosted a show on WABC with a guy named Joel Santisteban for a few years, and ultimately left to work for a startup internet radio thing that went nowhere - and Rush hired James back and James continues to be an integral part of Rush's show. Personally, I would like to hear James again in a syndicated show - I miss Ken Hamblin.

This notion of Rush being vindictive and afraid of competitors has no basis in fact.

Some people in radio really can't get beyond their irrational hatred of things they don't understand or disagree with.

Country music is another that comes to mind - there are over 1600 stations that play country music full time, and hundreds more that are "full service" and play country music part of the day. There is an entire country in between New York and Los Angeles that apparently some folks in radio don't know exists or wish would just go away.

Streaming ratings always drop off the last two weeks of December - a lot, no matter who is doing the show. I ran a poll question on this, and generally the answer is that people would rather hear reruns of Rush rather than guest hosts, but it's a small sample and self-selected. My rule of thumb is that when people know the regular host won't be doing the show, the audience drops 30%.
 
For political talk radio, I can't stand it when they play "best-of" shows instead of using a guest host. Even if it's a show I haven't heard already, current events shows sometimes even go stale after a few hours, never mind days. Last weekend we had a local station playing a "best-of" Limbaugh where he was talking about the upcoming FL primary when it had already taken place several days back.
 
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