Is talk radio dead in Boston?

[Fenway1912]

Boston was one of the first markets to embrace talk radio.

I am old enough to remember the impact Jerry Williams has in his WMEX days on a station nobody could hear clearly at night.

In the 60's both WEEI and WNAC had quality talk formats and both WMEX and WBZ also had shows that attracted listeners.

In 1981 WRKO went all talk and Jerry Williams WAS a force in state politics. His anti-seatbelt tirade carried the vote in every town that WRKO could be heard ( in Western Mass it was not an issue )

Jerry Williams was the last ( and perhaps ) only must hear radio host in the Boston market.

If I was Jason Wolfe I would can Rush, and give Howie a liberal co-host to mix things up. I would move D&C to 680 and have a third person who would debate D&C on issues. Make political talk like sports radio and have hosts at each others throats.

I do believe the format can still thrive in this market, but we need new voices.

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

I agree with your last two sentences

 

[raccoonradio]

Howie and a liberal co-host? Tried it with Vic. Jones, didn't work...this would prob drive away his
conservative listeners. To quote Albert Leo "Dapper" O'Neil, it's enough to make you want to
throw up on television. Heck, get rid of Howie and bring back Clapprood and Whitley...

As for Rush he's there for a reason...it must make sense for them to run him. Unless the $59 Million Man is really losing listeners, Boston listeners would have to tune in to 610, 920, or 580 (IF they can get it) to hear him? Don't think so.

>> I would move D&C to 680 and have a third person who would debate D&C on issues.

D&C are sports talkers who may dabble in politics. Or maybe just stick to sports, though
admittedly their ratings are lagging...have them go political and have the Globe messageboards
go nuclear with people writing about those "far right racist Nazis" D&C.

>>and have hosts at each others throats

Angry White Man radio!

>>but we need new voices.

Like Dennis and Callahan...? I guess Kuhner is new...born in 1969 which makes him a spring
chicken on Ancient Modulation.

 

[DanStrassberg]

I do believe the format can still thrive in this market, but we need new voices.

You appear to be oblivious to the locally originated talk programs on WGBH (FM) and WBUR-FM. WBUR's On Point originates locally but is syndicated nationally. Most of the calls come from outside the Boston market but Boston is well represented among the callers.

 

[raccoonradio]

Yes often we forget the talk shows on 89.7 (Crossley, Rooney) and 90.9.

In Seattle the imminent demise of KFNQ (to become CBS Sports Radio) has led some
other stations to pick up the prog talk--and one is a non-comm college station,
KBCS at Bellevue College, which picks up the syndie Thom Hartmann.

 

[BostonRocks]

Talk isn't dead, but ISTM the format has been consumed by sports. It's one of the few things we have where the greater narrative is common these days, at least geographically.

Politics (and indeed reality in large part) has been manipulated into echo chambers by people like Rush and Luntz. You can't have a coherent, respectful conversation among people without challenging their perception of reality, which throws the discussion into a cocked hat. You can't reason with the unreasonable. So you end up with a bunch of kindred spirits self-selecting their "discussion",engaging in hand-wringing, not really conversing, just reinforcing their own views. There's a term for this kind of radio which currently escapes me.

So all you have left is "water-cooler" talk, discussing that day's variety news, or perhaps the outrage of the day. There's no there, there.

 

[Blackroc]

I've got a slightly different take in that I think it's dead no matter who the host is (L or R). I don't care. There comes a time --like with newspapers or gas guzzling cars-- to flip to something else. I don't know what that is for AM radio and trust me ownership doesn't either?

Jerry was........

Peter Mead did a topflight show and Bruds was Bruds (miss him).

 

[MassMusicMan]

Hell no. You ever hear of Toucher and Rich?

 

[thirdendorsed]

I wonder how Boston talk radio would have evolved differently if Bob Lassiter had been able to get out of his contract with Jacor in Florida. He's long dead but the format would have evolved differently in the market if he had been there instead of Leykis.

 

[Fenway1912]

Dan - they may be Boston based but it is NOT Boston radio.

I do believe the format can still thrive in this market, but we need new voices.

You appear to be oblivious to the locally originated talk programs on WGBH (FM) and WBUR-FM. WBUR's On Point originates locally but is syndicated nationally. Most of the calls come from outside the Boston market but Boston is well represented among the callers.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Dan - they may be Boston based but it is NOT Boston radio.

Complete nonsense! The two hour block that Callie Crossley hosts in the afternoons on WGBH IS Boston radio. And so is WBUR's Radio Boston (also heard in the afternoons). Both shows are heard locally (not syndicated--unless you consider the peanut-whistle signals on Cape Cod and in southern Mass on which WBUR and WGBH simulcast to constitute syndication). Anyway, the programs are produced in Boston; the talent is located in Boston; and the topics relate to Boston and New England. Just because you have never listened doesn't mean that you can legitimately dismiss these programs as NOT Boston radio.

 

[uncamark]

Dan - they may be Boston based but it is NOT Boston radio.

Complete nonsense! The two hour block that Callie Crossley hosts in the afternoons on WGBH IS Boston radio. And so is WBUR's Radio Boston (also heard in the afternoons). Both shows are heard locally (not syndicated--unless you consider the peanut-whistle signals on Cape Cod and in southern Mass on which WBUR and WGBH simulcast to constitute syndication). Anyway, the programs are produced in Boston; the talent is located in Boston; and the topics relate to Boston and New England. Just because you have never listened doesn't mean that you can legitimately dismiss these programs as NOT Boston radio.

And from past experience (realizing that people do more complaining about programming changes than commending), it seems as though the hardcore public radio listener would rather hear national programming than local programming, preferring the more polished sound of NPR to a local program that can't afford the sort of production values of the national shows. The only time you hear people calling for more local programming is when local music shows get replaced by national news/talk/storytelling shows. Although these people have been longtime listeners, they are notorious for not consistently supporting the stations financially. Unfortunately for them, the newer arrivals to public radio who come for news-talk aren't interested in music much at all, wtih the possible exception of AAA--and they're the ones that do the pledging, not the music audience.

 

[HHH]

I am old enough to remember the impact Jerry Williams has in his WMEX days on a station nobody could hear clearly at night.

In 1981 WRKO went all talk and Jerry Williams WAS a force in state politics. His anti-seatbelt tirade carried the vote in every town that WRKO could be heard ( in Western Mass it was not an issue )

Jerry Williams was the last ( and perhaps ) only must hear radio host in the Boston market.

What made Jerry Williams great was that he was not a party Kool Aid drinker. He would give it both sides. I could never quite peg his politics which made his opinions all the more sincere.

Today? You don't even have to listen to most programs to know what you are going to hear. 100% affirmation radio....that is to say, the core audience listens to AFFIRM their beliefs as opposed to be exposed to a variety of opinions. On the Rush Limbaugh Show, every problem under the sun is caused by liberals. On the Ed Shultz Show, every problem under the sun is caused by conservatives.

Ridiculous.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

What made Jerry Williams great was that he was not a party Kool Aid drinker. He would give it both sides. I could never quite peg his politics which made his opinions all the more sincere.

Today? You don't even have to listen to most programs to know what you are going to hear. 100% affirmation radio....that is to say, the core audience listens to AFFIRM their beliefs as opposed to be exposed to a variety of opinions. On the Rush Limbaugh Show, every problem under the sun is caused by liberals. On the Ed Shultz Show, every problem under the sun is caused by conservatives.

Ridiculous.

YES ! ! ! You've hit the nail right on the head! After a while, preaching to the choir is satisfying ONLY to members of the CHOIR. What about the rest of us?

This is why I haven't been satisfied with talk radio for a very long time.

Jerry...Bruds...Gene...talk radio is so much poorer without you.

 

[raccoonradio]

Herald mentions a lot of what we already know (incl. supposedly J. Wolfe may try to get some
displaced TKK talent). It says that the talk format is over as of 10 am tomorrow after the
final E&B show, but I don't know if that means the new format starts at that point. It could
stunt for awhile...?

http://bostonherald.com/inside_track/inside_track/2012/12/new_radio_home_likely_’tkk_duo

>>News Talk 96.9 will go off the air at 10 a.m. tomorrow after the final “Jim and Margery” show signs off — but you may not have heard the last of Jim Braude and Margery Eagan.

 

[raccoonradio]

DR Tucker writes for Brad's Blog
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9803

note one of the comments, by Vin: "WTKK conservative? Well, maybe, if your politics are left of Mao, I suppose. It is no surprise that talk on TKK has failed, the station has made a consistant move from true conservative talk radio to more 'moderate' and 'liberal' talk --- Eagan was as giddy as a teenage schoolgirl who discovers the football quarterback thinks she's 'cute' when Obama was re-elected and Scott Brown lost. Braude, if anything, is the more level-headed out of those two..."

 

[raccoonradio]

Callum Borchers in the Globe:
"It did not fully embrace conservative talk radio, like WRKO, nor did it blend news and talk like WBZ-AM or WBUR and WGBH. “A station has to have an identity,” said (Dan) Kennedy. “At ’TKK, you had a sort-of liberal show in the morning, basically nonideological stuff in the middle of the day, and then a hard-core conservative in Graham. When you tune in, you should know what you’re getting.”

http://bostonglobe.com/business/201...nalysts-say/KoRaztx0xxEaz6BDRNKKPJ/story.html

 

[HHH]

When you tune in, you should know what you’re getting.”

So, the station failed because it was not 24/7, 100% hard core one point of view, "the other side is the cause of all of our problems"?

I don't understand why anyone would find the need to listen to something like that. You know what they are going to say before you even tune in!

But, I suppose that's what much of the American public wants: Political talk radio using the sports-talk model (i.e.: root for home team, make fun of opposing team).

Boy, do I miss Jerry Williams.

 

[Fenway1912]

The seeds of the problem in Boston go back nearly 20 years when WHDH was eliminated and merged with WRKO.

Boston is not alone as look at Chicago where WGN has become a trainwreck and WLS isn't much better.

 

[raccoonradio]

Some have argued a station of "left, right, and whatever we want" should work...though maybe
owners would prefer a station to be totally conservative or "progressive". Maybe it's just the talent
or lack thereof.