MikeShannon914 said:
OH, MY.....
But I bet Krok said later, "Hey, it made for some good radio."
Morton Downey Jr, anyone? :
Morton Downey Jr. strikes me as being a good comparison.
But to Downey Jr.'s credit, despite whatever one can legitimately say about him, I seriously doubt that he would have ever actually accused a caller as having been taken over by and speaking on behalf of
Satan. That's beyond nutty and outrageous - that's just downright
spooky.
And observe that, after making an initial splash due to his loud and obnoxious behavior on both television and his Dallas based national radio program, Downey Jr., quickly faded away on both occasions. Indeed, if your claim to fame is based on nothing more than outrageous and obnoxious behavior, it is going to eventually catch up with you. Such behavior might have a certain appeal to a certain segment of the population. But, even amongst that population, it grows old rather quickly in the same way that a joke grows old quickly after it has been heard more than a few times. To maintain your fame and relevance, you are going to be under constant pressure to top yourself. But there is always a limit to how far one can push the envelope without either getting arrested or disgusting even your hard core supporters. Downey Jr. is actually a classic example of this - as evidenced by the skin head attack on him that he alleged set up in which a swastika was painted on his face.
You mention Mark Levin. It is certainly true that he is extremely brusk and even rude to callers at times and engages in gratuitous name calling. But he is able to get away with such things to a large degree because, despite such antics, his program has actual
content. Despite his behavior, Levin is very intelligent, very well-read and makes substantive points which go far beyond empty outrage and the mere regurgitation of shopworn, stereotypical right-wing "red meat" slogans. Levin regularly talks - sometimes in depth - about ideas and about serious thinkers such as Aristotle, Hayek, John Locke, Ludwig von Mises, etc. I wonder how many of those thinkers, if any at all, Krock has even
heard of, let alone studied or actually read.
I personally found Levin's tactics to be mildly amusing for about a week and then they became increasingly grating. But I, nevertheless, endure them and continue to tune in whenever I am driving around during his program because of the substantive points he
does make. Sometimes I think he is even quite eloquent and right on target with his points - and other times I have profound disagreements with him. I am "conservative" on economic issues in that I am a staunch free market capitalist - but I am quite "liberal" on a number of so-called "social issues." For that reason, pretty much
any "conservative" talk show host is going to be a mixed bag for me in terms of ideology. I would actually assert that Levin's success is not because of his antics but rather
in spite of them. My guess is they actually
limit his appeal and turn off people who might otherwise be open to a lot of what he has to say - which I think is a shame because he
does make many good points on his program at times. If there was nothing else to his show besides the name calling, his brusque treatment of callers and his constantly running down other, usually unnamed, conservative talk show hosts (which I think makes him appear to be petty) I suspect this program would have faded away a long time ago.
By contrast, with Downey, when I listened to his DFW-based radio program, I found very little in terms of ongoing substance. He struck me as little more than a crude opportunistic rabble rouser who decided to target a certain right-of-center demographic. In fact, I often found myself wondering if the guy actually
was a "conservative" or even had any sort of clear consistent ideology - or if he just cynically took positions and sides on issues he thought would appeal to the particular audience he had targeted.
As for Krok, here is what I think is very predictable and what we can all watch for: Watch for Krock to be on the constant prowl for some sort of local incident or issue -
any incident or issue no matter how trivial - that the local news media and other talk show hosts have mostly overlooked that he can latch himself onto and try to blow up and generate enough heat that other media outlets might be tempted to cover it. Watch for Krock to be on the constant prowl to pick a fight with someone -
anyone - that he thinks will generate enough heat and can be blown up to the degree it gets press coverage. Watch for him to try and get members of his audience to participate in generating such "heat." I guarantee you that, on a daily basis, Krok is scouring local media searching for
any sort idiotic remark or action on the part of a local politician, institution or liberal activist group that he blow up into a bigger deal.
Such potential targets and media outlets would be wise to
ignore such bait and not respond to or get outraged by it - because their taking such bait is what his entire future in this market hinges upon. He is on an also-ran station with low ratings - and a certain percentage of the limited number of people who
did listen to his station during his time slot have been angered and alienated by the canning of his predecessor and will move to other stations. So he is going to have to do SOMETHING to get noticed if he is to actually improve ratings for that time slot and for the station - and my guess is that KLIF does not have a lot of the money necessary to generate such notice through conventional promotions and advertising buys.
My guess is that bringing in Krok is a desperation move on the part of KLIF. My guess is he was hired
because is obnoxious and loud and because he will deliberately try and drum up controversy and free publicity which will temporarily cause people to tune into the station who otherwise wouldn't. My theory is that KLIF is hoping that some of those people who tune in become aware of the station and that it might have a positive impact on ratings for other programs as well. My guess is KLIF is fully prepared for Krok to implode and perhaps even for being forced to fire him - that, too, will generate publicity for the station. And if it doesn't come to that, his tactics will eventually grow old to listeners. And, above all, his potential targets and the local media will come to see him for what he is and ignore him making it increasingly difficult for him to generate controversy and heat. At that point, assuming KLIF's stratgegy and/or KLIF's talk format itself manages to survive that long, they will quietly can him. Lots of talk show hosts attempt, to some degree, to generate "heat" and most know how to make controversy work to their advantage. But, from what I have observed so far, that is
all Krok is good for and there is precious little of the qualities that give the more successful hosts their long-term staying power.
And, my guess is that, since so many people have
already tried the same thing before, there is a good chance that KLIF's management will end up being disappointed and have little to show for it than their having to put up with a hyperactive employee who apparently believes that some callers are possessed by Satan.
