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Mark Levin (Groucho Marx on laughing gas).

U

UpstateNYBill

What's your thought on Mark Levin?

I feel the only thing great about "The Great One" is his ego. His voice is one of the most annoying of any big time national radio host. He truely does sound like Groucho Marx on laughing gas.
 
He's my favorite conservative talker. He's a brilliant scholar, a Reagan Republican, and a capitalist. His "get off the phone you big dope!" is great. While Levin sounds like he belongs behind the counter of a Jewish deli, I think that's part of his charm, and I use the word loosely. The voice may be why he is less popular than Hannity. He certainly is wiser and better read.
 
Just another shouting conservaclone. Oh, and if he were so "great", he wouldn't have to be crammed-down affiliates' throats. (As you may know, if a station wants Hannity, they are typically made to also play Levin.)
 
UpstateNYBill said:
He truely does sound like Groucho Marx on laughing gas.
Click to expand...

Could you please explain that reference? I'm not familiar with nitrous oxide changing the sound of one's voice. I know helium does, but "laughing gas" is an anesthetic that puts people to sleep. That makes nitrous oxide the NPR of gasses.
 
Talk_Dude said:
UpstateNYBill said:
He truely does sound like Groucho Marx on laughing gas.
Click to expand...

Could you please explain that reference? I'm not familiar with nitrous oxide changing the sound of one's voice. I know helium does, but "laughing gas" is an anesthetic that puts people to sleep. That makes nitrous oxide the NPR of gasses.
Click to expand...

It's a Michael Savage nic for Levin.
 
UpstateNYBill said:
Talk_Dude said:
UpstateNYBill said:
He truely does sound like Groucho Marx on laughing gas.
Click to expand...

Could you please explain that reference? I'm not familiar with nitrous oxide changing the sound of one's voice. I know helium does, but "laughing gas" is an anesthetic that puts people to sleep. That makes nitrous oxide the NPR of gasses.
Click to expand...

It's a Michael Savage nic for Levin.
Click to expand...

That explains it. It appears that Dr. Savage is well-versed in the effects of anesthetics, isn't he? ???
 
Levin is a nobody, steals all ideas from Savage and then claims that everyone steals his matireal . While Savage is entertainig when he talks about his food recipies its really a pity to hear levin trying to do the same shtick and nobody would dare tell him that he sucks at it!! Savage had his dog with him in the studio many times so levin took along his dog too........... But don't forget , everyone steals levins ideas.........
 
peshburg said:
Levin is a nobody, steals all ideas from Savage and then claims that everyone steals his matireal . While Savage is entertainig when he talks about his food recipies its really a pity to hear levin trying to do the same shtick and nobody would dare tell him that he sucks at it!! Savage had his dog with him in the studio many times so levin took along his dog too........... But don't forget , everyone steals levins ideas.........
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Given that Savage is as hard to stand listening to as Gilbert Gottfried, that makes Levin even worse that Gottfried! I don't know if I can even imagine anything that bad.
 
If Levin (The not-so-great one) ratcheted his voice down a few decibels, it would still be annoying -- but perfect for NPR! ;D

Oh, and he'd have to adopt a pretentious ethnic-sounding name, preferably one that seems like it came from the Indian Subcontinent.
 
FTL_Ian said:
Just another shouting conservaclone. Oh, and if he were so "great", he wouldn't have to be crammed-down affiliates' throats. (As you may know, if a station wants Hannity, they are typically made to also play Levin.)
Click to expand...

Why would Clear Channel (Hannity's syndicator) push a Citadel (Levin's) show on people?

Before you make stuff like this up, you should at least know the basic facts.
 
Don, you're only half-right. You might want to double check your facts:
http://www.premiereradio.com/news/view/571.html - Hanny is "co-syndicated".

Don, I talk to program directors all day long. I know about the cramdowns - they tell me. How many PDs have you spoken with recently?
 
UpstateNYBill said:
What's your thought on Mark Levin?

I feel the only thing great about "The Great One" is his ego. His voice is one of the most annoying of any big time national radio host. He truely does sound like Groucho Marx on laughing gas.
Click to expand...

He sounds more like Edith Bunker on helium.
 
The cram down was tried on WDEL in Wilmington Delaware. They declined and dropped Hannity, and went live and local. Their 12+ numbers for Wilmington have grown plus they have a boat load of local spots. Their crosstown rival, WILM, which is owned by CC, took Rush from WDEL when the contract ended, and took Hannity/Levin (he airs at 10pm here) when WDEL dropped his show. WILM's ratings haven't grown, and they air mostly PSA's during the local avails during Rush/Hannity. So this is one case where the cram down was rejected and the station that did the rejecting, so far, has prospered. I believe Baltimore's WBAL did the same thing and they too seem to be doing just fine as WCBM now has Rush/Hannity/Levin. So yes, there is life for talk radio after Hannity and Rush.
 
WILM doesn't benefit from having a 50,000 watt blowtorch having a better signal with the same programming through most of their listening area.
 
I'd agree with you, that Philly's WPHT probably does take away a large chunk of WILM's audience, possibly because WILM does a local lib talker in the time slot when Glenn Beck is on WPHT. The line up, for conservative audiences would be much stronger with Beck/Rush/Hannity or even a local conservative talker/Rush/Hannity. That's my guess as to why WPHT probably pulls away many of WILM's audience.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
I'd agree with you, that Philly's WPHT probably does take away a large chunk of WILM's audience, possibly because WILM does a local lib talker in the time slot when Glenn Beck is on WPHT. The line up, for conservative audiences would be much stronger with Beck/Rush/Hannity or even a local conservative talker/Rush/Hannity. That's my guess as to why WPHT probably pulls away many of WILM's audience.
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You make a good point about Watson. I don't know what they're thinking with him. That and I don't like his voice. Despite all that, he does do a good show.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
The cram down was tried on WDEL in Wilmington Delaware. They declined and dropped Hannity, and went live and local. Their 12+ numbers for Wilmington have grown plus they have a boat load of local spots. Their crosstown rival, WILM, which is owned by CC, took Rush from WDEL when the contract ended, and took Hannity/Levin (he airs at 10pm here) when WDEL dropped his show. WILM's ratings haven't grown, and they air mostly PSA's during the local avails during Rush/Hannity. So this is one case where the cram down was rejected and the station that did the rejecting, so far, has prospered. I believe Baltimore's WBAL did the same thing and they too seem to be doing just fine as WCBM now has Rush/Hannity/Levin. So yes, there is life for talk radio after Hannity and Rush.
Click to expand...

Yep. Smart move on WDEL's part.
 
Don C said:
FTL_Ian said:
Just another shouting conservaclone. Oh, and if he were so "great", he wouldn't have to be crammed-down affiliates' throats. (As you may know, if a station wants Hannity, they are typically made to also play Levin.)
Click to expand...

Why would Clear Channel (Hannity's syndicator) push a Citadel (Levin's) show on people?

Before you make stuff like this up, you should at least know the basic facts.
Click to expand...

Hannity was an ABC/Citadel talkers until recently .
 
peshburg said:
Hannity was an ABC/Citadel talkers until recently .
Click to expand...

And he's "co-syndicated" now. I got it. I also know that Levin and Hannity are good friends. Apparently trying to market shows together is only bad when they're "conservaclones".
 
I guess our terms are confused. They haven't been trying to market Hannity/Levin, they are forcing stations that already carry Hannity to take Levin or lose Hannity. That's called coercion.

It's not like these are ABC radio affiliates where you carry all ABC radio programming, if that is even required these days (old time radio you carried all CBS radio programming, or NBC radio programming, etc). It would be like Fox News Radio requiring their affiliates to carry all the talk shows offered via Fox Radio. None of the Delaware Fox Radio affiliates carry any Fox Radio shows, just the on the hour / half hour newscasts and Fox News Sunday.

ABC/Citadel/Premiere or who ever is only getting away with that, because Hannity is the #2 talk show after Rush, so most stations don't want to lose him and take on Levin's show. That was why what WDEL did was so gusty for a medium market AM station to do. They told Hannity and his show to hit the road and went live and local. I believe Baltimore's WBAL did a similar thing, I believe after WDEL did it, but I'm not entirely sure about that. But in either case both WBAL and WDEL appear to be doing quite well with live and local. But let's not confuse the issue. It's one thing for a syndicator to try and sell you on picking up a new show, it's something else when they threaten your stations' livelihood by taking away your most popular show to force you to take a show you do not need or want. For people who are all about allowing the market to decide what things survive and what thing don't, they aren't practicing what they preach on the air waves. In other words, without the cram down of Mark Levin's show on Hannity stations, Levin would probably be on far fewer stations, that's NOT allowing the market to decide. Seems hypocritical, in my opinion.

Holland Cooke knows far more about all this issue. There was a thread here, back when this happened to WDEL, and Holland had a lot of insight on it. Possibly Holland will see this and offer a quick overview that will clarify the issues.
 
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