Of course I still like to track the numbers. Did you see the new 12+ PPM talk numbers? (They are on the Ratings page on this site, Inside Radio, etc.) Yes, we only see 12+ share & weekly cume, but we know who gets which demos. Every talker went down, except 1250. It almost makes you wonder if all of the talkers should go all brokered. 970 is down in the 5's, 860 skidded again -- I see where 820 took a dump, but I wonder if the eye doctor went up 9-10AM? Would that be a hoot?
Every time I turn on the terrestrial stream in the dash board, everything (outside of AM drive) sounds like a tea party board meeting. Hobbs & I were talking about this a few weeks ago. The ART of talk is missing from talk radio. No one "talks" anymore. No stories, no simple fun chat, no everyday life stuff. I'll never forget the show I did about a junky old riding lawn mower I bought. I was proudly buzzing around the yard and the front wheel fell off, rolled into a tree and the mower klunked into uncut turf. Wife was laughing her ass off, the dog came up and pissed on the disabled machine... Phones lit up for hours with folks disparaging the thrifty host and telling their own stories of failed frugality. Lassiter spent an hour one time whining about how Lionel raided the refrigerator in the station kitchen and ate all of Bob's home made potato salad -- and Bob got phones! Have you ever gone to the frig' looking for that coveted last piece of fried chicken, and someone else snarfed it up? That's what I'm talkin' about. There was Lionel's pain show, and so many others like it. And all during a time when oodles of political news was breaking.
When Sinatra died, I played wall to wall Sinatra on 970, talking about my parent's musical influence on me -- people were calling in sobbing. Same when George Harrison died. I even played wall to wall Michael Jackson on 820 after he croaked. IT'S GODDAM TOPICAL and relatable for baby boomer talk listeners. And it sure beat the crap out of listening to another Sarah Palin sound bite! Sure, red meat is good and we need to talk politics --but we need relief. Us album rock programmers used to throw in "relief records" every so often between the long doses of heavy metal, so the head bangers could occasionally come up for air. Where is the REAL TALK relief for Talk Radio? Thank God for WMRK (my MP3 player - where Linkin Park meets Leslie Gore!).
-Larsen
http://www.markinthemorning.com
Every time I turn on the terrestrial stream in the dash board, everything (outside of AM drive) sounds like a tea party board meeting. Hobbs & I were talking about this a few weeks ago. The ART of talk is missing from talk radio. No one "talks" anymore. No stories, no simple fun chat, no everyday life stuff. I'll never forget the show I did about a junky old riding lawn mower I bought. I was proudly buzzing around the yard and the front wheel fell off, rolled into a tree and the mower klunked into uncut turf. Wife was laughing her ass off, the dog came up and pissed on the disabled machine... Phones lit up for hours with folks disparaging the thrifty host and telling their own stories of failed frugality. Lassiter spent an hour one time whining about how Lionel raided the refrigerator in the station kitchen and ate all of Bob's home made potato salad -- and Bob got phones! Have you ever gone to the frig' looking for that coveted last piece of fried chicken, and someone else snarfed it up? That's what I'm talkin' about. There was Lionel's pain show, and so many others like it. And all during a time when oodles of political news was breaking.
When Sinatra died, I played wall to wall Sinatra on 970, talking about my parent's musical influence on me -- people were calling in sobbing. Same when George Harrison died. I even played wall to wall Michael Jackson on 820 after he croaked. IT'S GODDAM TOPICAL and relatable for baby boomer talk listeners. And it sure beat the crap out of listening to another Sarah Palin sound bite! Sure, red meat is good and we need to talk politics --but we need relief. Us album rock programmers used to throw in "relief records" every so often between the long doses of heavy metal, so the head bangers could occasionally come up for air. Where is the REAL TALK relief for Talk Radio? Thank God for WMRK (my MP3 player - where Linkin Park meets Leslie Gore!).
-Larsen
http://www.markinthemorning.com
