Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

[MattParker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

I don't see them bemoaning the state of discourse in this country, then in the same breath calling someone a fat pill popper. That happens an awful lot around here, and you're one of the main culprits.

I have not used that expression of anything similar. If you want my opinion of Rush, just ask. He is a talented radio personality - along with Imus and Howard probably one of the last. When he started in New York in 1988 I listened to him pretty regularly and did so for the next five years or so. I didn't agree with him a great deal but I thought he made his points well and sometimes he gave me something to think about. Then came the 1992 election. At the point I'd have classified Rush as an independent paleo-conservative and he (and many of the Ditto-heads) seemed to be learning more to Buchanan than Bush, Sr. Buchanan made a strong showing in New Hampshire. Shortly after that, Daddy Bush invited Rush to the White House and put him up in the Lincoln Bedroom. Whatever happened in the White House, after that Rush was an RNC flack. In my judgement he sold out to the party establishment and became their mouth-piece. Since then, his act has gotten stale and tired. He has become more strident. Talk shows are entertainment and he's not entertaining any more. And it's been a long time since he gave me something to think about.

Since I am opposed to laws against recreational drugs (drug "prohibition") I have no judgement about his drug use. Actually I have a stronger judgement about putting a smoker in the White House. As for his weight, I notice radio seems to have more than its share of overweight people, so he doesn't stand out in that regard.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Please. It's not like we can't just go and look at the other threads. You started a thread asking for examples of "vitriol free" conservative hosts, then on the very next page called the listeners of conservative talk shows dumb.

 

[MattParker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Please. It's not like we can't just go and look at the other threads. You started a thread asking for examples of "vitriol free" conservative hosts, then on the very next page called the listeners of conservative talk shows dumb.

Sure you can. On the left of this post is my name. Click on that and you will go to my profile. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Show the last posts of this person."

And I stand by my statement about wing-nut talk radio targeting the dummy demo. There are smart conservatives and libertarians. They don't need Rush, Beck and Hannity to tell them what to think. They'd listen to somebody like Buckley who'd give them something to think about.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

They'd listen to somebody like Buckley who'd give them something to think about.

I'm pretty sure Bill Buckley doing a show is out of the question. Since 2008, at least.

What about Levin and Savage? They're more educated than anyone here (or on the radio), and they're still quite animated in their delivery. Do you consider them as targeting a "dummy" demo?

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

After Kennedy was shot, ASCAP removed the song "Big B" by Frank Loesser (from the musical "Most Happy Fella") from air play. I guess that was also "unreasonable."

...the song's title is "Big D." And I seriously doubt that ASCAP could do such a thing, or would be inclined to do so in the first place. The copyright holder certainly could do so -- witness Body Count's "Cop Killer" being yanked from the commercial market circa '92, and the Dizzy Gillespie version of "St. Louis Blues" that W.C. Handy personally was able to keep RCA Victor from releasing until after Handy's death -- but ASCAP or BMI???...

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

...the song's title is "Big D."

Now the Kennedy assassination connection makes sense. "Big B" made no sense, since that was a few years (not that many, mind you) before my time.

 

[MattParker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

I'm pretty sure Bill Buckley doing a show is out of the question. Since 2008, at least.

What about Levin and Savage? They're more educated than anyone here (or on the radio), and they're still quite animated in their delivery. Do you consider them as targeting a "dummy" demo?

They'd. They would. Subjunctive.

More educated than anyone here - or on the radio? One is a lawyer (a professional degree; not an academic degree). The other has a PhD in "nutritional ethnomedicine," but he doesn't do a show on that. And let me get this straight, you don't think anybody who reads this board or works in radio has advanced degrees?

If you like to listen to somebody who shouts, rants and insults anyone who disagrees with him (i.e., is animated), please be my guest. But that is a clear sign that person is targeting the dummy demo.

What I can't understand is why people who claim to favor limited government would embrace somebody like Levin who advocates presidential dictatorship (i.e., "the unitary executive theory").

@Ultimajock: Yes, Big D. Sorry for the typo. Maybe the copyright holder initiated it but ASCAP licensed the song for airplay and they instructed stations not to play it.

 

[Holland Cooke]

"Ladies! Ladies! Puh-LEEZ..."

This entire thread is instructive.
We hear what we want to hear.
And don't hear what we don't.

And example that'll reply to whichever anonymous hyena mentioned me a couple pages back:
(Listen for the word "don't.")
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#41083427

From the transcript:

"We don't know if this troubled, deranged young man drove down that particular highway."

Whereupon righty bloggers accused me of saying-the-opposite.

We hear what we want to hear.
And don't hear what we don't.
A recipe for 5-share radio.

HC
www.HollandCooke.com

 

[UpstateNYBill]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

I guess Mrs. Limbaugh, Mrs. Beck and Mrs. Hannity skipped that one, too.

I don't see them bemoaning the state of discourse in this country, then in the same breath calling someone a fat pill popper. That happens an awful lot around here, and you're one of the main culprits.

The Golfer, the Hemmoroid with Ears, and Wallbanger are always bemoaning the state of the country. Every single show.

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: "Ladies! Ladies! Puh-LEEZ..."

We hear what we want to hear.
And don't hear what we don't.
A recipe for 5-share radio.

...which, once again, brings me to the fact that there are three full-time hate talkers in Tucson (KNST, KVOI and KQTH) and a fourth part-time hate talker (KJLL) -- and between the lot of them, they can't draw a full 9% of the listening audience according to the most recent Arbitrons...

 

[Holland Cooke]

That aggregate 9-share says it all, eh?

Thus the wisdom Gabe Hobbs offered in yesterday's weekly from Randall Bloomquist, who interviewed Gabe and me and others:

“I know it may sound crass to suggest that opportunity springs from such tragedy, but [the radio business] should take advantage of the debate and discussion of balance and civility and offer a show, or better yet, a talk format that taps into the 90-plus percent of people who DON’T currently listen to talk radio. It is extremely clear to me that there is a segment of the public, including former P-1 talk listeners, that wants something more civil and less ‘Yea for my side!!’ They want to be engaged in a real conversation with a debate of ideas. The first station in each market to own that position will have something."

 

[quadraphonic]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

NPR's already got that position in most markets, don't they?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

NPR's already got that position in most markets, don't they?

Maybe YES in some markets. In a number of markets NPR is that place where you get Morning Edition and All Things Considered and a lot of classical music. But I guess 6 hours a day is a pretty good start come to think of it.

 

[MattParker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Maybe YES in some markets. In a number of markets NPR is that place where you get Morning Edition and All Things Considered and a lot of classical music. But I guess 6 hours a day is a pretty good start come to think of it.

In some smaller markets - where station management isn't far-sighted enough to drop "a lot of classical music" and replace it with news, information and talk. People who listen to classical music tend not to pledge, tend to be a major pain and have other - better - options to hear the music.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Maybe YES in some markets. In a number of markets NPR is that place where you get Morning Edition and All Things Considered and a lot of classical music. But I guess 6 hours a day is a pretty good start come to think of it.

In some smaller markets - where station management isn't far-sighted enough to drop "a lot of classical music" and replace it with news, information and talk. People who listen to classical music tend not to pledge, tend to be a major pain and have other - better - options to hear the music.

Chuckle, Chuckle. Let me see if I can hold a straight face long enough to type with a whimsical bit of sarcasm.

Yes, I am in this smaller, backwoods market. You may have heard of us. Atlanta, GA.

Actually, the station here keeps a foot on both side of the line on this ongoing struggle for Public Radio. They have beefed up their local news staff and we get decent amounts of local news and even traffic reports now. (Sane traffic reports, traffic reports where they talk slow enough that you can actually understand them! A slam at WSB traffic? Who, me? ;D )

And they carry "The World" and Terri Gross. And I think they are doing some forward thinking experimentation with HD channels and streaming for those who don't agree with their choices for the main channel at some hours.

It would be interesting to be a "fly on the wall" and hear the conversation as their board and staff discuss the pros and cons of a continued major emphasis on the arts in general along with the classical music. I have a feeling there is robust financial support still tied to arts and classics in the Atlanta market.

But going back to the earlier post about NPR (partially? at least) filling the need for an alternative to the prevailing direction of Talk Radio, yes, WABE does provide an alternative in this market.

 

[Holland Cooke]

Public Radio GROWING

NPR is gaining like crazy almost everywhere, especially among Baby Boomers who remember commercial radio before-it-dumbed-down. Now they've had-it-up-to-here with schlock and lack-of-local-content.

 

[MattParker]

Re: Public Radio GROWING

NPR is gaining like crazy almost everywhere, especially among Baby Boomers who remember commercial radio before-it-dumbed-down. Now they've had-it-up-to-here with schlock and lack-of-local-content.

Off topic, Holland, but inquiring minds want to know. And yes, I know this is another consultant's baby, but...
NJ101.5 seems local, non-ideological, non-vitriolic, good spot load, good PPM numbers in their core markets - more like talk radio was than it is now. Yet, it works - for some 20 years. How come nobody else has tried to replicate it?

 

[Holland Cooke]

RE NJ101.5

Thanks for asking.
Full disclosure: NJ101.5 is my client.

Why-others-haven't-adopted the template:

1. Shortsighted denial. Still too much conventional wisdom about longterm prospects for music radio.

2. Fear of HR expense, a false economy, considering the revenue potential of Talk.

3. Some ARE. We just lit-up a two-FM simulcast in Illinois that's all-local-all-day. Not quite the 24/7-local we're doing @ NJ101.5...although NJ101.5 is all-LOCAL but not all-LIVE. We replay some daytime hours overnight.

HC
www.HollandCooke.com

 

[MattParker]

Re: RE NJ101.5

Thanks for asking.
Full disclosure: NJ101.5 is my client.

Why-others-haven't-adopted the template:

1. Shortsighted denial. Still too much conventional wisdom about longterm prospects for music radio.

2. Fear of HR expense, a false economy, considering the revenue potential of Talk.

3. Some ARE. We just lit-up a two-FM simulcast in Illinois that's all-local-all-day. Not quite the 24/7-local we're doing @ NJ101.5...although NJ101.5 is all-LOCAL but not all-LIVE. We replay some daytime hours overnight.

HC
www.HollandCooke.com

Thanks for your reply.

I have to admit that NJ101.5 is one of the few stations I admire these days. It's not just that they are live and local. Even more, they are not just preaching to a choir of party loyalists and regurgitating party-line talking points. The things I hear them talking about (and the way they talk about them) is the way I hear real people talk about things - at the water cooler, at family gatherings or someplace where everybody knows your name. They speak with, to and for people dissatisfied with government, politicians and the system, in general. People who don't think they are getting their tax money's worth. People who can't believe how dumb politicians and bureaucrats can be. There's a real world quality that's missing in the Rush-Hannity-Beck school of talk radio.

In addition, they have a real team or ensemble quality across the broadcast day, something I haven't heard since the days of the "Good Guys" or "Boss Jocks." And they have made local radio news relevant and compelling again.

Doing Oldies on weekends (when most talk stations have a significant fall-off in listeners and spots) was a brilliant stroke.

Whatever undefinable quality got me interested in radio in the first place seems mostly gone now. NJ101.5 is a rare exception; they still have got it.

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: That aggregate 9-share says it all, eh?

Thus the wisdom Gabe Hobbs offered in yesterday's weekly from Randall Bloomquist, who interviewed Gabe and me and others:

“I know it may sound crass to suggest that opportunity springs from such tragedy, but [the radio business] should take advantage of the debate and discussion of balance and civility and offer a show, or better yet, a talk format that taps into the 90-plus percent of people who DON’T currently listen to talk radio. It is extremely clear to me that there is a segment of the public, including former P-1 talk listeners, that wants something more civil and less ‘Yea for my side!!’ They want to be engaged in a real conversation with a debate of ideas. The first station in each market to own that position will have something."

...well, I'm guessing, given the above quotation, now is as good a time as any to resurrect the following  ;D ...

...Holland, you'll recall that back last April, when the anti-Democratic vandalism (including that to Rep. Giffords' office in Tucson, and some to the Yuma office of my own Representative, Raul Grijalva) started happening, I posted an open letter to you on this board. It read:

   I have been a radio broadcaster in one form or another for 40 years now. I am now physically disabled, but I wish there was some way to avoid having to collect SSI-D for the rest of my days.

   I wish to spend the remaining years of my life working for a radio station whose owner has the decency to actually reside in the community s/he is licensed to serve. One where I would be allowed to utilise my imagination and talents to enrich the lives of those who see fit to tune into my program. One where I would be able to respect my audience enough to actually be present at the microphone at the moment of broadcast rather than becoming a disembodied voice on a computer sound file. One where I would not be required to insult the taste, politics, spirituality or sexuality of those into whose homes, cars and lives I would be invited. One where what I say into a microphone would not be dictated by some anonymous executive thousands of miles away. One where I would be allowed to be a neighbour to my audience in every possible sense of that word.

   The following questions are asked in the greatest of sincerity, and are not mere rhetoric.

   Does such a radio station still exist anywhere in the United States of America? Can I possibly still work at such a station? Or would I be better advised to find a corner where I am not in anybody’s way, like an old family cat, and simply await death?

...it was suggested that I contact a Delaware station group, but as one of the aspects of my disability is arthritis, moving back to an area where winters are as severe as the one Delaware's been experiencing in recent weeks is out of the question. Is there, by any chance, a production company you or anyone else could point me in the direction of that would be able (and inclined?) to organise a syndicated program along these lines that could originate from the Southwest?...or even could you persuade Dave Gorab and Jeremy Coleman at SiriusXM to pick up their phones when I try to call them? I've been trying to get either one to respond to my phone calls and emails since June, and I haven't recieved one word of acknowledgment  :-\ ...