So Who's Talking Now?

[mas]

Callers are part of the mix for talk radio. If you exclude them, then it's not talk radio as we know it. That said, it's far too easy to just open the phones and let the calleers dominate. It's all about the right balance. I remember one host left the booth, went into the control room and let a lister host the show for about 10 minutes..funny stuff. You can't do that kind of radio if you drive away the callers

 

[indieradioguy]

Callers are part of the mix for talk radio. If you exclude them, then it's not talk radio as we know it. That said, it's far too easy to just open the phones and let the calleers dominate. It's all about the right balance. I remember one host left the booth, went into the control room and let a lister host the show for about 10 minutes..funny stuff. You can't do that kind of radio if you drive away the callers

They're already being driven away and fleeing to KJZZ. Time was, "We need to talk." Then it was, "No hate talk, just great talk." On the latter point, you didn't see the drastic Get Off My Lawn! anti-caller sentiment when a certain U.S. Congresswoman was shot in Tucson. Their talk stations kept their lines open to callers. (Still are.) Yet, when a Phoenix council member was shot a few years ago (which is apparently the only rational response I can think of, since anti-senior sentiment is terribly irrational), KTAR and KFYI started with their Get Off My Lawn! as a winning strategy. Yeah, because nothing's more entertaining on my drive home from work than hearing Mac & Cheese play Fact or Fiction with their adult supervision who's reads Tweets from a sales rep down the hall. I don't know *ANYONE* who has ever 'Tweeted' KTAR. For any reason. Not even for traffic. If it weren't for Detour Dan and Jaybird on the weekends, I'd already have KTAR removed from my presets. Oh, how I miss the glory days of KTAR hearing Pat and Strauss and then-regular callers like Carolyn, Queen of The Black Community (I wonder what she thought of "The Help.")

 

[newsmo]

A big part of the host's responsibility was always to edit the call. If it's not interesting, end it. If it is, continue it. No reason why a boring caller who can't spit the words out should be on for more than a few seconds--enough time for the host to pick up on their topic and run with it themselves. If the topic's boring, they shouldn't have made it on the air to begin with. Bang through as many calls as possible...and don't extend the length of a call just because you have few or no other calls holding. The best, successful hosts are the ones who keep the hour flowing...and I can't imagine how hours upon days without hearing from listeners makes for good flow.