Stephanie Miller on Talk Decline

[FredLeonard]

Whether he had a fight quota or not, Pyne was not afraid to let opposing views on the air - like the current bunch.

 

[Avid Listener]

Whether he had a fight quota or not, Pyne was not afraid to let opposing views on the air - like the current bunch.

Joe Pyne pandered to the lowest common denominator that simply liked a good fight, regardless of who was fighting, or what they were fighting over. Limbaugh panders to the lowest common denominator that wants to have their own biases validated. Neither one is worth much of anything, except to the people making money selling tickets to their freak shows.

 

[flybynight]

Radio formats are a boom and bust deal. We're in a bust cycle. You yourself said that advertisers are shying away from ALL controversial programming. You can't blame just Rush on that.

But it didn't just happen organically. There was a catalyst and it's name was Rush Limbaugh. While sponsors have been somewhat jittery with the acid-tone many of these hosts/stations have adopted in recent years, the Sandra Fluke debacle was the final crescendo for many.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Whether he had a fight quota or not, Pyne was not afraid to let opposing views on the air - like the current bunch.

You know who isn't afraid to let opposing views on air? John Watson. Why did you make this racist comment about him?

Sounds like that's exactly what's happening. But I guess the station gets affirmative action points for Watson because it can't be drawing power. How many different hosts trounced him?

 

[Small Market Guy]

But it didn't just happen organically. There was a catalyst and it's name was Rush Limbaugh. While sponsors have been somewhat jittery with the acid-tone many of these hosts/stations have adopted in recent years, the Sandra Fluke debacle was the final crescendo for many.

I think it started long before that. People need an excuse to not spend money on advertising. This was just another excuse.

 

[TheBigA]

I think it started long before that. People need an excuse to not spend money on advertising. This was just another excuse.

Except, as I said earlier, they continued to spend money on radio...just not on talk. That's the point of the talk ban. It's Fortune 500 companies specifying that they don't want their spots airing in or near Rush, Hannity, or Savage.

 

[davideduardo]

I think it started long before that. People need an excuse to not spend money on advertising. This was just another excuse.

But radio revenues are now running at over a $17 billion, which is more than 35% more than the 2008 recession levels.

 

[Small Market Guy]

But radio revenues are now running at over a $17 billion, which is more than 35% more than the 2008 recession levels.

What were talk format revenues back then?

This format has been in trouble for a long time, and it's a much bigger problem than just one guy. We're a nation of snitches and rats. One guy with a fax machine can get a show pulled. Everyone is afraid to be controversial in any fashion. That's what happened to the Hot Talk format. Is that Rush's fault, too?

 

[davideduardo]

What were talk format revenues back then?

I don't have a format billing reference. But I was responding to your comment about businesses not buying advertising.

Talk is getting quite obviously a lower revenue share. AM usage by today's 25-54s is dismal, and many big AMs did not move to FM. The format is possibly less relevant to Gen X as they are used to tighter, more condensed "information bites" and that is an area the the Internet and TV have captured. Add in the fact that sports, long a mainstay of big talkers, has split into its own format, and you have a variety of reasons why news talk is billing less. Note, Fred and Rabid, that I did not mention politics anywhere.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

You know who isn't afraid to let opposing views on air? John Watson. Why did you make this racist comment about him?

Would someone explain who is John Wason.

 

[FredLeonard]

Would someone explain who is John Wason.

He did a late morning show in Wilmington, DE. He is Black and conservative, except on issues like Affirmative Action (which is understandable, given his lack of talent).

It's sort of pathetic when somebody tries to attack someone with whom he disagrees by dredging up stuff from old posts out of context and often twisted. Just shows they don't have much to refute the current post.

 

[Avid Listener]

I'm amazed at how many people have the time to listen to obscure local talk show hosts from all over the country, and to have listened to enough of their shows to know their content well enough to authoritatively comment on it. They must listen to three or four different talk shows at the same time to be able to be such experts on so many different hosts. And, they must have been listening for decades to have such in-depth knowledge of talk hosts of as many as three decades ago.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Would someone explain who is John Wason.

He's a Wilmington, Delaware talk mainstay. He also happens to be black. Fred accused the PD of Watson's station of hiring him to fill a quota. Click on the little arrow beside the quote and it'll take you to the related thread to see for yourself.

There is no place on this board for a bigot like Fred.

 

[Small Market Guy]

He did a late morning show in Wilmington, DE. He is Black and conservative, except on issues like Affirmative Action (which is understandable, given his lack of talent).

It's sort of pathetic when somebody tries to attack someone with whom he disagrees by dredging up stuff from old posts out of context and often twisted. Just shows they don't have much to refute the current post.

It's not out of context. And you just proved my point. You're more of a bigot than any of these hosts you slander on a daily basis.

 

[TheBigA]

You're more of a bigot than any of these hosts you slander on a daily basis.

None of you guys will be winning any Nobel Prizes. Let's move on, shall we?

It's bad enough people are getting paid money to do this on the radio.

 

[Small Market Guy]

None of you guys will be winning any Nobel Prizes. Let's move on, shall we?

It's bad enough people are getting paid money to do this on the radio.

I'll move on when he apologizes or stops posting the same thread 3 or 4 times a day. I have friends that work for the company that Watson works for. I don't like bigots insulting my friends, then acting like they're some sort of moral authority on what happens on the radio.

 

[Small Market Guy]

I'm amazed at how many people have the time to listen to obscure local talk show hosts from all over the country

I lived in Wilmington for 5 years. The guys who gave me my first radio job work for the company that Watson works for. He's a decent guy and a good host. Fred needs to be put in his place. No one else is willing to do it, so I'm taking the initiative.

 

[Avid Listener]

I lived in Wilmington for 5 years. The guys who gave me my first radio job work for the company that Watson works for. He's a decent guy and a good host. Fred needs to be put in his place. No one else is willing to do it, so I'm taking the initiative.

That explains one person (you) being familiar with one obscure local talk show host. What about all the other people who keep dropping name after name as if they knew these people personally?

 

[ctkatz]

during this rather fascinating back and forth between two clear factions of what people think about why talk radio is failing today, someone way back a couple of pages ago noted that the millenials aren't tuning in anymore. well i'll speak as one of those millenials. i've been listening to talk since i was in middle school. i still listen to talk today. but i have migrated to one particular brand of talk radio. and no it isn't npr. i have stopped listening to the right wing stuff particularly because it wasn't interesting anymore and they started repeating demonstrably false facts as though it were true. now, i can appreciate the republican viewpoint even if i don't agree with it but to be lied to over and over with bigger and bigger falacies, i can't stand. you don't find that with a lot of the democratic leaning shows because the callers will check the hosts and the hosts aren't so egotistic as to dismiss the caller out of hand.

you also don't have hosts actually teaching something about something on air. i only know of one who's doing it, norman goldman who also (reportedly) gets excellent ratings on the stations that still carry him in the right demographics the advertisers drool over. now i don't have facts to back this up but if it's actually true that norm does get good ratings it should be a no brainer to get him on the air on as many struggling stations as possible. but no, the liberal format doesn't work. no one listens. even though democratic programming (not that horribly mismanaged air america type stuff. i lean that way politically and even i thought that network was a joke save thom hartmann and rachel maddow and al franken when you got into the policy wonk stuff) has i do believe never been given a chance with a station with a decent signal.

the problem with talk radio today is that it has become way too ideological today. the extreme right wing radio has attracted the tea bags, sovereign citizens, and conspiracy demos and has chased away those not deemed ideologically pure enough. other than those big personalities with the big salaries who were on the big sticks, no one has ever made mention that right wing talk has failed. rush radio in boston? failed. the new keib in la? test pattern ratings. the new knew in the bay area? likewise. in fact i would state that right wing radio has failed worse than left wing radio because it was given way more opportunity to succeed with several times more people to fill the programming hours. but because you have big names like rush limbaugh, sean hannity, and glen beck along with mark levin and michael savage weiner still making millions of dollars and being force carried on legacy (but in some cases not necessarily big stick, wor new york for example) stations you never hear about that.

and on the left side, democratic leaning people were convinced that in order to attract people they had to act more like republicans. on the radio and in politics we see how that worked out (not well). and those who actually tried to inform their listeners instead of shouting at them they simply were pushed off the air in order to make more room for the rush hannibeck clone (because liberal talk fails).

but what do i know, i'm just a fan of radio upset in its rapid decline in quality.

 

[wadio]

Excellent post, ctkatz. I lean the opposite way from you politically but I share your views about what's wrong with talk radio completely. I've never heard of Norman Goldman but I'll look him up.