In some ways it is a bit ludicrous for us to try and formulate a plan for the future of Conservative Talk Radio.... but that can be said about a lot of business lines and art forms. (We are dealing with BOTH.)
First I would suggest that we may be on the cusp of a new era in which radio changes radically. Radio is always changing to stay current with technology, with business cycles, with political cycles, with popullation changes and culture changes. But like other business, there has been an inertia in the industry. Like a rocket hurtling through space it had a direction and it took a lot of outside changes to shift the direction of radio change. We may be at a point where we will look back in just a few years and say: "Boy, I didn't see THOSE changes coming!"
Politics is always changing... sometimes slowly.... once in awhile politics has one of those radical changes in course. The Conservative movement is "riding high" right now. Most Conservatives feel like the movement is riding on a solid foundation. But what if the foundation of the political direction collapses.... then what happens to Conservative Talk Radio? It won't matter if radio has groomed a farm team or not. It won't matter if radio managers are 'forward looking' or not. (I am not trying to suggest that Liberalism as we know it today may be on the verge of overpowering Conservatism as we know it today. Maybe a whole new class/direction of political thinking will be poured out of the blast-furnaces of political thinking.
There was a feature on NPR today that I was half-way listening to. This was the anniversary of a convention back in the 1800s of a meeting to discuss the place of women in society and someone was so bold as to suggest that maybe even women should be allowed to VOTE! Most women at the meeting were shocked. It took 75 years for that idea to take hold. Only one of the women who signed the documents at that first meeting was alive to see the opportunity to vote 75 years later.
Now think your way through social/political changes and challenges of the last 20 to 30 years. The kinds of movements that used to take 75 to 100 years to happen... can now come about in 10 to 15 years!
Enough with all the talk and verbiage already. My point is: To talk about a "conservative talk radio farm team" is probably much to narrow and small for serious discussion. Will talk of any kind, any flavor, be a part of radio 5 to 7 years from now?
First I would suggest that we may be on the cusp of a new era in which radio changes radically. Radio is always changing to stay current with technology, with business cycles, with political cycles, with popullation changes and culture changes. But like other business, there has been an inertia in the industry. Like a rocket hurtling through space it had a direction and it took a lot of outside changes to shift the direction of radio change. We may be at a point where we will look back in just a few years and say: "Boy, I didn't see THOSE changes coming!"
Politics is always changing... sometimes slowly.... once in awhile politics has one of those radical changes in course. The Conservative movement is "riding high" right now. Most Conservatives feel like the movement is riding on a solid foundation. But what if the foundation of the political direction collapses.... then what happens to Conservative Talk Radio? It won't matter if radio has groomed a farm team or not. It won't matter if radio managers are 'forward looking' or not. (I am not trying to suggest that Liberalism as we know it today may be on the verge of overpowering Conservatism as we know it today. Maybe a whole new class/direction of political thinking will be poured out of the blast-furnaces of political thinking.
There was a feature on NPR today that I was half-way listening to. This was the anniversary of a convention back in the 1800s of a meeting to discuss the place of women in society and someone was so bold as to suggest that maybe even women should be allowed to VOTE! Most women at the meeting were shocked. It took 75 years for that idea to take hold. Only one of the women who signed the documents at that first meeting was alive to see the opportunity to vote 75 years later.
Now think your way through social/political changes and challenges of the last 20 to 30 years. The kinds of movements that used to take 75 to 100 years to happen... can now come about in 10 to 15 years!
Enough with all the talk and verbiage already. My point is: To talk about a "conservative talk radio farm team" is probably much to narrow and small for serious discussion. Will talk of any kind, any flavor, be a part of radio 5 to 7 years from now?
