When do you Know a Talk Show is Not working

[DoubleC]

When do you pull the plug on a Talk Show......If you have gone 3 Books without any ratings when do you say Hey maybe we need a change its just not catching on. You have done little if any marketing is that the problem? If after a year you have no Buzz....will A Big marketing Blitz work or will we find out the opposite that we have no Buzz because our shows are NOT compelling as mentioned in the other posts.

 

[DToTheJ]

Sometimes a change can be for the better.

Exhibit A might be Ed Schultz, former conservative radio host turned "blue meat" liberal radio host.

Then, of course, you have Tom Leykis, who used to concentrate on political talk (I remember when one of his shows was simulcast on C-SPAN back in the early 90's). Then he realized he can get more bang for his buck (pardon the pun) by talking about men's issues, and proclaiming he is "not a right wing wacko or a convicted felon." Whatever works, I guess.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

I'm hardly an expert from the programming side of the curtain, but from the listener side I'll ask a few questions:

How much faith do you have in your host? Do YOU think he's good? Is he just another copycat?

If you have faith in the guy, and in your professional judgment think he's good, I'd stick with him. Ratings take time to build. Especially with talk programming. Constantly flipping formats is part of the problem.

 

[Signal_Faded]

Part of our problem is that (in all aspects of life) we have become a microwave culture. We want it and we want it now. Kids want the house, kids, dog and fence when they first get married, I want that popcorn in 2 mins and 28 secs and leveraged radio companies are looking for popcorn like results whenever a change is made. Heck...even on the local level, owners and operators are scared and wanting results right away. The PROBLEM is, as I see it, is that listeners are not on that same schedule. It takes time to build a show, brand and fan base. Many times I have seen an owner flip after 3 so so books only to see that fourth book come out and tell a totally different story...if only they would have waited they would have seen the ship begin to right itself.

All this to say...this answer is much more complicated than can be given here due to circumstances we may not know (is the person really talented? market specific issue etc) but the only thing I would advise would be to encourage patience. Be as patient as you can be while keeping a pulse on your talent, your audience and your advertisers.

 

[musicsweep]

"The only difference between small market programming and large market programming is that in the large markets you have to produce results immediately."

I suppose it depends on what market you are in, and how under the gun you are to generate revenue or ratings.

 

[radioboy]

If it is a local show..are you taking callers? If so, are you getting a decent response? It takes more than the same handful of callers day after day.

If there's been little to no marketing, do listeners ever know you exist? How would they find out about the show?

What feature or aspect of the show is most likely to gain new listeners?

Here's my personal disaster story:

About 9 or 10 years ago I was working at a Christian station, and the owner decided he wanted to keep the Christian teaching/preaching blocks and have talk radio too. He thought he'd make a fortune combining the two.

Well, when that combo hit the air after a 22 year run as a solid Christian station, it got..well, interesting. Advertisers that had been with the station 15 to 20 years cancelled. Preachers cancelled. Listeners voted by changing stations - to the real talk station, and a new Christian competitor.

He decided we'd have a local talk show in the morning..run preachers, then a different local talk show..then replay the morning show around 3 in the afternoon..then just sign off..like around 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon.

I left about three months into this experiment of bouncing paychecks, calls of complaint and cancellation and
the fact that producing this morning show was boring me to tears.

I advised the owner that I felt his station was not going to survive that course, and that he should have picked one format OR the other. "Oh, it's going to make a LOT of money," he assured me.

Eight months later that same owner had his manager call me, wanting me to come on board as operations manager. The billing had fallen from $10 to 12k a month to barely $4k and could I fix it. Plus, he had flown into town and heard the morning show himself..thought it was the most boring thing he'd ever heard.

It took 2 years to fix and get the billing back up to $10k. The talk radio folks all had to be let go..all they could do was talk and not a one of them knew how to sell.

When the owner got another bright idea that "would make a LOT of money" I decided it was time for him to handle his own messes..got out intact myself before the ship sank and haven't looked back.

My advice: don't rely on the books so heavily. I think folks look at that and lose their common sense.
Look at your active audience and revenue. Are you making a profit? Engaging your listeners and bringing in new ones?

These kinds of questions will help you determine whether it's working or not.

 

[LibertyNT]

You know a talk show does no good when it doesn't get any calls.

 

[Holland Cooke]

We did NOT rehearse this, right?

You know a talk show does no good when it doesn't get any calls.

THANK YOU.
Although I should warn you.
The-notion-that callers are part of Talk Radio is VERY threatening to many here.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: We did NOT rehearse this, right?

The-notion-that callers are part of Talk Radio is VERY threatening to many here.

I never understood that mindset. I've seen more than one show killed by bad callers. Just look at the hot talk shows that moved to satellite. Sirius XM exclusive shows have HORRIBLE callers.

 

[Holland Cooke]

You know a talk show does no good when it doesn't get any calls.

Admittedly, call count is a crude measurement, but I think it's meaningful...with ONE exception: psychics.

It's a con.

The guest, a psychic, takes calls...and CALLS COME alrighty. But it's one-to-one (psychic-and-caller), not one-to-many (as in "broadcasting"), and what-the-listener-is-invited-to-eavesdrop-on is merely an infomercial for the psychic, who's there to line-suckers-up for an-hour-each at the Ramada.

Other than the psychic: It's hard to consider an-hour-with-caller-after-caller as irrelevant...and an hour with few-or-no-callers as relevant.

And there's one exception to THAT, exemplified by Rush Limbaugh's calculated, tasteless racism on-the-occasion of George Steinbrenner's passing. He was DELIBERATELY crossing-a-line, to attract attention. And it sure worked. But few can do this as well as he can (though too many try), and most hosts would be better-off sounding-as-popular-as-they-would with a crowded show.

MORE on caller technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1wtOayzPw0

HC
www.HollandCooke.com