fredflintstone said:
It is curious that WCOJ and WILM, two smaller peripheral stations, get a great deal of (often critical) attention here, while WNPV-Darryl Berger and WSNJ-George Moore get almost none (at least until now). From what has been posted here, neither has the kind of polished presentation associated with major market or syndicated talk radio. But both seem to fill a niche and have a following in contrast to other small stations and small station hosts discussed here.
In the case of WSNJ, the entire station is unique to the region - it's been serving Cumberland and Salem Counties since 1639 practically. Local news, local sports, local talk shows, swap & shop, and more. People in Lower Alloways Creek Twp. or Stow Creek Twp. don't care about lasers and sweepers under promos or high-priced talent yelling at them or being called "stupid!" by a show host. In an area that's ignored by big AM/FM/TV stations unless there's a quadruple murder, WSNJ super-serves these people.
Apparently the difference between a good host and a bad host is not just pipes, production and presentation. What differentiates small station good and bad hosts? If you accept the comments about Robert Henson (or John Watson) that have been posted lately, what could such hosts learn from the likes of Berger and Moore?
What makes a good host or a bad host? First, the station itself. What's its commitment to serving the community with a consistent product? When "something happens" are people rushing to a radio to turn to your station for information (and you don't need to be live 24/7 to accomplish this, nor do you need to be a news/talk station)? If you have to heavily rely on long-form brokered programming to either fill time or to meet the budget, then people will tune away in the long run. If your show hosts change every 4 months, you'll never build a bond with your listeners.
Say what you will about the finer points of programming or hard news, but in Philadelphia KYW is the "it's there for us" station that keeps it at the top of the ratings (granted, they have an advantage 'cause that's what they do around the clock). WSNJ is the "it's there for us" station in Cumberland and Salem (it isn't WVLT); 101.5 has it in the Trenton area (15 mile jam on the Turnpike - where do you go for info? It isn't WPRB).
Back to your question about what makes a good talk show host, they have to really know the area, know the people, know what's going on, know who's doing what. Not to bash WPHT, but Glenn Beck is just a guy giving an opinion and then people call in and agree or disagree for 20 seconds before you get disconnected. Is that serving the local audience? No. Why is he on WPHT? "Well, if 1210 clears the show, we can get more money per spot and we can make the sales packages look good with a big AM station in a major market and he's free so it won't cost the station anything."
The people who wake up every morning and go to work at these little suburban AM stations live in the area, they read the local paper, they talk to people in the stores. People call in, they don't yell at them, they don't hang-up on them, and in many cases the talk show host knows the callers on a first name basis - and they're not stalkers or shut-ins!
It's a shame that we all live in a booming metro area between Washington and New York where FM is king. You don't have to go too far outside of the big cities to see that quirky little AM and FM stations still exist to serve their audiences with programming that would make you drive off the road here in Philly!
