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Why don't we hear???

R

radiowizard101

Why don't we hear wonderful personalities like Sally Jesse Raphael or Rolleye James on the airwaves anymore? What has happened to good old fashioned general interest talk? How about Alan Handleman? Why doesn't he have a syndication deal? Is it because the SUITS are running the show and all they know is BORING RIGHT WING JUNK???? What gives?

Just asking here...
 
radiowizard101 said:
Why don't we hear wonderful personalities like Sally Jesse Raphael or Rolleye James on the airwaves anymore? What has happened to good old fashioned general interest talk? How about Alan Handleman? Why doesn't he have a syndication deal? Is it because the SUITS are running the show and all they know is BORING RIGHT WING JUNK???? What gives?

Just asking here...
Click to expand...

The short answer?

YES.

The suits, as the result of a total lack of intuition and creativity, typically go with the safe bet---even if it spells doom for tomorrow. Especially now with Wall Street's influence, TODAY has never been more important than tomorrow. Sad.
 
Don't be so quick to let talent off the hook for this. Maybe everyone getting into talk wants to do the political stuff because they think it makes for better ratings. Then the "suits", with a lack of talent wanting to do general interest, end up taking the easy way out and going with political talk.

Unfortunately, every new guy either wants to be the next Rush or the next Howard. No one wants to be the next Bruce Williams, and that's a shame. If I had the knowledge Bruce had on so many subjects, I'd do a show like that in a SECOND. Whether anyone would listen is debatable, but it would be awesome regardless.
 
How are Jim Bohannon's ratings?
Maybe there aren't any general interest shows because there isn't anyone to host them? Maybe like Open Source said, everyone wants to keep beating the same drum the big-ratings guys beat.

Allan Handelman is syndicated Sunday nights 10p-1a. ;)
 
This is what happens when the "minor league farm system" of radio, LOCAL talk radio, dries up into syndication land. The next generation of good, general knowledge talk-show hosts are in other professions because syndication drove them away or never gave them a chance to begin with.
 
Is there a fix for the current status quo?

What would be your pitch to the local station manager in a burg near you if you had this ability to do general talk?

What would be your business plan? Just do it locally for the next 24 years.... or would you walk in the door dreaming of becoming the next syndicated hit?

Doctors refuse to do certain procedures in their chosen practice because they fear medical malpractice suits. If you or I were good enough at general talk to actually attract a viable listening audience, would we be just good enough to bring the station law suits but not good enough to watch our mouth and stay out of legal trouble?

Putting good talent in a small arena can be a bit like putting a poisonous snake in a small arena... When and where would you ever sleep well if you are the custodian of the arena?
 
Isn't it fair to say that most of the "general subject" talk is now the purview of morning shows on music stations? So far that doesn't seem to have transferred to other dayparts for whatever reason.
 
General interest is a much more challenging format. You can pretty much rely on
some politician doing something stupid just about every day of the year to provide
material for your political format show. For general interest you are going to have to
be much more creative in coming up with your content night after night. Perhaps
there just aren't a whole lot of people left in the business anymore who are up to that.
 
Well, back in the day we had Jean Shepherd, Brad Crandle, Long John Nebel, and many others that could weave a good listen without politics. All MUCH BETTER than what passes for entertainment today. Jean Shepherd in his time makes FLUSHBO sound like a beginner. There's more to life than continuous politics. Today's talk radio is full of nothing but pandering and blathering.
 
Until both the talent and audience is there in numbers that will displace political talk, political talk will remain. I can remember Catherine Jons in Chicago, who could segue effortlessly between politics and lighter or relationship topics, but in a PPM world, I'm not sure if you could do multiple topics and keep the audience or not.
 
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