would you

[DoubleC]

You Want to put on a talk station yet all the top tier syndicated talkers are taken
you have very little local talent to make an impact and you need to do it on the cheap
what do you do????

 

[FTL_Ian]

Just because top-tier programs exist doesn't mean that newer, less well distributed programs aren't high-quality. Remember that the average person has never heard of the "top tier" aside from Rush Limbaugh. Interesting, engaging, and compelling programming will draw listeners every time, regardless if the host is local, syndicated on a few stations, or syndicated on a few hundred stations. 8)

Many syndicated shows are available on a full barter basis and will cost you nothing to add.

 

[smedge2006]

You Want to put on a talk station yet all the top tier syndicated talkers are taken
you have very little local talent to make an impact and you need to do it on the cheap
what do you do?

Hopefully you don't ... too much cheapness in this business anyway. The last thing we need is more cheap syndicated talkers. If that's your only option, and you know you'll never be competitive, do us all a favor, sell the land at the transmitter site and turn in the license.

Interesting, engaging, and compelling programming will draw listeners every time, regardless if the host is local, syndicated on a few stations, or syndicated on a few hundred stations.

If only it were true... if you want to put on a talk station, chances are you don't have the best signal. You won't draw listeners where they can't hear you. Most shows beyond the first tier are NOT interesting, engaging or compelling, except in the eyes of their self-promoting creators and syndicators. If you luck out and find one that is, guess what? The big corporate-owned station across town will use leverage to take it away from you.

Go local... it's much harder for them to take that away from you... they have to justify spending a WHOLE SALARY in ONE MARKET. The beancounters won't buy it. You'd be surprised at the amount of local talk in some markets... Pensacola has three or four local talk shows scattered among three different talk stations.

Or forget about chasing the fourth-tier conservative/libertarian talkers and go after the first-tier liberal talkers.

 

[jimwalsh2001]

Some thoughts...

At the very least, I would want AM and PM drive to be live and local, with traffic and weather throughout.

Forget about political agenda; find the most entertaining local or syndicated talent you can.

Also, forget about who the most "popular" hosts are. A lot of that is just industry politics; a lot of the "talent' on the bird is only there because 1) economy of scale (an economist's way of saying they're cheap); 2) name recognition ("so-and-so is a former speech writer for the president" - who cares? 3) Ego (at least one prominent second-tier host I know bankrolls his show out of his own pocket, and is only on the air to satisfy his need to hear his own voice on the radio every day. Talent-wise, he's lucky to be considered second tier). Go according to your gut and the specific needs of your market.

Look for jocks with content who want to break into talk. Ditto talented folks from outside the biz. Make it a priotity to find people who are hungry and will take direction. Yes, they will eventually leave for greener pastures, but you can make that a good thing. Become a station with a rep for honing "the stars of tomorrow"; that way you'll always have hungry talent knocking at the door.

Personally, I would LOVE to get my programming hands on a station in that situation.

 

[radiotower40]

Go to your nearest college radio station or broadcasting school, listen to some of the on air talent. Give some of the hosts a chance to
get there feet wet on your station and maybe you could discover the next Limbaugh or Hannity or Shultz . Even if you don't have a lot
of money to spend on talent, I could be wrong but in today's broadcasting world I think anyone truly interested in broadcasting would
jump at the chance to be on a commercial radio station. Depending on if you want it to be strictly talk or not, let them play a new tune
sometimes from local bands,or do some specialty shows on the weekends dedicated to playing local bands and during those shows
advertise for local talk shows that younger people would tune into. Those are just some of my ideas and I promise you no big
companies will do this anymore,and like smedge2006 pointed out a local following is much harder to take away from you.
Good Luck with your new station!

 

[Shoot From Hip]

You Want to put on a talk station yet all the top tier syndicated talkers are taken
you have very little local talent to make an impact and you need to do it on the cheap
what do you do????

You start by doing some research on where the hole in the market is. Without knowing the city and what kind of competition exists, most of the answers you'll get here will be theoretical rather than practical. Are there heritage stations? Is there a regional/local leader already? Are there political or economic issues driving your marketplace? How much money do you have to a) hire talent and b) market them? Does your signal cover the entire market? If not, you may find that you need to target to the people who live in the area your signal does reach (i.e. don't bother putting on an investment show if your signal reaches a low-income audience). Are you comfortable putting on brokered programming in order to fill time and pay the bills? Once you've made those decisions, you need to define what success will look like; can you survive on the revenue a 1 share (for example) will generate?