Relax! Listen to Classic Radio Theater!

Keep FREE Radio in your car!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Another person's thoughts about Talk Radio

Our last post on Talk Radio and the need for it to be reinvented caught the attention of an acquaintance from long ago in the American Sunrise heyday.  He emailed me, and I think what he says bears repeating.  I have omitted his name from his writing.



I didn't know about your connection with Chuck Harder - I was living in Southeast Michigan in the early 1990s and regularly listened to Harder on one of those failing AM stations (in Valpo, Indiana) who were glad to have the free programming.   He warned of the coming control of the country by Goldman Sachs and the big banks.  And here we are.
I used to listen to talk radio every day - and pretty much know the voice and background of everyone in the business.   As of about two months ago, I snapped.   I just can't listen to it anymore.  Barack Obama didn't have to kill Conservative talk - it committed suicide by poison.  While your boss may not have Rush on his Bozo list, rush's tonedeaf screeds that women who use birth control are sluts has to be slamming the door on the few women still listening.
Rush missed the opportunity to train a successor for the day he should get off the stage and starved the rest of the talent pool.   He was 38 when he started national syndication.   Now, only a couple people left in syndication are younger than 60 and most of them quit (Andy Dean, Jason Lewis, Andrea Tantaros).    The people in their 30s and 40s with high disposable incomes who drew advertisers to Rush in his prime are now in their 60s and 70s and weren't replenished.  (I'm 58)
Glad to see you still kicking out there in Nevada.   I hope this country sorts out what it wants to be, but I'm increasingly pessimistic about the future.
And here's where things are misconstrued.  Talk radio wasn't planned.  Talk radio was the next natural evolution of the DJ and personality radio. Corporate radio decided that Conservative Talk Radio was good, and other varieties of talk radio (Except Jock Talk) was bad.  Not allowing the next level of talk radio to develop will be the death of AM Radio.

If we could get back to moderate, discussion radio, that would have a chance.  If we could get to honest advice radio, that would be good too.  But without big city stations getting behind it, the whole concept would be DOA.

No comments:

Post a Comment