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Hosts that don't interact with callers

Ravens said:
I'd be willing to bet this isn't even a problem that's limited to radio or radio callers. People just aren't as used to making a point in a short amount of time as they once were. Heck, I know someone who did music radio that can't get to the point fast enough when talking off the air. She was great on air, but just goes on and on (and on) when telling a story in person.

And as for the ideology stuff, having listened to quite a bit of Air America and similar programming, their callers weren't any better.
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You and I are actually singing from the same page of the music on most of this conversation. Yes, whether it is an on-line forum like this one, Social Media, or oral presentations at a city council meeting, the speech patterns and logical presentation patterns of the older folks is quite different from the communications patterns of the younger crowd. When it comes to effectiveness, I am hesitant to make claims which is better. Communication is not just SENDING and message, but the transaction is not complete until the message is RECEIVED. Even if the older generation can make a logical argument that the longer and more inclusive communications are better, the younger generation can make a logical argument that those too impatient to digest the longer message are not well served by the longer inclusive message. (I would have preferred to use a different word than 'impatient' because it tends to suggest the young listener is inferior and that is not what I really wanted to say... though in my private moments I may think of it as inferior. :rolleyes: )

Part of the debate from my side is that Talk Radio does a poor job of call screening. Here is my reflection on your use of Air America as an example: Air America seems to have been put together awkwardly and poorly. If that is true, and if their CALL SCREENERS were also awkward and poor performers, Air America's experience may have little to offer our discussion. It demonstrates poor implementation. It offers us little or nothing by which to gauge the skills of those who called in and were put on the air.

But, if we could somehow see a re-incarnation of Talk Radio from the liberal/progressive side, I'm not going to bet money that those who call in would perform any better than those who call in to conservative oriented Talk Radio. And we would then still be facing the dilemma: are those who call in from one side more skilled, more articulate than those from the other side, and should we blame the callers or the gate keepers?
 
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Avid Listener said:
Where is it written that to be a "talk show", there must be callers on the air?
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That's a valid topic for discussion and it's one of the reasons I started the thread. I suppose you could have someone who just talks and doesn't listen. But then this man, whoever he is, took a call (more like took a message), but responded to it without the caller still being there.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Part of the debate from my side is that Talk Radio does a poor job of call screening.
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I agree, but is anyone even training screeners to screen anymore? I'd be willing to bet that the major syndicated guys are the only ones that have a screener that does anything more than take names and locations.

The other thing to consider is that a lot of these shows probably barely have enough callers to fill a show, start screening out the weak ones and the host would actually have to carry the show on his own. And we both know not many hosts can do that anymore. That's why so many of them use callers as a crutch. (That and certain consultants teach that callers = ratings, which is absolute bunk.)
 
While most posts here deal with weak callers I'd like to hear opinions about who are the worst hosts in regards to handling callers. I used to believe George Noory was the worst, often missing the point of the calls and and going off on bizarre tangents. Lately I've been tuning in to Michael Savage and boy howdy is he awful. It's not a matter of him simply disagreeing with the caller. He will actually talk over the caller, not letting him/her even get to the reason for the call. In most instances Savage will ignore the natural pauses in the caller's sentences, waiting for the caller to begin speaking a few syllables before jumping in and talking over the caller with his often unrelated ramblings.
 
I won't be able to comment on the host I have been hearing on Sunday morning, if it is indeed the same one each week, until Daylight Savings time ends.

"It's a Chicago tradition ..."

Must be the station once called WCFL and WLUP. Now on my local station, if I know what I am hearing, I can hear it.
 
It was sunny Sunday, so no interference from Chicago or wherever. I heard him listen to a message and respond, as opposed to having a conversation. It was something like "Why does the Sun heat the Earth?" Remember, it was 7 in the morning and for me that means my mind isn't working yet. The end of Daylight Savings Time should help with that. I also heard "1-866-323". I think it was 323. I didn't try to remember the rest.
 
I looked up Mitsiu Kaku's web site and the phone number was not 1-866 but 1-800. Whoever it was asked the question "What happens when we die?" and said something about "Who created everything?" It was from the point of view of science. But at 7 in the morning, a week before Daylight Savngs Time ends, I'm not in the mood to hear more.
 
Dr. Kaku's show is canned anyway. I think any calls he does get are done ala-Car Talk. A callers leaves a message with a question, and when they record the show, the producer gets the original caller back on the line.
 
Ravens said:
Dr. Kaku's show is canned anyway. I think any calls he does get are done ala-Car Talk. A callers leaves a message with a question, and when they record the show, the producer gets the original caller back on the line.
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The show I hear doesn't have a caller back on the line. Only the original voice mail message.
 
I just heard part of Mitsiu Kaku's show last night. It was like he played a voice mail question and then answered it.

Sort of 'creative' way of doing it, I suppose. Maybe they think they will get more calls that way.
 
Is his number 866-292-3636? It's so early in the morning when I turn him off my brain isn't really working yet.

THE FUTURE OF THE BRAIN ...
 
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