I was listening to my local sports talk station a few weeks ago musing about the changes in the format over the years. One important one they noted was that there are fewer call-in segments on sports talk radio then there used to be, whether the national or local shows. Does this jibe with what you hear? If so, why the change? And are there stations/shows that emphasize call-ins a lot?
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Less call-in segments: why?
- Thread starter installLSC
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Yes, it does jive. And the reason is simple: call in shows are really, really boring. Very few callers are ready to present their points in a concise, organized fashion. Call-in shows have been reduced in sports, and also news/talk.
It is more effective to have the show host read tweets or texts from listeners.
In a previous gig, one of my roles was to board-op NASCAR Live at an affiliate every Tuesday night. It was one of the most painful things I've ever done in radio. Partly because it was keeping me from food during its live airing at 7pm ET, partly it was the callers who seemed to, almost without fail, talk about Dale Jr.
It is more effective to have the show host read tweets or texts from listeners.
In a previous gig, one of my roles was to board-op NASCAR Live at an affiliate every Tuesday night. It was one of the most painful things I've ever done in radio. Partly because it was keeping me from food during its live airing at 7pm ET, partly it was the callers who seemed to, almost without fail, talk about Dale Jr.
Another reason is that so many listeners call from cell phones with drop-outs, compression that duels with the station's audio processing, and generally bad quality. For a while, some stations would take calls,, but screen out cell phone calls. Today, nearly all calls are cellular calls and the quality is bad and causes fatigue.
ESPN recently ran a great documentary on the Mike & The Mad Dog show at WFAN. In watching it, I noticed how quickly they moved through the calls. Its also important to screen calls, to make sure the callers already know what they're going to say. Not every station has the staff to do that. The other thing is the growth in the availability of guests. The guests have more first-hand knowledge than the callers. Or at least most of them do.
I understand the problems with phones. Luckily, the shows I listen to are quick to drop people on bad connections.
Generally, callers are hit or miss. Some shows develop celebrity callers, which is annoying. On the other hand, callers can move things along and listeners (even if they don't call) grow to think they are part of the show.
There is nothing more boring than listening to a national show on nights or weekends with one host and no callers. It becomes like listening to a student in a high school speech class that has to give a five minute speech, but only has two minutes of material and just starts repeating things and talking to himself.
Generally, callers are hit or miss. Some shows develop celebrity callers, which is annoying. On the other hand, callers can move things along and listeners (even if they don't call) grow to think they are part of the show.
There is nothing more boring than listening to a national show on nights or weekends with one host and no callers. It becomes like listening to a student in a high school speech class that has to give a five minute speech, but only has two minutes of material and just starts repeating things and talking to himself.
When I listen to any talk shows, sports or news-talk, I want to hear the host or a special guest. When they open the phones to listeners, I am outta there. As PT Board Op pointed out, callers are rarely concise and articulate; they drag out the show. I am amused at how Rush Limbaugh always says that he will get to the callers shortly but actually takes forever to do so and then takes only one or two calls. He knows his listners don't want to hear the callers but he must feel he should take a couple to maintain his fan base.
Everything you people are saying about the state of sports talk radio, I agree with -- as long as we're only talking about AM and FM. The dedicated one-sport talk channels on satellite are a different story, I've found. The talk shows there seem to attract articulate callers who really know their stuff and the conversations often turn into "inside baseball" -- even when the sport being talked about isn't baseball. Obviously, some of these channels' listeners are people who are into their favorite sports so deeply that they pay for SiriusXM service just to listen to those channels as much as possible, but you'd think there'd be more typical fans out there who'd also be in the mix. Is the screening that good at satellite, or does the "Joe Sixpack" type of sports fan just not bother with the sort of in-depth discussions the SiriusXM hosts like to start?
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