FM Talk: Stillborn?

[Nathan Obral]

I would be very interested to hear who some of these talented folks are who aren't getting a shot are. Local dudes? I'd love to hear some names, air-checks, let hear some of this talent.

Shane "Rover" French gets astounding numbers on WMMS/Cleveland. His afternoon counterpart, Maxwell, is very competitive in the PMD wars. In fact, both of them are successful hot talk hosts on an otherwise heritage rocker.

Rover's mistake (and it wasn't assumed at the time it would be that big a mistake) was going with CBS in the Free FM midwest debacle. All but one of his affiliates have flipped to a different format and dropped his show, ultimately ending with Rover leaving CBS for CC early last year. Maxwell never has gotten an opportunity for syndication, and it does surprise me a bit. Maybe for both hosts, it's a local thing.

 

[Parttimer]

Too many of these shows sound like Lex & Terry, Bubba the Love sponge, or the Monsters on WTKS/Orlando.

The best non-political host I've heard in the past few years was a guy named John Hancock, he was doing the evening shift on WBT. (And frankly, I only heard him once on a drive back from Florida). But he was friendly, entertaining, and talking to adults with brains, jobs and lives.

To me, the only thing less entertaining than a Rush wannabee is a Stern wannabee.

 

[klutch00]

I remember Jaz McKay from that period and he was good. Unfortunately, in recent years he has moved to the dark side; he's now a Rush clone, working in central California.

Why did he change? My guess is that it was the only way he could get work. Nobody has the nads to hire a talker who isn't a conservaclone... ???

That doesn't surprise me! But I guess we could see that coming! It's such a shame 'cause he was pretty damned good...And yes, I'm showing my libertarian bias here! Speaking of which, other than Neal Boortz (who I don't think is all that libertarian) are there any other libertarian hosts on terrestrial radio anymore, and if so where? It's a shame that we lost Irv Homer a few months back.

 

[bossbill]

Does Mancow count?

 

[ericdxx]

Does Mancow count?

Hard to say. I've "sampled" his show and I got the impression that he's trying to be a hip Imus, not a Stern. His show is awful though.

 

[recto101]

Look Fm talk will sell more in the future.

 

[SportsTap]

Actually, that's a good idea; we should talk about some of the genuinely talented people out there whose broadcast careers have been strangled and aborted by the mechanics of the biz today. Modesty (ha ha) forbids me from touting myself, and I'll won't mention deceased talents like, say, Bob Lassiter,* who would have fit this category in his sad, final years...

...so I'll start with a couple of my living, breathing favorites...

ED TYLL: My all-time favorite host. After several fruitful years in Orlando and Los Angeles, his radio career seemed to lose focus. Which is sad because every talk station in America should be banging on his door, offering him a truckload of dough to get him back behind a mike. (Last I heard, Ed was alive and well and doing voiceover and standup in the New York area. He doesn't need radio; the point is that radio needs him).

PHIL DEFRANCO: Phil is a guy who likes to post his “opinions” on YouTube. He’s funny, original and always interesting. He obviously knows how to communicate with folks of his generation.

So why isn’t the radio industry beating a path to Phil’s door to hire him?

Answer that question and you’ll know all you need to know about why spoken-word radio is on the skids…


*When Lassiter died a few months ago, TALKERS magazine didn't even give him a mention. Guess they were short on room that month, and god forbid we miss our monthly doses of wisdom from Lars Larson and Lynn Wooley...
[/quote]
When The Loop 1000 first signed on in 1987, I enjoyed listening to them. It was a great station to DX. Kevin Matthews was entertaining and even after he was moved to mid-days I'd still listen to the couple (Bev and Tim were they?). Once they added Larry King and started mucking with the lineup, I lost interest. I did appreciate when they briefly brought on Danny Bonaduce to do an evening show, but for all intents and purposes it was over by then. Ed Tyll did nothing for me.

I would really like to see a 'personality/talk' or 'hot talk' format prevail once again on an AM powerhouse like the old WLUP. Maybe I'm just too old school when it comes to that but why put a news or talk format on an FM signal that could be better used for music programming? If nothing else, put such programming on at night.

One host I really miss is Jaz McKay when he was on Cleveland's 3WE back in 1995.
[/quote]

The Loop/WLUP in the early 80's was my inspiration. Johnny B. Kevin Mathews, and my personal favorite Steve & Garry. Bruce Wolf/Chet Chitchat with sports, the best traffic reports, news. It was outstanding radio.

 

[joshzz]

I too would like to hear another type of talk program such as the one the original poster described.

I'm a conservative but don't want to hear anyone vilifying others all day long, and I despise sex talk on the radio- people that host such programs sound like immature, childish gutter kings.

We definitely could use fresh upbeat positive talk.

Did you know that a study has found those that listen to negative talk programs experience a rise in blood pressure and along with that their immune systems are impaired due to the stress. That in itself is a reason for upbeat, talk to exist ---- and a great way to promote why people should choose it in lieu of confrontational talk.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Sometimes we ignore the fact that Rush is successful because he is funny and not just conservative. He can be dirty in the Dan Ingram mold, and he does that often. He just does not go over the line. Also, he will talk football (and have ex-players on the air with him) and other topics besides just conservative talk.

The angry conservative types get on the air, but they fail to have his success because they lack humor.

Rush is only funny to listeners who like to see people they disagree with viciously "skewered" like so much vegetation on a shish-kebab stick.

Can we admit that Al Franken is the "lab test" that demonstrated that HUMOR is NOT the main, essential ingredient for successful Talk Radio?

 

[klutch00]

The Loop/WLUP in the early 80's was my inspiration. Johnny B. Kevin Mathews, and my personal favorite Steve & Garry. Bruce Wolf/Chet Chitchat with sports, the best traffic reports, news. It was outstanding radio.

Actually as I said the Loop 1000 first signed on in 1987 when the station was changed hands (and calls from WCFL) from those doing the religion format, but otherwise I agree with you and it's too bad that the format couldn't last! When I bought my Dodge Shadow in the late-spring of that year, I had four buttons (out of six) on the car radio set on faraway clear channel stations. The Loop was among them!

 

[Talk_Dude]

Sometimes we ignore the fact that Rush is successful because he is funny and not just conservative. He can be dirty in the Dan Ingram mold, and he does that often. He just does not go over the line. Also, he will talk football (and have ex-players on the air with him) and other topics besides just conservative talk.

The angry conservative types get on the air, but they fail to have his success because they lack humor.

Rush is only funny to listeners who like to see people they disagree with viciously "skewered" like so much vegetation on a shish-kebab stick.

Can we admit that Al Franken is the "lab test" that demonstrated that HUMOR is NOT the main, essential ingredient for successful Talk Radio?

Was Franken trying to be funny?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Can we admit that Al Franken is the "lab test" that demonstrated that HUMOR is NOT the main, essential ingredient for successful Talk Radio?

Was Franken trying to be funny?

That is an excellent question! Franken was on a "signal of marginal reception" where I live so I did not hear enough of his broadcasts to honestly answer your question. If I had recordings of several of his programs on Air America, it would be interesting to go back and review them today. What were hot topics when he discussed them are now topics that have matured, fizzled or morphed. It would be easier to evaluate if-and-when he was trying to be funny than it was when his comments were viewed as "live ammunition".

I guess if you live in Minnesota he regularly makes the news. For the rest of us, Franken apparently is going about the business of being a legislator and learning "his new trade" because his name just isn't in the news where I live.

When we were originally observing Franken and his tenure at Air America, conventional wisdom was that was hired because he was reported to be a funny comedian who might be able to draw an audience to hear the Air America party line. We had little or no indication whether he had bona fide political commentary credentials. Now that he has run for significant political office and has been put in place, I suspect we all might have different reactions to recordings of his broadcasts than our reactions at the time when we assumed he was nothing more than a comedian but a light-weight on political reality.

So I end where I started this post: You have asked an excellent question!

 

[Talk_Dude]

Can we admit that Al Franken is the "lab test" that demonstrated that HUMOR is NOT the main, essential ingredient for successful Talk Radio?

Was Franken trying to be funny?

So I end where I started this post: You have asked an excellent question!

I was making a reference to his entire career. I remember him all the way back to the "Al Franken Decade" skits on Saturday Night Live. He wasn't funny then. He wasn't funny playing the stoned shipping clerk in the movie "Trading Places". He wasn't funny in the skits he did with his partner, Davis. So, I have to wonder if he was attempting to be funny when he was on the radio.

Therefore, we can only admit that Al Franken is the "lab test" that demonstrates that anyone who attempts to be funny and fails will probably not be successful doing talk format radio.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people assume that because someone does something badly, the thing being done won't work. If someone does something badly and it fails, that only proves that doing it badly fails.

Here's a piece of wisdom given to me by an old-timer in the radio business many, many years ago. It was true then, and it's true now.

Quality matters. For anything to work in any sort of entertainment medium, it has to be done well.

Anything done well can succeed, nothing done badly will succeed.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Al Franken is in the perfect job for his level of mediocrity now.

 

[billtanner]

Glenn Beck at the recent October 2010 NTS talk conference in Cali named this guy as the new undiscovered talk star. http://www.brucekellyandcompany.com/

 

[Talk_Dude]

Glenn Beck at the recent October 2010 NTS talk conference in Cali named this guy as the new undiscovered talk star. http://www.brucekellyandcompany.com/

And Bill Tanner is his #1 cheerleader, and probably hoping for a small commission if the guy hits the big time.

 

[progressivetalk]

Or Limbaugh's recent rant blaming the Japanese and their concerns about the environment for the earthquake.tsunami that killed and injured who knows how many thousands or the tens of thousands that are missing and presumed dead. Yeah, dude, old pusball Rush is so damn funny. Put his fat, drug-addled ass in Japan, away from his mansion and his golf game and his maids and he'd be the first one crying for his fat ass to be saved!!

 

[joshzz]

I think everyone needs to watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BAJCn7QMxA&feature=related

 

[beantownradio25]

Or Limbaugh's recent rant blaming the Japanese and their concerns about the environment for the earthquake.tsunami that killed and injured who knows how many thousands or the tens of thousands that are missing and presumed dead. Yeah, dude, old pusball Rush is so damn funny. Put his fat, drug-addled ass in Japan, away from his mansion and his golf game and his maids and he'd be the first one crying for his fat ass to be saved!!

Your childish rants and obsession with Rush seem to be infecting this site at a fast pace. Now your on this board calling him a druggie? Please back up this claim as well. I'm also waiting for you to explain how he's racist on the Connecticut board. You sound so bitter and jealous of successful people.