FM TALK: NOWWWWWWWWWWW IT BEGINS...

[livingfruitvirus]

I hear you and yes I have seen local shows go syndicated and have a a watered down feeling. Mike McConnell took his weekday show syndicated from WLW and it wasn't the same. He never got much in the way of clearances and it's now local again. Gary Burbank, also of WLW, was syndicated for a time and dropped in the ratings in Cinncinati (if you're not familiar he did more in the way of comedy than straight talk though he could do it if there was a breaking story). Around that time all the Marge Schott  (former Reds owner with a very un-PC mouth) stuff was happening and there was tons of material that wouldn't have translated nationwide. He came back to local-only until his retirement.

Having said that, I'm still not a believer in "local because it's local". I live in the Dayton area and I can't imagine being captivated three hours a day by the ins and outs of Dayton politics.   

I wonder if Clear Channel is finally giving up on trying to nationalize WLW personalities now that Sean Compton is gone. Sean had always said WLW was his favorite station, and it still feels like a company flagship station despite Jacor having been acquired by Clear Channel. It's a great local station, and that's pretty much it. America's Trucking Network used to have a wider syndication base, but now it's one station away from being a local show again. The only way they've managed to get any of their hosts syndicated successfully is to have them inherit existing shows. Mike McConnell took over for The Weekend, and Bill Cunningham took over for Matt Drudge. The other way is to have them leave WLW.

[microbob]

I would hate to think that CC is considering phasing out the local talk on WLW but I could see it happening in a few years once the AM Band is put to rest for good.

[livingfruitvirus]

They're not going to phase out a station that pulls double digit shares.

[gr8oldies]

McConnell could be where Glenn Beck is, but at the time he did not want to go the syndication route because it would have limited what he could talk about. By the time he did try full-time syndication, it was really too late.

[jimwalsh2001]

The expansion of talk to FM is encouraging.  The downside: so far, all I'm hearing is the same old angry white Rushclone stuff (with a handful of notable exceptions).

As a non-Rush clone looking for a gig, my question is: how many live and local positions will be available for guys like me...

[berlin201]

PPS: Even under-the-circumstances, the Curtis/Raleigh gang sure hasn't lost their sense-of-humor:
http://www.rushradio1061.com/

The Curtis gang did the same thing three years ago when WRDU was flipping from rock to country--- even before the change was announced; what they did then was snatch up all the "Rooster 106.1" domains (this was to be the station's name; it has since changed to 106.1 RDU Country and now, leading in to the format change, 106.1 RDU Christmas) and point them to their country outlet 94.7 WQDR.

[Doug D]

It would be great for America if people like Rush and Beck were on FM.

Young people don't use AM, so they only know of what the media has told them about these guys, listening to them allows them to form their own opinion.

Many young people are only exposed to the political offerings found at school, nothing wrong with hearing the other side.

They make no bones about their ideology, and that puts them ahead of those in the media who don't fess up to their obvious ideological biases.  Having been on the radio 3 hours a day for decades, Rush's track record of honesty is admirable, even though I disagree with him on a number of issues, that is to be respected.

[smedge2006]

Many young people are only exposed to the political offerings found at school, nothing wrong with hearing the other side.

Then again many young people don't go to college, and non-college attendees (a few years older) are a big chunk of talk radio's audience. Many who go to Christian schools, Bible schools, Hillsdale College, and all the community colleges and smaller state schools where the faculty tilts more rightly than you might think, could stand to hear the other side too. Anyone in the class of University of Central Florida history professor REAGAN Smith, who hosts a right-wing talk show disguised as public affairs in Orlando, could use a dose of balance as well.


So this is an argument for more liberal talk radio?

They make no bones about their ideology, and that puts them ahead of those in the media who don't fess up to their obvious ideological biases. 

No, they claim to be "America's Anchorman" and "Fair and Balanced."

[Element9]

It would be great for America if people like Rush and Beck were on FM.

Young people don't use AM, so they only know of what the media has told them about these guys, listening to them allows them to form their own opinion.

Many young people are only exposed to the political offerings found at school, nothing wrong with hearing the other side.

They make no bones about their ideology, and that puts them ahead of those in the media who don't fess up to their obvious ideological biases.  Having been on the radio 3 hours a day for decades, Rush's track record of honesty is admirable, even though I disagree with him on a number of issues, that is to be respected.

You don't give those "young people" much credit. Those wippersnappers are quite capable of tuning their radios to "AM" to hear Rush, Hannity, Savage or anybody else they want to hear. They simply don't want to hear that stuff.  Rush and clones moving to FM may enhance the ratings by bringing in more 'boomers, but it won't attract busloads of 12-34s just because he's on "FM." Doesn't work that way. The 12-24 demo thinks Rush, Hannity and Savage are "crazy old white guys" not because they've been brain-washed by the liberal (cough) media, but because they may have heard mom and dad listening to these guys and they didn't like what Rush, Hannity & Savage were saying. There is no second generation of Rush listeners. He is your father's Oldsmobile. There's a big difference between name recognition in this case and actually seeking out the programming. So the kids might... might... recognize the name, but they sure don't want to listen to his bombast.

[Signal_Faded]

The data supports two facts:

- people listen to radio
- more people listen on the FM band

Quite simply putting talk on the FM is moving where the people are. I think we are all fooling ourselves if we really think this is about agendas it's about the money...for everyone. If Rush was getting $45k a year to be on 600 stations I doubt we would know his name. Premiere doesn't care who gets elected...they just want a bigger cume to get more $ per point.