Can’t Even

Is it just me, or is talk radio sometimes really hard to listen to these days?

It's probably just me. And, in fairness, it's not ALL of commercial talk radio that's a chore for me to consume. There ARE good shows and hosts out there. But I wonder, because it seems like the format is in a very different place from where it was not too long ago. I'm not talking about it being almost 100% conservative; that's always been the case. It's that we've moved away from what got us here.

One of the tenets of talk programming in the past was that the primary job of the talk radio host was to entertain. It wasn't to educate, it wasn't even to inform, though that was a nice side benefit. As for selling product for advertisers, that was why entertainment was so important; when people are entertained, they'll stick around through commercials and they'll respond to endorsements. Job One, though, was to be so entertaining that people who disagree with everything you say would STILL listen.

That's how it was when I was very young, a long time ago, and I would ride in my dad's car and he'd listen to talk radio all the time. He'd listen to hosts with whom he agreed AND hosts whose politics were the polar opposite. The entertainment was in the way they'd argue with callers; it seemed like they'd encourage (to be honest, it sounded like they'd even set up) callers who disagreed, and the fireworks were what kept you around. Later, when I became a talk programmer, it was the rule, something our consultant at New Jersey 101.5, Walter Sabo, would repeat as a mantra: you're an entertainer. That's your job. And I took that as gospel, going so far as to completely ignore the political position of hosts before hiring them. It didn't matter. I still don't know for sure what some of their politics are. All I knew is that they'd be funny, smart, and worth spending some of your listening time. Even when we did take a position on something -- usually something that crossed political lines, like getting rid of highway tolls (at least we tried) or fighting an onerous tax hike -- the entertainment part wasn't forgotten, and opposing views were aired and argued at appropriately New Jersey volume (which is to say, loud). Listeners didn't have to agree with any of it, but they could come to us and find something fun and interesting at any hour. And when the Republicans and Democrats began faxing (yes, it was that long ago) talking points, I'd chuck them into the trash.

Then, things changed. It's the desire to super-serve those P1s, the core audience, which has become, as we've discussed ad infinitum, very old and very male, the "what's left of the AM audience" contingent. You'll be excused if you wonder which came first, the greying and shrinking of the audience or the catering to one narrow segment of the potential audience, but it doesn't matter anymore, because here we are. And it also applies to many FM talk stations, which just transferred AM talk to a different band.

Preaching to the converted is one thing; doing so in a way that drives the unconverted away is another, and, at least to my ear, that's what too much commercial talk radio does. That occurred to me the other day, when I was running errands and flipped on a syndicated show which shall remain unidentified; the host was ranting in the exact manner of the kind of Facebook commenter you'd block in a heartbeat. After a short time, it blurred into a word salad that involved coronavirus, science, Trump (of course), China, Russia, the NBA, Biden, and, I swear, a sneering reference to the "deep state." I don't remember the specific point the host was trying to make, but I do remember thinking that someone needs to consult a mental health professional, and soon. It wasn't entertaining, it was painful, and it wasn't even the content (strange and off-putting though it may have been) so much as it was like watching someone have a seizure. If they ever took calls, I doubt anyone other than true believers would even think of calling in. Maybe someone out there's entertained by that, but not me. You come off like a Twitter bot, I'll block you and go looking for alternatives.

There are alternatives. Sports radio, even at a time when sports are laced with politics and social issues, has been a relief; some of the shows that go heavily into the real-world topics of race and injustice have handled them as well as, or better than, any talk radio show. Podcasts offer a wide range of opinion, and some of them are, yes, entertaining, whatever the politics. Public radio can be the same (though, even today, the earnestness gets in the way of the entertainment and, sometimes, the bending-over-backwards to be even-handed reaches new heights of both-sides-ism). I wouldn't necessarily call them refuge from commercial talk radio, but they are, often, a relief from the talking points parade that dominates commercial talk radio.

Assuming for a moment that this is a real thing and not just my delusion, it's likely because of the way political polarization has played out in the last few years, fueled by social media and trolls and augmented by information bubbles. We all have our absolutes, we're unmoving and intractable, and we're no longer feeling the need to entertain any opinion or even fact that contradict what we "know." "I listen to (name of host) because even though I don't agree with them, I like to hear what they'll say next" is a quaint relic of Talk Radio Past. Again, maybe it's just me, but I suspect a lot of people feel the same way. I don't expect us to ever get back to how it used to be, but I hope that, collectively, talk radio remembers that it's not here to promote a political party or an ideology, it's here to provide entertainment for as many people as it can reach. In the meantime, I'm going to be bouncing around the dial a lot, and listening to podcasts. Maybe I'll even call some friends and talk with them. You don't necessarily need a radio to approximate talk radio.

=============================

Whether it's for your radio show or your phone conversations -- do people actually make phone calls anymore? -- or podcast, you'll find a nice, useful selection of things about which one can make entertaining conversation at Talk Topics, All Access News-Talk-Sports' show prep column Lots of topics there. Find them all by clicking here and/or following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. And this week, "10 Questions With..." Michael Medved catches up with the KTTH/Seattle-based syndicated host and his unique-for-talk-radio position as being a non-Trump-supporter conservative, plus some movie talk, too.

Make sure you're subscribed to Today's Talk, the daily email newsletter with the top news stories in News, Talk, and Sports radio and podcasting. You can check off the appropriate boxes in your All Access account profile's Format Preferences and Email Preferences sections if you're not already getting it.

When "The Evening Bulletin with Perry Michael Simon," my podcast, returns, you'll want to be subscribed. Click here to do that, or find it on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Radio.com, and all the other usual podcast places, and on Amazon Alexa-enabled devices by saying "Alexa, play the Evening Bulletin podcast." I promise it'll be back. Really.

You can follow my personal Twitter account at @pmsimon, and my Instagram account (same handle, @pmsimon) as well. And you can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pmsimon, and at pmsimon.com.

=============================

Next week will be the dreaded day-before-a-long-weekend column, written when nobody, especially myself, will be thinking weighty thoughts about radio or podcasting or anything. It's like a holiday weekend talk radio fill-in, at least back before infomercials took over talk radio weekends: No callers and nobody's listening. Can't wait.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
www.facebook.com/pmsimon
Twitter @pmsimon
Instagram @pmsimon