Let 'Em All Talk

Anyone can do your job. Except that they can't. But they can.

You know the conversation. You're talking to someone and, knowing what you do for a living, the other person says, "you know, I could host a talk show." And you know that it isn't, as they think, just a matter of opening the mic and talking. It takes talent and an ability to communicate and connect with the audience.

I've probably told this story before, but years ago, putting together a lineup for a talk station, we leased some time on Sunday nights on an AM station to which we knew nobody would be listening so we could try some people out, and I'll never forget one aspirant getting through a couple of segments before falling into silence, taking off his headphones, and walking out of the studio, never to be heard from again. (Really. We couldn't even get him on the phone any more. And I never encountered his name again.) I've tried out celebrities who thought all you need to do is banter and ad lib, and they were brutal. Coming up with hours of compelling conversation is really hard, but you know that.

You also know that, on a technical level, anyone CAN do it. Technology means that the same people who insulted you with "I could do your job" can fire up the laptop, or even their phones, record a show, and post it for international distribution, for little or no money. Some of what they produce is very good. Much of it -- maybe most of it -- is not, but that's subjective, and it's all out there for listeners to judge. (For the purposes of keeping this column to a reasonable length, we'll refrain from discussing AI and ChatGPT in radio for now, okay? Thanks. I knew you'd agree.)

Which brings me to the end of Spotify Live and the death throes of the "social audio" fad. We can call it a fad now, the DIY apps that let you do a live streaming "radio show" for an audience of, well, tens, mostly. Clubhouse still exists, and Twitter Spaces, and someone's still using them, but they were supposed to blow radio and podcasting away and they didn't. Mark Cuban went to Podcast Movement twice to push Fireside and, um, anyone out there even know what that is anymore? Amazon is hanging in with Amp, but I'm not hearing a lot of buzz around that. But as I said at the very beginning, "social audio" was tech bros thinking they'd come up with the Next Big Thing when they were really just inventing talk radio (or party line telephone calls, if you're old enough to remember that). Most of that was pretty bad, and that's because... yes, back to the beginning, not everyone can or should host a talk show.

But it's okay if everyone DOES host a talk show. Maybe Spotify Plus and Clubhouse were the wrong platforms for it, but podcasting is a different story, and so are broadcast radio and regular streaming. Monetization is always going to be an issue, but you'd hope and assume that the cream is going to rise to the top, and talent and quality content can and will prevail. What I would have liked to see is for broadcasters to adapt the way record labels adapted to a new, unlimited universe -- move from the ad-supported broadcast distribution model to a production, coaching, and marketing model -- but, honestly, if broadcasters didn't get podcasting or streaming quite right, that doesn't mean that someone else (you?) can't.

More may not always be better, but in this case, I think it is. Podcasting means that I can always find something to listen to -- I'm not limited to what's become the same-old on broadcast radio, but, hey, I can listen to that, too, and if the abundance of choices has complicated the monetization of the medium, these things will ultimately work themselves out, the "stupid money" replaced by sane money and different ways to generate revenue. And there are people who would never get on a traditional radio station who deserve the opportunity, including those from underrepresented communities or with viewpoints that aren't in lockstep with talk radio, 2023 style. Many of these voices are doing great on podcasts. Without that technology, they wouldn't have been given the time of day from broadcast radio.

It feels like we've been doing this for a long time, but we're really still at the beginning of this. In the meantime, let's remind ourselves that the demise of "social audio" and the troubles at some of the big podcast companies do not mean that we should resist the "anyone can host" era. If someone thinks they can do this, well, here's a mic and a Mac and a hosting account, have at it. Maybe they CAN do it. Unlike the past, they don't need to get past a gatekeeper like a radio PD to try.

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And as for people who know how to do this talk radio thing, you're going to want to see my conversations with Jon Grayson of KMBZ/Kansas City, Todd Hollst of WHIO/Dayton, and Amplifi Media's Steve Goldstein at the All Access Audio Summit April 26-28; See the agenda and register for the all-streaming event here.

Perry Michael Simon
Senior Vice President/Editor-in-Chief and News-Talk-Sports-Podcasting Editor
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
Twitter @pmsimon
Mastodon @pmsimon@c.im