Speed Gibson

I'm a little late to this story that ran in Saturday's Minneapolis Star Tribune, that talk radio is losing audience. Yes, writer Deborah Caulfield Rybak fumbled a previous story on Air America a few months ago, but I'll take this article at face value. She should have been more specific on the actual periods being measured, however.

There are a number of factors, some of which Rybak noted like this being the lull between election cycles and "war fatigue" as Clear Channel's Ken Kohl put it. Locally, we had "Legislature fatigue" as early as April when it became obvious that a long Special Session awaited us.

KSTP ("AM 1500") seems to have the big problem, partially for reasons of its own, largely the result of the loss of Jason Lewis. They were caught flat-footed by this, and tried some tweaks instead of recruiting another top talent for the 5-8 pm slot. The result was and is a significant drop in overall quantity and quality of programming.

Rush Limbaugh for example was pushed from live to a one hour delay. That not only took the sizzle off the steak, but also eliminated almost all callers from our area, as Rush seldom spends multiple hours on one topic. If you're going to listen to taped shows, you might as well subscribe to Rush 24/7 as I do, giving you the choice of live, archive, or download (podcast) plus its other features.

Another problem Rush now has is Paul Harvey, his lead-in. I shall regret and honor his last broadcast, which I suspect will be soon given his failing voice. I grew up with "Good Day!" as far back as I can remember, at least 40 years. But it's time for him to retire, and for ABC to retire the Paul Harvey News and Comment concept with him. It's as out of date as network televsion evening news.

But Paul Harvey takes only 15 minutes, 10 really since he overlays the normal network news. Before Paul is Ron and Mark, some of the most unlistenable talk radio on the air other than Air America. This should be one of the showcase times for KSTP. Yes, I like Laura Ingraham, but a quality local show could draw me away. (OK, I subscribe to her site, too, so I can listen that way.)

You've got a winner with Bob Davis (I think and hope), but you can't work him four hours a day plus burden him with all this drive-time nonsense. My first official action should I find myself in charge of KSTP would be to eliminate scheduled traffic reports and extended weather reports. Bill Bennett is rather boring, but I often find myself switching from 1500 to 1280 during the second half hours which are largely devoted to non-host content on KSTP.

So there's part one of my plan to revive KSTP. Let Davis be Davis, go for solid, local quality in the 8-11 period, and get Rush back live where he belongs to set up the afternoon.

Part two will deal with Joe Soucheray.