[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday August 31, 2005 at 11:54pm]
KSTP-AM Underground
If you've been following the KSTP-AM situation, be sure not to miss The Late Great KSTP over at Shot in the Dark, written by one who knows. In addition to their stated direction of live and local, Mitch argues that their owners also want it to be kindler and gentler. If Mitch Berg is right, Bob Davis will be the next to leave.
Rush Limbaugh described his first years in his first book, The Way Things Ought to Be. Others had tried national network radio, and aside from Larry King, it was a big flop. Still, talk radio was having some success at the local level, so it became axiomatic that "all talk radio is local" to borrow a phrase. But enter Rush Limbaugh in 1988, who not only made his show work, but changed the whole AM spectrum. Buoyed by the Reagan Revolution, Rush gave many of us the courage to finally stand up for ourselves, I think because we finally realized how many of us were really out there.
And now, the Hubbard Empire would have us believe that doesn't matter anymore, doesn't work anymore, and that we listeners don't need that anymore. We're ready to move to that higher plane of Rosenbaum's double-talk and Soucheray's "Mystery" when not counting cylinders. Only if there are no alternatives.
But there are, and not just the Patriot. Even KFAN has been peeling away listeners from KSTP-AM it would seem. While General Manager Todd Fisher pretends he's on offense, ready to announce some exciting changes for when Rush and Hannity leave, he's really on defense and has been since Jason Lewis left.
Local, live talk can and does work, but it requires talent and show prep just like national programs. I'll speculate on this next time.
Rush Limbaugh described his first years in his first book, The Way Things Ought to Be. Others had tried national network radio, and aside from Larry King, it was a big flop. Still, talk radio was having some success at the local level, so it became axiomatic that "all talk radio is local" to borrow a phrase. But enter Rush Limbaugh in 1988, who not only made his show work, but changed the whole AM spectrum. Buoyed by the Reagan Revolution, Rush gave many of us the courage to finally stand up for ourselves, I think because we finally realized how many of us were really out there.
And now, the Hubbard Empire would have us believe that doesn't matter anymore, doesn't work anymore, and that we listeners don't need that anymore. We're ready to move to that higher plane of Rosenbaum's double-talk and Soucheray's "Mystery" when not counting cylinders. Only if there are no alternatives.
But there are, and not just the Patriot. Even KFAN has been peeling away listeners from KSTP-AM it would seem. While General Manager Todd Fisher pretends he's on offense, ready to announce some exciting changes for when Rush and Hannity leave, he's really on defense and has been since Jason Lewis left.
Local, live talk can and does work, but it requires talent and show prep just like national programs. I'll speculate on this next time.