The Demise of Talk Radio? Maybe.....

[Little Star]

Begins in Boston, how far will it go?

HuffPost
Dan Kennedy
01/03/2013

The Demise of Boston Talk and the Ongoing Collapse of Corporate Radio

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jim Braude and Margery Eagan signed off for the last time from the morning talk show they had hosted on Boston's WTKK Radio. A few minutes later, the station reemerged as Power 96.9, a faceless entity blasting out robo-music of some sort. And Boston found itself with just one full-time talk radio station.

The demise of WTKK has been portrayed as another nail in the coffin of right-wing talk radio. The estimable D.R. Tucker calls it part of "a downward spiral for a key element of the conservative entertainment complex." And, yes, that's surely part of it

But what we are really seeing is the demise of commercial radio in general, as corporate owners (Greater Media in WTKK's case) attempt to squeeze the last few nickels of profit out of a medium that may be in its final stage of collapse.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kennedy/the-demise-of-boston-talk_b_2401995.html

[tularetom]

1. The good news for the long term is right wing radio is going down the shitter

The bad news is it will take the few progressive talkers with it.

And the fact is that everything will be available online anyway in ten years.

[Berlum]

2. Americans have swallowed Republican fear, hate & lies for far too long

...guess they have had a bellyfull of RepubliCrap.

[Initech]

11. Conservative talk radio has done way more harm than good in this country.

I'm glad it's going away - good riddance!!

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. With all the wonderfulness of the Internet....

I still had a bloody hard time getting my local NPR station to play through my brand new home PC the other day.

[JI7]

7. what progressive talk shows are there ?

[KamaAina]

9. Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz

to name a few.

[rurallib]

13. Unless you live in a metro area you have to use the computer

to get much of anything liberal.
I usually listen to Steph, Ed and Thom on WCPT in chicago:
http://www.chicagoprogressivetalk.com/

[workinclasszero]

15. If you have XM there is a channel called Left

with a bunch of good progressives on.

[tledford]

16. Ch 127 eom

[Bigmack]

3. Maybe in Boston it's dying... what about the rural areas and flyover states? nt

[southernyankeebelle]

5. What worries me is these big corporations gobble up the smaller stations and you

loose the local stations in small communities where you get the local happenings. Heck you even get the new who died and babies born. These are in the very small rural communities. That is sad.

[Cleita]

6. I thought the people owned the airwaves, so why are

the conservatives allowed to dictate the terms they will broadcast under? I know the companies that own the stations are private but they are leasing the airwaves. Why can't we have some standards that they must agree to in the lease, like there should be so much talk, so much music, so much religion, etc. and then make them be equal, like conservative to liberal and in-between, rock to classical, and in between, Christian, Jewish and other popular religions. I know I didn't cover specifics, but since the airwaves belong to the people, they should reflect the people in programming. Frankly, I miss classical music stations. There is just too much generic pop music and nothing else. Never mind the talk shows.

[JI7]

8. this along with the news about Fox Ratings reaching record lows is good

[Cirque du So-What]

10. Here's a glimmer of hope. Hint: it doesn't involve big corporations

<snip>

The FCC has been ordered by Congress to increase the number of low power FM stations, a non-profit service designed to make FM spectrum available to various community organizations. The major thrust of the new effort is to find a way to squeeze them into crowded major urban airwaves, chiefly by eliminating 3rd adjacency protection for incumbent full power stations, and possibly granting waivers in some cases where there is a second adjacency provided the new LPFM does not cause any interference.

Meanwhile, LCRA instructs the FCC to deal with long-pending applications for FM translators which have been on the back burner while the LPFM program inched its way through Washington’s federal machinery.

The FCC is instructed to grant as many translators as possible – some of which are sought by radio operators seeking to expand the reach of struggling AM stations, particularly daytimers, while at the same time making sure there are opportunities for LPFMs in all markets.

The target date to begin the process of distributing licenses is October 15, 2013.

more...

http://rbr.com/benchmarking-low-power-radio/

Low-power stations operating in urban areas may be our best opportunity to ensure that progressive voices populate the airwaves.

[libtodeath]

12. It cant happen fast enough,hate and bigotry has no place on public airwaves.

[randome]

14. I haven't listened to radio in years.

Why bother when I can select the music I want when I want it? It used to be annoying as hell listening to morning DJs plying the airwaves with insipid humor. And why would I want to listen to an echo chamber of a Progressive news station?

Commercial radio has been going down for a long time.

[KharmaTrain]

17. Hate Radio's Become Toxic...

Radio's in a major world of hurt right now. You have a handful of large corporates that dominate the "public airwaves" that are either heavily loaded with debt or look at radio as a poor old step-sister to television and online. The advent of IPods and Smartphones along with ITunes, Spotify and Internet Radio have made a major dent in radio listening for those under 40 and such gimmicks as HD Radio have been a big dud. The industry has been mismanaged since "deregulation" in the 90s and continues to turn to the assholes who made the mess to fix things.

Hate radio was one of the few formats that companies like Cheap Channel and Cumulus could still sell on their obsolete AM stations. For many years it was "cost effective" to replace live/local talent with some satellite bile spewer. That worm turned thanks to Sandra Fluke. The tantrum Rushbo threw was one bridge too far for many advertisers. His attacks didn't stay on the airwaves...they went viral and soon advertisers started to feel the heat. The subsequent advertiser boycott did have an effect...companies were shamed into dropping their advertising and soon they spread it not only to Rushbo but to ALL talk radio. The downside is this has hurt Progressive talk that wasn't too healthy to start with. The "radio mavens" are looking at all that red ink and thinking they can salvage what they have by going to "safer" formats such as sports talk.

As one who worked in this industry during its more robust and creative days it's painful to see what it's become. I can't wait until the knives come out and rushbo's treehouse gets cut down...but it's too late for a medium that de-regulated itself into irrelevance...

[Little Star]

18. Amen regarding Rushbo. I can't stand that lying sack of shit.