Saturday, August 20, 2005
Talk Show Turnoffs
(I am a staunch conservative converted to the right by Rush Limbaugh. I remember the exact issue of my conversion - Limbaugh pointed out that so called cuts in federal spending were actually cuts in the growth of spending. Clinton's duplicity in using the words "spending cuts" insulted my sense of what defines honesty as did Clinton in general. But over the years I have become critical of talk show hosts. )
In my opinion the best hosts are as follows; Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Denver's Mike Rosen and Laura Ingraham. Hosts that suffer by comparison include Sean Hannity, Bill Bennett, O'Reilly (radio and TV), Michael Gallagher and Michael Savage. The worse host, by far, is Michael Savage. He gives conservative talk radio a bad name. When liberals excoriate conservative talk, they use Savage as an example and rightly so.
The most overrated talk show host has got to be Sean Hannity. His show consists of promoting his TV show (40%), and telling us what will be on in the next hour (25%). Once in a while he works in a caller, mostly women. Sean really likes women callers. His interviews with politicos are predictable. And the object of recently program content has been used to take advantage of tragedy TV ratings, i.e. the Natalee Holloway's epic.
Rush Limbaugh is very articulate and knows what turns his audience on. But at times Limbaugh takes us back to the sexual innuendoes of the 1970s. He seems to relish "dirty talk." I can remember when, for one week, he talked about women "farting" in their cars. He thought it was so clever that this double entendre could also refer to women putting on make up in their cars. The other day, he was obsessed with the word "condom," asking if anyone on his staff had a condom in his or her billfold. I kept thinking he was getting some little charge in his neither parts as he said "condom." I don't know where the condom bit was going because I turned him off - and besides the next story, was going to be about a guy who died after having sex with a horse.
People listen to Limbaugh for his political bent, but Rush thinks he's a sports talk show. I and others, judging from Rush's own comment about listener input, don't tune in to hear Rush's NFL predictions or golf scores. If you want to get on Rush's show ask him a NFL question. In talk radio there's a conundrum - news talk shows want to be sport shows, and sports shows wants to be news talk shows.
While Rush relates to his audience on most subjects, he disconnects when he talks about social security as an entitlement. He doesn't accept that the government has made a contract with taxpayers; whereby, in return for the payment of social security taxes, the government promised to provide monies for retirees.
Hugh Hewitt is radio's would be PBS talk show host - that is, when he's on the air. He takes more vacations than President Bush. I'm sure talk show listeners can't wait for Hewitt's to feature Shakespeare, religion, extreme sports or NASCAR - at times Hewitt sounds like a religious show host. Whereas Medved doesn't give much worth to single people, Hewitt doesn't take old people seriously, despite talk show listener demographics. For some reason Hewitt comes across as someone trying to make up for his 5 foot 7 inch stature although I have no idea how tall he is. His most redeeming facet, which puts him in my top five, is his recent work on judicial nominations. Plus he has finally realized that his listeners can discuss complicated issues - whereas in the past he would toss out one line questions any idiot caller could answer.
Mike Medved and Mike Rosen are the best debaters. Although recently Medved has gotten off on social rather than political issues. I mean - how many times do we need to discuss homosexuality, TV is bad, movies are good and being single is unnatural? Medved also annoys with his "conspiracy day" where he takes advantage of sickos who tell us over and over that the moon landing was staged in a Hollywood studio and that the secret Yale "Skull and Bones Society" runs the world. Still his debating skills secures the number two spot in my book.
Caustic and irreverent, Denver's Mike Rosen does not suffer fools gladly; but at times, he becomes a sport show host when he shills for the hapless Colorado Rockies - not coincidentally his station, KOA, carries Rockies games. The other day he jeopardized his top five standing when he did a segment on bad breath. I suppose, when you're on air some thirty plus days a year, some shows will stink - pun intended.
Last but least is the Laura Ingraham show, or as it should be known, Laura's musicfest. What Laura does not seem to understand is, while she may be tired of political talk, her audience isn't. Listeners want political talk not music and movie reviews. As the old saying goes "you gotta dance with the one that brung you," and Laura did not get where she is with her personal taste in music. But Laura does scores big with her attack of lefty sound bites. She and her staff must watch every political TV program aired and it pays off with an entertaining show.
The worse talk show host of a national syndicated program is Mike Gallagher. He doesn't bother with research. You will not hear anything new from Gallagher just the latest issues that gets calls. His demographics seem to be pissed off red necks.
While conservative talk appeal to millions of listeners, advertisers don't think much of its demographics as demonstrated by ads for hair growth, belly fat reduction, gold investing and dating services. Surly conservative talk show listeners aren't as dumb as advertisers think we are.
In my opinion the best hosts are as follows; Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Denver's Mike Rosen and Laura Ingraham. Hosts that suffer by comparison include Sean Hannity, Bill Bennett, O'Reilly (radio and TV), Michael Gallagher and Michael Savage. The worse host, by far, is Michael Savage. He gives conservative talk radio a bad name. When liberals excoriate conservative talk, they use Savage as an example and rightly so.
The most overrated talk show host has got to be Sean Hannity. His show consists of promoting his TV show (40%), and telling us what will be on in the next hour (25%). Once in a while he works in a caller, mostly women. Sean really likes women callers. His interviews with politicos are predictable. And the object of recently program content has been used to take advantage of tragedy TV ratings, i.e. the Natalee Holloway's epic.
Rush Limbaugh is very articulate and knows what turns his audience on. But at times Limbaugh takes us back to the sexual innuendoes of the 1970s. He seems to relish "dirty talk." I can remember when, for one week, he talked about women "farting" in their cars. He thought it was so clever that this double entendre could also refer to women putting on make up in their cars. The other day, he was obsessed with the word "condom," asking if anyone on his staff had a condom in his or her billfold. I kept thinking he was getting some little charge in his neither parts as he said "condom." I don't know where the condom bit was going because I turned him off - and besides the next story, was going to be about a guy who died after having sex with a horse.
People listen to Limbaugh for his political bent, but Rush thinks he's a sports talk show. I and others, judging from Rush's own comment about listener input, don't tune in to hear Rush's NFL predictions or golf scores. If you want to get on Rush's show ask him a NFL question. In talk radio there's a conundrum - news talk shows want to be sport shows, and sports shows wants to be news talk shows.
While Rush relates to his audience on most subjects, he disconnects when he talks about social security as an entitlement. He doesn't accept that the government has made a contract with taxpayers; whereby, in return for the payment of social security taxes, the government promised to provide monies for retirees.
Hugh Hewitt is radio's would be PBS talk show host - that is, when he's on the air. He takes more vacations than President Bush. I'm sure talk show listeners can't wait for Hewitt's to feature Shakespeare, religion, extreme sports or NASCAR - at times Hewitt sounds like a religious show host. Whereas Medved doesn't give much worth to single people, Hewitt doesn't take old people seriously, despite talk show listener demographics. For some reason Hewitt comes across as someone trying to make up for his 5 foot 7 inch stature although I have no idea how tall he is. His most redeeming facet, which puts him in my top five, is his recent work on judicial nominations. Plus he has finally realized that his listeners can discuss complicated issues - whereas in the past he would toss out one line questions any idiot caller could answer.
Mike Medved and Mike Rosen are the best debaters. Although recently Medved has gotten off on social rather than political issues. I mean - how many times do we need to discuss homosexuality, TV is bad, movies are good and being single is unnatural? Medved also annoys with his "conspiracy day" where he takes advantage of sickos who tell us over and over that the moon landing was staged in a Hollywood studio and that the secret Yale "Skull and Bones Society" runs the world. Still his debating skills secures the number two spot in my book.
Caustic and irreverent, Denver's Mike Rosen does not suffer fools gladly; but at times, he becomes a sport show host when he shills for the hapless Colorado Rockies - not coincidentally his station, KOA, carries Rockies games. The other day he jeopardized his top five standing when he did a segment on bad breath. I suppose, when you're on air some thirty plus days a year, some shows will stink - pun intended.
Last but least is the Laura Ingraham show, or as it should be known, Laura's musicfest. What Laura does not seem to understand is, while she may be tired of political talk, her audience isn't. Listeners want political talk not music and movie reviews. As the old saying goes "you gotta dance with the one that brung you," and Laura did not get where she is with her personal taste in music. But Laura does scores big with her attack of lefty sound bites. She and her staff must watch every political TV program aired and it pays off with an entertaining show.
The worse talk show host of a national syndicated program is Mike Gallagher. He doesn't bother with research. You will not hear anything new from Gallagher just the latest issues that gets calls. His demographics seem to be pissed off red necks.
While conservative talk appeal to millions of listeners, advertisers don't think much of its demographics as demonstrated by ads for hair growth, belly fat reduction, gold investing and dating services. Surly conservative talk show listeners aren't as dumb as advertisers think we are.
