RALPH BAILEY: Californian CEO wrong about local talk radio
| Friday, Apr 09 2010 02:00 PM
Last Updated Friday, Apr 09 2010 02:00 PM
As Bonnie Raitt sings, local talk radio has given this town something to talk about in the last few weeks, culminating with the cancellation of a longtime running local show. All the hub bub even moved Californian CEO Richard Beene to comment in his usually fresh and entertaining blog.
Beene wrote that Inga Barks' cancellation came about because she, like former local talk host Bill Manders, "...simply ran out of runway."
Now, I don't even know what that means exactly but if it means Manders went on to a larger market with a larger audience for larger money, then someone tell me when my runway runs out!
And as for the reasons for Barks' cancellation, I'm sure Beene's close, personal friend Rogers Brandon, owner and general manager of KERN radio, would concede it was much more complicated than simply running out of runway.
Beene wrote: "Inga is among the gaggle of local talk show hosts who adopted the Fox News model of angry partisan talk." Honestly, I intended to stay out of this mess and simply say, "My name is Bennett and I'm not in it" until I realized I AM part of the so-called "gaggle." I must confess, however, never did the "Fox model" play any role in anything we do at 1560 KNZR.
Does it get emotional? You betcha. Have I been heard yelling, ranting and raving? Yes, sir. But what makes talk radio work is the pure, unadulterated, raw passion it creates.
When someone comes on the air insisting there's no God and this country is doomed, instead of playing the so-called "objective" journalist, I get angry, just as most Americans driving on the 99 home from work get angry.
To paraphrase Gordon Gecko: Passion is good. It's real. We are a nation of opinionated debaters who want our say on whether the guy's foot hit the base, our president is a socialist lunatic or Bailey is as dumb as a box of rocks. In talk radio, they get their say!
Furthermore, talk radio is the purest form of communication. If you talk to TV or newspaper reporters, they will select from the 15-minute interview what THEY feel was pertinent to fuel their story.
Excerpts or "bites" are selected, sometimes not even by the reporter, like passages from a book to support the thesis of a five-paragraph essay assignment and that 15 minute interview gets boiled down to a 30 second sound bite on TV or a couple of paragraphs in a newspaper story.
In radio, what you hear is what you get. By calling in from their car, home or office, listeners not only are a part of the show but for that brief shining moment the show and its direction belongs to them!
Talk radio invades communities not only with the message but through the enormous amount of charitable work done, particularly here.
Whether it's American General Media filling Humvees with items for the troops or Buckley Radio raising literally tens of thousands of dollars for families of fallen officers, talk radio has a vested, emotional connection with its audience.
While TV ratings and newspaper circulations continue to plummet like congressional approval numbers, talk radio also thrives because the conservative message resonates.
And if not the message, explain how "progressive" talkers get pummeled by conservatives even in liberal towns like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
Finally, some would also want you to believe that talk LISTENERS are a bunch of rubes, sycophant drones who follow the conservative marching orders like good little soldiers when in fact, talk radio listeners are the most engaged, intellectually curious and politically astute segment of our society.
And the election of Barack Obama proves that the conservative radio monopoly does not play any significant role in swaying elections, getting laws passed or abducting the soul of this nation.
If done well, talk radio provides an exchange of ideas and a learning process for the host, listeners and perhaps even the guest, while putting a smile on your face at some point in the proceedings.
Does it get shrill sometimes? Of course. Does it go beyond the pale on occasion? Yes. But for the most part it is a unique, interactive brand of sharing information whose future is so bright we all have to wear shades!
I'm proud to call myself part of this "local gaggle."
Quack, Quack!
Ralph Bailey, who hosts a talk show on AM 1560 KNZR, is one of four conservative community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Bailey, not necessarily The Californian. You can e-mail him at rbailey@bakersfield. com. Next week: Heather Ijames.
