Is the best talk radio always local? (Was: WSMN / Gene Burns)

["Douglas J. Broda" <djbroda@mindspring.com>]

I would be generous and read Burns' statement as an assertion that the best
talk radio is local (which would, of course, include an implicit statement
that TalkAmerica isn't the best talk radio around... which is self-evident.
As you say, the ultimate AM filler.)

That said... is it true that the best talk radio is always local? My
opinion would be "usually, but not always." I thought that Larry King's
Mutual show was one of the best ever. (Yes, I know that many despise
Larry's style, asserting it to be fawning and sycophantic. It can be
both... but on the radio show, he often seemed to get insight that way, in
a manner he can't in the shorter-form TV setting. Plus his Brooklyn stories
were fantastic and spot-on.) Similarly, I think a good national talk show
can be done on politics. (I wish Mary Matalin had been able to do a show
with James Carville... I would have paid to hear it. Get the audio book
they did together about the '92 campaign to hear what could have been. And
I know lots of people will disagree on this one, too....)

At 10:11 PM 2/10/00 +0000, dan.Strassberg@att.net wrote:
>So he was being just a TAD disingenuous when, on one of 
>his first WMEX shows, while recounting the tribulations 
>of his ill-fated gig on WOR and the WOR Network, he 
>said, "I should have realized before I even went there 
>that talk radio has to be local. 
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Douglas J. Broda
Broda and Burnett
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djbroda@mindspring.com