Recommended Reading

SteveOrdinetz hykker@grolen.com
Sun Mar 20 09:55:57 EST 2005


Scott Fybush wrote:

>I just wonder whether it doesn't end up being a mistake, over the long 
>run, to transform the image of a legendary full-service station like WHAM 
>from "all things to all people" into "WGOP." It's not hard to understand 
>how it happened - it's not as though there were many other successful 
>models for talk until recently, and WHAM's hardly alone in going in this 
>direction, joined by other legendary stations up this way like WGY, WBEN 
>and WSYR - but you've got to wonder whether WHAM could ever again be 
>perceived as "the station for everyone," as it once was. To bring this 
>back around to Boston, I think it's fair to say that WRKO in 2005 also 
>lacks the broad spectrum of political views that made WRKO in 1990 so 
>interesting to listen to. It really was "THE talk station" then. Today 
>it's "SOME PEOPLE's talk station."


But this could be said for most of our culture today, not just talk 
radio.  Remember when Top 40 had something for everyone and pulled 
double-digit shares even in major markets?  TV variety shows like Ed 
Sullivan, Red Skelton and the like which drew huge audiences across all 
demographics?  I'd imagine that concept is mind-boggling to anyone under 30 
today.

We have as a society become so niched we don't want to hear or see anything 
that contradicts our own tastes or prejudices.  Who's gonna put Humpty 
Dumpty back together again?



More information about the Boston-Radio-Interest mailing list