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[SteveOrdinetz]

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?