So I’ve been complaining that talk radio has turned into a nothing but a bunch of angry white men in their 60s, who have nothing that interests people under 40 – driving talk radio down a dead end street under full throttle.
So Cumulus (current owner of the former ABC AM stations) has decided that the answer to bring “Balance” and youth to WABC and KABC (and probably nationally) is hiring the 68 year old hipster Geraldo Rivera, an angry white man with a Hispanic chip on his shoulder. Geraldo was at liberty as his weekday obligations with Fox TV was winding down.
I heard the first promo tonight on WABC during the John Batchelor show for the Debut of Geraldo on Radio January 3rd. Here is the theme he is setting to draw in that “young” listening audience and bring “balance” to Talk Radio…
“I think that pop culture is abuzz… more people are interested in Pop Culture – more people know Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga than Sarkozy or Chancellor Merkel in Germany – and yet, I think we can bridge the gap and talk about all those things…”
Okay, let’s play pretend talk radio – It’s January 3rd.
Hi, I’m Geraldo Rivera. This hour I would like to talk about Mick Jagger. Look at this picture in today’s NY Post… oh wait, you can’t see pictures on radio. Well, maybe you find it on the Internet. Oh wait, you’re driving your cars and can’t surf while you drive.
Well, there is this picture of Mick Jagger with his new girlfriend walking on a beach in France. Wow, does she have a big pair of… eyeglasses. Let’s open up the phone lines and see what you think about this.”
We have a caller! Hello, caller welcome to WABC. What’s on your mind.
Caller: First time caller!
Geraldo: First time Host!
Caller: How are you today?
Geraldo: Fine – what did you call about?
Caller: I wanted to talk to you about Mick Jagger. He barely looks a day over 68. That’s how old you are, right?
Geraldo: So tell me what you think about Mick Jagger
Caller: Well, back in the day, could that guy dance! I want to tell you about the Mick Jagger concert I attended back in the 1960s in London – back when I was doing LSD. Did you ever try LSD, Geraldo?
Geraldo: I don’t remember the 1960s
Caller: I’ll take that as a “Yes”…
Geraldo: Your voice sounds familiar – is this Stu from the Glenn Beck show?
Caller: Sorry, gotta go. Good luck on that radio thing.
Radio is not TV without the pictures. Radio doesn’t deal with visual subjects. Imagine that you are talking to a room full of blind people and then you’ll understand what doing radio well is really about.
I believe you are spot on in these predictions. I give Geraldo 6 months at the MOST before Cumulus realizes what a horrible choice they made. Perhaps we could start a betting pool of ‘pick the date that the Geraldo show will be canceled.’
I know you aren’t a sports fan, but if you are familiar with any of the great baseball announcers of the radio era you will see that they illustrate your point about the difference between radio and TV perfectly. Listen to an old game from the 1940’s or 50’s broadcast by the likes of Red Barber or Vin Scully — they were vocal artists who gave a listener an audio portrait of the baseball game. Any listener familiar with baseball could easily “see” in their imagination what was being described. Modern TV era baseball announcers however are generally horrible when they try to announce a game on radio … “well, we are looking at the replay here in the booth and you can see he is clearly tagged out…”
Yes, I was actually thinking of Bob Prince, who was the baseball announcer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He came and gave a talk to the blind group my father was a part of – I’m pretty sure that was something he used to say on a regular basis. Having a TV monitor while you’re doing radio is a bad idea. I bet Bob Brinker doesn’t think we can tell he was watching football games while doing his Sunday show.
There was a time when people would turn on the TV but listen to the radio because the radio guys knew more and did a better job describing what was going on. That was back when instant replay was a novelty and TV didn’t feel a need to show every play from 5 different camera angles.
I can just see it now, oops ! “Hear it” it now,,
Caller: Hi Geraldo, Im on interstate 70 and its raining, I just tuned you in, and have something to ask, are you really 6………. ?(silence) followd by OH S*******t followed by the crunch of metal……
Geraldo: OMG OMG OMG caller ? hello. hello ?……. well on to the next caller .
That actually happened live on the Air on WABC radio back in the early days of cell phones. (perhaps you knew that…). My memory is it was during the Curtis [Sliwa] and Kuby show during morning drive.
great, al capone’s love child on cumulus. More of the same, run into the ground. I don’t care what Lady gaga or fill in the blank are doing in hollywood .
I have enough on my plate to make sure I keep my job, keep the lights on and food in the cupboard. I surely don’t need Hollywood news.
Geraldo? I’d rather listen to Michael Savage. God help me!
Art, wow talking about memory lane. I not only remember watching a game on TV while listening to the radio. Heck I remember going to Yankee Stadium (Phil Rizzuto) and Shea Stadium (Bob Murphy) with my dad, with a radio to my ear listening to some incredible play-by-play.