Cumulus Radio thinks they can reach a younger, female, more diverse audience by putting on a preacher turned Beltway politician talking to George Will about baseball and talking to Mitt Romney’s wife about making cookies? You have to be kidding.
If you don’t know who Tom Leykis is, he has been on the air in Los Angeles for 20 years, and was syndicated by CBS when it was run by Mel Karmazin in the brief period after Infinity Broadcasting took over CBS – before Sumner Redstone and Viacom came to the rescue of the ghost of Edward R Murrow and returned calm to the empty hallways of CBS. Tom was part of the Free FM network, syndicated on FM Talk in most major cities five years before anyone else in radio realized that the young people might be listening to FM radio and open to hearing something other than music. When Mel was forced out, Howard Stern followed to Sirius and Free FM as quickly freed from the stations which returned to playing music again. Tom was paid by CBS for the remainder for his contract (for the last 3 years) under the condition that he not do “radio”.
If you think Sarah Palin is the hope for America, you will hate Tom Leykis. He talks to men about how to avoid getting married, how to get laid, importing a bride from Asia isn’t an American bitch – and encourages drug use among other things. He used to have an hour where he had his female callers flash their breasts at truck drivers, which they seemed to enjoy doing.
So there is little chance 98% of the visitors to this web site have any interest in listening to the show, let alone paying $10 a month to hear it – but Tom is riding the wave that may drown conventional talk radio and its 55+ demographic that buys itch powder and denture adhesive.
The “LEYKIS” station is actually linking to a podcast not a truly live stream. If you’re female and you think Leykis is an ass, this is the show for you!
Some corrections to the above – at least for now, the stream is free, but not live. Subscribers get access to the live 4? Hours a day and the archives and the ability to download the show as a podcast. He mentioned having 500 paid subscribers already (500x$10×12 = $60k/year). He doesn’t need an FCC license, shares the ad and subscription revenue with nobody, plays no music that requires paying ASCAP/BMI. He has an Internet bill, rent on his studio and a few employees.
I just read a blurb about Sirius (another Mel is crap screed by a radio industry person) that mentioned Sirius/XM had $419 million in “free cash flow” – which is the cash generated by a business after paying the expenses plus interest on the debt. Just yesterday I was looking at the financials of Cumulus, which lost money in the 4Q of 2011 and had Free Cash Flow of $38 million for the quarter, down 17% from 2010.
I listened to 2 hours last night – he was sounding a bit more like Dr Laura but with profanity. He was mostly giving financial advice and kicking young men in the ass for blaming other people for their problems instead of working hard. The recording loops, so you can listen any time.
Good god this guy ‘Leykis’ is a nut ! I think back in the late 90’s or early 2000’s and a FM station around here carried him in the evening. It was like he was doing prime drive time in LA. Yeah he was telling how to use ecstasy and not get caught. Fool.
I was in my shed working on a tractor and tried listening to him and he was frikken obnoxius. That’s when I switched stations and started listening to Sporting News radio in the evening with Arnie Spanier, who is now at a station in Dallas. ( he yelled a lot back then) .
If you get Leykis on your station, you don’t have much.
Arnie Spanier–ha ha…I remember him screaming on the radio back 10 years ago or so. I always thought it would be fun to get Arnie and Alex Jones together on the air and have a screaming match. Those two guys would make grand entertainment for the “pro” wrestling crowd as promoters!
Not a fan. He’s talented and sharp and he has moments of forthright thought, but he mainly appeals to the lowest common denominator of scum culture. We are coarse enough as a society.