The first hour today, Mark Levin was talking about something that was sent to him just before he went on the air (From Lew Dickey?) . Levin characterized it is from failed, know nothing radio consultant libs trying to get talk radio to stop talking about Barack Milhouse Obama.
I had to listen to the 1st hour again to catch the name – it’s a web site I had never heard of:
http://www.ntsmediaonline.com/
Oh look there – a big ad from Cumulus Media telling advertisers Cumulus is “Advertiser Friendly” with the image of a man who you might mistake for Barack Milhouse Obama if you didn’t look closely. (It’s actually Dr Sanjay Gupta, former CNN consultant, Hillary Clinton adviser and friend of Oprah Winfrey.
After tracking it back to the source, the suggestion that hosts try to do an hour without saying Obama or Mitt Romney is Mark Larsen.
“’m glad Mr. Harker has figured out through his research, what [consultant and talent coach] Gabe Hobbs and I have been saying ad nauseum. Do entertaining talk! I challenge every ‘Talk jockey’ to do an entire show without saying the words ‘Obama’ or ‘Romney.’ If you can’t do it, then you’re not creative enough to be on the radio.”
I wrote about Mark several years ago. Mark had been doing a morning show in the Tampa Bay Florida market and was unable to come to terms with his employer, and was a pioneer in leaving “real” radio and essentially doing a podcast version, bringing along the folks who had been advertisers on his radio show.
http://www.markinthemorning.com/
Mark Larsen is about as far from “a lib” as you could get. His web site has a picture of Ronald Reagan, and links to the NRA, Washington Times, WorldNet Daily and NewsMax. I’m not aware that Mark Larsen is any more a “radio consultant” than I am. He has opinions.
Gabe Hobbs is the talk radio consultant Larsen alluded to
http://gabehobbsmedia.com/
The bit about doing an entire show without saying Obama or Romney was Mark Larsen’s suggestion, not the radio consultant’s. The question underlying this topic was “Why are news/talk radio stations losing market share?”, but he answers his own question. What segment is growing? Young urban and Spanish. It’s the demographics. Old rich white men listen to conservative talk radio. They’re dying. Radio consultants can’t change that fact.
Levin specifically implied the consultant had a connection with Michael Smerconish, which is true if you look at his online client list. He also claims to advise Glenn Beck, The Blaze, Dennis Miller and Dave Ramsey. It’s clear he currently has the ear of Randy Michaels of Merlin Media, who just this week is trying out ManCow on his “All News” FM station in Chicago.
The irony is that Mark Levin had just talked about the importance of doing show prep and not talking about things you read just before you went on the air.
I’m going to make the prediction that when Mark Levin’s contract expires, he and Lew Dickey will not agree to terms and Levin will become a free agent similar to what just happened to Mark Davis..
I enjoyed listening to Levin when he occasionally sat in for the annoying half-wit Hannity or when he called in to Rush years ago, but listening to his grating whiny nasal drone is tantamount to self-imposed waterboarding. He is clearly intelligent, but he is not suitable for extended listening or a growing audience share, IMO.
I have to admit that i also agree with the idea of radio jocks getting beyond Obomney from time to time. I have been listening to talk radio since I was in high school in the late 70’s early 80’s. I remember when stations would play interesting programs like the late Tom Snyder, older comedy broadcasts from the 60’s with Bob Newhart or Fannie Flagg, and really a broad variety of subjects. I really liked radio much more back then. The syndication of Rush (and I like Rush) has been the death knell of anything other than all politics, all the time. Frankly no one does it better than Rush or Glenn, the rest can all go away as far as I am concerned. How Hannity EVER got so big is a mystery for the ages. To say he is not the brightest bulb in the box is to say Jayne Mansfield was slightly busty.