A decline in "local" media: radio station owner asks why

D
uring Hurricane Florence coverage (we escaped, but many local churches cut and ran on a drizzling Sunday morning with little, if any, local damage by closing their doors while bars were open on Sunday for Premier League, La Liga, and NFL games on the screens all day), it caught my attention when I was informed a while back about weather alerts that local schools are now requiring parents' mobile phone numbers for the sole purpose of sending text messages to announce school closings.  Back in the day, we had local radio stations listed to do the same thing.

The consequences of media consolidation to smaller markets reared its ugly head.  The area is down to three radio stations, two of them owned by one New York state chain that under the former owners of those two radio stations, they yanked local news and both state and national talk radio programming.  Our market is now one of the "dark" areas of the state where no access to news is possible.  The third station was sold from a local family to a Sacramento chain, and has no community presence.  The consequence was because schools have no access to the auto-tuned from New York or Sacramento programming, they could not post weather alerts or school, church, and factory closings.

Keven Cohen, the owner of WQXL Radio, noted the frustration of larger radio stations.  In 2012, iHeartMedia fired him from the afternoon time slot.  After a year off to comply with his contract, he developed a radio startup and today is one of the better radio stations in the market, airing local morning and afternoon programming, Saturday night programming, and national shows such as Brian Kilmeade, Laura Ingraham, Dave Ramsey, and Michael Weiner, Ph.D., on his station.

In a recent column, he noted Cumulus Media (which provides him with national radio news on the hour) let a popular radio host go, though he will now be remaining on the station through a syndicated program which they are the flagship station for sports produced by another company.  He also cited a popular newspaper writer and then a well-established television broadcaster being let go -- all in a few weeks.  The fact longstanding reporters are released quickly forced him to ask what has happened to media, especially since he's seen it from both a host's side and an owner's box.  After seeing the lack of local coverage of Hurricane Florence and the schools now going to alternative sources to inform parents, what has happened to "local" media?

Classic phrases on the radio

The greatness of radio broadcasts in sports in the past is how crucial plays led to timeless phrases heard for many occasions, whether it's the catbird's seat, or the stories Vin Scully can form after being sent information from information staffers, or crucial plays that led to phrases that are forever etched in sport.

During Saturday's first game of a doubleheader in the Southeastern Conference, South Carolina radio broadcaster Andy Demetra went to one of those baseball greats in calling a crucial game-tying home run. As the game-tying home run went sailing, considering what had happened earlier in the series and why the player who hit the shot had been relegated to his duties of hitting at this point, you could have been somewhere else when listening to the radio.

You could almost sense one of the greatest home runs in baseball, over a quarter century ago, all over again when listening to the radio, down to the phrase that made it feel that way. ◙

Retro TV Friday

I enjoy listening to talk radio, and often the catchy theme songs on the radio are some of the craziest you will hear. While many hosts will select various tunes they think are catchy theme songs, some are always stuck in your head, associated with the hosts. From "My City Was Gone" (Limbaugh), "Independence Day" (Hannity), "Heart of Rock and Roll" (Boortz), and the local radio talk show hosts, the themes are an integral part of any talk radio programme.

This was the theme song to a news/talk radio show from the mid-1990's. She responded, "Oh yeah. The opening to the show. Been awhile."

But it's Retro TV Friday. Why are you discussing old talk radio? There's a reason. In that time, I owned interest in CBS, including the CBS Cable operations. And I do miss the old Nashville Network, shut down by MTV after parent Paramount purchased CBS and sent the CBS Cable operations to MTV, allowing MTV to use the CBS Cable operations to shut down the outdoor and country channel in favour of a channel that sounds like it's a volleyball-talking channel but is an explicit adult channel.

This was the theme song to the radio talk show in question, as a performance on The Nashville Network's "Prime Time Country," with Gary Chapman hosting. ◙

For What It's Worth...

By Bobby

In our For What It's Worth Department, Citadel Radio announced Paul Harvey signed off for the last time this weekend, having died at 90.

It was a much different time on radio when I first began listening to Mr. Harvey on the radio. The Fairness Doctrine made it impossible to provide much of today's popular news/talk format that we have accustomed ourselves to be listening every day. When we wanted to hear the big national news reports, I remember listening to Paul Harvey.

But, of course, Harvey was one of the old-time radio broadcasters whose sense of news reading was there. He was one of the last I remember to feature "live" advertising breaks (where the anchorman actually reads the ad copy on-air as he heded towards the break). He had this homespun style that always had a keen wit that always had you coming back. And after the popularity of his "Rest of the Story" segments, he and his son Paul Jr decided to make it its own segment. I remember when we had local radio that they would play Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story (which his son produced, wrote, and now hosts) in evenings before Sports Talk.

Compared to some of the obnoxious shock jocks we hear on the radio today (Howard Stern, Bubba the Love Sponge, and other morning radio hosts have I do not even want to hear) and the stupidity of the bad pop-rock, rap, or other forms of music that is the "platinum standard" of radio today, Paul Harvey symbolised a radio that meant something, similar to the current batch of sensible news/talk radio such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, current news analysts.

Paul Harvey . . . Good Day!

Paul Harvey, R.I.P.

By Mitchell

For most broadcasters, they would be hokey gimmicks: Stand by for news! Page two. And now you know . . . the rest of the story. Good day!

For most broadcasters, perhaps, but for over 70 years Paul Harvey was one of a kind.

My friend Peter does a wonderful impression of Paul Harvey, and one of the reasons it’s so hilarious (besides the fact that it’s very good) is that you already know the punchlines. You’ve heard the shilling for Amway and HGTV and Citracal (Cit as in citrus, cal as in calcium – Cit-ra-cal), done so seamlessly that they were virtually a part of his newscast. You’ve listened to the rest of the story, heard the remarkable coincidences and obscure facts that make up the lives of the rich and famous. You’ve probably used some of his catchphrases yourself.

People recognized them, just as they recognized Paul Harvey and welcomed him into their homes every day. He had a wonderful voice for broadcasting, a marvelous ear for phrasing, and a natural talent for connecting with his listeners. He wasn’t just a disembodied voice reading a script from some isolated broadcasting booth – he was an old and trusted friend telling you a story, as if it were just the two of you sitting on the front porch.

And there was something terribly American about him. Although his broadcast originated for many years from Chicago, his audience was the entire country – farmers and housewives, schoolchildren and shopkeepers, in small rural areas and large metropolitan cities. He spoke to us in the pages of big city newspapers, but also in the small-town publications like Grit. Think of the phrase from sea to shining sea – that was Paul Harvey’s territory. There was nothing fancy or pretentious about him; he was just one of us. An American.

In listening to various media yesterday, I was struck by how many of them mentioned Harvey, from the morning show host on the classical music station to the NASCAR broadcaster on Fox. He had been a part of their lives too, and had played some role in their own “rest of the story.” For many years he was one of the best and most articulate voices for political conservatism, and today’s talk-show hosts, from Rush to Hannity to Beck and all the rest –owe a lot to Paul Harvey – and they’ll be among the first to admit it.

Paul Harvey was 90 when he died in Arizona on Saturday. He had struggled with health problems in recent years and his wife, the often-referenced Angel, had died the previous year, so you figured it might not be much longer. His son, Paul Jr., wrote the famous “rest of the story” tales that entertained and enlightened and were later collected in books, capturing his father’s voice and spirit perfectly, and I suppose he’ll carry on his father’s legacy. But he won’t imitate it, because you can’t copy Paul Harvey. A writer for Time said that when he died, he took the whole history of radio with him – but I think we can agree that he left a great deal with us.

And so good day, Paul Harvey. Here's hoping that you now know the rest of the story.

UPDATE: Our good friend Adoro has this warm reminiscence at her site. This is precisely the kind of thing I was talking about - how Paul Harvey transcended the airwaves and became almost a part of the air that we breathed, as familiar as the flag or apple pie. No matter where you were, he was there as well - and all was right with the world.