Connect with us
Executive Editor Ad

BNM Writers

CBS News Takes Aim at Talk Radio

It’s ironic for CBS News to examine conservative media and blame it for the divisiveness in America. CBS News is neither self-reflective nor honest. 

Andy Bloom

Published

on

A photo of the CBS News logo

CBS News devoted an episode of its news program, “Sunday Morning,” to “exploring the ways in which America has drifted apart.” One of the segments was titled “Talk Radio: Widening the airwaves’ great divide.”

It’s ironic for CBS News to examine conservative media and blame it for the divisiveness in America. CBS News is neither self-reflective nor honest. 

Bernard Goldberg’s seminal 2001 book “Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News,” for the first time, confirmed what conservatives believed, the media isn’t an honest broker of information. A few years later, Dan Rather tried to discredit George W. Bush’s National Guard service using fake documents. 

The CBS News piece on Talk Radio dividing America is another hit job. 

Correspondent Jim Axelrod relies heavily on “industry expert” Brian Rosenwald. Axelrod and CBS News do not say what industry he’s an expert on, but I’ve worked in the radio industry since the 1970s and never heard the name. 

Dr. Rosenwald’s (he has a Ph.D., so I’ll be respectful) website states: He is “a scholar in residence at the Partnership for Effective Public Administration and Leadership Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, an instructor at Penn. He received his Ph.D. and MA in history from the University of Virginia and BA in political science (with honors) (parenthesis his) and history from the University of Pennsylvania, and he wrote a book: “Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over America.” It’s not hard to guess what he thinks.

Rosenwald states Talk Radio has divided America and “hardened our politics.” Axelrod asks how is that good? To which Rosenwald replies: “It’s not. It’s bad for America.” 

You can certainly understand his liberal mindset; everything was better when there was no conservative response. 

The second expert in the report is Michael Harrison, publisher of “Talkers Magazine.” Unlike Dr. Rosenwald, Harrison is a long-time broadcasting pioneer and, by the way, friend. I have the utmost respect for Michael.

Harrison’s quotes in the story were surprising because he is a long-time supporter of Talk Radio. It’s hard to imagine the creator of Talkers Magazine being anything less than 100% supportive of the format.

I contacted Harrison to find out the rest of the story. According to Harrison, CBS News interviewed him for almost two and a half hours. After all that, they used only “a few sound bites that they were able to squeeze and twist into supporting their narrative,” he said.

In one quote they use, Harrison wishes for a balanced presence on Talk Radio which is understandable. I can’t count the times I’ve dreamed of an equal conservative voice in the mainstream media. 

In our exchange, Harrison states that’s his programming position – not a political one. “I’m a programmer, not a politician or partisan.” He adds,  “They failed to include my specific statement that it didn’t mean existing conservative formats should be replaced by liberal ones. I approach the business from a broadcasting perspective, not a personal ideology. I’m always for the expansion of Talk Radio.”

The CBS News piece goes from ironic to farcical. Axelrod states, “It’s not that liberals haven’t mounted a counter-attack; they just chose another battlefield,” Rosenwald concurs, “I think they’ve gone into other areas. I think Jon Stewart has been every bit of a trailblazer as Rush Limbaugh was, and he happened to colonize late-night comedy. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, most of the late-night comics lean left at this point,” he said.

I could write a book explaining who the trailblazers of late-night television were to Dr. Rosenwald. Jon Stewart might be on the list, but he is a Johnny-Come-Lately. 

Saying that most late-night “comics” lean left is an understatement. Colbert, Kimmel, et al. could be mistaken for part of the PR apparatus of the DNC. The funniest late-night liberal “comics” joke is their ratings that have dropped precipitously since the current crop of hosts took over in 2015. Their ratings have eroded further over the past year as they continue to blast away at Republicans without noticing the hilarity across Joe Biden’s America.

Meanwhile, the new “King of Late-Night” is the one conservative, Greg Gutfeld, on Fox News Channel. I’ll tip my hat to Bill Maher for his willingness to criticize Democrats and woke liberals. He can see both sides – sometimes. 

It’s not that there haven’t been attempts at liberal Talk Radio, either. Rosenwald may not be aware of Air America, but Harrison certainly is. He maintains that he told Axelrod that the primary reason Air America failed was that, in his opinion, “it was done extremely poorly,” adding, “Al Franken was a lousy talk show host.”  

Harrison does draw the correct conclusion when Axelrod asks him what the mission of Talk Radio is. “The mission of Talk Radio,” Harrison replied, “is to generate ratings and revenue.”

Also left on the cutting room floor was Harrison telling Axelrod that NPR is “relatively liberal and has a huge audience. Therefore, it is unfair and inaccurate to claim that conservative talk has a monopoly on the airwaves when it comes to political discussion.”

Harrison claims that one of the show’s producers said that Ted Koppel responded, “Public Radio and Talk Radio are apples and oranges.”  When he sought clarification, the producer told Harrison, “Koppel says Public Radio tells the truth, and Conservative Radio lies.” 

If we are to believe CBS News, “Talk Radio is bad for America” and “lies,” but liberal late-night hosts, “trailblazers” that they are, have no culpability in the fracturing of America, and “Public Radio tells the truth.” But there is no bias in the mainstream media, and they don’t have an agenda.  

I am also critical of the report for not including a practitioner of Conservative Talk Radio. I learned CBS News spent an hour and a half talking with my former colleague Dom Giordano at WPHT-AM/Philadelphia but left him out of the story. Giordano confirms this information. Apparently, he didn’t sound loony enough or spout right-wing conspiracy theories. 

Shame on CBS News for producing a segment on Conservative Talk Radio with a predetermined agenda based on their liberal biases. Their reporting continues to show Bernard Goldberg’s book, “Bias,” is as accurate now as when he wrote it 20 years ago. It’s well past time for CBS News to do a little soul-searching and examine its role in causing the rift in America. Dishonest reporting by the mainstream media has done more to pit Americans against one another than anything ever invented by Talk Radio.

Subscribe To The BNM Rundown

The Top 8 News Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox every afternoon!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

BNM Writers

The Time is Right For Rupert Murdoch to Leave, But Is it Right For Fox News?

Murdoch may have never wanted to retire but there’s probably no reason for him to stay. His work is finished.

Jessie Karangu

Published

on

A photo of Rupert Murdoch
(AP PHOTO)

The writers of Succession couldn’t write the script we saw come into full display on Thursday. Out of nowhere, one of the most consequential media leaders of our time decided to resign. Rupert Murdoch will ride off into the sunset having left a legacy that has changed media and the state of our democracy forever.

Rupert Murdoch has elected presidents, changed mindsets, and caused hysteria and pandemonium for billions of people over the course of his career. It may not be hyperbolic to say he is one of the few media titans who could’ve had a direct impact on your personal life. Whether you love him or hate him, he was successful at the machine he wanted to create. He has decisively been a shadow emperor of the Western world for the past 20-40 years.

Because of the blueprint he has set in stone, don’t expect Fox News to ever change, even if he isn’t at the helm any longer. The fact is that numbers don’t lie. Fox News commands retransmission fees that are comparable to ESPN, TNT, and the USA Network without carrying any live sporting events. It is one of Fox’s biggest revenue generators despite losing an epic lawsuit to Dominion. It is one of the networks keeping the cable bundle alive and will help prolong it as much as possible because of its existing base.

Speaking of its base, the fact that it has a base in the first place speaks volumes. Fox News has something every other network on television only envies: super fans. There have been pitfalls along the way over the past three or four years but in general, Fox News finds a way to consistently beat its opponents in the demo as well as in overall viewers.

The network has had to switch out hosts for various reasons over the past couple of years but because of its formula of storytelling and team building, viewers don’t leave in droves.

It may not be journalism but it is the perfect way to keep allegiances and it has worked for Fox. Whether it was his tabloids, his syndicated shows, or his news network, Rupert Murdoch has always insisted on creating an environment of “Us vs. Them” for a group of people whose unique diversity is often underestimated. Murdoch has consistently found a way to turn anger and fear into dollars and if it ain’t broke, why fix the Fox?

The successor taking over for Rupert Murdoch also isn’t an unfamiliar seed of discomfort and madness. Lachlan Murdoch has had a say and has been in discussions about Fox’s direction for decades. Some reports say that his own way of thinking is to the right of his father. If there is any child of Rupert’s who supports the path of destruction and illusion that Fox News has created over time, it’s Lachlan.

One of the few problems that Fox may face is purely logistical. It has been reported that Lachlan enjoys living in Australia more than the United States. Operating a television behemoth from another continent could be risky, especially after the behemoth has allowed anchors to vomit election lies on screen and allegedly commit sexual assault off-screen. But that shouldn’t affect the network’s ability to operate because Lachlan has already been serving as co-chair even before this week’s announcement.

One of the biggest reasons you shouldn’t expect Fox to change is because they’re the only network that has broken the code. Newsmax, Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck, and Tucker Carlson have tried or are trying. But they haven’t been successful. They achieved a level of prosperity in their own right but their numbers and margins of profitability are nowhere close to what Fox News makes. Their concurrent reach cannot even be compared.

The closest rival that has been able to penetrate some sort of mainstream relevance, although exclusively online, is The Daily Wire. And yet even with Ben Shapiro’s respective empire, it will be hard to match what Fox makes because of the business model Fox falls under. There isn’t any imminent competition that could drag Fox down and truly challenge the amount of viewers they receive or the kind of money they make. 

Murdoch may have never wanted to retire but there’s probably no reason for him to stay. His work is finished. His worldview has a daily effect on the lives of billions. As the business models for media continue to change, it’s better to leave at the top than to try to solve the next problem.

Titans like Bob Iger and Mark Thompson could look back at Murdoch’s decision years ago and wonder why they didn’t leave as a champion as he did. Unless there was a pie coming at his face during a hearing in the United Kingdom, one of the biggest strengths of Rupert Murdoch is that he always knew when the time was right.

Subscribe To The BNM Rundown

The Top 8 News Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox every afternoon!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading

BNM Writers

What News/Talk Can Learn From A Sports Host Like Mad Dog Russo

How are you taking the news that is relevant in our space and making it stand out to the audience and making it relatable to your audience?

Published

on

A photo of Chris "Mad Dog" Russo
(Photo: Scott Cook, Rollins College)

Sports media had one of its best viral moments in recent memory this week when Chris “Mad Dog” Russo shared his Saturday college football plans with the audience of ESPN’s First Take

Russo was talking with Stephen A. Smith and Marcus Spears about this weekend’s game between Colorado and Oregon when Molly Qerim told Russo to share with the rest of the panel his plans for the weekend.

Russo went on to describe his Saturday afternoon, blow-by-blow, which included a cocktail and “half a THC gummy” for the noon ET games. After the first slate of games, Russo planned to make a call to his bookie, place a $10,000 bet on Colorado to beat Oregon, and then another cocktail, along with the “other half” of his gummy.

It was pure entertainment from Russo. He wasn’t trying too hard, it wasn’t over the top, but it was brilliant content.

The clip has been viewed millions of times since it aired because it was real, relatable, honest, funny, self-deprecating and delivered perfectly.

Only a handful would have seen or heard this clip, other than those watching the show in real-time, had they just done the standard “media talking heads break down the big college football game of the weekend”. But to Russo’s credit, he likely understands in today’s media landscape that the die-hards who want a full Oregon-Colorado breakdown can get that in a ton of different places in 2023. What’s he going to bring that’s unique, different, and stands out? And that’s exactly what he did.

As it pertains to news/talk radio, or news media at large, how do you have that Mad Dog-Gummy moment? It doesn’t need to literally be you talking about taking gummies before the next GOP debate on September 27th (although anything that helps get through one of those disasters would be welcomed). But how are you taking the news that is relevant in our space and making it stand out to the audience and making it relatable to your audience?

While it’s anecdotal, whenever I bump into KCMO listeners, the biggest feedback on the show is not my takes on Trump, Biden, Kansas City city council, or anything else for that matter, it’s, “I like when you talk about your girls.”

I have two daughters, four and two, who are absolutely incredible, entertaining, and yes, nightmare toddlers sometimes. When it’s relevant and topical, I will bring them up. I talk about them far less than the news, but they’re the “topic” that always gets the organic feedback.

Like Russo’s moment, it gives the audience insight into who we are as people, beyond what we think about the topic(s) of the day. 

This doesn’t mean that a four-hour show should be about your weekend plans or your kids throwing up in their beds at night (although I could rip off a few of those stories and kill a few segments). But picking and choosing those moments will help you stand out in an overcrowded media landscape where the audience has options galore and needs more reasons than ever to come back to you and your show.

Give them insight into not just you the host/personality, but you the person. 

I can’t think of the last time cable news or news talk had a viral moment like Mad Dog Russo. But maybe you can be next.

Subscribe To The BNM Rundown

The Top 8 News Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox every afternoon!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading

BNM Writers

A News/Talk Radio Autopsy After the BNM Summit

The news/talk audience is getting older. This is somewhat self-inflicted. We are still doing our shows in the same template Rush Limbaugh innovated in 1987. Time to change it up. 

Avatar photo

Published

on

A photo of a panel at the 2023 BNM Summit

After the inaugural BNM Summit, I was more excited about our industry after the two-day event. Radio in many ways is a solitary pursuit.

Teamwork is sometimes not a factor in a morning show with a cast. You walk into the studio, put on the headphones, turn on the mic and go. I needed some excitement, some good news, and the chance to meet new friends and renew longtime relationships. I got it.

As an industry, we have been pummeled by bad headlines: some of which are self-inflicted, and some are challenges for our future. If you believe the headlines, smelting lead would be a better career choice. I don’t believe that, and you shouldn’t either. While smelting lead seems like an exciting career other than the whole lead poisoning thing, perhaps that is better than radio station break room coffee. 

Have you ever considered how bad radio station coffee is? I don’t drink it. I drink a pot of my own before I strut into the office. Perhaps, it is time to call any reputable health inspector in to inspect that thicker than tar swill. 

Radio is a terrific profession. How many jobs provide more laughs than broadcasting? It is fun.  I have worked a bit outside the radio industry. Real-world jobs suck. Our stations develop awesome advertising campaigns for clients. Why not us? We don’t publicize our strengths.  Podcasts are great, but when did a podcast raise money for the local foster children? When did a podcast show up at a client’s office with a smile and donuts? TikTok? Those Chinese Communist bastards are poisoning our kids. YouTube? Cool content, but the Google-owned platform is as likely to build commonalities with your neighbors as a lion is likely to lay down with a lamb. 

Radio is a cool job. One where you can make a difference. It’s not exactly like Mother Theresa….  but it’s better than being an influencer on Instagram. 

I am ranting.

You know who I am sick of? The radio coroner gang. Radio still reaches a majority of the American public. Your local big network TV affiliates may reach less than 40% of the public.  They are no longer a big deal. Don’t give them any respect. Those jerks don’t deserve it, except for that pretty reporter who would be lucky to be my next wife. I know that I am old enough to be her dad, but hey, old dudes need love, too. 

Radio is vital and needed. Radio needs to look itself in the mirror and say “We are essential”. I was in the room in Nashville with men and women who see a future. The BNM Summit delivered that.

By the way, the brother and sisterhood at the BNM Summit was strong. I haven’t been hugged this much since a family reunion. I wish that you could have been there. It was amazing. I really was pumped up. We matter. You matter. Your ideas are important. 

We have challenges. We need to address issues with Gen Z and the generations to follow them. Radio does have issues with innovation. We run the same clocks that we did in 1970. We sweep the corners, which is stupid and does not reflect actual radio listening. If you are in a PPM market and are sweeping the corners, reevaluate your tune-ins per hour. Look at that carefully. So, your host comes out of the break at :27, and news is at “30. I guarantee your tune-out rate is through the roof. 

You need 5 minutes of continuous listening to get credit. A listener is as likely to start listening at 23 minutes past the hour than almost any other time. Yet, we still sweep the corners. It’s insane. You may not like PPM. It is a fair assessment, but adapt or die. We have not adapted to PPM and radio has been using this technology for well over a decade. 

The news/talk audience is getting older. This is somewhat self-inflicted. We are still doing our shows in the same template Rush Limbaugh innovated in 1987. Time to change it up. PPM gives us tools. If you delight in being a political insider, you are going to demo old. Go to a political event. It is geezer-rific. Talk about the interests of a 45-year-old. You can beat this.  You have the tools, you have the data, and you have the talent.

I was watching a YouTube video on East St. Louis. That city in Illinois is now one of the most violent places in the USA. It was not always that way. East St. Louis was once a vibrant community with a bustling downtown, strong industry, and a great future. The community got complacent, and the employers started to leave. The city was not focused on growing and it has become a shell of the great place it was at one time. 

Radio needs to look at that. What is next? Where is the innovation? How do we change the momentum? It’s all up to us. There are thought leaders in our industry reading this. These are brilliant people. I don’t claim to have the answers, but I know where we need to focus.

Being in the room with amazing leaders in the radio industry brought me more excitement.  The BNM Summit was exactly what I needed. I could not be more enthusiastic about our future. Am I naïve? Perhaps. Do I understand the power of radio? Absolutely. 

The power is in your hands. May every moment on your radio station essential. 

Subscribe To The BNM Rundown

The Top 8 News Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox every afternoon!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Advertisement

BNM Writers

Copyright © 2023 Barrett Media.

Barrett News Media