Stop killing talk radio!

Patrick “Dino” Ryan tells us that talk radio is corporate owned, corporate operated and government approved.

Over 30 years ago Rush Limbaugh saved talk radio. He didn’t revolutionize it. Bob Grant and others did that. What Limbaugh did was to give conservatives a voice. Limbaugh inspired thousands of others to jump into talk radio including Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, and even yours truly. Talk radio became so popular that it even crossed into the FM frequency. Talk radio dominated for over 20 years. Fox News Channel came around because American conservatives wanted their news without the liberal bias.

Then came Don Imus. Don Imus was a pioneer. Not in radio but in Cancel Culture. In 2007 Imus was making jokes about the Rutgers University Women’s Basketball team calling them “Nappy Headed ho’s.” Imus was fired from MSNBC and WFAN. Since then, countless other people primarily white men have lost their way to earn a living, because their thoughts were politically incorrect.

With the fallout of cancel culture, talk radio has regressed. Personalities are told what they can say and not say. Cumulus Media told all of its on air staff not to say the 2020 presidential election was stolen. I can imagine what they say concerning race and Israel. That still wasn’t enough. Talk radio legend Michael Savage was pulled from 2 major markets; New York and Washington, DC. Cumulus Media syndicated Savage and owned the stations he was being carried on! No reason was given as to why they pulled him off the air. Savage was #1 in his timeslot in both markets.

Today most talk radio hosts on terrestrial and even satellite all sound the same. Republicans good. Democrats bad. They never stray away from the script. People like Sean Bergin who took a stand and went out on a limb to talk about black crime made international news and would have been perfect for radio and/or television was ignored. Patrick Ryan left radio and satellite to start his own podcast. Anthony Cumia was fired for what he posted on Twitter. Nobody from mainstream media nor the world of comedy came to Cumia’s defense despite the fact he helped countless careers! He too has his own podcast.

Radio executives, Station Managers and Program Directors need to wake up. Radio is dying. You muzzle the talent and fire those who do not comply. When was the last time a show had a 10 minute block of commercials!? Yes; Opie and Anthony and Howard Stern used to have 10 minute blocks of commercials! Meanwhile thanks to technology, there are podcasts galore as well as internet radio. Personalities such as Brandon Tatum and Mark Dice have over a million subscribers! With no promotion! Yours truly advertised on JB Gunner’s YouTube channel, and I got lots more people to check out my show!

Besides entertaining personalities going to other platforms, car and home technology is getting smarter. People have more options to listen to and more ways to do it. No longer are they stuck with AM, FM, or CD!

I ask all those who run radio to wake up and smell the coffee. If you love this business, fight for it. Let your hosts say what they want to say, take a chance on those who are still hungry. Promote on other platforms and then maybe we can get back to the good old days of talk radio dominance!