Talk Radio Becoming More People-Oriented, Hosts Say

The message out of the opening sessions of the National Assn. of Radio Talk Show Hosts on Friday was that the medium of talk radio is changing--and for the better.

It’s moving away from harsh political, ideological talk, panelists for the most part agreed, and becoming more conversational, storytelling, people-oriented talk.

Opening the formal meetings of the ninth annual convention at the Century Plaza, Mark Williams, vice president of the talk radio group and a radio host in Albany, N.Y., said that this convention “marks a departure. We’re acting like grown-ups. No more G. Gordon Liddys, no more mud-wrestling . . . and we’re no longer a bunch of disc jockeys who ran out of jokes to tell.”

Joy Browne, the first keynote speaker and an advice host syndicated to 300 stations nationally (including KTZN-AM here), said that for years, as television came along and then cable TV, people said that radio was “on its last legs. But it’s stronger than ever. People listen in their cars and their homes and their kitchens”--and, she hopes, when they’re in their bedrooms at night, to her.

At a panel discussion later in the morning, Jack Landreth, program director at WWTN-FM in Nashville, said that listeners now see the talk host as their “friend” and tune in to hear “what they need to know.” Previously, he noted, the talk host felt it was his job “to piss off the listener” and get people to call in.

Nevertheless, Landreth did point out that Liddy of Watergate fame remains one of the most popular hosts on his station and said that when he came to town, 4,000 people turned out at the Grand Ole Opry to see him. Asked later whether that wasn’t incongruous with what he’d said earlier, Landreth said that Liddy “is not political, he’s entertainment.”

Jim Casale, a talk radio consultant from Seattle, agreed that “in-your-face talk” is disappearing and “entertainment is king.”

Bruce Butler, program director at WROK-AM in Rockford, Ill., said that his station had an opportunity to air Rush Limbaugh “and passed on it.” A host like Art Bell, on the other hand, is another matter because people are interested in UFOs, he said.

But Larry Kahn, who heads the talk radio division at Westwood One, a major radio syndicator, said that political discussions will always be a major factor in talk radio. There is still more of it today than 10 or 15 years ago, he argued.

Dave Cooke, operations manager and program director at local talk outlets KABC-AM (790) and KTZN-AM (710), said that neither of his stations is ideological. The only thing he cares about when he listens to a host, he said, is “Am I entertained, am I enthralled, am I hooked into it?”

With KTZN, Cooke said, management sought to carve out a lifestyle, female-oriented niche. With KABC, he added, the job was to make it more contemporary, which it did by putting Peter Tilden on in the morning with Ken Minyard and hiring Marc Germain, the former Mr. KFI, to become Mr. KABC at night.

When someone in the audience asked why there wasn’t programming geared specifically to men’s issues, Cooke suggested that issues-oriented programming already appeals to a male audience. When the questioner persisted, mentioning a number of issues, Cooke shot back, to welcoming laughter, “What would a male-directed point of view on domestic violence be?”