Talk Radio, Seattle, San Antonio, Indianapolis

STOP THE MEDDLING!

When Execs Interfere, Talk Radio Suffers





To just about anyone working in the talk radio industry, it's no secret that very few middle and upper- level managers share the conservative viewpoints that have made so many stations successful. In fact, in the Radio Equalizer's own experience, many are quite clearly far to the left.

So, as an ever- greater number of veteran talk programmers are pushed aside in favor of sales managers and other corporate suits without experience in the format, it's inevitable that the emotionally- based temptation to impose their own lefty views would soon overcome common business sense.


Topping the endangered species list for years has been Seattle's KVI-AM, considered by many to have become the first conservative- themed talk radio station in the country back in the early nineties.

But with notoriously- liberal family ownership and now lacking a qualified program director, KVI yesterday signed its own death warrant by adding a liberal host in midmornings and promoting a "moderate" (read: Lincoln Chafee) airhead to the all- important afternoon drive slot.


In my latest Inside Radio column, we examine the annoying and self- destructive urge to interfere with what makes talk radio successful. Also in the piece: a look at the latest political fallout from the loss of country FM radio in Los Angeles.

To read it, click here.

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