I finally got a chance to listen to KSTP-AM’s new mid-morning show, “Przebyl (sp) and Murphy”, this morning. These guys are putatively Bob Davis’ replacement on the mid-morning slot.
Not, I suspect, for long.
As we’ve noted in the past, once KSTP-AM lost Limbaugh, it drank the then-vogue-y consultant Kool-Aid that “conservative talk is dead”. Over the past three years, it’s ditched all semblance of “out” political talk (Davis, Dave Thompson) as well as anything off-puttingly edgy (Tom Mischke).
I remember hearing the grumblings from some of KSTP’s staff even back in 2003 when the place was a cash cow (and heavily, overtly conservative, with Limbaugh, Jason Lewis and Bob Davis, on top of Joe Soucheray’s not-so-much-conservative-as-curmudgeonly schtick); boss Ginny Morris would complain to all and sundry that “we have to live in this town”, and audibly pine for the station to edge more towards the middle of the road. To be all things to all people. To be more like…
I was going to say WCCO, but that’s only half true. I think she wants KSTP to be the station her grandfather built, back in the 1930’s; the station WCCO copied throughout the thirties and forties, and passed in the fifties and sixties.
Make no mistake; Morris’ grandfather Stanley Hubbard the First was a true pioneer, a genius, one of the great figures in American broadcasting. While he ran KSTP-AM in the thirties and forties, he pioneered things like spot news (he had the a car outfitted with a short-wave transmitter, capable of reporting back to KSTP from anywhere in the country, the predecessor of the satellite trucks we see at news events today), entertainment radio (he broadcast adapted vaudeville shows from the Minneapolis Orpheum, where among many others Jack Benny got his start) and many other things we all take for granted.
This was back when the Twin Cities had maybe a dozen radio stations. This was back when people were acclimated to town that had 3-4 newspapers, eventually three TV stations, and that was it. This was back when media became community.
This was another era. It’s gone forever – except in a very narrowcast sense. Joe Sourcheray is to curmudgeons what Boone and Erickson were to Minnesota parents and lunchpails forty years ago. Rush Limbaugh is to tax-paying working stiffs what Steve Cannon was to afternoon commuters thirty years back.
Listening to Przebyl and Murphy is just like listening to a time capsule of pre-1987 talk radio, maybe preserved on tape at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting; lots of chatter about local stories without any particular slant or bias or, truth be told, reason to stay tuned in.
And that’s just the overall theme. I don’t know much about the two guys, but they can’t have a lot of radio background; it’s hard to say who stammers worse on the air. They need to take a deep breath and relax and try to have fun with material that, I have to say, really isn’t very. At least not at first listen.
Disclosure: I worked for KSTP-AM from 1985-87. I also came in second place for the Program Director job there in 1991, behind…current PD and former KDWB colleague Steve Konrad. I do a weekend show at a competing station. I declare that I’m utterly clinical about the radio business, but feel free to filter accordingly.
Mitch, as I’ve said, conservative talk aint dead, it’s just reached market penetration.
It will likely grow to a small degree as people become disaffected with things the government does under Obama, much as liberal talk radio grew with the vast disaffection with Bush, but it still only has a certain penetration.
Once Limbaugh started on FM, KSTP’s loss of Limbaugh was what, coincidental? Consequently, KSTP was going to dive in market share, as essentially, guys like Davis were merely ‘copycats’ and echo-chambers to Limbaugh anyway. The point being, why not go listen to the real McCoy on FM (KTLK iirc) and then, why not stay there for Lewis, and why not start there at drive time.
I’m guessing that Salem Broadcasting experienced the same drop off of listenership as KSTP when they lost Limbaugh. In looking at Arbitron, it certainly appears WWTC is no better than it was in the past, and in some respects, worse. Listeners move with programming they like if it is syndicated (in my opinion) – and KSTP merely suffered from that dynamic, or so it seems to me.
While you can bemoan KSTP’s decisions, the fact was that neither Davis nor Thompson were selling any more. Even though I very much liked Thompson (and conversely felt Davis was a first class idiot, his actual grasp of economics/factors was abysmally poor, he could have taken lessons from Tom Swift or Eva Young, and that’s saying something). The fact though is they’d have been retained if their ratings supported it. They didn’t. If, by keeping Davis and Thompson, ratings would have been high, which seems to be your implication, then KSTP would have kept them.
The ultimate point is that KSTP has to find a new target audience since KTLK started – or agree to broadcast the same syndiated show, which they can’t do I expect as the owners of Limbaugh’s rights probably pressed KSTP to drop them. If they want to keep broadcasting a conservative bent, then they have to accept a lower market share, and thus cut costs, including programs which dont’ generate ratings, like Davis.
P&M certainly are trying extremely hard to achieve maximum blandness.
Looks like they’ve achieved that goal in their first week.
I’m a little annoyed that Patriot II (electric boogaloo) dropped Dennis Miller… technically, it seems they opted for a massive change throughout the bulk of their broadcast day.
I find Chris Baker and Mike Gallager’s programs difficult to listen to based simply on their personality, broadcasting technique, and style… but that’s just a personal opinion. They approach some worthy topics, but do did Bob, Laura, Dennis, Dave, and others with a better personality and style.
Obviously, Dave doesn’t broadcast now for other reasons… although, perhaps he was considering his future run (for commissioner?) already and suspected they were going to drop him, and he beat KSTP to the punch.
Correction on my part – I think WWTC still carries Limbaugh, doesn’t it = and no, I don’t listen to WWTC during weekdays, so I don’t know – but clearly they would have (and did) lose market share to KTLK. They do better than KTNF, but liberal radio has little established personality like Limbaugh.
WWTC-AM Talk/Personality 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.3
KTNF-AM Talk/Personality 1.0 0.9 0.6 1.1
The ultimate point is that Davis and Thompson died by failing ratings, you can cover it in O’Reilly-esque culture warrior schlock, but they died for market reasons. Limbaugh left due to ‘Big Brother’ radio dynamics more than anything else I suspect, and when he left, the conservatives followed him. Bad news for KSTP – if it is to survive, it has to reinvent itself, and it cannot simply ‘out conservative’ KTLK withouth Limbaugh.
Incorrect, Peev.
Dave Thompson left… he was not fired. At least that was according to a statement released by KSTP.
I’m fairly sure WWTC never carried Limbaugh.
Correction on my part – I think WWTC still carries Limbaugh, doesn’t it
WWTC has never carried Limbaugh.
but clearly they would have (and did) lose market share to KTLK.
Not as a general thing, actually. WWTC’s fluctuations ahve been pretty uniform for the past few years. Bennett has beaten most of KTLK’s morning shows this past few years, or at least made it a race (since we pay nothing for Bennett,and KTLK has paid plenty for their local talent). Limbaugh’s shift cost KSTP, not WWTC. Jason Lewis took some numbers away from Medved and Hewitt, but for what they’re paying, he’d BETTER have taken the numbers; Medved and Hugh cost us nothing.
They do better than KTNF, but liberal radio has little established personality like Limbaugh.
Very true.
The ultimate point is that Davis and Thompson died by failing ratings, you can cover it in O’Reilly-esque culture warrior schlock, but they died for market reasons.
Well, to an extent. Davis had OK, not great, numbers; mid-mornings weren’t his time slot. It’s been touch and go for years.
Limbaugh left due to ‘Big Brother’ radio dynamics more than anything else I suspect,
Not sure what you mean by “big bro” dynamics; Premier (which owns the Limbaugh show) has an affiliation with Clear Channel, which means they have every right to consolidate him onto their company owned affiliate. That’s what happened.
and when he left, the conservatives followed him. Bad news for KSTP – if it is to survive, it has to reinvent itself, and it cannot simply ‘out conservative’ KTLK withouth Limbaugh.
Well, it can’t out-Limbaugh him, anyway.
But the choice it had to make was “go with a format that CAN work”, or “Go with a format that was a dicey proposition 20 years ago, and is obsolete today”. KSTP doesn’t have the commitment to partisan radio that it’d need to make a go of it; their commitment is to a type of radio whose time is long gone.
just reached market penetration.
What, again?
Just saying – Limbaugh’s overall numbers nationwide are up about 20% since the election.
but liberal radio has little established personality like Limbaugh
For me, liberal radio’s problem hasn’t been the lack of personality. Franken, Garofalo, Randi Rhodes etc… (ok, maybe not Mario Cuomo) have personalities.
I just can’t take liberal radio because it’s usually so angry. And yes, a good chunk of conservative radio is too, which is why I don’t listen to it.
What attracted me to Rush was that he’s funny, upbeat, rarely goes off on angry rants. It’s why I like the NARN, why Hugh Hewitt is probably my favorite conservative talk show guy.
You’d probably like Dennis Miller’s radio show, Jeff. Ought to be able to check it out online.
Miller & Hewitt both have terrific guests. Both shows are webcast for free through their affiliated stations on Townhall web sites.
Garaghty is too shouty for me. I miss Laura 🙁
Mitch,
I mean the Premier chose for Limbaugh to be on KTLK over other stations. I suspect they prevailed upon KSTP in some way to let go of Limbaugh (in fact I think it’s damned likely). All they had to do was price him out of KSTP’s budget picture – they wanted Limbaugh on KTLK and they didn’t want the competition from an unaffiliated station.
That’s the reality, Premier and Clear Channel are in fact pretty damned tight.
Your supposition that conservative radio can work up against national syndication like Limbaugh (especially Limbaugh) – is something I profoundly disagree with.
Second, while Limbaugh is up 20%, you didn’t actually account for what I said about dissaffection – and of course my prior comments about anger in other posts – if Limbaugh grows ANOTHER 20% then that will be something I suppose, but candidly, I think his kind of one-note pure corporatism is not such a big seller to people looking for jobs.
Jeff Kouba – if you think liberal radio is full of hate, my god how can you possibly like conservative radio.. I’m not saying some liberal radio isn’t pretty spiteful (such as the late night guy on KTNF – Mike Malloy mabye?), but lordy, all Limbaugh IS is hate.
Mitch,
I mean the Premier chose for Limbaugh to be on KTLK over other stations. I suspect they prevailed upon KSTP in some way to let go of Limbaugh (in fact I think it’s damned likely). All they had to do was price him out of KSTP’s budget picture – they wanted Limbaugh on KTLK and they didn’t want the competition from an unaffiliated station.
That’s the reality, Premier and Clear Channel are in fact pretty damned tight.
Your supposition that conservative radio can work up against national syndication like Limbaugh (especially Limbaugh) – is something I profoundly disagree with.
Second, while Limbaugh is up 20%, you didn’t actually account for what I said about dissaffection – and of course my prior comments about anger in other posts – if Limbaugh grows ANOTHER 20% then that will be something I suppose, but candidly, I think his kind of one-note pure corporatism is not such a big seller to people looking for jobs.
Jeff Kouba – if you think liberal radio is full of hate, my god how can you possibly like conservative radio.. I’m not saying some liberal radio isn’t pretty spiteful (such as the late night guy on KTNF – Mike Malloy mabye?), but lordy, all Limbaugh IS is hate.
Grr.. sorry for the double post.
Mitch, the point is simply this, if it sold, it’d be on the air. Davis didn’t sell – whatever dancing around the truth you may want to do with semantics, the fact is, he didn’t. His schtick was for late-night dullards who’d believe nonsense like the average person pays 50% of their wages in taxes. When put to the light of day, his whiney, sniveling little cretin-esque style fell flat. He wasn’t 1/5th as clever as he thought he was, and much of what he said was just moronic. Thompson didn’t draw ratings because he was, frankly, rather dull – staid even – but he WAS informed, and a VERY articulate conservative, someone I respected greatly for his ability to engage in issue based civil discussions. But you know what, i supsect that’s WHY he failed. Much of talk radio has little interest in real discussion, and much more interest in echo chamber validation of their firmly held beliefs – you’ve even admitted to that same bias, even spoken of it pridefully.
“but lordy, all Limbaugh IS is hate. ” News flash. political viewpoints you disagree with does not equal hate. There is no hate there. Ridicule, satire yes. Hate, no.
“Much of talk radio has little interest in real discussion, and much more interest in echo chamber validation of their firmly held beliefs”
Larry King, while nuts, had a very entertaining and well listened radio show containing just that. So did Imus. And so does Rush when he has a liberal call in the show. You again have no idea what you are talking about, but credit for not throwing “neo-con” in there.
Hate?
Peev is projecting again.
Isn’t that one of Berg’s laws, liberals projecting?
Now run along peev, back to your Penisblog.
“mid-mornings weren’t his time slot. It’s been touch and go for years”
Definitely, he seemed to have much more free rein in the 10-midnight slot. And even the 5-9 slot to an extent. He did a lot of interviews in the 9-noon slot, which I thought took away some of his edginess. But he said to me once that he brought on interviews of people who would say the things that he wanted to say. And that made me wonder if the station forced him to pull back.
Anyway, I’m frustrated with the lack of weekday radio in this town now. I refuse to check out his replacements. So, I listen occasionaly to Rush, Savage and Jason Lewis…and old Davis podcasts once in a while til he gets his next gig. I’m loyal if nothing else :p
the thing about Davis is, he’s way ahead of the pack. He observes, thinks and says things that the others haven’t thought of yet, or are afraid to say. And I was convinced that Savage listened to Bob, because he would say things days, weeks sometimes months after Bob said them. Maybe that makes guys like that “wingnuts”, kind of like Rush was called in the early days. But entertaining as hell. And KSTP waants to be a sports station, so he didn’t fit anymore. I think Bob’s best days are still ahead of him and I, for one, can’t wait to see what he does next. Maybe that makes me a wingnut too. That’s all right, I’ll own it 😉
all Limbaugh IS is hate
If someone to the right of Stalin stubs their toe in the woods, it’s because they’re consumed with hate.