Ken Levine explains Why Radio (as an industry) Sucks: Here’s the problem: when I was a kid radio was exciting. Every station had live DJ’s. They had freedom to be personalities. They had distinctive styles (well, some did and then fifty other jocks in smaller markets copied them). They howled like wolves. They had an […]
In Hollywood, the Writers Guild has signed a new contract with the movie and TV producers, averting a strike and keeping us from having to watch Jimmy Fallon try to ad-lib his way through a monologue. The Guild was able to keep pressure on the producers because it’s a strong union with a membership that […]
Here’s a piece I wrote in 2010… I’ve done hundreds of interviews in the course of my radio career. Only a small percentage have included a guest in the studio with me. The far larger majority were on the phone and, in most cases, that was a better working arrangement. If I’m talking with someone […]
Like the overwhelming majority of radio stations, the entire KTRS broadcast day is on a digital delay just in case someone — a host, a caller, a guest — utters one of those phrases the FCC freaks out about. It exists purely to protect the station’s license. However, I can’t even remember the last time […]
My comments last week about Stephen Colbert’s announcer saying that his show is “live on tape” — a practical impossibility — started a conversation on Facebook. Here are a few of those comments. William Difani wrote: Could the intention be to tell the [digital] audience that the show was filmed in a single take before a […]
Charlie Sykes, a conservative talk show host at WTMJ/Wisconsin, explains why he has quit after 23 years (his final show aired Monday), the horrible backlash he received for being against Donald Trump, and the moral failure of right-wing radio and TV… One staple of every radio talk show was, of course, the bias of the […]