Posted on 08/09/2019 7:57:25 AM PDT by relictele
Video Killed The Radio Star. Another one.
We're six months or so into the podcast-only era of the erstwhile Laura Ingraham Show. For many she was our favorite red-in-tooth-and-claw conservative female who would laugh and sputter, as appropriate, at the lefty Journolist/NYT/WaPo mendacious gambit of the day as well as their constant gaslighting efforts.
As a single mother of three, she often noted her lack of sleep and grueling schedule and that was BEFORE the Fox primetime show began. The handwriting was on the wall for months before she announced the retirement of her daily 3-hour radio show which required her to work 13-14 hour days.
Loyal radio listeners - many of whom much preferred her radio persona - were promised a podcast so that longish one-on-one interviews could continue.
The radio show struggled with attracting affiliates, especially ones with decent signal strength and accompanying ratings. Many affiliates carried the show on tape delay and/or only carried 1-2 hours. The Fox gig is no doubt a lucrative and high-profile one but Ingraham has most certainly been Fox-ified which means her incisors have been filed down and she's been declawed.
It's ironic that she faced a boycott threat so early in the TV show considering how tame it was compared to radio and especially compared to her days under the old contract/syndicator in which she gleefully punctured ludicrous hot air balloons like the Clintons and the Obamas. Her mockery of 'Mother Robinson' was hilarious and, regrettably, unique among her peers. Here was the president's mother in law living under the same roof as he. That fact alone should have spawned an entire industry of jokes, even a sitcom. Throw in Mother Robinson's well-earned reputation as demanding, ill-tempered, entitled, bossy and remorseless and you have an absolute gold mine of material. But the media pretended she didn't even exist and, unfortunately, so did conservative radio, news sites etc. except in obvious situations.
Some may recall that there was a contract interregnum in which Laura was off the air through no fault of her own. But under the new radio contract she was already exhibiting signs of Bowdlerization, frequently interjecting anodyne nonsense like 'I mean, I like Paul Ryan' before offering too-tepid criticism.
The podcast has seen the laughter and the comedy disappear entirely. Any chatter with co-hosts or studio producers is gone and the podcast is essentially a copy of the TV show although - thankfully - no token mindless lefties are included in the name of fatuous 'balance.' The list of guests hasn't changed much but neither has it expanded. Pat Buchanan, Michelle Malkin, Bill Donohue (Catholic League), Newt Gingrich, Victor Davis Hanson. While they are still insightful and interesting, Laura doesn't offer many of her previously frequent giddy interjections.
She is the Carry Nation of immigration enforcement and more power to her. But frequent invocations such as 'I've been complaining about this issue for 20 years' aren't as helpful or effective as nailing various bad actors to the wall through humor or using their own quotes.
One frankly bizarre aspect of the podcast is any segment with callers. Since the show is recorded on her own clock and not the one on the wall there is no ability to take callers as they phone in. Instead, callers are set up in advance by emailing and then getting a return call at a designated time. It's a contrivance that doesn't work very well, not least because going to Bob in Iowa involves Bob in Iowa getting a scant few sentences in and then being cut off. Pointless, really, but then so are most calls to most (live) radio programs.
In sum, the podcast has been a relative disappointment because it isn't and can never be the radio show which, by its very nature, thrived on the issue of the day. It's only produced 2 or 3 days a week and there have been several weeks already without any new episodes. Readers can form their own conclusions about the validity of issuing 'best of' podcasts when the podcast has only been live for a few months.
It's a bit like cafeteria food. Better than nothing but then nothing is particularly tasty. And you miss your old favorite restaurant even more.
Very informative and well written.
Talk radio is dying.
WLS carries Rush in the #3 radio market in North America and it’s ratings have falled to 21st place out of 30. Some of the Mexican stations have more listeners...
After Rush you get the execrable and unlistenable Ben Shapiro...so no wonder.
Well said
Laura has become the Amos and Andy of the Fox News Lineup. Her show features African Americans guests who can speak about anything that they chose to talk about and they are treated very fairly. It turns out that they all want to talk about race, their race. If I wanted that, I can turn to ESPN.
I will turn off, and I mean immediately turn off whenever she puts on the “the other view point.”
Whether it’s that worthless POS Chris whatever his name is, who used to be Schumer’s consultant, or the tiresome list of Pro immigrants, the black leftist or that that black Harvard professor, who continually refers to Laura as my Dear Sister. I can’t believe this guy actually teaches a college course whereby the students will learn something.
In short, I don’t have a lot of time at night, so I tape her show and watch the next day. I would say I’m watching 50%, and fast forwarding the rest.
Lou Dobbs, OTOH, I’m watching the whole show. Tucker, probably 75%.
I know Laura wants to have feuding view points, and I really take my hat off to her, because she’s developed something missing in our country, i.e. debate.
Stream Rush and others on the internet from many different places in the country.And go listen to Dan Bongino’s Podcast for an hour every weekday!
Maybe I’m “tone deaf” but I never understood why music stations all switched to FM from AM. I think music sounds just fine on AM.
But with internet radio and podcasts, will all of radio, including talk radio, die a slow death?
I talk to young people today, they listen to music online, and don’t really have favorite radio stations or DJs the way we did back when I was young in the 60s and 70s. Even FM radio stations are seeing declining audiences.
As long as cars have radios and people are driving to work, there is hope for talk radio: young audiences can age into their parents' tastes.
I used to listen to Rush fairly regularly when I drove a lot.
But, being in an office now, it’s been a lot more difficult. Getting AM inside most modern structures is near impossible - I guess because of the metalwork in the walls and ceilings.
Mostly, though, the problem is, if I miss the monologue, than when I tune in, most of the broadcast is commercials. I appreciate Rush needs to pay the bills, but it seems that it’s gotten ridiculous compared to years back. After about a dozen times of having a few minutes to listen, tuning in, and not getting any Rush but instead just having to listen to a stream of ads, it becomes pointless. I know that radio and TV programming are just basically incidental to getting you to listen to the ads, but at some point, if there isn’t enough content, then you tune out. For me, Rush passed that point once the monologue is over.
Still it is interesting that Rush is still doing well on that old radio modulation format that our grand parents listed to — AM radio. Millions of listeners listen to him on the AM band.
Fun for us as we are traveling across the US in a car — when the local station starts to fade out, we find station broadcast in the next city until that one fades out.
Agreed about the commercials. They are terrible. Yet they are predictable so you can tune out when the ads are expected.
I work from home and listen to Rush online.
If I jump in the shower while he’s making a good point, I can listen to him on my smart phone. Just open Safari and google rush live stream and up comes AM 1210 or something like that.
Many years ago a fellow worker asked me if I listened to Rush Limbaugh. I said I never heard of him and never heard of a person called Rush.
He said I should listen to him because he sounds just like me.
One day I heard him on the radio from noon to 3PM and found him to be saying what us right winges could not get said in TV, radio , newspapers or magazine articles.
I listened to Rush until a few yeas ago when I gave up on him failing to call the democrats what they had become-Socialist , Communist, American haters.
Rush kept referring to them as democrats. - Tom
Her radio show used to be fun during the George Bush era, before she got her TV gig.
As time went by and she grew more and more successful and famous, the show suffered.
The reason is there is more variety on the the internet. The cellphone can be setup to bring in podcasts, music, shows of all sorts.
I cannot find a station to listen to for music in the Los Angeles area. Talk radio in the morning drive to work is weak.
I end up listening to my music from my cellphone connected to the car speakers most of the time while driving.
At home I have the radio off as I like quiet.
I have been watching videos on youtube on various subjects while browsing the internet such as.
The ACTUAL Computer from the Saturn V Rocket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olRF5Ckaga0
My son listens to something called Free Beer and Hot Wings. It is an internet show targeted to young men.
I listen to podcasts that I download free from the internet.
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