Fox's Ingraham transitioning longtime radio show to podcast

I'm either a prophet or a jinx. Possibly both. A month or so ago I wrote this vanity piece but never posted it. Selfish sort that I am I'm posting it as a comment here since it's relevant to actual news.

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Laura Ingraham’s radio show is entertaining, informative and maddening in equal measure.

Moving from the recent to the distant past, her Fox TV show has, predictably and inevitably, had a detrimental effect on the radio show. Her absences – which were rather frequent already – have only increased, usually with no explanation. First and/or last hours of the show are guest hosted by mild-mannered bore Raymond Arroyo and his tiresome ‘you wanted to say what?’ introduction of every caller. Even worse are the choice of guest hosts asked to cover multiple days, even full weeks. John Hinderaker may be a clever lawyer and a timely blogger but he’s hopeless as a radio host with his sing-song Mr Rogers delivery. One of the other hosts sounds like Droopy the Dog. Having reliable friends willing to help out is nice but why not develop a protégé for the numerous missed shows?

Laura’s original show – before a contract interregnum – was a wicked – and wickedly funny – affair with no sacred cows especially when skewering the ludicrous self-important Obamas including ‘Mother Robinson’ to use Laura’s hilarious nickname. The Obamas’ profligate spending and royal pretensions were perhaps easy marks but to be fair nobody else in media had the courage to take them on. In sum, the original show was much closer to Laura’s off-air personality – call it acerbic, call it bitchy but there was no sugarcoating.

As above, her original contract either lapsed or was being renegotiated for a time. After the show was rebooted, it soon became obvious that someone – the syndicator, the financiers, etc. – had compelled her to tone it down, much to her detriment. She may have made remarks under her breath to that effect. Suddenly we were getting metaphorical air-kisses given out to any and all subjects of discussion with criticisms watered down with frequent asides of ‘I like XYZ’….’XYZ is a good person.’ But would good and/or likeable people behave in the appalling manner so commonly seen in DC?

In the ‘nice era’ the Bush family come in for more mockery than the Obamas do. The Bushes are no doubt deserving but why do the Obamas get off light especially since they insist on annoying us?

There are credible rumors that Ms Ingraham is a demanding handful to work with. One bit of objective evidence is the staggering turnover in producer and other roles. A famous recent blooper that managed to get out on live air was Laura mistakenly thinking their power or signal had been cut. ‘We’re going to lose every f****** station we have!’ she snapped. On the other hand, she regularly includes the producer, board operator, assistants and/or interns in her discussions and values their on-mic opinions even though most of them are younger. Contrast this with Rush Limbaugh who frequently engages in the maddening practice of having a two-way conversation with only one side audible – much like standing next to that annoying person on an airplane who insists on carrying on a phone conversation while you stand next to them waiting to deplane.

The show itself is fairly typical of talk radio in terms of commercial load. Limbaugh is holding steady at about 34 min of content per hour, give or take his incessant and repetitive bumper boasts and his third hour chock full of laborious 1930s style old-time radio pitches lasting 4-5 minutes each for this or that brand of snake oil. Chris Plante airs a full 37 minutes with the odd spoken word pitch. Laura clocks in at about 32 minutes with a single spoken-word pitch in the middle of the hour. Unfortunately, that pitch comes at the tail end of a 7-minute break – meaning the middle of the hour break is 8.5 min long (!).

You have to have sympathy for anyone talking for three hours every day and another hour in the evening but some bad habits have developed over time, including her tendency to recite the phone number as a lazy means of filling dead air. For most of these hosts, the proportion of actual calls taken to the number of times the phone number is given out is shocking. However, in the age of social media are listener calls really all that important, revealing, or informative? Most of them are fan club-type stuff or personal anecdotes anyway and add little substance. Another tic is the frequent announcement that ‘You’re listening to the Laura Ingraham show.’ Yes, we know. Quarter-hour ratings and all that but it does get excessive at times.

Laura’s affiliate network has always been a crazy quilt of low-power stations. Many of them don’t air the show live – they delay the show until after noon local time or even air it in the evening. Many affiliates air only the first two hours. She’s never been able to get traction in that regard maybe because a 9 AM Eastern start time is tricky for stations in the Central/Mountain/Pacific time zones where local drive time involves local live programs and ad load sold at a premium.

Back to the present day, the radio show is more frequently being used as a come-on for the Fox TV show – similar to the way Hannity does things. In Laura’s case it doesn’t take a fortune teller to predict that the 12-14 hour days may not be feasible long-term and that radio will once again yield to the TV beast. She is a single mother with three adopted children, one already an adolescent, and the school-related and social activities will only increase in the next few years. The Fox ratings are solid and climbing to the top of the ladder. The TV money is undoubtedly solid. The headaches associated with wrangling an affiliate network, filling three hours, booking guests, etc. may convince her to reduce her stress to a manageable level by retiring the radio show. I would miss it but understand the backstory and reasons at least.

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Epilogue: I don't really endorse video killing the radio star. TV 'news' really isn't and the formats of talking heads shouting at each other is tiresome. But the money and visibility are better so fair play to those who can wrangle contracts and timeslots.

Ugh. I can’t look at the word “transitioning” without thinking that it means Ingraham would be turning herself into a “man”. That’s how bad the world is these days.

I had the same involuntary response.

Savage is also moving his show to podcast format next year. I hope they grow.

You wanted to say what?

I hear Michael Medved is out at Salem radio, but they explained his show will continue online somehow, maybe also as a podcast?

Let me give you another pointless New Orleans anecdote. :)

Something about this whole situation doesn’t pass the smell test.

Fox's Ingraham transitioning longtime radio show to podcast

What's a radio?

It will give him more time ~~to spend with his family~~ looking for bigfoot.

Good comments.

That single mom business is too much for her—two jobs, and three kids at home and no man in the house.

AM terrestrial radio is dead and besides Rush having keen political instincts, I learn nothing from them. With the death of Fox News (for me) it’s onward to alternative radio for me!

Everybody is going podcast..

Maybe they should just move on for good and let new talent fill the air waves.. there is nothing like live radio to discuss current affairs.. not three day old news and conjecture. We have more than enough of that already.

Great assessment. Thanks for taking the time to post that.

understandable, I will miss her show on the radio, she actually doesnt yell over everybody! too bad in that regard!

Medved search for Bigfoot, LOL. He’s irritating with his conspiracy days.

They are saying there are 32 or 34 minutes of actual broadcast time in an hour. It sure seemed to me like there are more and more commercial breaks being inserted into these programs. Which makes them hard to listen to with so many breaks, in my opinion.

I seldom listen to talk radio and have never listened to a podcast. Maybe if I was commuting I would.

Savage is also moving his show to podcast format next year. I hope they grow.

People begged him 20 years ago to go podcast but hard to make people adopt something new.

Yes. Endless commercials which is why I never listen to the radio and seldom watch these shows on the tv.

I watched Fox and Friends a little bit before the election.
Three minutes of the show then five minutes of the same commercials. Repeat for an hour.