Thoughts on Talk Radio
Jeremy Levy back with you. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on talk radio.
As many of you know, I have been a talk radio listener since 1996. I first started listening to the weekend programming which is called brokered programming. The hosts brokered their time. Warren Byrne, Gabby Gourmet, The Media Show with Dusty Saunders and Joanne Ostro, The Mr. Fix-it Show, The Gardening sshow with Jim Bourland and Keith Funk, Bird talk, the Mike Boyle Restaurant Show are just many examples. As caller Jay said on the Peter Boyles show said on July 15, 2023 “those shows he really learned things from, and they weren’t politics.” I agree with him. I learned things from those shows. I really liked it back then when they would take calls. I got to hear many people’s opinions on things. Some of the national shows on the weekends are still good at this. I always enjoy it when Mike Boyle takes calls.
In the early 2000’s, I started listening to some of the weekday shows. Peter Boyle’s shows were really interesting when he had on authors or other radio personalities as well. I really like the way Peter Boyles does his research for his shows. As Mike Boyle said, “how do you expect me to recommend a book if I haven’t read the book? How do you expect me to recommend a restaurant if I haven’t been there?” Tom Martino’s shows have always been entertaining for me. It was also a good way for me to learn about politics as well, even though I might not have agreed with the politics that they were discussing.
As I have learned over the years, I have been able to understand politics a little bit better. Sometimes I take what they are talking about on the radio and discuss it with my mom and dad so I can understand it better. It has opened up enlightening conversation with them. Politics on the radio have their place in the radio industry. I enjoy it when callers can call in to say what they are thinking.
I enjoy hosts that can talk more than politics. A couple of hosts that do a great job with this are Mandy Connell and Ross Kaminsky. On July 14, 2023, I heard 2 interviews with Christian Toto a movie reviewer. The movies that he was talking about I might not want to see, but I enjoyed his opinions on the movies. On Mandy’s show she has a life coach which I like as well. When Jon Caldara is substituting host, he sometimes talks about politics, but sometimes he has entertaining stories. I enjoy the entertaining stories. Michael Brown doesn’t take calls, and I don’t like that Michael does use the talk back feature in the iHeart media app, because that is interesting on other shows. Peter Boyles explained on the show on July 15, 2023 that they might be afraid of their image on the air. Leland Conway doesn’t take calls either. I do enjoy on Fridays during the last hour of the Leland Conway show from 2-4 p.m. on 630 KHOW radio when he does the twisted view where he invites other hosts from the IHeart stations into the studio to talk about fun topics. It helps me get to know the other hosts that work in the building.
Since 1997, when I would travel to different places, I listened to the different talk radio stations around the country. When I visit certain places, I enjoy finding out how different radio stations are programmed and what the different hosts are talking about. Some other states have more local talk shows than others. California and Texas have more local hosts than Colorado does. This is because there are more listeners to the stations, and the states are bigger states. Oahu Hawaii has the most interesting radio stations. The local shows on Oahu talk about Hawaiian issues. This is interesting to me.
Recently, I read a book series by Lev Grossman called the magicians book series. There are 3 books in the series. In the third book the world that the main characters in the books visited was going away. They didn’t want it to, and tried to stop it from going away. The world had to go away in order for a new world to take its place. I feel that the world of talk radio is a world for me. Whenever I am interviewed by a radio host, or I meet a radio show host, my world of Talk radio has opened up an opportunity for me. I have learned over the years that sometimes people in my talk radio world go away even though I don’t want them to. Examples I have are Lois Melkonian and April Zesbaugh. When those people went away in my talk radio world, it brought in the opportunity for other people to take their place. Examples would be Mandy Connell and Jeana Gondeck.
When I was at Pikes Peak Community College, I was exposed to podcasts, and that also opened up more of my talk radio world. I am certainly ready to explore more of this world by creating my own podcast called Jeremy’s Journey. I believe radio is wonderful, and so are podcasts. I also believe when I listen to talk radio, I feel the connection. In my producer Dan Mandis interview he said that podcasts are wonderful, but a podcast can’t give you that instant connection that the radio can. In May of 2023, Peter Boyles was talking about AM radio not being in cars anymore. In my opinion this was a sad thing to talk about, and many callers felt the same way. The callers that called in would really miss the talk radio in their cars. Peter Boyles asked was it going away? He hoped not, and I agreed with him. There was an update with this. It doesn’t seem that car radios are going away. Some laws are in the process of being passed to see that they don’t.
This is something I am happy about.
Thanks for tuning in.