Let’s Talk on the Radio

Talk show in the radio is a common medium for people to listen and to debate about certain discussions and arguments on varieties  of issues in the globe. Among the most popular topics for radio talk shows are politics, religion, culture, entertainment and show business, economy, sports, social issues, and environment.

This radio format is usually hosted by a single person but sometimes today there are a co-host or guests in the program, especially if the topic to be discussed is a very hot issue or very interesting one. The show could either be: free-format, wherein the host talks on air about the issue at hand; discussion format, wherein distinguished guests are invited; or interview type, wherein the host interviews a particular resource person for the topic to tackle. There are also times that listeners’ participations are needed where live conversation of the host and the listener who calls-in can be broadcasted in the air.

Ever since Barry Gray introduced the listener call-in in 1945, the popularity of Talk radio never ceased to leave the airwaves. This gained him the title “The hot mama of Talk Radio” during that era. However, the very first talk radio broadcast was really credited to Aimee Semple McPherson, who purchased her own radio station and began broadcasting in 1920’s.

Since then, radio talk show is everywhere. Every state has its own radio station airing radio talk shows, may it be AM or FM broadcasting. It does not matter as long as there is a juicy topic or issue or sometimes, gossips to talk about. As long as there are commercial breaks in every segment of the show, as every producer knows that commercials and listener ratings are the one that feeds the shows, then the show must always go on.

There have been a lot of variations in today’s radio talk shows. These are now categorized as conservative talk, hot talk, sport talk, and progressive talk. The latest and the most popular now is the internet-based talk radio show.

Conservative talk mainly covers the issues on political, religious, and ethical beliefs. Topics that are taboo and too conservative to talk about are being aired in free time in the United States as its popularity began in late 1990’s. The audiences of these talk shows are mostly adult males in middle-ages that are conservatives. A 2004 survey shows that 17% of the public are listening to this kind of programming. It also shows that 41% are Republican and 28% are Democrats. Moreover, 45% described themselves as conservatives while 18% as liberals.

Hot talk, on the other hand, is sometimes called the FM talk or the shock talk that targets male audiences whose ages range from 18 to 49. Common subject for this is about pop culture and current issues on culture. The Arts are mostly aired in the FM station rather than in the AM.

As the name speaks for itself, sports talk is a radio talk show that discusses about the buzz in the sporting arena. Host may invite guests, sportscasters, players, coaches, or fans to talk about the latest event in the NBA, PGA Tour, in the World Cup and World Series, and above all, the Olympics. The discussion may range from a simple interview or interaction between players inside the box and a listening fan. Mostly, the target audience for these are the sport enthusiast people, be it a man or a woman.

Progressive talk is a radio talk show format that is based on the expression of progressive or liberal opinions of the host as well as the listeners. This program is implemented in the US since 2004. Some familiar shows are the Stephanie Miller Show and the Air America Radio which is both aired in the AM radio.

Lastly, the advancement of technology brought to life the internet-based radio talk show. It is sometimes called as web casting. This is because it is just an audio broadcasting service transmitted through the internet. This is now effectively used by broadcasters because it is cost effective and its audience coverage is very wide.

The listening audiences of any radio talk show have all the control of their judgment. Whatever they hear from the radio, it is their sole responsibility, whether or not to believe in it.

Getting Familiar with Talk Radio

Talk radio is a radio feature including a format of discussion about several topics or issues. A single host has been hosted with this feature wherein he has to interview different guests in one time. Since talk radio is a conversational and interactive feature, the listeners get the chance to voice out their view regarding the battled out issue via “call in” or “telephone call” towards the show host. For the sake of breaking no rules and not going beyond the limit, the views and opinions of the screened listeners by the talk radio staff as to make best use of audience interest. Usual talks are conservative talk, hot talk, progressive talk and sports talk.

Though in the present, talk radio has used the advantage of technology by airing it in an internet-based.

Radio listening was an inactive exercise among American people centuries ago. However, the daily approach towards talk radio was never the same after Barry Gray, an influential American influential radio personality best that known as the “father of talk radio”, established a feature letting listeners hold conversations with the host around 1950s.

The talk radios started when out of Gray’s boredom, while working as a disc jockey for New York’s WMCA in 1945, he initiatively picked up the telephone receiver up to his microphone as he shares his conversation with his listening audience. Woody Herman, a very popular celebrity bandleader that day, was incidentally the first caller which eventually invited more people to listen. The spontaneous act by Gray boomed the interest of the listeners and the station’s staff which gave way to the birth of talk radio format. From then on, Gray continuously did acceptance of call-ins in his radio program.

After the unstoppable success of WMCA’s talk radio format, rivals of the show found the significance of such format, which eventually was followed. This started the unceasing extension and spread-wide awareness of talk radio to the world.

Another man who had left a great mark on talk radio was Long John Nebel. He was a prominent all-night radio host having millions of regular listeners every air time of his show, which talked about off-topics such as anomalous events, UFOs and other offbeat topics.

Long John Nebel is the disc jockey of WOR. On the year of television’s emergence, radio programs faced big challenge as its ratings made a whooping decrease. In 1954, Nebel proposed to start a discussion about out of the ordinary topics and unexplainable things which eventually had been an advantage to the program. Despite the usual poorly rated time slot given to Nebel from midnight to dawn, the show managed to get a remarkable increase in ratings. Topics that have been discussed were all about UFOs, voodoo, witchcraft, hypnotism, conspiracy theories, ghosts and the like.

These would be the reasons where Nebel received good attention throughout the US nation. It came from his abrasive style in an interview as he is described sympathetic and compassionate host despite his aggressive attitude on the phone.

In a talk radio program, it is inevitable that brusque thought of smart people may clash taking to ignorance their control to speak a foul language. Having realized the obscenity that talk radio conversation might bring in the national airwaves, seven-second delay device was invented. In 1965, an engineer named Russell Tinklepaugh invented this kind of system. Ampex 300 tape deck was modified with an increased set of heads. It had then the ability to record a conversation. This produced a delay of several seconds in radios than the live show. When foul language is committed, the staff of the radio program had enough time to hit the stop button that no radio listener could hear an airing of unclean words.