Perhaps the demise of traditional talk radio in this region reflects the demise of the GOP here. During Bay State talk radio's heyday, there was still some semblance of two-party balance in Massachusetts (even if most of the elected Republicans would be considered RINOs in other parts of the country). The state GOP's decline seems to have coincided with the decline of talk radio voices willing to challenge Democrat hegemony on Beacon Hill. The period in which talk radio and the Mass. GOP joined forces to combat that hegemony was a good one for Massachusetts taxpayers. However, it seems that, as Steely Dan once put it, "...those days are gone forever, over a long time ago."

I agree. This has become a one party state in every way shape and form. Every elected official seems to be a Dem these days. I'm talking on every level.

Gov. Patrick wants to gut the CORI laws and eliminated madatory sentencing laws. There is almost no voice out there anymore speaking out against the crazy acts.

A fabulous commentary. Sick and tired of endless commercial banks (aka 'clutter') on WBZ, Dennis Callahan losing his voice and croaking his way through WEEI's morning show, and a refusal to listen to one iota of The Felon on WRKO, I have turned instead to podcasts of Rush Limbaugh. No commercial clutter; no peanut-whistle signals that get over-ridden by stronger signals from Quebec or elsewhere. I'm in good company, too. Many, many people I know are doing the same thing. The radio stations and advertisers don't like this trend, but you know what? They can go pound sand, because they've brought this about themselves. Just because Massachusetts is a one-party state doesn't mean its radio has to go in that same direction. I, for one, refuse to subsidize this and I hope to see (in WRKO's case) a verification of their folly with a huge dip in the next Rating Book.

Coverage of the release of the VT killer's package to NBC:

WRKO: During Howie Carr's last half hour, a live airing of the relevant segments of NBC Nightly
News. 7 pm: the last game WRKO will carry as flagship of the Celtics (moves to WEEI next year).
Didn't wrap up till 10:40 pm or so, when they went into a truncated and tape delayed version of
Michael Savage then tape delayed Jerry Doyle.

WBZ: some talk on it via Sullivan and
Leveille

WTKK: Didn't hear Severin's show, but 96.9
carried the audio of MSNBC from 7 on: Lardball with Matthews, Keith Overbite, then Joe-no-relation-to-Chuck* Scarborough,
talking about the latest revelations. This
repeated afterwards, as they do on TV.

*--Chuck Scarborough was former anchor of
Ch 7 in Boston; later went to WNBC-TV 4 in NY
IIRC...

Great article! What is happening in this state is Orwellian, as we see every element of dissent crushed in the name of those who seem to think they know better than we do and have no problem telling us that they do.

Duh, I ah-um, duh, don't like the ah insinuations in this, duh, um, blog.

Duh, I am a big-shot, you ah ah ah know.

>>As a result, Boston-area talk radio has gone from leading the way to falling well behind the rest of the country.

I'm sure fans of "progressive talk" might also feel that Boston talk radio does not represent them; they may feel that every single talk host is far right (Finneran? Eagan and Braude? Steve
Leveille on the powerful WBZ who has said on air several times he's a liberal?) They feel that we should have just as much left leaning talk on radio as we do on TV. Which means you'd
hear a lot more Randi Rhodes than Howie Carr
(idealogically)

But agreed about the local factor. WTKK is now totally local from 6 am to 7 pm while WRKO is local for all those hours except noon to 3,
but...Barnicle? Finneran? Can we do better than that? Ah to go back to the old days of Jerry and his crusading campaigns (defeat the Congressional pay raise; stop the prison in New Braintree, seat belt laws, and higher taxes)!

It should be noted that Williams urged his listeners to call their representatives,
the Governor's office, etc. (this was before
email) to show their displeasure as well as
"Remember in November When You Vote". Williams also helped spread the word about Mike
Dukakis as he ran for Pres. in 1988.

....I agree. This has become a one party state in every way shape and form. Every elected official seems to be a Dem these days. I'm talking on every level.....

This certainly points out that talk radio is the toy store of serious politics.

Massachusetts hasn't had a honest-to-goodness conservative governor since Ed King. During, and since, that time, talk radio in Boston has been overwhelmingly conservative; the number of bona fide liberal talk hosts on major stations in the last 25 years can be counted on one hand. So, what has all this conservative talk accomplished? Ted Kennedy has been used as a punching bag since this battles with Jerry Williams, and hasn't had to break a sweat getting reelected since I was a teenager. Pretty much the same can be said (except the teenager part) of John Kerry, about whom, it is said, is disliked even by his friends, and has survived the slings and arrows of Boston talk radio quite nicely. During talk radio's conservative field day, Mass has had no really conservative governors (Weld would have been considered a wild-eyed lefty south of the Mason Dixon, Romney's real politics can only be divined if you can figure out who he's lying to, Mass voters then or national Republican primary voters now.) Tom Menino is, for all intents and purposes, mayor for life, despite his well-publicized inarticulousness, Massachusetts nationally has become the bluest of the blue, Republican congressional representation has been wiped out, Republican representation on Beacon Hill has vanished, save for a few in bulletproof Republican seats.

Pauline Kael is famously misquoted as remarking that "I don't understand how Nixon won, nobody I knew voted for him." Well, to listen to the local talk shows, you'd have thought that Patrick would have been lucky to get his wife's vote in the last election. He won almost 2 to 1. True, Muffy was the weakest possible candidate, but 2 to 1 ? Maybe listeners would have been better served listening to someone saying what they didn't want to hear, and taken Patrick a little more seriously.

But listeners, especially the 'true believers', they don't want to hear what they don't want to hear. As a result, a pretty much garden variety Mass liberal such as Mike Barnicle is considered a moonbat lefty and Finneran, a right-of-center Democrat whose entire ascendency in Mass politics was made possible by alliances with Republicans and conservatives and was despised by the Mass liberal establishment is considered a ultra liberal threat to the Republic. It is usually a bad idea to let ideology override your brain.

Since these conservative talk show hosts haven't had any influence on the body politic in Mass, how can there now be a state of affairs sadder than the that of the last 25 years? (David Brudnoy, who I believe was the best talk show host ever, bar none, local or national, maintained, in what is obviously an overstatement, that the only vote he influenced was his own.) Are people afraid that Feinberg won't continue doing MEGO 45 minute rants hammering the ineptness or political tone-deafness of Patrick, or that Howie won't continue playing Kennedy and "Mumbles' sound cuts? I don't think there is much chance of that happening so long as it pulls the numbers. But don't fall into the trap of thinking it means anything or has any landscape-changing influence. When election day rolls around, it is exposed as sound and fury, signifying nothing other than entertainment. And that's all it's supposed to be.

Regards,
TSB

TSB, you've made several legitimate points about the extent to which talk radio has, or has not, been influential in Massachusetts. However, the question has yet to be answered: what is the solution? Should those of us who have enjoyed conservative talk radio all these years simply throw in the towel and find something else to do? Should we simply shrug our shoulders and accept a disgraced columnist like Barnicle permanently occupying the airwaves?

You say listeners "would have been better served listening to someone saying what they didn't want to hear." Exactly who would that be? Someone like Jim Braude--you know, the guy who always sounds like he's about to vomit anytime someone mentions Clarence Thomas?

If the solution is in fact the concession of talk radio airwaves to folks whose sympathies lie with the Democrat Party (and yes, that includes Finneran), then all that I can say is that there is, in fact, no way for WRKO, WTKK, or any other talk radio outlet in this region to be "saved." The only "solution", it seems, is to simply declare Massachusetts a lost cause for non-Democrats, and get out while the getting's good.

After listening and being rather addicted to talk radio since the days of Bob Kennedy on WBZ, I don't think I listen to more than an hour between 6-10 AM, and that's all Peter Blute and Business 1060.

How sad; I was a frequent caller. I listened to the commercials; I even bought stuff from advertisers. Now I don't have a clue as to what's going on at RKO till Howie comes on.

Is this what Empress Kahn REALLY had in mind?

...However, the question has yet to be answered: what is the solution?...

Whatever it is, it will require a sea change in the minds of Mass voters and I don't see that happening anytime soon. The problem is the same one you see on the national level, everyone hates Congress, but everyone loves their own congressman. A lot of folks in Mass complain about the makeup of the legislature, or their legislation, but don't seem to have any inclination to 'throw the bums out', if the election and re-election rates for state pols are any indication.

What we need is a tipping point, and I don't see one on the horizon. One of the unintended consequences of Prop 2 1/2 is that people feel immunized against state overspending so they can continue to vote for the big spending reps and senators without personal fiscal retribution. The big social issues seem to generate a lot of talk, but not much else.

Of course, the state could become Maine, a financial basket case, with astronomical taxes, sky high prices on just about everything, and a tree-hugging regulatory business climate which just about guarantees they can't recover. I don't see this happening anytime soon here, but I can't see what else could get Mass voters to even consider changing their ways. Complaining about Patrick's wheels certainly isn't going to do it.

......Should those of us who have enjoyed conservative talk radio all these years simply throw in the towel and find something else to do?....

Nope, listen away. Just don't expect it to reflect the Massachusetts political landscape, and don’t think that it actually influences elections or political decisions that really matter. Of course, if you can't live without Scott Miller or John DiPetro (the only recent changes outside of Imus,) well, you do have a problem. Life is imperfect.

....Should we simply shrug our shoulders and accept a disgraced columnist like Barnicle permanently occupying the airwaves?....

No offense, but who appointed any of us to dictate hiring decisions at private businesses, radio stations. All you can do is not listen, and hope that enough folks join you. Radio is driven by numbers. If Barnicle doesn't do acceptable numbers, he'll be gone, just like every other talk host, radio personality, or format. Commercial radio may be the most Darwinian business there is. If he gets them, he'll stay. That's life in the real world.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, but the 'disgraced columnist' and 'convicted felon' memes just don't have any legs with the listening audience, as should be obvious to everyone (save Brian) by now. Maloney is likely a lost cause because he’s read so many of his bizarre conspiracy theory posts that he’s actually starting to believe them.

....You say listeners "would have been better served listening to someone saying what they didn't want to hear." Exactly who would that be? Someone like Jim Braude-- you know, the guy who always sounds like he's about to vomit anytime someone mentions Clarence Thomas?...

I find Braude beyond the pale. I wish he had a better foil than Eagan, who is a lightweight. I consider him to be a hard core lefty, both fiscally and socially; the textbook example of the over-the-top Mass liberal. Frankly, Barnicle is probably more reflective of the Mass political mindset than anyone else on the air, like him or not. I haven't heard him in his new incarnation, but I found him never particularly whacked out and occasionally entertaining. If you're going to fight an idea, it probably isn't a bad thing to know what idea you're fighting and the philosophical reasoning behind it.

....If the solution is in fact the concession of talk radio airwaves to folks whose sympathies lie with the Democrat Party...

Solution to what? OTOH, I certainly don't see that happening, mostly because liberal talk can't generate the numbers that major stations need to stay in business. But even if it had had a signicant liberal/Democrat presence for the last dozen years, how much worst could it have been. The real problem is that we've conceded the state government to ulta liberal Democrats, and talk radio certainly hasn't, and isn't, going to change that.

.... (and yes, that includes Finneran)...

Finneran is certainly a Democrat, but he is also certainly no doctrinaire liberal, as Braude is, in spades and then some, and to a lesser extent, Barnicle. Finneran is well to the right of the typical Mass pol, including some Republican ones. And, if the leadership at the statehouse keeps trending the way it is, Finneran's term as speaker will be known as 'the good old days."

..... then all that I can say is that there is, in fact, no way for WRKO, WTKK, or any other talk radio outlet in this region to be "saved."....

They don't need to be "saved." Talk radio is entertainment (which is why Rush Limbaugh has been so successful and AAR cratered.) If talk hosts had to generate results at the ballot box to keep their jobs, WRKO, WTKK and other talk stations would be programming 'music of your life' off the bird. As long as they stay entertaining, and generating saleable numbers, talk stations will stay talk stations. Of course, Maloney's idea of 'saved' is eliminating any programming which he finds contrary to his political beliefs or talk hosts he finds distasteful. It is an odd position for someone in the free speech business, but unthinking politics does make for stange bedfellows.

..... The only "solution", it seems, is to simply declare Massachusetts a lost cause for non-Democrats, and get out while the getting's good....

Well, for some there may well come a time when you have to turn mother's picture to the wall and walk away but I'm not sure that time has come. It hasn't for me, at least. I happen to like living here, for a lot of reasons, but politics isn't one of them. There are probably a number of states where my political views would be in the majority, but I'm not ready to live in some cultural backwater just because its congressional and state house delegations are more in tune with my politics (plus, as my wife claims, I have this 'thing' about living near the Atlantic Ocean.)

Politically, Mass may well be a lost cause, but if it is, talk radio certainly hasn't, and based on its track record, isn't going to change it. Talk radio is there to entertain you and give you the opportunity to vent. And occasionally it will actually accomplish something in helping reverse, or at least draw attention to, the latest outrage emanating from the hill, be it Beacon or Capitol.

But talk radio is still based on preaching to the choir. And I don't see that business model changing, as long as the choir is numerous enough to justify an ad buy. As long as it does that, it doesn't need saving.

Regards,
TSB

I too lament the loss of Williams (nostalgia) and Brudnoy (agreed - he was the best evah. But I cannot stomach Finneran (agreed, he's a right of center Dem) or The Plagurist Barnicle - too boring. Boston talk radio is in the dumpster.

Nothing will change in our state until the economy hits the skids, big time! There was a chance in 2004 to knock off 15 seats in the House and 5 Senate seats, yet the State R Party wanted the big show of 131 candidates and lost seats!!! To think talk radio has anything to do with this is folly. Howie and the WRKO crew of last november did more damage to the R cause than the candidates the State party put up. Healy/Romney were what they were, a failed administration; and that's the reality of it all.