### News/Talk Forum BBS - Bulletins

    Bulletin #(s) [1 thru 5], L)ist, N)ew (Press [ENTER] to quit)? l

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             BULLETINS FROM TOM AND CHRISTINE ON THE NEWS/TALK RADIO FORUM
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           1) ***MUST READING!!!*** Tips to make using the News/Talk Radio
                                    Forum easier and quicker. (updated
                                    11/22/87)

           2) Welcome: why we're here and what we do. (updated 11/22/87)

           3) Why do trade publications give news/talk professionals short
              shrift? (updated 11/22/87)

           4) Mutual Broadcasting and Westwood One: Is Larry King Worth
              Everything You Have To Give Up To Get Him? (updated 11/22/87)

           5) Controversial Guests Are Good For Talk Radio! A response to
              charges of bigotry and racism against many radio talk show hosts.
              (Published in Electronic Media, February 1, 1988)

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           *                   IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!                    *
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           *      Tips to make the News/Talk Radio Forum more useful       *
           *****************************************************************

                Now that we have been in operation for awhile, we've been
           observing the ways in which users actually USE the NTRF. The fact
           is that many of you are new to computers, and much of the BBS
           lingo is confusing. Let's simplify things...
                General back and forth conversations through messages left
           on this "electronic bulletin board" go on in the message base you
           meet when you first log on. You are offered chances to "E)nter
           msg" (leave a message of your own), "R)ead msg" (read any of a
           number of messages by number, or all messages you haven't already
           read, simply by pressing "*"), and "T)opic of msgs shown" (which
           allows you to view a list of titles for messages left by others
           that will give you a hint about which ones you might want to read).
           Generally, what is known as "e-mail", or electronic mail, on
           other systems, is left on this main board you see when you first
           log on. If you want to just establish contact with another user
           or let EVERYONE konw you're out there, do it here.
                Don't leave general messages on the Conference Boards!!! The
           Conferences (JOBS and IDEAS) work just like the main board,
           except NOT EVERYONE READS THESE! One user left a "hello" message
           to another user on the IDEAS Conference, which is primarily read
           by talk show hosts and producers. This message will probably
           never be seen by its intended receiver! The Conferences were
           created for more specific uses, which are explained when you
           "J)oin" a Conference.
                Also, if you are in one Conference, and want to switch to
           another, just type "j;(conference name)", for example,
           "j;jobs". This will save loads of time and confusion.
                Right now, the NTRF is not equipped for casual users to
           upload and download files, although in the future, if there is a
           demand, this feature will be added. A number of useful
           suggestions have been contributed by users, and your suggestions
           are always welcome. Just leave them by typing "C" ["C)omment"],
           and following the various prompts and instructions.
                Read these bulletins often, as they will be updated as
           frequently as is necessary. And thanks for using the News/Talk
           Radio Forum!

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                THE NEWS/TALK RADIO FORUM: WHY WE'RE HERE AND WHAT WE DO
           *****************************************************************

                The News/Talk Radio Forum was created out of a need...a need
           for a feeling of professionalism among the pros in the news/talk
           radio format. CHR program directors and music directors all seem
           to know each other. They meet at conventions, trade secrets, and
           always seem to know where to find the right talent when they need
           them. News directors have the RTNDA...they meet once a year and
           feel a certain camaradarie with each other.
                But as a news/talk professional, have you ever noticed how
           hard it is to find great talent? Or how no one seems to agree on
           such essentials as hot topics, topic rotation, controversial
           guests, the need for news or open phones, or a myriad of other
           issues?
                Talk radio program directors and talent operate in a vacuum,
           without a consensus on what works and doesn't work. Unfortunately,
           this format is just too expensive to operate to be guessing at
           what will work. News and talk formats are the most "people-
           intensive" formats there are, and if general managers don't know
           what they're doing, tons of money can (and frequently are) lost.
                We need to be able to exchange information, to forge
           friendships, and to develop a feeling that we are professionals
           within a larger profession: radio programmers who operate the
           most risky and rare formats in American radio today.
                Your sysops are Tom and Christine Leykis. Tom is a
           controversy-oriented talk show host at KFYI/Phoenix, and has
           worked at stations in New York City, Miami, and Albany, New
           York. Christine is a television news anchor in Spanish at KTVW-
           TV 33/Phoenix.
                Please log on often (there is no charge, of course, except
           the cost of your call), and leave comments about whatever issues
           you feel need to be addressed. Also, visit our JOBS (C)onference
           if you are looking for a job, or looking for some talent. And, of
           course, leave your opinions on what we are doing.  We want to be
           the resource for America's news and talk programmers.

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              WHY DO TRADE PUBLICATIONS GIVE NEWS/TALK RADIO SHORT SHRIFT?
           *****************************************************************

                Think for a minute...how many times have you hungered for
           some sort of information about the news/talk format? Maybe you'd
           like to know where good people are working or how a David is
           slaying a Goliath in another market. Or possibly you're a PD
           arguing with a consultant about which slogans will work or
           whether guests or open phones work best and in what proportions.
                So you go to the trades to find these things out. Where do
           you go? Well, there's "Vox Jox" in Billboard, but not only is
           much of their information "borrowed" from other sources, it's
           mostly about disc jockeys. The news/talk column formerly written
           for Radio & Records by Brad Woodward, and later by Yvonne Olson,
           was discontinued earlier this year, while Country music seems to
           take up page after page, week after week. Broadcasting Magazine
           is great if you plan to buy stations or satellite uplinks (which
           all of us do, of course, if we ever pay off the bedroom
           furniture).
                Why is it that the traditional trades basically ignore our
           format? One reason may be that there are so few news/talk
           stations around. (The number has been hovering around the 150-160
           range out of approximately 4,900 AM stations.) We don't hold
           conventions, have professional organizations or buy a lot of
           advertising space the way record companies and CHR consultants
           do. There is no sense of unity amongst our programmers and
           talent, no set of professional standards in this format.
                CHR programmers meet regularly at conventions like Bobby
           Poe, news directors specifically meet at the RTNDA. News/talk
           professionals fly blind, without any help from their colleagues
           in other markets.
                If you're a news/talk programmer, you probably know how hard
           it is to find good people. Where do you look? Do you also wend
           your way through the broadcasting school graduates and jock
           hopefuls in R&R's "Positions Sought" section? And if you're a
           talk host, how do you find a job? News/talk stations rarely place
           ads in the trades...they ask around to see if anyone they know
           might be interested, then they frequently put just ANYONE on the
           air until they figure they'll find someone. (One station in Miami
           put a news anchor in as a nightly host; until recently, another
           station in that market had a full-time host who used to be a
           REGULAR CALLER! This is professionalism?) Programmers figure that
           talent doesn't read the trades, talent knows that programmers
           don't use the trades.
                We need to come together like never before. With stations
           being trafficked like never before, novice owners are buying
           ailing AM stations at record high prices (sometimes as much as
           15-20 times cash flow), then install news/talk formats, expecting
           them to take off like a Z-100 (remember KFYI in San Francisco?).
           They don't realize how much time it takes for one of these
           stations to take off (you're not only asking listeners to listen,
           you're asking them to TRUST you). It costs millions in losses in
           a major market for up to four years before a profit can be
           demonstrated, and that assumes you have a decent signal. There is
           no place for ownership to learn about this, thus an awful lot of
           good professionals get shot down for not performing unprecedented
           miracles.
                We need support from the trades. We need to support each
           other. Hopefully, that will begin in some small way on the
           News/Talk Radio Forum.

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           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           MUTUAL BROADCASTING AND WESTWOOD ONE: IS LARRY KING WORTH ALL YOU
                              HAVE TO GIVE UP TO GET HIM?

           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Every now and then, it's time to stand up and say some
           things that will ruffle feathers, and this bulletin will
           certainly do that!
                How many of you have carried or are considering carrying
           Mutual's Larry King Show? Remember when the King show started,
           back in 1978? It ran from midnight until 5:30 AM, and many
           stations gleefully accepted the idea of a nationwide network talk
           show because it would reduce costs, specifically, the cost of
           hiring radio's equivalent of the loss leader, the overnight air
           talent.
                The show perked up the moribund Mutual network, whose news
           product has notoriously been considered among the worst of the
           major networks, a fact that has been only whispered amongst
           friends, as long as Mutual could continue cranking out this cheap
           solution to the expense of overnights. Many stations merely
           carried the spots and refused to carry the newscasts, and,
           especially in markets where inventories are large, and costs must
           be kept small, the tradeoff was happily accepted.
                The last thing that many in the industry expected was that
           Larry King would become the national institution he seems to be
           becoming. The guest list became prestigious, the Peabody Award
           was bestowed, the TV gigs, including a syndicated show, a spot on
           NBC's NFL pre-game show, and the CNN nightly program, keep
           coming, newspaper columns in USA Today and The Sporting News, and
           on and on and on. All of a sudden, this cheap overnight
           alterative became a hot property, probably Mutual's first hot
           property since the Golden Age of Radio.
                It seemed almost as if the King show was the salvation of
           the network, and, it retrospect, it probably is the singular best
           reason why Norm Pattiz, through his Westwood One concern, decided
           to buy Mutual from the Amway Corporation in 1985. (When is the
           last time YOU bought anything from Amway???) When WW1 bought
           Mutual, Pattiz and Company decided to take full advantage of the
           product he had bought. The spot rates on the show were hiked
           dramatically. The inventory stations must carry has shot up
           beyond 400 minutes per week. And, most disturbingly, Dr. Toni
           Grant's psychology show, which never in three years on ABC's
           Talkradio network ever proved any appeal beyond the borders of
           California, was grafted onto Mutual's schedule and rammed down
           the throats of stations who knew better, but wanted to get the
           King show.
                In our opinion, the Grant show is merely another spot
           carrier which stations are generally loath to promote and which
           will probably ultimately die out from neglect, as well as audience
           disinterest. The spot load required by Mutual is the largest of
           any radio network. And Mutual News, although it has improved
           under President Ron Nessen, still has no image in the minds of
           the public, and is therefore not promotable like a CBS, or a Paul
           Harvey. And with Larry King's heart problems (including his late
           November open heart surgery), the roster of fill-ins has been
           disasterous and worrysome, and the ratings here in Phoenix for
           the program have dropped dramatically.
                Our prediction is that once Larry King has retired or gotten
           a better offer, the network will be right back where it started,
           unless it begins to deal with these issues NOW while it can. What
           do you think? Enter a message and let everyone know. Let the
           dialogue begin!

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                     CONTROVERSIAL GUESTS ARE GOOD FOR TALK RADIO!
                                     by Tom Leykis
           *****************************************************************
           (An opinion piece in the January 11, 1988 edition of Electronic
           Media assails talk radio hosts who allow racists and bigots to
           appear on talk shows. It also attempts to make a comparison
           between controversial talk radio and the "shock radio" practiced
           by a number of disc jockeys around the country. We submitted this
           response to Electronic Media, and it was published in their
           February 1, 1988 issue.)
           *****************************************************************

           A number of sanctimonious opinions have been published in industry
           trade papers recently (including Electronic Media) regarding the
           wisdom of programming controversial issue-oriented talk radio.
           Electronic Media's recent piece by Harold Applebaum, special
           assistant to the executive vice president of the American Jewish
           Committee, contained terms such as "shock radio", "problem", and
           "deterioration", all of which are designed to provoke and concern
           station owners just as much as any expert practitioner of
           combative talk radio knows how to poke and prick his audience
           into responding.

           It is fascinating to note that, while many folks such as Mr.
           Applebaum like to consider themselves First Amendment advocates,
           they are the first to howl when the opinions being expressed
           don't agree with their own points of view, and to demand
           "responsibility" on the part of broadcasters. But the
           "responsibility" they are demanding is nothing more than good,
           old-fashioned censorship.

           No responsible broadcaster likes to "pander to prejudice". What
           makes a great talk show host great is the ability to dissect the
           convoluted logic of the most abhorrent fascist or racist. Inviting
           individuals such as David Duke of the National Association for
           the Advancement of White People or Tom Metzger of the White Aryan
           Resistance to appear on talk shows is valuable when a skilled
           surgeon proceeds to slice and dice them. Yes, if it's done well,
           it's entertaining. What's wrong with that? It certainly gets an
           anti-racist point of view across to more folks than a stack of
           handbills on a street corner. Are we better off letting these
           folks fester under their rocks? I think not.

           Why shouldn't a talk show host have the right to object publicly
           to the Pope's visit to the United States? Why shouldn't ethnic
           stereotypes be examined on the air? If someone wants to tell the
           old lie about the "Holocaust Myth", why not let a talk show host
           go after him? The mere fact that a representative of a racist
           organization appears on a radio talk show does not legitimize him
           anymore than does being listed in the telephone book. The idea of
           limiting the subject matter of radio talk shows under the guise
           of "responsibility" is positively chilling.

           Should radio talk show hosts give out the telephone numbers of
           private individuals on the air? No. Should they engage in
           slinging ethnic slurs at their adversaries? Of course not. It is
           distressing, however, when individuals use the excesses of an
           industry to prove that the entire industry is no good. For
           example, there is an insidious effort afoot to link the bathroom
           or locker room humor of disc jockeys such as Howard Stern or the
           Greaseman with bona fide interviews of Americans with unpopular
           views on radio talk shows. Just lump it all together as "shock
           radio". But is there really a connection? The fact is that a good
           talk show host could have a field day tearing apart a disc jockey
           who uses minorities as the butts of jokes just as much as he
           could by tearing apart the garden-variety goose-stepping guest.

           For every Neil Rogers asking little boys to call in and tell him
           what they look like with their shirts off, there is a Gene Burns
           who eloquently articulates the rage of his listeners with wit and
           grace. For every Ed Tyll referring to a black Congressman as
           "Buckwheat", there is a Jerry Williams, often outraged,
           frequently outrageous, but always getting his listeners involved
           in their community with campaigns such as the one that got the
           seat belt law repealed in Massachusetts. And let's not forget
           that most news/talk radio stations, including those that engage
           in controversy, attract the most attractive demographics of any
           radio format there is. Folks with high incomes and higher
           education are listening to these verbal battles. Are these people
           just a bunch of rednecks who run looking for a pencil when the
           White Patriots' Party is giving out their address? Hardly.

           The Great American Free Market will rid broadcasting of
           broadcasters who promote dangerous opinions or who do not
           broadcast in the interest of their communities. "The Aryan Nations
           Hour", a radio program on KZZI-FM in West Jordan, Utah that
           promoted white supremacy, was whisked off the air in just two
           weeks. Why? Because the good folks of West Jordan, including the
           station's advertisers, threatened to end their support of that
           radio station. Fantastic! Free speech and the free market working
           hand-in-hand.

           But if radio listeners want to hear Morton Downey Jr. call a Nazi
           a "fat slime", or to hear Tom Leykis debate Louis Farrakhan, and
           if advertisers want to support this kind of programming, why
           should anyone, including pressure groups, federal regulators,
           self-serving protectors of the public taste, or anyone else have
           the right to hamper this process?

           The fact is that controversy-oriented talk radio is good business
           for many AM station owners with once-declining audiences. It is
           bringing listeners under 55 years old back to the AM band. It's
           informative. It's interesting. It's entertaining. And the folks
           who work at it know that it gets the public involved. Involved
           in the news. In the political process. In the radio station. It
           is hard to see what is wrong with something like that.