The Talk Show Has Changed
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
I was asked to comment on the passing of Joe Easingwood , long time talk show host at CFAX in Victoria . I don’t want you to think that Joe and I were tight friends, we weren’t, but the common connection between talk show hosts across this country is such that we all used to know what the other guy was doing.
Joe was a fixture on the Island and I want to send along my condolences to his wife and family. Being a member of a talk show family is not easy. The family, as in politics, faces the same criticisms .
Joe wouldn’t like what is happening in this industry in today’s world. The talk show business has been watered down to a point where it no longer has the bite that it did in its hay days.
It today’s world, those who have a responsibility to appear simply find a way to dodge the interview, and they opt instead for interviews with, in many cases, young inexperienced reporters who are reluctant to ask the question fearing that if they do, they no longer will be given access to that person in the future.
We now have a system under which a Communications expert speaks on behalf of the politician, industry or individual . The answers are sanitized and the those communications experts are not going to allow their customer ( or employer) to be subjected to hard questions.
Now when booking guest for a talk show, you can almost bet you will be asked "what are the questions you are going to ask?"
What has happened? Well my old friend Rafe Mair and the late Jack Webster would tell you it simply isn’t the same. In the old days, you stood before a mic to face the music. Today simply don’t offer yourself up and instead get the communication experts to spin the story.
I don’t see the future of the talk show world returning to its old roots, it isn’t going to happen. Dave Rutherford found out last week in the Alberta market that speaking out can carry some serious consequences.
I’m Meisner
Comments
I think that the Country as a whole has lost its way in some regards.
The older people are the ones who vote the most, complain about issues the most, and expect politicians to be responsible for their actions.
Younger people (under 40) do not seem to grasp the seriousness of sitting on your ass and doing nothing while those in power take away their rights. Sitting on your butt sending messages back and forth that can at best be referred to as drivel, is not the way to build a long term interest in anything.
The latest example of the US Governments surveillance of its citizens is a prime example. There are many others. In fact a book just came out called (Orwell) that references Orwells 1984 and deals with this type of problem. I haven’t read the book yet, but from the reviews it seems that we are well on our way to Orwells predictions.
The real problem seems to be a lack of understanding of our democratic system, and mind numbing laziness.
People sitting a their dinner tables, looking at their ipods, and not communicating is something to behold, especially when it takes place in a public restaurant.
The radio talk show is being destroyed the same way. People avoiding taking any responsibility for their actions, and as noted above having communication experts answer questions.
Perhaps the communication expert should run for politics and those presently in politics should be sent packing.
The world has indeed changed, but the media has also exacerbated the problem. This is the era of the sound bite.
The media can spin any story any way they want by taking a six second sound clip and playing it out of context, and building a story around it. Is it any wonder that politicians have communications people?
People are also to blame. Who wants to lisen to an hour long talk show when they can get their sound bites fed to them by the media?
Always enjoyed your talk show Ben whe I was in PG! Now we are losing Dave Rutherford in Alberta. He had handed in his notice for the end of July, but it seems he has vanished off the airwaves.
Going to miss both you guys!
I appreciate your thoughtful article Mr. Meisner. As you know, the 24/7 news cycle and what we call spin doctoring has forever changed the news business and by extension, the radio talk show. Now, to make things even worse, we have social media, the greatest, most effective, and quickest rumour mill this world has ever seen.
metalman.
As far as “getting the story out”, all sides have become more sophisticated/knowledgeable the same as it is with everything which deals with adversarial roles. Each side is able to suit up for a much more informed environment which does not especially improve discussion.
I believe that on the other side of the interview/discussion, observers’ side, the sophistication has actually gone down.
The topics, the viewpoints, etc. have often become too specialized for the average individual to comprehend. As a result they have turned more into people who have prejudged the issue and will support the individual who falls more closely in line with their viewpoint.
Too many are unable to digest new viewpoints and adjust their own thinking when hearing a new and rational argument.
Listen to a Lehrer interview on PBS. I do not believe a single thing has changed over time. It is just as probing, just as informative as it has been for decades. Nobody is out to catch anyone off guard. Lehrer is not shock journalism.
There is still good investigative reporting in some newspapers as well as on some TV news channels.
The real problem isn’t simply that people just don’t understand our ‘democratic’ system, it’s that there is an almost total collective ignorance about our ‘financial’ system. And control of the news and control of finance are concentric.
The former, like the population at large, is not about to bite the hand that feeds it, or thinks it does. And just let anyone ever dare to broach THAT subject on talk radio, and the host will have him off the air just as fast as he can cut him off and change the subject. I’ve heard Bill Good do it several times, and several other talk show hosts as well.
We miss your talk show too Ben.
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