When Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra decided to forsake his elected office for the rigors of talk radio, some colleagues may have been surprised. But Kustra really was just joining a trend of politicians becoming talk-show hosts.
“There are definitely incidences occurring around the country,” says Robert Balon, president of Benchmark Co., a national media research firm. “Former Mayor (Ed) Koch has a full-time slot on WABC in New York and Marjorie Clapprood, who was a candidate for lieutenant governor in Massachusetts, is now part of a morning call-in program on WRKO in Boston.”
But Clapprood and Koch didn’t become talk jocks until after they lost elections. Kustra quit while in office to join the babble brigade at WLS-AM.
“Usually people who are lieutenant governors are there for higher reasons,” says Balon. “They’re paying their political debts, or paving their way to ascendency to a higher realm. I’ve never heard of anyone who actually resigned to take a (radio) slot.”
Balon says most politicians-turned-host he’s heard “have been pretty darn good. (Former Philadelphia Mayor) Frank Rizzo, before his death, was the sole reason WCAU-AM had any ratings at all. It was rough around the edges, but it was a dynamite program.”
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And Balon doesn’t see the pols using the airwaves to advance their agendas. “There’s always that fear,” he says, “but as good as these guys may be, they still have to deliver an audience. That’s why I’m not worried about a nation of political ideologues all assembling on talk radio and leading us in one direction.”
New stuff: Brothers Jock and Jay Hedblade, founders of the Atomic Productions special-event ensemble, debut “Super Thriller Radio” at 7 p.m. Monday on WCBR-FM 92.7. With an emphasis on hard-to-find music, “Super Thriller” is the result of an idea the Hedblades had been fooling around with for years. “My brother and I have been making a series of tapes and sending them around to friends,” says Jock. “We thought it might make an interesting concept in radio.” While it’s “music-intensive now,” says Hedblade, the brothers plan interviews with bands and comedy drop-ins as well.
Buddy’s turn: As the WBBM-FM 96.3 search for a new morning host (or hosts) continues, Buddy Baron (how’s that for a great radio name?), the morning man at San Francisco’s KSAN-FM and a comedy writer/producer with Premiere Radio Networks, gets his shot on Tuesday.
Juicy tidbits: More than a half-million households in the Chicago area viewed all or part of Thursday’s opening of the O.J. Simpson preliminary hearing on four TV outlets. WBBM-Ch. 2, WMAQ-Ch. 5, WLS-Ch. 7 and WFLD-Ch. 32 had a combined rating of 18.9, with WLS leading the way with a 9.9 average. Nationally, as many as one in four U.S. homes tuned in to the court hearing, according to CBS top researcher David Poltrack.
Tut, tut: A report in another paper that WFLD-Ch. 32’s 9 p.m. newscast was “trouncing” WGN-Ch. 9 in the ratings raised a few eyebrows. “It surprised me,” says WGN news director Jennifer Schulze, who added Channel 9 had won all 17 head-to-head meetings in May as well as all 12 times in June. “They’ve probably beaten us three times all year,” said Schulze.
Creativity: In talk radio, the topics can get very old, very fast. Take WLS on a recent morning. Around 8 on the AM side, Ald. Richard Mell (33d) and Jake Hartford spent about an hour raising money for the Bill and Hillary defense fund. Around 9 on the FM side, Richard Roeper started his show by announcing he’d be raising money for-surprise!-the Bill and Hillary defense fund.