It’s been a week since Talk 1410 went off the air. I’m still trying to figure out who to be annoyed at on weekday mornings.
CHUM Radio threw in the towel on the news-talk format last Thursday, and converted the AM station to a sports format. “Team 1410” now replays Canucks games that were earlier aired on sister station Team 1040. All of the Talk 1410 employees were laid off.
“1410 is now the new and permanent full time home for BC lions football in Vancouver,” CHUM general manager James Stuart wrote in a message posted on the station’s web site. Stuart promised, “More NFL football…more English premier league and UEFA champions league soccer…more major league baseball…more NBA, more NCAA college football... We’ll even take you to huge sports events such as the Masters.”
As giddy as I am about the prospect of listening to golf, I nonetheless find myself wondering if Vancouver lost more than it gained in this trade.
Talk 1410 -- on which I was a regular guest -- was always inconsistent and frequently inane. But it often aired provocative viewpoints rarely heard on Vancouver’s other talk stations. CKNW remains an overtly mainstream (some would say centre-right) fortress on the AM spectrum. Hosts Bill Good, Christy Clark and Jon McComb are among the best interviewers in the business; but whether by temperament or design, they are more likely to nudge their guests toward consensus than to tease out a new idea. And CBC has become like a Möbius strip in which CBC personalities are interviewed by other CBC personalities again and again and again, in a scheme that appears structured to discourage the introduction of outside information (such as news) into the loop.
On such airwaves, the Dave Brindle Show was a breath of, er, refreshing pungent air.
“Dave Brindle created a very interesting, thoughtful and insightful forum for intelligent talk radio focused not just on Vancouver but Canadian, U.S. and international issues... spiked with a bit of fun and satire as well as analysis,” Stephen Encarnacao wrote in an email. “I doubt there was anyone or any show in Vancouver that had a more consistent quality of guests than the David Brindle Show.”
Encarnacao was a frequent guest. He’s also a marketing expert. He sized up Talk 1410’s demise as follows.
“What happened? My belief is that what was missing was ‘Brand Promotion’ investment. That is, CFUN never promoted the David Brindle Show and never built the kind of awareness of the quality of the show that would have resulted in higher ratings, more advertising and more profit,” the former Reebok executive wrote. “The other problem was the other shows on the Talk 1410 roster never really offered the kind of quality of talk radio that Brindle was serving up on a daily basis.”
Brindle himself was characteristically upbeat.
“The radio station failed,” he said. “The show succeeded. We will not be ending the show.”
The longtime broadcaster is pondering his next move.
“I don’t think its hard to see that traditional corporate media is not serving Vancouver’s need for public debate," he said. “We’re going to need new media to serve us. That means online media. That’s the direction in which the show is headed.”
Monte Paulsen reports for The Tyee.
Your serve, Mr. Brindle
Quote:
"I don’t think its hard to see that traditional corporate media is not serving Vancouver’s need for public debate," he said. “We’re going to need new media to serve us. That means online media. That’s the direction in which the show is headed."
I like Dave Brindle's spirit:
Don't let the bastards get you down.
Leave them to their hockey pucks and gold...errrrr.... golf clubs.
I mean isn't sports the only thing the corporate media covers remotely well?
It sure ain't the reporting of the real news.
Pretend news: Yes. Real news: Hardly ever..
One thing for sure, they sure ain't interested in public debate.
Good Night. And Good Luck to them.
Hope a volleyball doesn't hit them in the head on their way out the door.
Their loss.
Online media's gain.
Hosts Bill Good, Christy
Hosts Bill Good, Christy Clark and Jon McComb are among the best interviewers in the business
========
Your kidding right?
BC media has degenerated so bad no one from CKNW or Canwest-Gordo even ask tough questions anymore.
Actually almost all mainstream media in North America is pathetic nowadays.
My take on this
See http://broughton.ca/bob-broughtons-blog-mainmenu-26/144-talk-1410
marketing?
I'm a talk show nut, calling in regularly to Chicken Dub and Cfax and I ain't never heard of Brindle. I listened to Sara a few times but it was more of a news show than talk. I never had any idea what was going on and when to tune in.
At least most Chicken Dub shows post on their web site a program schedule.
give your head a shake!
is monty p. trying to get a job with cknw? bill good christy clark etc. best in business????all they ever do is suck-hole to people with money and power.and cbc? a state broadcaster. period. harper/corporate mouthpiece.
Talk radio
CKNW may be at the top of the heap, but that is more by default than quality. Since Corus bought CKNW from the Griffith family, they have gotten rid of all of the the quality hosts. Even their news personnel are wishy washy. Not one of them could hold a candle to George Garrett.
As for the talk show hosts, they leave a lot to be desired. Bill Good is too congenial. He never presses an issue with his guests. Christy Clark has a bit of an edge to her programme, but can't seem to quite let go of certain issues she brought in with her from her political life. She also seems to have a problem getting her facts straight before she approaches a story. Jon McComb is the best of the lot. He will tackle an issue and not worry about ruffling a few feathers. Sean Leslie on the weekend is too wishy washy. Pinch hitter, Mike Smyth, will push an issue but seems to like to hear himself too much and doesn't let others get their message out. He does show potential, but may need a bit more seasoning if he wishes to move from newspaper to live radio.
One thing Corus has accomplished is to insert more advertising per hour and the infommercial shows are just a joke.
In general it seems that the days of investigative reporting have been replaced by ambulance-chasing stories and pre-packaged announcements by governments and business whether it be in print, on radio or the tube.
The so-called fourth estate has become nothing but a shadow of its former self. This serves no one.
'NW what?...................
..........Bill who?
Yesterdays radio with yesterdays hosts; who listens to that claptrap anymore.
Listening to Good wheeze along everyday, is like watching paint dry. Sorry, stop listening to 'NW ages ago.
Good and Clarke should go the way of Lou Dobbs.
Branding Bindle
Encarnacao -
"That is, CFUN never promoted the David Brindle Show ..."
But they DID send the man to a Save On Foods outpost every Thursday!
Could there possibly be a more effective or innovative way to meet your audience?
CKNW may be at the top of
CKNW may be at the top of the heap, but that is more by default than quality.
How Totally true is that statement.
The CKNW hosts are awful with the exception of Philip Till and they have him buried in the mornings. I'm hoping Ms Clarke gets a juicy political offer and soon. And as far as Bill Good is concerned please God let him go permanently live on the Sunshine Coast in that luxury cottage he whines on about endlessly.
The other month they spent the WHOLE day on the Burrard Bridge story. And their World News show is a joke 'cos they never,ever mention anything outside of metro. Jokers.
The Reebok guy was right
If people don't know you exist or what your format is, the problem isn't the personalities or the format, the problem is your marketing department.
To put that another way, a 1.8% share is really good if only 2% of the public know you're there.