This morning I was able to catch up on the WTF episode with guest President Obama and was totally impressed. I don’t even know where to start so I will just brain-dump a bunch of random things in no particular order.
– nice look for the President. He came across as cool and presidential, thoughtful but not a robot. Very nice look.
– what a great “get” for Maron. Twenty years ago I was involved with the studio end of a White House broadcast with President Clinton (a great story I will post tomorrow) and it was super stuffy and formal. Part of that was the difference between the great Gene Burns and the differently great Marc Maron, but the bigger difference was the setting – the White House vs. a garage. (Gene was terrific and I so enjoyed his company, a story for another day.)
– this was a great example of what talk radio can be. We’ve had thirty years of “the next Howard Stern” and fifteen to twenty of the outrageous derivatives. We’ve had twenty five years of Son Of Bob Grant’s Act. There hasn’t been too much originality out there outside of the occasional fresh voice in sports talk. (This is a wide sweeping statement, but in broad terms the Conservative Talker in City A is running the same lineup as the one in City B and has been since 2001).
– I like that Maron is able to nail entertaining conversation without going shock-jock nor screaming match (you argue this, I will argue the opposite and we’ll take calls). This was just a nice conversation.
– I like that Maron is able to do conversation without slipping in to that weird NPR Style where it sounds like pretentious people holding a radio show in the library of a church. Why does so much NPR have to sound like the SNL Sketch that made fun of it? And why is that sound creeping into so much podcasting (some of it is that the big podcasts are produced by actual NPR and many by ex-NPRers). There’s plenty of room for all sounds but props to Maron for finding the middle ground between stuffy and screaming.
– straying further as I dump random thoughts: everyone please stop positioning yourself as either “the next Howard Stern” or “the Howard Stern of X.” Howard is a once in a generation talent. You’re not the next Howard and don’t try to be. Be the first YOU.
I can’t tell you the amount of demos I got back at the satellite company that were two guys (sometimes with the female sidekick) who were the next Howard and they told you so. Only they were EVEN MORE OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!! which usually meant saying swear words and talking about sex. Or having the comedian who makes baby-raper jokes to show how edgy the show is. Please stop.
So, is there really no way for Talk Radio to get out of the 2001 lineup and do something fresh? There are so many good podcasts out there. One of the big radio companies can’t find a way to convert that talent? We can’t grab some podcaster and try him or her out in afternoons in Cincinnati for a year and see if we have something? New York City can’t afford more local shows? Nobody can go for 47 minutes without breaking, and if they do they have to “play catchup” and bomb the listener with 11 minutes of commercials in a row?
I know, I know – network ad dollars and PPM rule the day. The system just seems so broken, and with so many talkers getting absurdly low numbers I can’t help but wonder why spoken word is being ceded to a guy in his garage talking with POTUS.
Great job Marc.
