MORNING RADIO IS NO LONGER "MUST LISTEN TO" ITS HABITUAL BY LM

MORNING RADIO IS NO LONGER "MUST LISTEN TO" ITS HABITUAL

Written By: LM

6.22.2014

"Don't ignore in victory what you wouldn't ignore in defeat".

I hope all four of the morning guys keep that quote in mind.  It's hard to write an article about flaws with Proper Gentlemen and In The Loop when their ratings are doing relatively well with the assistance of Texans new Regime and First Overall Draft Pick.  Most people I know operate by the code "If it works" or "If it's not broke".  That's cool but we all know, radio ratings are not judged by all but a few and all it takes is for a few habits to change. 

A couple of days ago, Houston Chronicle's David Barron tweeted out the following about the Ratings disaster occurring in Los Angeles.

IN THE LOOP

Lately, I only listen to In The Loop for a segment here and there. One of the positive things I can say about the In The Loop, John Lopez and Nick Wright do have chemistry.  They know and feed off of each very well.  I also believe Nick Wright prepares a show, its not always content I prefer to hear but the show is well prepared.  Honestly, all of Sports Radio 610 shows prepares.

However, it's hard to Listen to In the Loop because

• John Lopez giggles too much
• John Lopez is generic
• Nick Wright's voice
• Nick Wright's volume
• The show think it's funny
• Nick Wright believes his ideology (extreme liberal) is the gospel
• Limited Fan Interaction (mainly by text message)
• Too Many Teases

In addition to, In The Loop is doing HMW's job. Of course I'm joking but the show has a habit of analyzing other media member's work.  

PROPER GENTLEMEN

Lance Zierlein and Adam Clanton has "Houston" going for them and cool bumpers.  Lance's knowledge of sports is the best of the mornings and arguably the market.   We all think we are going to get it (Lance's sports insight) daily but in reality, we don't.  Both guys are nice to show participants and they are not to jerks to their audience.

In the past, it was easy to blame Adam Clanton in the beginning but I am starting to realize, Lance is a "ball hog".  Lance has to have the "rock".  It's very Josh Innesy in terms of where a host feels the focus needs to be. However, there's a huge catch 22, I wonder if Lance is protecting the show from Adam's limitations in sports.

Below are a few other things

• Not paying off teasers until segments later
• Making everything a tease
• The Jen lady, I don't get the punchline
• Leaving callers on hold
• Lack of interaction with hot topics
• Host chemistry issues
• Producer not sync'd with show, at times the audio is not cued up on the host's command
• Too many "on the spur" Impromptu News stories bits, "Did you hear about this story? Ok, at 7:50 we will get to it"

Proper Gentlemen of Sports is no longer unpredictable, it's very predictable.

WRAP IT UP

All in all, Morning Radio is not "must listen to" radio anymore.  Listening to morning radio feels more habitual than a want.  I feel as if I'm listening for HMW purposes only and not as a fan of the craft.

It seem as if 790 just learned the element of teasing which Sports Radio 610 (most of radio) has been doing and they are going overboard.  What's next, 790 adding a Flash Guy, another element of radio that's common that 790 is not doing.

LM