Talk radio

Talk Radio (English. Talk radio ) is a radio format with a very high proportion word. The content mostly consists of news or conversations about political and social issues or help in life. As a rule, directly transmitted conversations take place with studio guests and / or calling listeners, whereby in the latter case we also speak of call-in broadcasts .

history

As early as the 1950s, numerous US radio stations were broadcasting individual conversation programs before KMOW, a station in St. Louis, in which such programs accounted for a predominant proportion, was established for the first time in 1960. The first pure talk radio in California started in 1961 under the name “Conversation” on the station KABC. In the years that followed, more and more talk radios of this kind were created because, unlike music formats, no stereo quality seemed necessary for them and medium-wave transmitters were therefore also suitable for transmission.

Given their reliance on advertising revenue, the problem with talk radios was that their audience grew very slowly. Whereas music broadcasters hardly needed any start-up time, talk radios only achieved satisfactory ratings after a few years. At first, formats that dealt with current political and social events turned out to be completely unprofitable, as they had to deal with a relatively expensive editorial system. In order to still be able to work economically, some broadcasters formed networks. Smaller local broadcasters were ultimately able to take over program parts from these.

The talk show “Night Call”, which has become one of the best-known trademarks, benefited from these alliances. "Night Call" was broadcast from 1968 over a network of 85 stations. Co-designed by the Methodist Church, this program dealt with issues such as sexuality and lifestyle, specifically problems between whites and colored people in order to achieve better understanding.

Today's distribution

The talk radio format is much more popular in the USA than in Germany, for example. Talkradio broadcasters are local market leaders in many US markets. Numerous sub-formats are also offered, from controversial political topics to psychological counseling. Well-known radio talk show hosts there include Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern .

The topics dealt with in the US talk radio are very diverse. For some broadcasters, this takes on the following form: In the mornings and afternoons, talk jockeys and callers talk about politics (sometimes with a communal aspect) as well as about medical and psychological, and more rarely also about technical topics. In the evening, it's all about gossip, and the more night it gets, the more vividly the talk radio is used to discuss relationship problems or even to initiate sexual contacts. At the weekend, leisure topics such as cars, gardens, animals and sports dominate. Hosts are mostly local moderators, but at network level they are often also experts such as doctors, psychologists or financial advisors. Talk radios also tend to send longer messages. Occasionally it also happens that talk radios play individual music tracks, for example to give the moderators a short "respite" or when this is necessary in terms of content.

In Germany , this format has only partially enforced. There are several radio stations that use the All News sub- format, for example MDR Info or B5 aktuell . As a rule, however, these broadcasters do not have listeners to participate or talk, but only send news around the clock . In return, there are individual programs on other broadcasters, which in principle have the talk radio format. For example, Deutschlandfunk broadcasts numerous programs that can be classified as talk radio. From April 3, 1995 to December 17, 2016, Tuesday to Saturday 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., the talk radio show Domian with its presenter Jürgen Domian was broadcast on 1LIVE and later on WDR television , which was particularly popular with younger listeners. This program was either open or with a given topic, on which the listeners could report experiences, describe problems or ask questions.

The reason given for the overall low establishment of talk radios in Germany is the more volatile listener mentality compared to the USA: listeners are less used to participating in broadcasts. The personnel expenditure is also significantly greater than for programs with a high music content. Recently, talk radio projects in Germany often did not achieve a good audience rating.

In Austria , the station Austria 1 broadcasts various regular programs with a high proportion of words. Programs with listeners participation are Monday to Friday 14:05 to 14:40 from day to day and from Wednesday to Friday, 0:08 to 1:00 night quarters .

Caller motives

There are numerous studies on the motives of talk radio callers in the USA: According to the study by Turow (1974), the callers wanted to escape social isolation and feel connected to other people through media communication. Otherwise they hardly manage to establish a sense of belonging to society. Callers of this type are usually older, poorer, less mobile and less socially integrated than the average population. Bierig and Dimmick (1979) also confirm that loneliness is often the root cause of Turow's results with an even larger sample. According to Dimnick, the proportion of married people in particular among talk radio callers is lower than the population average (not being married was a key indicator of loneliness in this study).

There are also studies on caller motives relating to the Domian program . In a study by Schweers (1995), 23 percent of the test persons stated that they wanted to help and encourage other people through their contribution. Eighteen percent sought help through specific advice and 16 percent said they had something important to say. 13 percent of the callers shared their personal experiences on a certain topic, ten percent wanted to try out “what it's like to take part in such a program”. Nine percent wanted to talk to Jürgen Domian, the person, and seven percent wanted to express themselves. Another study by Krause (2006) differentiates between callers seeking advice and those in need of notification.

filming

Eric Bogosian named a play about the murder of a talk show host after the radio format ; an authentic case served as a model. Oliver Stone filmed the play in 1988 with Bogosian in the leading role under the title Talk Radio .

literature

Paasch, Rolf: Conservative speech duels on shortwave. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . Vol. 50, 1994, No. 274, p. 12.
Rubin, Allan and Rebecca: Call-in Talk Radio in the US. In: radio and television . Vol. 40, No. 3 / 1992. pp. 386-397.
Schwelien, Michael: People's voice - voice of hate. In: Die Zeit , vol. 50, 1995, no.24, p. 49.