While working as an oilfield surveyor in the ’90s, talk radio was a must. Whether standing next to my tripod in a wheat field or trying to stay awake while driving across the endless plains of Kansas, the radio was always tuned to the local talk radio station. It kept me up to date on issues and let me hear from different sides..Talk radio back then was gritty and informative. Here in Alberta, I would listen to Dave Rutherford in the morning, and Dave Taylor in the afternoon. One was conservative and one was liberal. I enjoyed both because they were entertaining and informative. They didn’t just have guests and callers – they took them on. They engaged, they questioned and they opined on everything. I didn’t always agree, but that didn’t matter. It was engaging and it made one think. Peter Warren on the weekends was legendary. Those days are gone..The beginning of the end around here came when Dave Rutherford was fired for being critical of his own radio station over their poor coverage of the Alberta floods in 2013. One could tell that this was a final straw of sorts, as Rutherford had been increasingly chafing under increased efforts to control his show. As a veteran broadcaster, Dave simply wasn’t going to take it..After Rutherford’s firing, the station floundered through a number of hosts and formats. Those all pretty much failed until Danielle Smith was hired and put into the prime daytime slot. Many conservative listeners were hesitant to embrace Smith after the unfortunate end of her time as Wildrose leader, but she won them over as she continued the talk radio style and tradition in much the same style as Dave Rutherford had. Like Rutherford though, the pressure from to control her content became too much.. MORGAN: Smith’s departure a sign of talk radio’s slow death .I am only guessing here, but I think the beginning of the end for Smith came when she had former UCP candidate Caylan Ford on the show. Ford was immersed in a controversy due to a number of false allegations of racism which were released by a “progressive” NDP-front website with the intent of derailing the UCP campaign..Smith gave Ford an entire segment to explain herself and the progressive cancel mob went wild. Demands were made for Smith’s firing. Sponsors were threatened, the station caved and even deleted the archived show. Even Mayor Nenshi and Rachel Notley got in on the dogpile. As a result, Danielle Smith was neutered as a host and the character assassination of Caylan Ford remained undefended until recently..How humiliating it must have been as Smith to have been hung out to dry by the station for having done her job well. It was quite literally, the news of the day. It was a controversial issue and there were two sides. Smith quickly discovered the hard way that there is only one side when the risk of a cancel mob appears..As a regular listener, I caught some serious undertones a few months ago when it was clear that Danielle Smith was upset about something. She talked around it, but made it pretty clear that she had been instructed not to talk about certain things COVID-19 related. She then put it to the callers in a small act of rebellion so that they could speak to the subject even if she couldn’t. I am just guessing here, but I suspect that this was when Smith decided that she had enough and gave notice..\.Talk radio is a dying format. It is a victim of modern times and it will not be able to beat the many new mediums which catch our attention. Streaming services, podcasts, and satellite radio have eaten up so much listenership that radio stations are broke and vulnerable. That is why they now cower in terror at the prospect of a mob complaining to their precious few remaining sponsors. Unfortunately, this move to vanilla radio is only making the inevitable demise of the platform all that much sadder..I listened today to an afternoon host talking with an expert on the issue of child marriages in Canada. It really is happening and it really is legal. It is a concerning issue worthy of talking about and asking questions. The host and the guest took no callers though and managed to chat about the issue for the entire segment without once touching upon a giant elephant in the room, which is the religious and cultural aspects of this issue. Religious and cultural fundamentalism is behind nearly every child marriage and to pretend that this is an issue among most Albertans or Canadians is willfully blind. If you are only going to talk about 75 percent of an issue for fear of offending somebody, you may as well not talk about it at all. The use and point of talk radio here is lost..Talk radio will continue to dwindle until it is little more than a news reading and traffic service. They can’t afford to discuss issues any longer..Media is in undergoing a huge, evolutionary transition right now. The technocrat class is playing whack-a-mole as they try to de-platform conservative and libertarian voices while new platforms keep springing up. I am optimistic that balance and new forms of political discourse will emerge, but we are in for some tumultuous times as we find that balance..Dave Rutherford has retired while Danielle Smith is already seeking new platforms to work from. I am looking forward to the new age of unfettered political discourse when it gets here. It can’t remain bottled up forever..The heyday of talk radio is gone though. There are a few good, gritty voices still working the airwaves out there but they are fading. It’s the sad end of an era..Cory Morgan is the Podcast Editor and a columnist for the Western Standard
While working as an oilfield surveyor in the ’90s, talk radio was a must. Whether standing next to my tripod in a wheat field or trying to stay awake while driving across the endless plains of Kansas, the radio was always tuned to the local talk radio station. It kept me up to date on issues and let me hear from different sides..Talk radio back then was gritty and informative. Here in Alberta, I would listen to Dave Rutherford in the morning, and Dave Taylor in the afternoon. One was conservative and one was liberal. I enjoyed both because they were entertaining and informative. They didn’t just have guests and callers – they took them on. They engaged, they questioned and they opined on everything. I didn’t always agree, but that didn’t matter. It was engaging and it made one think. Peter Warren on the weekends was legendary. Those days are gone..The beginning of the end around here came when Dave Rutherford was fired for being critical of his own radio station over their poor coverage of the Alberta floods in 2013. One could tell that this was a final straw of sorts, as Rutherford had been increasingly chafing under increased efforts to control his show. As a veteran broadcaster, Dave simply wasn’t going to take it..After Rutherford’s firing, the station floundered through a number of hosts and formats. Those all pretty much failed until Danielle Smith was hired and put into the prime daytime slot. Many conservative listeners were hesitant to embrace Smith after the unfortunate end of her time as Wildrose leader, but she won them over as she continued the talk radio style and tradition in much the same style as Dave Rutherford had. Like Rutherford though, the pressure from to control her content became too much.. MORGAN: Smith’s departure a sign of talk radio’s slow death .I am only guessing here, but I think the beginning of the end for Smith came when she had former UCP candidate Caylan Ford on the show. Ford was immersed in a controversy due to a number of false allegations of racism which were released by a “progressive” NDP-front website with the intent of derailing the UCP campaign..Smith gave Ford an entire segment to explain herself and the progressive cancel mob went wild. Demands were made for Smith’s firing. Sponsors were threatened, the station caved and even deleted the archived show. Even Mayor Nenshi and Rachel Notley got in on the dogpile. As a result, Danielle Smith was neutered as a host and the character assassination of Caylan Ford remained undefended until recently..How humiliating it must have been as Smith to have been hung out to dry by the station for having done her job well. It was quite literally, the news of the day. It was a controversial issue and there were two sides. Smith quickly discovered the hard way that there is only one side when the risk of a cancel mob appears..As a regular listener, I caught some serious undertones a few months ago when it was clear that Danielle Smith was upset about something. She talked around it, but made it pretty clear that she had been instructed not to talk about certain things COVID-19 related. She then put it to the callers in a small act of rebellion so that they could speak to the subject even if she couldn’t. I am just guessing here, but I suspect that this was when Smith decided that she had enough and gave notice..\.Talk radio is a dying format. It is a victim of modern times and it will not be able to beat the many new mediums which catch our attention. Streaming services, podcasts, and satellite radio have eaten up so much listenership that radio stations are broke and vulnerable. That is why they now cower in terror at the prospect of a mob complaining to their precious few remaining sponsors. Unfortunately, this move to vanilla radio is only making the inevitable demise of the platform all that much sadder..I listened today to an afternoon host talking with an expert on the issue of child marriages in Canada. It really is happening and it really is legal. It is a concerning issue worthy of talking about and asking questions. The host and the guest took no callers though and managed to chat about the issue for the entire segment without once touching upon a giant elephant in the room, which is the religious and cultural aspects of this issue. Religious and cultural fundamentalism is behind nearly every child marriage and to pretend that this is an issue among most Albertans or Canadians is willfully blind. If you are only going to talk about 75 percent of an issue for fear of offending somebody, you may as well not talk about it at all. The use and point of talk radio here is lost..Talk radio will continue to dwindle until it is little more than a news reading and traffic service. They can’t afford to discuss issues any longer..Media is in undergoing a huge, evolutionary transition right now. The technocrat class is playing whack-a-mole as they try to de-platform conservative and libertarian voices while new platforms keep springing up. I am optimistic that balance and new forms of political discourse will emerge, but we are in for some tumultuous times as we find that balance..Dave Rutherford has retired while Danielle Smith is already seeking new platforms to work from. I am looking forward to the new age of unfettered political discourse when it gets here. It can’t remain bottled up forever..The heyday of talk radio is gone though. There are a few good, gritty voices still working the airwaves out there but they are fading. It’s the sad end of an era..Cory Morgan is the Podcast Editor and a columnist for the Western Standard
