That theory seems redundant to me. Larry King, Howard Stern, Rush etc  all made their success taking calls and bantering off them. 

As a listener, callers are one of the main reasons I don’t listen to commercial talk radio.

I don’t want to hear from people who have no more knowledge than I do on any given topic, and aren’t representative of the larger population

Hearing from and listening to your consumers is one thing, integrating them into the content and foisting them on the rest of us is quite another.

I ride the subway, I get to hear my fair share of unsolicited, uninformed opinions, thanks.

"Thanks for taking my call!  Anyways, like I was saying to your screener there..."

Stinand wrote:

They are also the decision makers on most of the topics like politics, finance etc 
 

Are you talking phone-in guests, or listeners who call in? Because the listeners who call in are not decision-makers. Decision-makers don't have time for that.

It's easy to condemn idiotic callers. But having been a producer for these shows in a past life, I can tell you the person who screens the calls is the key. If you get a really good call screener, they can separate the wheat from the chaff and just let on the people who are articulate, can make their point in a short time and even intelligently rebut the host if necessary. 

I always looked at callers as salt. Too much in your recipe and the meal is inedible. Too little and it's bland. But just the right amount, if they're good, can actually make the show kind of tasty.  

The problem is finding those rare few and letting them have their say. A good screener can figure out who they are. 

RadioActive wrote:

It's easy to condemn idiotic callers. But having been a producer for these shows in a past life, I can tell you the person who screens the calls is the key. If you get a really good call screener, they can separate the wheat from the chaff and just let on the people who are articulate, can make their point in a short time and even intelligently rebut the host if necessary. 

I always looked at callers as salt. Too much in your recipe and the meal is inedible. Too little and it's bland. But just the right amount, if they're good, can actually make the show kind of tasty.  

The problem is finding those rare few and letting them have their say. A good screener can figure out who they are. 

It’s been over 20 years since I last screened a call at a talk station, and even then, at well-rated stations, it was the same dozen cranks every day. It’s probably next-to-impossible now.

As a talk radio listener, I think it's only fair to point out how few shows actually take calls anymore. John Moore on 1010 and Greg Brady over on 640 have maybe one seven-minute segment during their morning drive programs that allows callers. Alex Pierson is mostly speaking to pre-arranged guests, with only one early segment (usually 9:15 to 9:30 AM) for public input. 

I've almost never heard Vassy Kapelos take calls, although she does on occasion. But most of the time, she's talking to some expert or politician. Jim Richards' nighttime show is almost totally guest-driven. Same with Oakley. Dani Stover's evening show on 640 never takes a single call, because it's all rerolls of the supposedly best segments from that day's other Corus programs. 

So depending on the station, I think this thing about callers is way overblown. They're just not as big a factor as they used to be back in the John Gilbert days. And radio is better for it. 

Tom McConnell, back when he was doing afternoons on CKTB, was once asked by a listener why he didn't take more phone calls. It sounded a bit egotistical, but I'll never forget his reply. He said, "I'm the trained broadcaster. More of me and less of you makes for a better show."

And of course, he was right. 

This seems timely, considering this thread. A veteran radio talk show host claims younger demos will listen to talk radio - if you make sure to include them. I'm not sure I buy all his suggestions, but they're interesting to consider. 

How News/Talk Radio Should Adapt to Attract and Retain a Younger Audience

All interesting viewpoints, but something has to change in Ontario commercial talk radio as it is dying. 

Having heard at the Radio Days Convention ( Plug) from many European and American speakers, they are trying to find more ways to engage and involve the listener. BBC Radio2 has 14 million listeners and goes to extraordinary lengths to involve the listener and make radio interactive. I would suggest 

The Ontario talk show listener is the potential consumer of the advertiser's products, so hearing their points of view is critical. I want to hear from my audience members and let them guide me on the content for the next show or convention. They are the most essential part of my business, I don't belittle them as uninformed subway riders.
They must be heard if I wanted a sermon, I can go to church 

Generally, phone-in shows are about as interesting as the comment section of a website, particularly since like the comment section, you rarely get a diversity of views and novel opinions rather than an echo chamber where most are singing from the same lowest common denominator hymn book. I'm not really a fan of Cross-Country Checkup but at least there you get to hear from people across the country and so get some different perspectives that you don't get from local phone-in shows. I recall Larry King's CNN show more clearly than his radio show but as I recall the phone-in aspect was only a small aspect of the Mutual show, largely relegated to the last hour when fewer people are still tuned in. The first few hours were mostly King talking to his guests with only a few callers put on the air, as I recall.