I don't find it unusual that there are people out there who are 'very polished' with anti-Chow talking points. I consider myself to be very intelligent, able to offer rational opinions and therefore, very polished. If I was listening to the station at that time, I may have even called in and offered my 'very polished' comments.

Last edited by Stefanie (January 14, 2025 8:46 am)

No question, from the sound of shows, that some calls are inside work, and I also think some callers are actual listeners The former introduce memes and themes and get the fire going. When it works and it stays lit, it's like 'F... Trudeau' - it's taken hold. I've long seen talk radio in the US as movement building, and to some extent it's the same here. Now, we've got Joe from Scarborough on the line...

As someone who once screened some of these calls for several talk shows at one place where I worked, I can attest that even then - a long time ago - there were "shills" who would call up to defend one side of the political spectrum or the other. It really didn't matter what the issue was or which party was the topic. There would always be someone willing to defend or make excuses for the most outrageous behaviour. 

After a while, you got to know who they were and you'd only let them on in specific circumstances. 

They still exist - there's a guy with an accent named Jeff who would defend the current Prime Minister if he went out and shot a 4-year-old in the head on Parliament Hill. In his mind, the man can do no wrong, regardless of what the issue is. I'm very surprised they still let him on so many shows on the Toronto talk stations, because his agenda is obvious and you already know exactly what he's going to say every single time. And the same goes for the other parties, who do the same thing. 

I agree with Binson Echorec - many screeners don't seem to have the ability to do their jobs like they used to, while many are so desperate for calls these guys get on the air over and over and over again just because there are no others on the line. They should remember that sometimes, less is more.

dieter wrote:

Way back in the dark ages when I worked in radio out west, it was a usual practice for political staffers (usually Tories) to call in to our talk show when their opponents (usually the NDP) were the guests and read their talking points.

I challenge the assertion that it's mainly a "Tory" thing, all political parties do it pretty equally.

I worked on talk shows for many years and screened thousands of calls. Whenever, there was a big name politician in studio, and especially during an election campaign, suddenly we'd be getting calls from people who never called before and from places hundreds of KM away from our main broadcast area. I'd do my best to screen the bogus agenda callers out.

newsguy1 wrote:

Remember when Harper era Tory MP Raheem Jaffer got a friend to call into a radio talk show and pretend to be him?
Jaffer had something else to do and thought it would be fine for his pal to impersonate him
His cover was blown because the talk show host knew what Jaffer really sounded like.
Jaffer later made a tearful apology to the Commons.

Which lead to this takedown from the 22 Minutes crew, featuring a parody of Eminem's The Real Slim Shady:






 

His name was "Don," and I think he was from Richmond Hill. He was on every talk station, including CKTB, all the time. I'm still surprised he got on as often as he did. 

mace wrote:

I sometimes listened to Bob Raleigh overnights on WBZ. I think he replaced Larry Glick. Occasionally, he would get a call from a woman in Pennsylvania who was an extreme Democrat who made Bernie Sanders look like Donald Trump. She even earned a nickname from Raleigh, "Kerosene Kay" because it took very little to set her off on one of her rants. Bob, who was slightly left of centre, would play devil's advocate to really get her lit. 

There was a woman from Niagara Falls NY years ago, who was a real bomb thrower on both WNY and national call in shows.  Dave Debo was hosting 970 WEBR's 'Weekend at your Service' at the time, and it rarely ventured into politics; mostly good advice from local experts.  Debo even tagged her as a 'resident skeptic'.  When the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter burned up due to a metric / imperial conversion error, she called Larry King's nationwide radio show to speculate someone / something on Mars had shot it down.

Pardon my thread hijack. 😁

dieter wrote:

.. I was reminded of this on Monday when CFRB's Deb Hutton began teeing off on Olivia Chow's budget and tax hike proposals. When she opened the phone lines, the 2 or 3 guys who were put on the air sounded very polished and ready with anti-Chow talking points. They didn't sound anything like a regular working stiff.

Wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Hutton had arranged these "plant" callers herself.

I recall a 1010 Round-Table back when a couple of Conservative campaign workers got busted for phoning up riding constituents & providing false polling station information, Ms. Hutton wasn't overly fussed by this & classified it as an "edgy" campaign tactic.

Akin to the old "if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying hard enough" attitude : (( .. 

g121 wrote:

I recall a 1010 Round-Table back when a couple of Conservative campaign workers got busted for phoning up riding constituents & providing false polling station information, Ms. Hutton wasn't overly fussed by this & classified it as an "edgy" campaign tactic.

Akin to the old "if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying hard enough" attitude : (( .. 

She also doesn't disclose conflicts of interest (specifically, commenting on issues that she personally was being paid to consult on). In fairness I suspect this is a wider problem, considering the high number of PR professionals stations like CFRB lean on for content. Still...slimy as fuck.
 

RadioActive wrote:

Back when I was producing a sports talk show (ironic since I'm not a sports fan), we used to receive constant calls from a guy named "Marvellous Mike." He was actually a pretty good speaker, but trying to get on every day regardless of topic was a bit too much. The host of the show always handled him well, so he did get on more than he might have otherwise. 

I participate in a football message board mostly related to the Buffalo Bills, and there's a large segment of the members who spend equal time lambasting local sports programming (i.e., WGR 550 AM), and the callers into the shows.

Hahaha - NDP Don! Haven't heard that name in ages. Great example of an unpaid, unplanted shill.

Good old NDP Don.  I believe Don Fraser lived in the West End.  He grew up in an era where unions, unlike today, were vital and carried this through his life.

Anyone who believes talk shows 'set up' callers in this market is misinformed.  I've never known it to happen in 30 years of doing this.  Have I asked people to call in because they've contacted me off-air with a strong opinion, absolutely.  

Special interest groups (not special, not interesting), as well as political boiler rooms, community groups, etc, are all media aware, and with Facebook/X/etc, it's easy to say, 'Joe is talking about this on 1010, call 872-1010 and let him know our position... here are some notes...'.  

Nothing can be done about this other than a good screener not putting the same 10 callers on with the same 15 talking points on their phones.  

Lastly, any good producer understands that the callers with opposing opinions are the best to put on the air.  That's where the discussion happens.  Hearing callers agree with the host for the hour is tiring.  A bigger issue, of course, is when no callers call in with an opposing opinion.  It happens a lot.  Depending on the hosts, their core following tends to listen because they agree.  (or vehemently disagree )

The golden rule is only two types of callers should ever get through.. excellent and very bad.  And you better be a good, experienced screener before you start judging and pushing through the very bad

ig.

RadioActive wrote:

mic'em wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

His name was "Don," and I think he was from Richmond Hill. He was on every talk station, including CKTB, all the time. I'm still surprised he got on as often as he did. 

 Yes, Don that was it. I'm sure he is passed on by now. 

I'm guessing you're right or he'd probably still be calling!