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Too Many Radio Panels? A Topic Worthy Of Discussion
As comedian Fred Allen once famously said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of television.” But it also applies to Toronto radio. Which brings me to panels. They’re spreading like a virus on every talk station within earshot and it’s now reached ridiculous lengths.
Consider:
CFRB: Newstalk 1010 has its morning roundtables at 7:45 and 8:45 AM, an additional episode at 5:45 PM and another for an hour when Jerry Agar’s show begins. In addition to that, evening host Barb DiGuilio regularly does one of them on her "Nightside" at least once a week.
AM 640: Though Mike Stafford loves to make fun of the ones that are on opposite him, his afternoon counterpart John Oakley relies on them, doing a nearly 45 minute panel every day on his “Topics Worthy of Discussion.” Once a week, he also invites Buzz Hargrove and Ernie Eves to shoot the breeze for a segment. Tasha Kheiriddin has a weekly political gabfest on her show. And Roy Green’s syndicated Corus weekend show does a Saturday segment called “Beauties and the Beast,” which features him and three other female experts summing up the week’s news.
610 CKTB: Borrowing from the Toronto mothership, they also do roundtables on the Tim Denis morning show, another one called the “Noon 30” every day at 12:30 PM and now they’ve added a new yakfest featuring Larry Fedoruk and guests every afternoon at 5:30 PM.
That’s 13 separate “panels” on Toronto-area radio by my count and there may be some I don’t know about. I suppose they mostly work and it’s easier than getting phone calls – as Stafford will surely tell you. But how many of these things do you need before it wears out its welcome? Now THAT may be a topic worthy of discussion.
- geo
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Re: Too Many Radio Panels? A Topic Worthy Of Discussion
In another SOWNY thread, at least one contributor condemns a Toronto newspaper as being too politically focused and for that reason cancelled his/her (as the case may be) subscription thereto.
The above appears to take the opposite position, namely that there are too many radio panels, implying that listeners can't handle opinions other than those of popular talk show hosts.
Oh! Canada
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Re: Too Many Radio Panels? A Topic Worthy Of Discussion
geo wrote:
In another SOWNY thread, at least one contributor condemns a Toronto newspaper as being too politically focused and for that reason cancelled his/her (as the case may be) subscription thereto.
The above appears to take the opposite position, namely that there are too many radio panels, implying that listeners can't handle opinions other than those of popular talk show hosts.
Actually if I gave you that impression, then I wan't being clear. I actually like some of the panels and listen to a few of them. Interesting people with solid opinions saying interesting things can make for good radio.
My issue is: how many do you need? I counted at least 13 (and if you factor in the rerolls on CFRB every night at 11:30, that number goes up to almost 20 appearances of such shows.)
After awhile, it all starts to sound the same and I'm wondering if there should be fewer of them in a broadcast week, albeit acknowledging they're on different stations and I'm an inveterate channel changer so I hear a lot of them. I'm not against them, per se, just against 20 of them at the same time.
It's kind of like my pet peeve against talk shows having a psychic on as a guest for an hour. Producers love them because the phones go crazy and there appears to be a lot of callers. But it's narrowcasting and it's absolutely terrible radio. When I was briefly doing a talk show, I regularly refused to have them on. Hosts do it because it fills in time and it's easier than preparing anything. But it makes for an awful show and that, in the end, is what matters.
Same thing with panels. A few are entertaining. But a little goes a long way.
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Thread Starter- Ms. C.
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Re: Too Many Radio Panels? A Topic Worthy Of Discussion
I'm wondering if there should be fewer of them in a broadcast week
It's hard to beat Buzz Hargrove v. Lou Schizas for top-notch entertainment value
- cGrant
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Re: Too Many Radio Panels? A Topic Worthy Of Discussion
The roundtable rerolls are most definitely better than the insufferable Best of Humble and Fred. 😴💤