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The Talk Show Guests You'd Rather Not Hear
As most here know, I listen to a lot of talk radio, much to the dismay of some. The genre is generally disposed to having guests on to discuss some breaking news topic or other, and most of them are at least fairly erudite and can fill the air time on whatever the subject is.
But sometimes you come across someone that simply rubs you the wrong way. And to me that person is Laura Babcock, a communications strategist who seems to be on NT1010 almost as often as the hosts of the shows themselves. She's a frequent flyer on their Roundtable segments.
My problem with Babcock is two-fold. First and most important is she simply never stops talking. I've actually started to time some of her answers in a discussion in which other guests are waiting for their chance to speak. And they have to wait, often a long time. A topic will come up and they'll ask her for comment. And she talks. And talks. And talks. And talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and keeps on talking, rarely letting anyone else get a word in edgewise.
The fact I often have issues with her statements just makes it harder to listen to. I don't mind hearing opinions I may not agree with, but at least give someone else a chance! I heard her on Monday night on Jim Richards' show in one of those panels and her answer to a question went on for at least 2 and a half minutes with almost no breath pauses. And God help you if you even attempt to interrupt her. It's almost as though her mantra is "everyone is entitled to my opinion."
The other issue is that she's constantly on. I remember about a week or so ago when she appeared on CFRB three separate times in the same day. Once on the morning Roundtable, later on the afternoon Rush and then again on Richards' show at night. Don't they have anyone else?
No offence meant to Ms. Babcock, but how about giving someone else a chance to say their piece? Now THAT would be something to talk about.
- laffin
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Re: The Talk Show Guests You'd Rather Not Hear
How ironic, thinking the same thing this morning after tolerating the Roundtable. God help you if you disagree with her.
- Walter
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I listen to Moore in the morning from about 8 to 9, but lately I have been changing to 640 when the 'Round Table' comes on. It's tired, rarely entertaining or informative, and has the same cast of contributors over and over. Richard (did you know I was a bartender?) Crouse never shuts up, and I'm not really interested in hearing what 1010's 'Traffic Specialist' has to say about current events.
- SpinningWheel
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Laura isn't the only one. Deb Hutton is another frequent flyer who I find tiresome. At least her hubby Tim Hudak has a sharp wit and a sense of humour. Most of the lineup is tired and old. They need to bring in new blood.
This morning's 8:45 segment was so bad that I abandoned ship after the beer store topic because everybody was saying the same thing, but just differently. That applied to the previous topic as well. And I don't think anyone mentioned a key issue with the government ending the Beer Store's which would be what the Hell will everyone do with their empty liquor, wine and beer containers when it's gone?
Last edited by SpinningWheel (November 14, 2023 12:05 pm)
- Chrisphen
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SpinningWheel wrote:
Laura isn't the only one. Deb Hutton is another frequent flyer who I find tiresome.
Hutton is downright wretched, but aside from that her continued prescience on Moore's merry sitdown is a bewildering ethical lapse. She was hired by former CFRB asset Doug Ford to be the 'tard guard for his regime and is still on air commenting on provincial government matters without disclosing it? Didn't Warren Kinsella get the axe from the station for doing the same thing?
- SpinningWheel
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Laura isn't the only one. Deb Hutton is another frequent flyer who I find tiresome.
Hutton is downright wretched, but aside from that her continued prescience on Moore's merry sitdown is a bewildering ethical lapse. She was hired by former CFRB asset Doug Ford to be the 'tard guard for his regime and is still on air commenting on provincial government matters without disclosing it? Didn't Warren Kinsella get the axe from the station for doing the same thing?
I wondered about her presence on 1010 when I read she'd been hired by Ford after the Greenbelt scandal to 'look for Greenbelt conflicts' by 'looking for landmines while helping political staff in the Ford government brush up on conflict of interest rules.' I agree with you. She shouldn't be on the air at all.
- newsguy1
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I believe Hutton was an advisor to Premier Mike Harris when he is alleged to have made the remark to "get the " fucking Indians out of the park" that led to the death of indigenous protester Dudley George.
My other least favourite guest who they use far too often is Lawyer Howard Levitt.
He is supposedly a labour law lawyer yet he hates unions to the point where I was listening to him a few years back when he boasted he could tell any employer how to bust a union in about ten minutes.
What kind of labour lawyer crows about his ability to destroy the other side, not negotiate with them?
Oh, and he also first made the news years ago when his brand new Ferrari got swamped in a flood the same day he bought it.
He was held up to ridicule as an idiot who was not smart enough to know that you don't drive under an expressway when all the weather reports call for flood warnings.
- Chrisphen
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I believe Hutton was an advisor to Premier Mike Harris when he is alleged to have made the remark to "get the " fucking Indians out of the park" that led to the death of indigenous protester Dudley George.
I wasn't going to note it, but if the organisation is looking to a clumsy-but-eager former enforcer in the Bund Harris Madel, they're in unrecoverable trouble.
- RadioActive
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Re: The Talk Show Guests You'd Rather Not Hear
I believe Hutton was an advisor to Premier Mike Harris when he is alleged to have made the remark to "get the " fucking Indians out of the park" that led to the death of indigenous protester Dudley George.
My other least favourite guest who they use far too often is Lawyer Howard Levitt.
He is supposedly a labour law lawyer yet he hates unions to the point where I was listening to him a few years back when he boasted he could tell any employer how to bust a union in about ten minutes.
What kind of labour lawyer crows about his ability to destroy the other side, not negotiate with them?
Oh, and he also first made the news years ago when his brand new Ferrari got swamped in a flood the same day he bought it.
He was held up to ridicule as an idiot who was not smart enough to know that you don't drive under an expressway when all the weather reports call for flood warnings.
To be fair to CFRB, Levitt is no longer on the station. I believe he appears only on AM640 now instead.
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Thread Starter- g121
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Re: The Talk Show Guests You'd Rather Not Hear
..
But sometimes you come across someone that simply rubs you the wrong way. And to me that person is Laura Babcock, a communications strategist who seems to be on NT1010 almost as often as the hosts of the shows themselves. She's a frequent flyer on their Roundtable segments.
My problem with Babcock is two-fold. First and most important is she simply never stops talking. I've actually started to time some of her answers in a discussion in which other guests are waiting for their chance to speak. And they have to wait, often a long time. A topic will come up and they'll ask her for comment. And she talks. And talks. And talks. And talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and keeps on talking, rarely letting anyone else get a word in edgewise.
...
...
...
Laura Babcock talks & talks & talks??? .. how about Mark Warner.
Babcock has often been paired with Mark Warner on Moore's Round-Tables .. & John Moore, on more than one occasion, has had to reprimand Mark Warner for not letting others speak and being belligerent, mocking & condescending. Warner is often quite long winded & meandering making his unclear points.
I'll take Ms. Babcock over Mark Warner any day of the week ..
- dieter
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Deb Hutton acted as the enforcer in Mike Harris's office, screaming at backbenchers who saw the lack of common sense in the Common Sense Revolution. To put it mildly, she was loathed by the caucus.
- Shorty Wave
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I say bring back Dave Trafford for the CFRB round tables, still not sure why they decided not to include him anymore, he was highly listenable, more so than most of their current pundits as you can see here!
- RadioActive
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There is an alternative if you hate one of the guests - at least in the morning. AM640's "Think Tank" - which is a clone of The Roundtable at 1010 - offers different pundits on the day's main stories.
Included among them: Stephanie Smyth, Ben Mulroney, Steve Paikin, and former Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, to name a few. You may not love all those names, either, but they're not on every day and if someone on 'RB bugs you, it's just a dial turn away.
It also starts at 7:35 AM and goes commercial free (I'm sure to blunt CFRB's segment) until 8 AM.
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Thread Starter- chrishch
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Deb Hutton is in for Jerry Agar. I guess it's time to go grocery shopping. 
Last edited by chrishch (November 15, 2023 10:59 am)
- AspectRatio
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I say bring back Dave Trafford for the CFRB round tables, still not sure why they decided not to include him anymore, he was highly listenable, more so than most of their current pundits as you can see here!
I know this link was posted over at , but easy to miss. No firm reasoning, but "hallway rumblings"/rumors is maybe his podcast startup network was seen as competition (for Bell's/iHeart's podcast app/presence)? Trafford speaks out on this starting at 1:57: