My ingenius plan to save the radio industry

Radio is in such a bad state these days. Other than 24-hour Christmas music, no station can really make an impact. Among the many things the industry needs to do to right itself is provide better programming. I was talking with my son, Matt recently, who is a big sports fan, and I came up with this BRILLIANT idea.

Oldies stations (excuse me – “Classic Rock” stations) are getting good ratings. Sports talk stations do okay. And every big league team in every major sport has a talk show dedicated to themselves. For eight years I co-hosted Dodger Talk.

So what if you combined the two formats?

Introducing, as an example, “Retro-Dodger Talk.”

Fans call in and argue over games that took place years ago. For “Retro-Dodger Talk” fans could call in and bitch about Tommy Lasorda not walking Jack Clark with first base open in the 1985 NLCS when Clark hit a pennant-winning home run for the Cardinals. Or last year’s World Series when manager Dave Roberts pulled starting pitcher Rich Hill after four innings of game two.

You’d never run out of topics. Why did the Dodgers trade Jose Offerman? Should Nate “Pee Wee” Oliver get sent back down to the minors for more seasoning? That game against the Chicago Cubs in June of 1965 when Ron Fairly was thrown out at the plate – should he have been held up at third base? Should the Dodgers trade Willie Davis after he dropped all those fly balls in the 1966 World Series?  Did umpire Jocko Conlon blow that call at second base in the 1962 Dodger-Pirate game at Forbes Field? 

24-hour a day grousing about things long in the past that nobody can do anything about and even if they could, so what? I smell a WINNER.

This is why radio needs more people like me. Retro-Dodger Talk or Retro-Hornets Talk could save the industry. You’re welcome.

from By Ken Levine