So, what's up with KHVH?

[Leo Lakio]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

EVERY TIME I've made it online, never once was I screen out.

'Cause you somebody, ah?

[Media Guy]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Ron, seriously.
If you don't like the programming during the day don't listen. The owners will program however they like, and whatever pays the bills.
KHVH isn't public broadcasting, it's owned by a corporation. Until people stop listening in droves and advertising revenue falls to unacceptable levels, complaining isn't going to change anything, unless it's a huge amount of complaining by the listening audience.
KHVH has its niche audience and those listeners like it. That's who KHVH catering to, and the advertising dollars justify it. AM radio isn't driven by ratings as much as by advertising revenue. Conservative radio is supported very well by small and mid-market business.
I don't like the programming, so I don't listen.
Maybe you should consider starting counter programming. Buy time on KKKEA or KUMU am.

[timkona]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Air America failed for the same reason that Obama is gonna lose.

Joe King nailed it.

[Media Guy]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Air America failed for the same reason that Obama is gonna lose.

Joe King nailed it.

Not quite sure I get the connection and it's really off subject, but as far as the election goes, we only have another week to see.
Personally, I think the idiot currently in the White House has made it nearly impossible for McCain and most other republicans in this election cycle. We'll all find out Nov. 4 one way or the other.
Plus, if McCain wins, what would conservative radio have talk about for the next four year? Think about it. Could be very bad for ratings.

[tutusue]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Not quite sure I get the connection and it's really off subject,[...]

Well, ya see, the threads where TK's response is on topic, he's in the minority...big time minority. So, it's no fun there!

[Ron Whitfield]

Ahem, is the microphone on?

I do not listen to KHVH during the day. I listen to HPR.
I'm not a glutton for punishment. I get PO'd enuf with republicans in normal daily life, without searching for it.
Paying the bills? With the daytime ratings now dropping substantially, it ain't covering much. Only the advertising and Coast To Coast is saving their tails now. Unless they are die hard dead enders to the republican machine, then management must be rethinking the format.

Calling in: you may get in, but you counter what they are preaching and you won't get much air time. Mike Buck, especially, will turn your volume down, talk over you and belittle what you say, and then say he didn't/doesn't, just like his buddy Non Hannity.

The only thing Joe King has nailed down so far is the coffin lid to McPalin's 2008 bid.
Al Franken's air time was great radio, will be a great politician, and hopefully, president.

[mel]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

1. Conservative talk radio has been successful since Rush Limbaugh hit the airwaves in national syndication 1988. Many other talk show hosts have duplicated his success to various degrees.

2. Talk radio on both sides of the political fence have survived and will survive the changing political landscape. Always has and always will. It just seems that on the commercial end of things, conservative talk is more successful than liberal talk. Liberal talk has its home on Public Radio where it seems to thrive.

3. Conservative talk thrives during tenures of both Democrat and Republican Presidential administrations. No administration has been perfect. Every administration since conservative talk radio took off has had its flaws which gave talk show hosts something to talk about. I think this is good.

4. Locally Rick Hamada's morning talk show on KHVH radio has been on the air in some form since (I think) 1996 and has weathered both the Clinton and Bush administrations, as well as local administrations of Governor and Mayor. Not to mention ever changing legislatures and city councils.

5. Hamada has drawing power and I think he has one of the older radio shows in this town that has stayed on the same station for a long time. Perhaps there are older shows on the ethnic stations such as KNDI. KSSK's Perry & Price is the oldest and longest running (25+ years) local morning show on commercial radio. All are successful and will remain so as long as audiences keep on listening the show hosts keep on doing those programs.

6. Whether it is a McCain or an Obama administration, I think for the time being, Hamada will keep on going. There will be a lot for him to talk about and the same, loyal audience will stick around.

7. While the ratings for KHVH have fluctuated for the past year, it has continued to maintain itself as the market leader in the talk radio format for Honolulu.

8. Keep in mind that parts of KHVH's day broadcast is time brokered during the Rick Hamada as well as the Mike Buck shows. For example, the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce has a 1/2 hour time block once a week on Hamada. They pay for that entire block of programming. Ditto for the City & County of Honolulu I think. They have a mostly pro-rail time block once a week on Mike Buck's show. Mike Buck brings in a lot of bucks to the station as he has several other time brokered blocks of programs within his weekday show.

9. I don't know if the station is profitable, but they certainly know how to bring in the revenue (and listeners) with their blocked programs not only during the weekdays, but also on the weekends too.

10. With more than 25 stations on the FM dial and 20 stations on the AM dial in the Honolulu market, there is certainly room for some station down the line to change their programming eventually to accommodate a possible all liberal talk show format again. It could happen and if it does, I hope for the sake of that station, that there is a market to support it.

11. There are a lot of liberal talk and subjects available not only on Hawaii Public Radio, but also on the internet. If you have iTunes alone, there are dozens of talk radio stations in the "radio" tab of the service. Many have the same conservative talk show hosts, others lean to the left and bill themselves as "progressive." Many more probably exist on the web itself and other streaming services that I may not be familiar with.

12. Lastly there are podcasts. And there are PLENTY of them to keep you away from traditional radio practically forever. Just do a search on iTunes (under the Podcasts section of the iTunes store) or on the web. Progressive and liberal talk shows as well as hundreds and perhaps thousands of blogs that target that demo are out there. They are on the verge of exploding and becoming mainstream more so as people move to internet delivery in greater numbers.

It's a forever changing landscape and with all the media choices we have, there is room for everybody.

[Joe King]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Great post Mel.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

1. Conservative talk radio has been successful since Rush Limbaugh hit the airwaves in national syndication 1988. Many other talk show hosts have duplicated his success to various degrees.

3. Conservative talk thrives during tenures of both Democrat and Republican Presidential administrations. No administration has been perfect. Every administration since conservative talk radio took off has had its flaws which gave talk show hosts something to talk about. I think this is good.

On these points, I have to heartily agree. Conservative talk certainly didn't vanish during the Bush years.

2. --- Liberal talk has its home on Public Radio where it seems to thrive.

But I must disagree here. Public radio, while clearly having more of a left-leaning perspective in its presentation of topics, doesn't really go in for "liberal talk radio" in the same sense as conservatives. (Perhaps there is a local program on HPR that does so, I don't know.)

Air America was, of course, a commercial operation, and I just don't think "talk radio" from the left side could ever be as popular as it is from the right; that angry, flatulent fury and constant complaining style just isn't a hallmark of liberal discussion - and when lefties try to do it, it just makes most of us cringe. We'd rather leave the gnashing and weeping to the other wing.

[mel]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Leo, in hindsight perhaps NPR is not that far left leaning as I initially painted it to be. Perhaps they are more in the middle but still skew left... but not very far.

As for conservative talk, well I guess the complaining style is to radio what maybe shows like Jerry Springer is to TV. They are successful and attract a certain niche. And for bottom line station owners and advertisers, that is all that matters... a loyal niche that listens and spends their money on sponsor messages.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Right you are, Mel, right you are. (Pun intended, too.)

That's why it's "commercial" broadcasting. If there's a large-enough audience for something, the free market will allow it to flourish. If you or I don't like it, we won't be part of that audience. Rush Limbaugh is successful because there are enough people who agree with something (if not everything) he says - I have no wish to remove him from the airwaves, just because he doesn't resonate with me. Where would that kind of censorship stop?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

As one of Rick Hamada's earlier show producers, I can attest that we did screen calls, however it was just to keep the ones that have problems with keeping their language clean from going over the airwaves (FCC rules against swearing)

Rick's show is also very feature-ladened with news, weather, traffic reports, commercials and other short entertainment clips that out of an hour of programming he may only get in 20-minutes of actual airtime, hence callers will be cut off if they run long-winded or veer off topic as some do.

Another issue is the fact that his local show runs along with satellite syndicated news at the top of the hour so if a caller runs long he will cut them off in order to make the top of the hour ID and segue into national news that has to hit on the second.

And I wouldn't wait until Nov 4 to see any changes in conservative talk programming. If Obama does win, that's job security for both Rush and Rick as there would be more to talk about. Either way ratings prove that conservative talk radio programming is a boon for talk radio and liberal talk radio programming can't seem to keep itself profitable. Even HPR has to bend with the economic reality of who their sponsors are that keeps the lights on and the transmitters running.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Air America was, of course, a commercial operation, and I just don't think "talk radio" from the left side could ever be as popular as it is from the right; that angry, flatulent fury and constant complaining style just isn't a hallmark of liberal discussion - and when lefties try to do it, it just makes most of us cringe.

For whatever reason, liberal talk show hosts who have a flair for sharp rhetoric and biting commentary tend not to have a long shelf life like their conservative counterparts. The likes of Al Franken and Randi Rhodes have, alas, given way to the more thoughtful and erudite personalities of Rachel Maddow and Mark Green on the Air America network.

Of course, when Rush started out, there was no FOX news. I think what started the conservative radio talk show trend in the late 1980s was a frustration among right-leaning voters who perceived that the broadcast news outlets of the time (NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN) were all liberally biased and that it was through shows hosted by Rush, Gordon Liddy, and Michael Reagan that they could vent their views.

The advent of FOX news in the mid-1990s had a significant impact on conservative talk radio. To maintain their audience, hosts started heating up the rhetoric as it was no longer enough to simply discuss news stories with a conservative slant. While this has caused some of the intellectual conservatives to tune out, it has appealed to the evangelicals and the "Joe Six Pack" types who are so enamoured of politicians like Sarah Palin.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

I used to watch Rush's syndicated tv show in the early 90's because even though I cannot stand the guy and still don't like him he was new on the scene and I wanted to hear what he had to say. I'll never forget in November 1992 after Clinton defeated Senior Bush, Rush came on air and practically threw a celebration and party because he knew he would have plenty of material to go and attack Clinton for several years, it was almost as if having a Democrat in office helped him with his media thrust into the national scene. I don't remember how much longer his syndicated tv show lasted, but of course he has still been going strong on radio and probably always will.

Aj

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: So, what's up with KHVH?

Rush wouldn't care if he was the only person left on the planet, just as long as he got paid.

Those who listen to Hamada, Buck, and the Saturday night guy, did you ever notice that when they have somebody waiting on the line that is not pro-whatever they're for, they get held off air until just before it's nearly time to cut to break, and then after a few moments of interupting and talking over them, it's "sorry, but we gotta go" and then they slag them...?
No class.

NPR get's the liberal tag by righty's who simply don't like the fact that they aren't in the tank for BushCo and used to actually do investigative reporting into serious matters the right are guilty of. Cry-babies that eventually got their way when NPR caved in to Bush's goons a couple of years ago.

Yes, fortunately there are plenty of other things to pay attention to that give realistic views of the issues, dispite constant efforts by the right to stifle as much as they can.