As if talk radio didn’t have enough problems, the format’s heart and soul are now under attack from within. 

In the December/January issue of the trade publication Talkers,  consultant Holland Cooke announced the death of the talk radio star – a victim, he believes, of the new interactive media, where people want to buzz amongst themselves rather than “being talked at.”

“Self-congratulatory naivete that ’listeners tune in to hear compelling hosts’ is bankrupt,” he wrote.

Mr. Cooke’s answer to this supposed crisis: talk hosts should just kick back and answer the phones. ”Make callers the show,” Mr. Cooke advises. “As talent your value is topic and technique.  Conceive, conduct and barely control the conversation. Don’t dominate it.”

This is not a new idea.  Many programs use this formula.  They are called “bad talk shows” — meandering affairs that don’t engage the listener and generally have weak ratings.  They often get replaced by better syndicated programming.

Mr. Cooke isn’t the only one challenging the Cult of Personality.  In recent years, I’ve heard numerous radio managers (including programmers) complain about how a particular host “only talks about what he cares about” or “doesn’t take enough calls” or, my personal favorite, ”is too opinionated.” ( WBT-AM in Charlotte recently replaced a very opinionated afternoon host with a show that sounds like a cross between a high school civics class and a city council subcommittee meeting.)  I have even heard such complaints about Rush Limbaugh.  I wish I was kidding, but I’m not.  

I suspect much of the backlash against personality stems from fear.  There are lots of bogeymen out there.  Mr. Cooke is one of many who are reasonably concerned about how talk radio will fare as consumers are handed more and more digital entertainment/communications options — especially in-car diversions.  Others are spooked by the weak economy and/or political correctness. Nobody wants to lose their job because of a lost client or offended interest group.  This problem is made worse by the fact many talk stations are now overseen by PDs and/or GMs with no format experience; who have never truly understood talk’s power, and are uncomfortable with the controversy it unfailingly generates.  But if this mentality takes hold, it will be devastating to talk radio’s future.  A generation of  hosts taught to simply juggle calls will be as thin as the wave of music jocks raised to “just read the liner card.”

Interactive media is here to stay, and there are things radio can learn from it.  But that doesn’t mean radio must ape its every move.  On the contrary, the medium must play to its own strengths — just as it did when television arrived.

 Personality — compelling personality – does indeed drive good talk radio.  Radio has a unique ability to build strong intimate bonds between listeners and hosts.  The best talents  offer a unique world view delivered with openness, honesty, passion and bravery.  Listeners, in return, come to know,  love and trust radio talkers like no other media figures.  As money talker Dave Ramsey told a group of radio sellers and clients a few months ago, “[Listeners] do what we tell them to do.  In fact, it’s sometimes scary how much they listen to us.” 

He wasn’t bragging.  He was in genuine awe.

You don’t get that kind of influence by just answering the phones.  You get it by having a take and, well, you know the rest.