Healthy Dose of Notoriety Not Bad for Talk Show Hosts

By JESSE NOYES

A felony conviction? Pshaw!

That little resume blemish won’t hurt former House speaker Thomas Finneran’s chances of landing a plum gig hosting the morning drive- time slot on Boston talk station WRKO.

A little bit of scandal might just be his ticket onto the radio dial.

In fact, Finneran, who is being hotly pursued by WRKO-AM (680) owner Entercom Communications, would join a long list of high- profile personalities that leveraged their checkered pasts into talk radio jobs.

Take, for example, Peter Blute, who had a show on WRKO and still broadcasts on WCRN-AM (830) after getting tossed as head of Massport when the Herald caught him taking a booze cruise on the taxpayers’ dime.

Or G. Gordon Liddy, who went from serving nearly five years in prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal to host a syndicated radio show.

Then there’s Roger Hedgecock, the former mayor of San Diego, who once faced numerous felony charges and now has a high-rated show on KOGO in California.

And don’t forget Jerry Springer. Despite admitting to once hiring a prostitute, Springer has gone from politician to radio and television talk show host (and possibly back again).

Oliver North, infamous for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, followed that up with a syndicated radio program and now works for the Fox News Channel.

Mike Barnicle, who left The Boston Globe in the midst of a plagarism scandal, still holds a morning slot on WTKK-FM (96.9). He’s also continued to work as a columnist, including for the Herald, after departing the Globe.

"This has become a pattern in recent years," said Michael C. Keith, a professor at Boston College and the author of several books on the radio industry. "(Talk radio) seems to be where these people can go to after getting in trouble."

For many public figures with tarnished records, talk radio provides a loud forum to improve their images, Keith said. And talk stations, fighting in a crowded marketplace, often are happy to bring them on board.

"I think these people are looking for some sort of a venue to help them, in a sense, gain back some of their lost luster," Keith said. "Also these people have generated a huge amount of press and bring a lot of that audience with them."

After all, controversy is talk radio’s stock and trade.

"In this kind of talk radio you’re looking for high-profile people who are going to be lightning rods often," said Tom Taylor, editor of industry newsletter Inside Radio. "The fact that they have had some scrapes may even make them more interesting."

And the truth is, the radio listeners eat it up.

People want to hear about foibles and scandals, radio experts say. The trick is – and it’s one Finneran will have to master should he go the talk radio route – turning initially curious listeners into longterm fans.

"We’re a `National Enquirer’ culture. We’re a culture of scandal and gossip," said Donna Halper, a local consultant and radio historian. "I completely understand why a radio station, particularly a radio station that would have some ratings decline, would try to capitalize on a scandal."

"It may get you a temporary bit of notoriety and even some temporary ratings," she added. "But how many times are people going to listen to someone just based on `ooh, they were in a scandal?’ "

Now that Finneran has accepted a guilty plea for obstruction of justice, his future in radio depends on his nailing a deal with Entercom. After that, he’d have to turn on the charm and keep people tuning in.

"Everybody has one good show in them," said Bruce Mittman, president of Newton marketing firm Mittcom and the owner of a small group of radio stations in New York. Mittman doesn’t necessarily see a correlation between having a scandalous past and getting a radio show.

But he does think "controversial people tend to make for good radio."

And a federal conviction? It couldn’t hurt.

(c) 2007 Boston Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.