SABO SEZ: What Happened to Sex?
By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter M Sterling
WPHT, Philadelphia
Sterling Every Damn Night
Sterling on Sunday Syndicated, TMN
Talk radio has a long incredibly successful run of shows about sex.
SEX SELLS. What happened to shows on radio that talk about sex? In the olden days, numerous shows focused on sex and relationships. Traditionally, time liberates cultural tolerance of conversations about sexual intimacy. Television, films and print have progressed to broaden the variety of subjects welcomed by the audiences.
Our history was lusty:
Dr. Ruth Westheimer launched on WYNY-FM, New York in 1980 on Sunday nights for 15 minutes. She read letters on the air. Quickly the show progressed to one, then two hours taking live phone calls. GM Dan Griffin never blinked. The station was owned by NBC/RCA, which housed the original standards and practices department, a department, not a deeply disliked single corporate attorney. Every week NBC Standards visited my office (I was the EVP in charge of the division not some hack from finance) and Dan Griffin’s office. We invited Standards to share their concerns with Dr. Ruth directly. She was 4’11”, had two bullet wounds in her legs from fighting for the Israeli Army, and two PhDs. That suggestion sent the censors back to their martinis.
After one year, Dr. Ruth, a radio star, was on the cover of PEOPLE and represented by William Morris Talent.
To this day, no one has achieved a higher share of 18–34-year-olds than Dr. Ruth on WYNY. Dr. Ruth was brought to WYNY by Betty Elam and Mitch Lebe. We told Dr. Ruth to say “blow jobs” and “vagina” as often as possible.
Sally Jesse Raphael hosted a show on NBC Talknet for 14 years. Sally’s was a national show about personal relationships and sex. Previously, she had won audience shares on local stations, WMCA, New York and WIOD, Miami. Then she launched 19 years of success on TV talking about relationships and sex!
Dr. Judy Kurianski, Dr. Toni Grant, and Dr. Laura Schlesinger were major, highly paid stars from discussing sex and relationships in highly entertaining shows.
Many top talk stations added relationship shows to their schedule hosted by skilled broadcasters such as on WRKO, Boston’s “Two Chicks Dishing,” Mary Walter on New Jersey 101.5, and Erin Sommers on WTKS, Orlando… “A lot of my friends who don’t like anal sex really enjoy rimming.” Number 1 men 18-34 first book. And, of course, the legendary morning stars such as Bubba the Love Sponge, Steve Dahl, Stevens and Pruitt, and the king, Howard Stern.
Oh, and please no nonsense about advertiser sensitivity to sex talk. Brands are spending billions on “influencers” whose videos run next to images of extreme sex acts and TV shows celebrating drugs, nudity and other good stuff.
Sex talk equals women ratings, younger ratings, engaged listens. This one’s easy.
Walter Sabo has been a C-Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General, and many other leading media outlets. His company, HITVIEWS, in 2007, was the first to identify and monetize video influencers. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com. He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.
lineup anchored by Shannon Burke (PM drive) and Bubba the Love Sponge (AM drive), and will welcome Panama City’s own Brian Rust to the network as the new 9:00 am to 12:00 noon host. JVC CEO John Caracciolo says, “This is more than a format flip; it’s a statement. By bringing WYOO into the Florida Man Radio Network, we’ve created a single, dominant talk radio platform that spans from Pensacola through Panama City and beyond. The Florida Panhandle is one of the most politically engaged and conservative regions in the country. This move allows us to deliver content that speaks directly to the values, voice, and lifestyle of real Floridians.”
market (fed by WXUS-HD3). Florida Man Radio continues to air on WZLB-FM, Fort Walton Beach. The programming includes Bubba the Love Sponge in morning drive, Don Miller in middays, and Shannon Burke in afternoon drive. JVC president and CEO John Caracciolo says, “Programming like FMR is what makes terrestrial radio relevant and strong. We have to dare to be different and produce content that drives listeners to our platform and that entertains, educates and sometimes just makes us laugh out loud. The vision of a locally based talk station that isn’t afraid to confront the big topics while not taking itself too seriously, screams the mantra of JVC. We need to keep live and local radio working for our clients and listeners.”
Talk show talent, program directors, show producers and broadcast business decision-makers represent the core readership of this publication. Sometimes we are so close to something that we fail to see it for what it really is. That is the case of the “talk show host” in American radio. Michael Harrison refers to the often-shameless targeting of audiences as “the daily dance of affirmation.” I view the daily process of radio talk show hosting at its very core, as “the daily dance of freedom.”