NBC Talknet
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Type | Radio network |
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Country | |
Ownership | |
Owner |
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History | |
Launch date | November 2, 1981 |
Closed |
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Coverage | |
Availability | Most of the United States |
Affiliates | 31 upon launch |
NBC Talknet was a nighttime
. At a time when talk radio was a mostly local format, Talknet, among similar services, brought the format to a national level.History
Prior to the late 1970s, AM radio was still largely dominated by all-music formats. Many individual radio stations had introduced some talk programming to their lineups, but it was almost universally locally produced. The concept of national talk radio, broadcast over a radio network, had not been tried. In 1975, Herb Jepko pioneered the first nationwide late-night call-in radio program heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Jepko was briefly succeeded on Mutual by Long John Nebel and Candy Jones in 1977. In January 1978, Larry King began broadcasting six hours of talk programming nightly on Mutual; King's program rapidly gained a large following, and his success proved to radio programmers that there was an audience for both late-night talk programming and national talk radio programming. NBC and ABC were quick to follow Mutual into the late-night talk radio market. ABC launched a nightly block of programming called TalkRadio and NBC launched Talknet.
Programming
At the time when Talknet was introduced, the
Talknet premiered on 21 stations nationwide on Monday, November 2, 1981. Early affiliates included WRC Washington; WIOD Miami; KXL Portland, Oregon; WJW Cleveland; KFBK Sacramento; WLW Cincinnati; KOB Albuquerque; WDAY Fargo; WOOD Grand Rapids; WCAR Detroit; and WSTV Steubenville, Ohio. Maurice Tunick was creator and executive producer.
- Tunick: "I came up with the name 'Talknet' and created and developed the 'Dear Abby' format for Sally Jessy Raphael which I tested earlier that year on NBC's WRC in Washington D.C. Prior to Talknet the only radio advice shows were hosted by clinical psychologists. My idea for Sally was 'a friend.' Over the back fence advice. Someone to talk to, someone who cares (as the theme music said). A daring, revolutionary idea at the time. Sally was a well-traveled but unknown broadcaster at the time. Sally's TV show would start a couple of years later (1983), a direct result of her Talknet success. Much forgotten is that Bruce Williams originally aired at 10 PM Eastern to Midnight, and Sally Jessy Raphael aired Midnight to 3 AM Eastern time. That quickly changed, I'm not sure how long, maybe a couple of months, to 7-10 PM and 10-1 AM. The shows were a hit out of the box and stations asked for earlier feed time. Weekend programming was added a year later with Bernard Meltzer and Dr. Harvey Ruben."
Bruce Williams answered questions from listeners on issues related to money, personal finance, investments, business, and other similar topics.
On December 5, 1982, Williams crashed while attempting to land his airplane in Princeton, New Jersey. Tunick: "He was critically injured and nearly clinically dead when he arrived at the Medical Center of Princeton. One week later Bruce was back on the air from his hospital room and did his show from there for a week before he was released and originated his program from home for the next three months. We were told at the time this was the first national radio show to originate from a hospital." (Williams later said he was in a coma for 20 days following the crash, making his return to radio more like a month after the crash.)
Williams was a tentpole of the Talknet lineup and continued with the service until its demise. Raphael, however, remained as host for a total of six years, from 1981-1987. Following her departure, several other hosts filled the 10 p.m.-1 a.m. slot, dispensing personal and relationship advice. These included Myrna Lamb, Lee Mirabal, Dara Welles and Neil Myers.
Bruce Williams retired from broadcasting on March 29, 2013.
Demise
Tunick: "I left Talknet in late 1985 after being recruited by
In 1986, NBC, along with its parent company,
Bruce Williams remained with Westwood One hosting his own individual program from 7-10 p.m. for some years more, but eventually moved to the Talk America Radio Network (then owned by IDT) on June 25, 2001, and later Business Talk Radio Network until 2008. From 2008 to 2010, he self-syndicated the show, which included a relay on the Sirius-XM channel also called "
Raphael focused her efforts on television, but after her TV show was canceled, relaunched her show as "Sally JR's Open House", originally an Internet-only effort, but later transferred to radio syndication. Raphael's last radio show aired July 7, 2008.
See also
References
- ^ Langer, Emily; Fisher, Marc (November 15, 2022). "Jim Bohannon, fixture of late-night radio, dies at 78". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2023.