Phil Hendrie is known for his creative use of fictional characters on his programs – but when it comes to talking about the state of the radio industry, he is all reality.
“There are so many land mines to negotiate,” he said when asked what he would tell persons who want to break into talk radio. He adds bluntly, “You will have a very difficult time finding your own voice because you are told by the imbeciles that you need to be conservative or liberal.
“Why do you have to call yourself one thing or the other? I remember KMPC when it did talk and it would say it was talk radio for women. Why? You want a lot of listeners, why push others away. We need to be more than this finite thing,” he said.
Hendrie, 58, saw the handwriting on the wall and was smart to branch out beyond radio. Yes, he’s on KTLK/1150 AM live 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and repeated 1 to 3 a.m. weekdays, and on KFI/640 AM from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Talk Radio Network syndicates him nationwide. But he’s happiest with the success he has had – as his own boss – at his Internet site www.philhendrieshow.com. It offers podcasts, videocasts, webisodes, and his archived shows – all for a subscription fee. His business model is not only proving to be a success, it doesn’t rely on having to deal with corporate ownership.
Regarding a recent weekend gathering of broadcasters in Los Angeles, Hendrie said, “I looked out and saw a lot of young talent. But how many CEOs, general managers go to these things – zero. The real talent problem is the talent at the top, with the people running our industry. Do they ever show up at these conventions to hear about the mechanics, or do they just want to report back to stockholders?”
Reflecting a bit, Hendrie said, “Everybody has a radio. It is so pervasive. In an earthquake, the Internet is off, the radio is on. They (CEOs, general managers) can’t figure that out.”
Off the air, Hendrie finds pleasure in animation projects. He will be a regular guest star in the new animated series “Napoleon Dynamite,” coming to the Fox network in 2012.
“I go in, read the lines, I don’t have to memorize things. You do a table read with the other actors, and then you are scheduled for your recordings. I play a lot of different characters in the town Dynamite lives in. Animation is a beautiful thing. ‘The Simpsons’ is brilliantly written,” he said.
On radio, whom does Hendrie admire for their talent? Stephanie Miller and Rush Limbaugh come first to his mind. “Rush does a conservative talk show, but he really does it in a funny and entertaining way. That’s what I’m talking about. How you present it. Rush creates the theater of the mind,” he said. More info: www.philhendrie.com.
