Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995                   TAG: 9507060017
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LIBERAL MANTRAS

``It gets tiresome to listen only to myself,'' said Cuomo at the start of the show, carried on a measly 20 stations ``coast to coast across four time zones.'' I feel your pain, Governor.

In Washington, Cuomo's show was tape-delayed. The station manager there chose to carry a repeat of Rush Limbaugh (who is on more than 660 stations and is interesting, entertaining and informative) to Cuomo live. It was a wise decision.

How bad was this show? Technically it was so bad that Cuomo twice disconnected Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole. Intellectually it was so bad that on the few occasions he was not berating himself about what a poor job he was doing, he chanted the predictable liberal mantras that people can't be expected to know everything about issues (implying that is why we need politicians) and that we shouldn't cut taxes while we have a deficit (ignoring that we have a deficit because liberal spending always exceeds revenue, no matter how high the taxes).

And he was so bad as entertainment, not even a roster of prerecorded big names could save him. Barbara Walters re-created her 1977 fawning line to Jimmy Carter (``Be good to us, Mr. President'') when she said, ``You should be giving us lessons; tell us how to be good in radio.''

``I admire you greatly,'' worshiped Dan Rather on tape. This from a guy who once told President and Mrs. Clinton he hoped he and Connie Chung could be as successful as co-anchors as the Clintons have been as co-presidents.

``You're going to be great,'' gushed Sally Jesse Raphael, whose idea of greatness apparently is getting a woman to talk about sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend. Ed Bradley of CBS advised Cuomo to avoid dead air. He didn't listen.

``I'm not sure how good I'm going to be,'' said Cuomo. I am.

Cuomo's entry into talk radio is supposed to signal a comeback for liberals. They've reasoned that conservatives like Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy have succeeded because they tell unsophisticated morons what and how to think. Getting some liberal heavy-hitters on the air would change things.

It's not going to work, not only because Cuomo is less competent in radio than he was as governor, but because liberals are bankrupt of ideas.

Some advice from an experienced broadcaster, Governor. When hosting a show, you have to set the agenda. You don't ask listeners what they want to talk about. You tell them what you want to discuss, you give them your position, and then you take calls from people who agree or disagree. And don't cut them off. In the case of crank callers (such as the one who said ``ba-ba-booey'' and forced you into a silly discussion with yourself on the meaning of ba-ba-booey), you need some one-liners ready to dispatch them with humor and resolve. Either that or get a seven-second delay device that allows your call-screener to dump them before they get on the air.

So far, liberal talk-radio is a bust. Conservatives created talk-radio networks when their ideas and values were excluded or put down by the big guys in the liberal media. Conservatives connect with Limbaugh and Liddy because they speak about issues conservatives are interested in. Cuomo's unsure stance about almost everything is a perfect metaphor for what ails the Democrats. For those Democrats leaving office after the next election, I would advise career choices other than talk radio.

``After a while we'll get very good at this, I hope,'' said Cuomo following one technical glitch. That day is unlikely to arrive before this show is canceled due to lack of interest.

- Los Angeles Times Syndicate