A little gratuitous background:  I go back to pre-repeal days in talk radio.  When I was just out of college, the station I worked for was getting criticism for having nothing but liberals on the air.  The general manager decided to put me on the air to stave off any Fairness-Doctrine-related complaints; he had so much confidence in my talent, he put me on between 2-4AM weekday mornings.  

After I left that job, I spent some time looking for another talk gig - but that was right about the time Rush Limbaugh broke nationwide.  Seemingly overnight, a zillion little stations in towns like New Bedford and Aurora and Santa Rose started putting on Limbaugh, instead of  24-year olds hungry for their first big break.  

And so I left the business (until Ed and I and a cast of other bloggers started another show in 2004 - which is another story).  

The point behind the nostalgia:  during Rush Limbaugh's 30+ year run, he and a few other superstars - Hannity, Glenn Beck and the like - sucked up a lot of the proverbial oxygen in the Talk Radio room.  And with Limbaugh gone, and the pool of new radio talent squeezed out for a couple of decades, who was going to carry the genre forward?

Bongino was one of them.  

Peter Thiele is a talk radio near-colleague of mine from way back when - one of a troupe of entry level people hired to replace the near-entry-level people who got laid off at a station in the Twin Cities in the '80s.  Unlike me, Thiele went on to bigger and better things in the industry, and is a respected executive.  

And he's got opinions about Bongino:

Bongino built a successful formula for many stations. I remember after Rush Limbaugh passed away; it was an uphill battle to grow that audience. Some stations are still rebuilding those ratings. Bongino’s exit will create ratings and revenue headwinds for many in our industry. If you are hiring a new host, are they there for themselves or for the station? Are you prepared to lose an important team member to the political class?

And about Bongino's departure and the chaos it's left at some affiliates:

There are stations across the USA who are picking up the pieces. The Spring ratings period is essentially lost. There will be a new show in Bongino’s place hosted by Vince Coglianese. Bongino’s departure will be negative for many people across our industry. We certainly don’t need this as an industry.

As we look for what is next, will the new host on your station filling Bongino’s void be there in 5 or 10 years? This is an important consideration. Don’t add a show that will be gone in 2 years. With spoken word formats, consistency is essential.

I'd urge you to read Peter's entire piece.  

And I'll add one thing to it:  as more of the titans of the industry, the Limbaughs and Becks and Dennis Pragers, pass away or scale back their efforts, they are being replaced, not by radio people, but by podcasters with content repurposed for broadcast.  

Which sounds like it makes sense - until you compare the output of a typical podcaster with someone like a Limbaugh or a Glenn Beck, or even a Hugh Hewitt, who came up through radio.   Listen to old Limbaugh episodes:  he gave the impression he was reaching through the airwaves and talking to you, whoever you were, wherever you were.   

Listen to the modern wave of repurposed podcasts; they often sound like they're talking to themselves, or each other.  

Thirty years ago, Rush Limbaugh led a conservative resurgence.  

Does anyone see conservative talk radio doing that today?