Sound Off Like You Got a Pair
I just realized, in my previous thousand word post about the firing of John Wodele, I forgot to comment on the firing of John Wodele.
In short, KSTP’s dismissal of him is a good thing, a necessary thing, and an inevitable thing (in the context of free market economics). Despite Wodele’s attempts to blame the listeners for not liking him, because he was supposedly too moderate and reasonable, his failures as a broadcaster come down to more elemental matters.
First, he had a lousy voice. His natural tone comes off as prissy and uptight. Plus, his delivery always sounded like he was being sanctimonious and had a subtext of “how dare you!” but in a limp dishrag, pouting sort of way. Worse yet, his cadence sounded like it was developed through years of working for various government bureaucracies and public relations gigs (and what do you know - it was!). He sounded officious and condescending and scolding, even when he was talking about traffic. And there’s nothing worse than hearing East I-94 is backed up to Snelling, then being made to feel that somehow it’s your fault.
Wodele’s vocal inadequacies alone were probably enough to get him dismissed. A station like KSTP has to worry about ratings and employing a voice the audience finds grating is a sure loser. This is not the case for a station that doesn’t care if it has listeners or not (because of government subsidy). Anyone familiar with Carl Kasell on NPR reading the news with what sounds like a mouth filled with vinegar soaked cotton balls knows what I‘m talking about.
But beyond his pipes, the substance of Wodele’s comments only added to his problems. The main issue wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t as conservative as the audience. Although this is true, Wodele could fairly be considered a moderate Democrat in his orientation.
The main problem is that Wodele was never comfortable in the persona he adopted for the radio. He never came out and honestly presented himself for who he was. Instead he tried to emphasize whatever mildly conservative positions he had and tried to gloss over his dominant liberal orientation. This resulted in him not being able to articulately support his purported conservative beliefs (because, I suspect, he hadn’t thought much about them and didn’t really care to).
Furthermore, his liberal opinions would often times slip out in unintended ways. Not during his prepared remarks or planned soliloquies. Rather, during a conversation with a guest or caller, he’d make statements that put him more in line with Dennis Kucinich than Dennis Hastert. Then the caller or guest would challenge him on these remarks, and typically Wodele would get flustered, start making excuses, then ultimately retreat to the position that the callers were being mean to him and they should stop it.
Inevitably that’s how these situations would be resolved. Not with frank and complete exchange of ideas, but with Wodele whining that he was being treated unfairly, so they should stop the conversation. Both him and his partner Mark O’Connell would laugh about how hard the callers were being on him, only because Wodele was unable, or unwilling, to defend himself. They even started using a caller’s comment “Wodele, you’re killing me!” as the sounder whenever a call like this came in (which, towards the end was about once an hour).
It would have been better for John Wodele if he would have been brave enough to present himself for who he was. And if he indeed was intelligent, principled, and able to communicate the liberal position effectively and in an entertaining manner, there’s a good chance he would have succeeded at KSTP.
But, ultimately, Wodele added no value to the broadcast, other than as a figure of justifiable ridicule for the audience. Which is OK for a third or fourth wheel on the show, but it’s not acceptable for one of the supposedly dominant personalities. Therefore, he had to get the axe, and so he did. Feels like market justice to me.
