My review of talk show hosts in SVG

22.MAR.11

Editor: I have been doing a sort of review of the talk show hosts on radio in the country and I have decided to share my views about whom I consider to be the best and the worse ones. Topping my list of the best is Jomo Thomas, a lawyer and social commentator.{{more}} Jomo is informed and he conducts his programme in a neutral way, to the point where both ULP and NDP supporters take him to task. He allows no adverse comments, and he really drills down into the meat of the matter. Some guests on his programmes have been very uncomfortable because of this, but that is the nature of the show.

I am also impressed with Elson Crick, the communications consultant. He starts his programme by urging people to be clean in their comments, and says that he is only interested in the facts. He presents a lot of information related to the work of the government, but is not afraid to mix in the politics. I also like his choice of guests, even at one time entertaining Hugh Stewart, who really had nothing to say. I would place Elson Crick second on my list.

Burns Bonadie gets a high rating from me, but he has to learn to take more calls on his programme. I like Sehon Marshall, Nichola Evans and Hans King, but I find that at times they tend to be arrogant and they take criticism personally. You have to have a sense of balance as a talk show host.

The real dangerous ones are those who are not interested in the facts. They use words like “alleged” and “it may well be” and “I don’t know is people who say so” and the list goes on. People like Elwardo Lynch, Burt Francois, Junior Bacchus, and Matthew Thomas are in this group. Douglas De Freitas is especially dangerous. He begins his programme with all sorts of holiness, and then proceeds to bash people left right and centre. I find this amazing and it can’t be good.

The one talk show host I can’t understand is Chris Jones. He has a style which says “let’s drop a talk and see”. This is dangerous. He then says “I don’t know, somebody call me on this.” Well that opens your show to all sorts of ridiculous calls and reduces the effect of the programme.

There are some others who are trying, like Clem Ballah, Marlon Joseph, Curtis King, Desmond Arrindel and Kingsley De Freitas, along with the other political persons like Jerrol Thompson, Burton Willams and Edwin Snagg.

One thing is for sure, talk show radio programmes, especially since the days of the late Glen Jackson, have become the opinion leaders in the country, and we are going to have to pay special attention to them in the future.

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