man of few opinions wrote:
Back in the days of caller-driven shows it wasn't the quality of the callers or the quality of whatever meatball-ish point they were trying to make that mattered. It was the hosts ability to take what the caller was saying, process it, and have an entertaining give-and-take with the caller that mattered. The callers didn't get worse over time (they often had head-scratching takes from day 1), the hosts ability or willingness to work with callers is what got worse. The hosts turned on the callers, eventually refused to take them because it was hard work having to interact and heaven forbid be challenged, and we entered the age of the sports radio monologue, which is much easier, lazier radio, or what they refer to as "Smart Radio" where they lecture the listeners on the topics of the day.
What shows are sports monologues? Even the most successful single host shows of the last decade, Patrick and Lebatard, had multiple producers chiming in. A better description of today's show is two hosts having a sports conversation with input from producers with sprinkled in interviews. I don't disagree about how you described the back-in-the-day, caller-driven shows but I personally don't care for that style. Don't you think these radio stations have researched what their listeners prefer? Obviously, there are vocal members here who prefer the 90s style Score but if the majority of listeners felt that way wouldn't sports radio stations cater to that preference?