Wednesday, February 11, 2015

TWIT: Why the Totaldrama's of the world ever existed...



It's fairly obvious at this point that TWIT has lost a lot of fan base.  With popular hosts exiting and shady personal dramas playing out in front of all those Canon G10's in the studio, it's been a wild 4 years.  The net result is a network short on talent and long on expenses.

Even Laporte's "The Tech Guy" radio show hasn't escaped the black cloud that hangs over the network.  Just in the past 6 months for example, the show has virtually disappeared from the Phoenix area. 

Dropped entirely from  station 1480 AM KPHX, the only area frequency the show is still heard is the relative backwater 1000 watt 1230AM KFYI.  A station better known for its "B-list" conservative talk-radio programming.  That may not seem like a big deal until you realize that the Phoenix market ranks 13 (of 272) in the most recent Nielsen Market rankings.

I've often said that perhaps the problem with TWIT is that we see too much of the sausage being made.  From poorly timed sexting messages exposing an illicit affair to the brutal dressing down of a fan favorite host, TWIT's transparency has had a large role in dismantling a facade that Laporte has spent a career nurturing.

Blame him, blame his so-called "CEO," blame whomever you want but the simple fact of the matter is that Laporte is blatantly fallible and unapologetically so.

So when the banner of wholesome, family friendly content is hoisted nobody is buying it anymore. 

Meaning TWIT's days are numbered.  Nobody likes to see the seedy underbelly of their heroes especially advertisers.

Which leads us to Totaldrama.org or more recently Totaldrama.eu...

It is (soon to be was) a site devoted exclusively to badgering the TWIT network and more specifically Laporte himself. 

Irreverent isn't an adequate enough adjective to describe the vitriol slung at TWIT by the site.  It chronicles every misstep, every crude remark and every gaff.

It fed a disgruntled fan base looking for an outlet but soon that outlet will be no more.  While entertaining, the site could never be accused of having much in the way of journalistic integrity.  Most recent posts were trending toward outright rants and insults based on little more than unsubstantiated personal opinion.

While it's true that controversy is far more popular than more thoughtful content on the web, it's not a sustainable business model.  Especially when the target of your attacks has a shrinking audience.

The failure of totaldrama.eu shouldn't be looked upon as a vindication of TWIT's current course, however.  TWIT's not gaining any fans and the shows continue to fall in the podcast rankings.  The simple truth is that it's far more likely that the failure of totaldrama.eu has far more to do with an apathy toward TWIT.


In short we just don't care anymore...

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