Among the many lessons Bob Lassiter taught me was one about the nature of talk radio — a lesson that so many of its own participants seem never to have learned. He was talking one evening about the ardent liberals that identified him as one of their own, but who no longer called his show to tell him so and express their agreement, because he had bitterly disappointed them. He singled out one in particular, a woman from Clearwater named TJ.
"I've had calls from TJ begging and pleading with me," he said. "When I first came back to Tampa I was doing mornings over at WSUN. I mean it was hilarious and yet pathetic at the same time. There was poor old TJ on the phone — I'm over at SUN trying to do a morning show, and she wants me to listen to Rush Limbaugh every day and come in the following day on SUN and point-by-point go over what he said and correct him!"
He paused — Lassiter was a master of pacing. "This is not a battle between the forces of good and evil," he finally said. "It's radio. It's entertainment. Period."
Why are liberals so threatened by conservative talk radio? And vice versa? (Yes, I know that conservatives, especially those on radio, love to make fun of Air America and its ratings and financial troubles... hell, Neal Boortz feels a need to repeat any story, no matter how small, about Air America and its problems. But you know what, folks? They wouldn't make such a big deal about it if they weren't at least a little bit afraid of it.) I posit that it's because they believe the propaganda that both liberal and conservative radio personalities deliver about themselves: that they have the power to make a difference in political elections.
Balderdash. Rush Limbaugh, the all-important King of Talk Radio, the darling of the conservative publicity machine, would be ahead of everybody else on the radio if he'd made an impact of greater than five total votes. Air America Radio, the floundering liberal-talk outpost that conservatives love to trash (see above), had even less of an impact, of course. And guess what? Neither side's radio talking heads even have the potential to deliver any more votes for their candidate of choice.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Michael J. West: Telling lies that Blogcritics want to hear.
2 - Ozy
Sorry Mr. West no cigar. Please keep trying to kid those who listen to am talk day after day to work and home. Come back when you can back up your nonsense with fact and stats.
Good night and Good Luck!
3 - Clavos
Awww, c'mon Suss.
In your heart, you know he's right.
4 - Michael J. West
Ozy,
I really love to write comments to the effect of "What the Hell are you talking about?" but in your case I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about.
5 - Baronius
I don't think that talk radio can get someone elected, but it does have a long-term "get out the vote" impact. There was a sense of isolation among conservatives, pre-Limbaugh. That's gone.
6 - MCH
"So all of you on the left who are terribly upset by Rush Limbaugh and his fellow conservative talkers, their nationwide soapbox, and their subsequent influence on the electorate: forget it."
It's not so much that I'm upset by anything Rush Limbaugh does or says. Just that I'm painfully aware of the irony that a phoney draft dodger has been able to make a fortune pretending to be a patriot; while many of the real heroes (who couldn't afford to buy their way out of Vietnam) are living in cardboard boxes, haunted by never-ending nightmares....
7 - Michael J. West
There was a sense of isolation
among conservatives, pre-Limbaugh. That's gone.
It is certainly gone, Baronius, but I don't credit Limbaugh for that. Pre-Limbaugh, I assume, means before he was nationally syndicated--which was 1988. Pre-Limbaugh was the Reagan Years.
Did Limbaugh unite the conservative movement? Or did Reagan? The 1980 and 1984 voting statistics pretty much answer that question, IMO.
8 - Matthew T. Sussman
Head On! Apply directly to the forehead!
Head On! Apply directly to the forehead!
Head On! Apply directly to the forehead!
9 - Michael J. West
Yes, MCH, we are all aware of how you feel about the draft-dodging chickenhawks. Painfully aware, to use your phraseology. Many of us, as a matter of fact, wish you would fucking talk about something else for a change.
10 - Michael J. West
Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooo much, Mr. Sussman. Perhaps I should refer to you by your tribal name, He Who Has Editing Permissions And Yet Does Nothing To Fix Repeat Comments Except Make Fun Of Them.
11 - Clavos
Many of us, as a matter of fact, wish you would fucking talk about something else for a change.
Second...
12 - Bedford the Great
Actually, there was a internal Democrat poll a few years ago that got Tom Daschle cheesed because it said that Rush does indeed convert Dems into Republicans..
13 - Clavos
Turnabout:
Awww, c'mon, MJW. That was funny as hell!!
14 - Michael J. West
Got a source or a link for that, Bedford?
15 - Michael J. West
I'm not saying it wasn't funny, Clavos. I'm just observing...
16 - Matthew T. Sussman
MJW, you know I'm just givin' ya a good ribbing. Hell, not much else to do on a MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY
17 - Michael J. West
Oh, I know it Suss, I know. The only real crime here is that I'm still awake enough to bitch about anything.
18 - Samurai
"[R]eal heroes [...] are living in cardboard boxes, haunted by never-ending nightmares...."
HA HA! Living in cardboard boxes! Losers! I'm sorry, that just really cracked me up. Gave me a mental picture, you know, of some bum crouching in a urine-soaked box in an alleyway, looking paranoidly around and muttering to himself. Ahh...that's good stuff.
19 - Dave Nalle
Most people here on BC seem to operate on the inexplicable assumption that I'm a conservative. That said, I find myself listening to Air America more than Rush Limbaugh, because it's more entertaining to here people ranting about crazy shit than it is to hear someone plugging the same old party line.
I don't want to hear someone telling me something I already know. I'd rather hear a different perspective, even if it's flawed or a little wacky. What I find myself listening to most, of couse, is Neal Boortz, who doesn't toe the GOP party line and is a real independent thinker. He's hard on Bush and hard on the left and always provocative and entertaining. Second best IMO is Ring of Fire with RFK Jr. and Mike Papantonio. It usually has interesting topics. But it doesn't have the same crazy fanatic entertainment value of Randi Rhodes or Mike Malloy. They're all a better listen than Limbaugh, but even Limbaugh is better than Jerry Springer who's the radio equivalent of nembutol.
The point is that it all IS entertainment. And it gets the blood pumping even more when it's outrageous. You don't have to agree to enjoy it.
Dave
20 - Jet In Columbus
A sign of an intelligent mind is one that listens and learns from all viewpoints... bravo Dave Nalle Bravo
21 - Nancy
Those who DON'T listen to "the enemy" never know what the opposition is up to.
22 - Michael J. West
Listening to the enemy is one thing. Plenty of Limbaugh and Hannity's listeners are the people who hate them.
But Dave and Nancy, has there ever been even the slightest chance that those on-air personalities were going to sway your vote? Of course not. It's not designed to.
There's a website called Calling All Wingnuts that's dedicated to calling right-wing talk shows and challenging the things that its hosts say. Sometimes it's really interesting and amusing, but generally it's a waste of time; nobody's mind is going to be changed.
23 - Maurice
Great reading and great points, Michael. Much like religious factions will never presuade each other.
24 - Dave Nalle
I think an effective argument from a talk radio host can at least sway my viewpoint on a specific issue if not on who to vote for alltogether. Although I've always been for tax reform, I thought the Fair Tax was unworkably and sort of retarded until Neal Boortz explained it to me over and over again on the radio. I'm now more or less in support of it. But I doubt any of them are going to change my basic beliefs in some sort of sudden revelatory conversion experience. On the other hand, I think there ARE people out there who really aren't sure what they think - the Tabula Rasa element of the audience - and for them the ideas they encounter on the radio may be the first political ideas they ever consider, and they might be swayed by them.
Dave
25 - Michael J. West
I think an effective argument from a talk radio host can at least sway my viewpoint on a specific issue if not on who to vote for alltogether.
How many talk radio hosts make "effective arguments?" Boortz, and Lionel (who I would consider the left-leaning counterpart to Boortz), are extraordinarily rare exceptions, and even they are not really aimed at people who don't agree with them (although they both sometimes get blocks of callers who scream at 'em) -- most of the time they preach to the choir.
I think there ARE people out there who really aren't sure what they think - the Tabula Rasa element of the audience - and for them the ideas they encounter on the radio may be the first political ideas they ever consider, and they might be swayed by them.
In theory, maybe--but those people don't listen to political talk radio.