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Right Wing Talk Radio and How To End It

Here’s an interesting article to ponder today.

The Center for American Progress and Free Press today released the first-of-its-kind statistical analysis of the political make-up of talk radio in the United States. It confirms that talk radio, one of the most widely used media formats in America, is dominated almost exclusively by conservatives.

The new report — entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” — raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.

While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, right-wing talk reigns supreme on America’s airwaves. Some key findings:

  • – In the spring of 2007, of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners, 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive.
  • – Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk — 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.
  • – 76 percent of the news/talk programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive.

    • I don’t know about you but I’m not a big radio listener. If I’m making a short trip to the store or the doctor’s office I’ll probably have the local talk radio station on, but if I’m going on a trip of any extended driving time I put in a few CDs and listen to them.

    If people are upset about conservative talk radio they need to realize these shows wouldn’t be on if they didn’t have the listeners to make them profitable.

    I think Air America is still on the air, but it seems people would rather listen to the conservative shows for whatever reason than the liberal shows.

    If someone doesn’t like it they should see how many people of like mind they can persuade to contact the radio stations to offer an alternative.

    We don’t need more regulation.

    Written by ~J~

    9 Responses to “Right Wing Talk Radio and How To End It”

    1. Ayschlay Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 10:34 am
      Visit Ayschlay

      Yes, Air America returned last month from bankruptcy.

      http://www.airamerica.com/

      Yes, it’s curious how the medium of radio attracts more conservatives than liberals, but I also think one reason why right wing talk shows work is because they’re good radio theater. Simple plots with lots of emotion, lots of dire threats, lots of parody.

    2. ~J~ Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 1:33 pm
      Visit ~J~

      Lots of plots with lots of emotions? Lots of dire threats? Are you speaking of local talk radio or of someone national? Have you listened for any time to conservative talk radio?

      The guys on the local station just grate on my nerves and I don’t listen to them. It’s mostly about local politics and silliness and I don’t care to hear how much the producer weighs this week. That’s what was on yesterday. I heard no threats or emotions except laughter.

    3. ~J~ Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 1:41 pm
      Visit ~J~

      I went to your Air America link, but didn’t want to register as I don’t need more spam mail. Here’s what’s on the front page of the site:

      Congress’s Approval Rating at Record Low
      By Nancy Scola on June 21, 2007 - 12:52pm
      A word on the new Gallup poll bouncing around the mediasphere: just 14% of Americas have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress. Rejoice or pout depending on your political mindset, I guess. But look at that wording — polling that asks just how awesome Congress is right now is a bit different than assessing whether or not citizens think the their elected officials are doing a passable job. We’re dealing with two wars, a nasty political climate, an adversarial-minded media environment, a challenging economic landscape, so on and so forth. Indeed, Gallup found that people are unhappy with their institutions across the board.

      Frankly, it’s amazing to me that even just one in seven Americans think that the folks on Capitol Hill are doing that fantastic of a job.

      Challenging economic landscape? I thought our economy was doing pretty well. Blaming 2 wars for Congress’ failure to get anything done? Well, I suppose so since they seem content to keep passing bills they know will be vetoed.

      Doing a passable job? What’s passable in college now? A “C” or a “D”? Neither is anything to brag about.

      I’m just trying to show you what you say about conservative talk radio could mostly be said about AA or PBS.

    4. ~J~ Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
      Visit ~J~

      Ayschlay,

      I’m just saying these things to make a point with you. It’s not for the sake of beating up on you or arguing, but for the sake of debate. :)

    5. Ayschlay Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 2:37 pm
      Visit Ayschlay

      J,

      When I say talk radio I’m thinking of a particular show, a sort of oral version of a blog, with a one or two hosts who say something provocative, maybe interview some like-minded folks, and take calls from usually sympathetic listeners. The talk can range from bemusement at all the idiocy in the world, and outrage that not so many don’t agree with them.

      Back in the 90s I had to listen to Rush Limbaugh at this one physical therapist’s office. I also caught pieces of this local crew who operated out of this restaurant. Talk format. More recently, on long drives in the Midwest, I occasionally listen to conservative and Christian talk shows on the AM side just to keep tabs on what kind of talk’s out there. (By the way, I don’t listen to Air America, I listen to NPR which is equally damning).

      Their talk forms stories about our political landscape, stories in which a beleaguered few true patriots know the score, are fending off liberal attacks, who with their plain common sense can identify what was really wrong in America (that is, they didn’t need or want experts or eggheads around). Limbaugh and other talk show hosts are usually articulate, smart, witty–they have a good patter that holds attention. It’s not just commentary, its entertainment.

      There are people are on the Left who do the same thing, except the people in their conspiracies are different, America’s problems are of course different, but again they are a beleaguered minority trying to get the truth out (and note in the AA quote above how they also criticize the experts, in this case, pollsters).

      You raise good questions about the AA piece (yes, what would a good Congress look like???!!!), but I think there are worlds of difference between talk radio and NPR or PBS–both in style and in substance.

    6. Big Mo Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 2:50 pm
      Visit Big Mo

      The only talk radio I listen to is Limbaugh, cause he’s funny, pointed and on target.

      Never found him to be bigoted or hateful. Would have dropped him faster than a hot potato if he was.

      Savage? heh. Started listening and five minutes later, turned him off permanently. Never returned.

      As an aside, if you get your information on Limbaugh from Media Matters, even quotations, instead of from Limbaugh himself, then you do so at your peril, because MM does a fantastic job of twisting, turing and obliterating what Limbaugh actually says, and the actual context in which he says it. Seriously! I’d hear him say something, then hear the media come back with something they say he did or said which bore little resemblance to what I’d heard with my own ears, and guess what? their source was Media Matters.

    7. Ayschlay Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 3:12 pm
      Visit Ayschlay

      I’ll remember your warning about MM, Big Mo. Anyway, you can get a hold transcripts of his shows, and the audio’s archived at his website.

    8. Big Mo Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 4:42 pm
      Visit Big Mo

      Ayschlay - exactly - but the main media never seem to do that. Always, without fail, they take him out of context.

      Limbaugh even pun’kd them about a month ago just as a test, and they fell for it. Their source? Media Matters.

      For example, take the whole “Barack the Magic Negro” thing. Limbaugh predicted that it would soon get blown out of proportion and he would be attacked for 1) creating the phrase (not true) and 2) making fun of Obama in the parody (not true either).

      (I’m just writing as an FYI here) The parody is actually a humourous attack on white people who uncritically look to Obama as their political savior, which is what the black LA Times columnist who originated the phrase wrote; and also against Sharpton (who “provides” the bullhorned voice) who at the time the parody was actually made was having a tiff with Obama.

      But many in the liberal media claim it is a direct attack on Obama and is the reason why he got secret service protection so early–despite the fact that Obama himself wasn’t really concerned about the parody.

      Limbaugh loves to use satire and absurdity to get his point across. He’s much more of a showman than Stewart or Colbert, or Hannity, etc.

    9. Ayschlay Says:

      June 21st, 2007 at 6:41 pm
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      As to who’s a showman, I’ll have to disagree with you. Stewart and Colbert aren’t really comparable to Limbaugh. They are all about parody. Limbaugh clearly considers himself a serious (though not hi falutin’) analyst who now and then resorts to humor to make a point.