WatchI just returned from a LOOOOOONG overland trip in my car where I traveled through many states and listened to literally days worth of radio programs. Unfortunately they really only fall into two categories:
- Modern "Conservative": Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity,& Laura Ingraham
- NPR and Alan Colmes
Here is my unbiased review. Feel free to dispute any of this, but I think these observations are beyond rebuttal. They are simply the way things are.
1. "Conservatives" on the air consider debate toxic and will not allow differing opinions. Of the five I listened to, only Michael Savage (very rarely) allowed someone on the air who was interested in providing an alternative view. However this almost always turned into Savage screaming at the caller and accusing him of being a communist.
2. Both NPR and Alan Colmes welcome differing opinions, in fact Alan Colmes lets right wing maniacs on so often it becomes annoying. NPR goes out of its way to provide alternate opinions. Specifically I heard an NRA spokesman and a former member of the Bush administration invited to inverviews.
3. All conservative talk show hosts with the exception of Michael Savage are synchronized on their talking points. They are SO identical in fact, that it becomes tedious and boring. It's my personal opinion that Michael Savage isn't playing with a full deck. He seems less and less aware of what he's said on previous shows and his opinions depend on the day. Example:
a) Hollywood should be regulated and violent movies like Batman cause violence.
b) The Sopranos was a great show and had one of the best "chick killing" scenes ever.
4. Both NPR and Colmes have genuine intellectual content. All "conservative" radio relies on a cult of personality, in fact intellectual content is discouraged. Rush Limbaugh and Savage are the worst at this relying almost entirely on fact-devoid rants that may have no relevance to politics at all.
5. "liberal" radio seeks to expand knowledge, "conservative" radio seeks to constrict knowledge. Example: Every single neocon played the single sentence clip of Obama's business owners speech while both NPR and Colmes played the entire speech. Every conservative host misrepresented Obama while Obama himself contradicted them a few words later in the same speech, although this clarification is never discussed.
6. NPR isn't overly liberal, in fact they are quite moderate. I NEVER ONCE heard NPR presenting a single side to any story or topic. While I'm sure they pick stories that appeal more to a liberal audience, they are SO balanced that they can become annoying.
Comments?
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Ruki says
Which pretty much shoots down any notion that conservatives are pro freedom. If you can't handle an intellectual debate and hence invite people with opposing viewpoints onto your show without acting like a soviet tyrant schoolteacher, then you moral bankruptcy is revealed like an infested vegetable.
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NPR, or any news organization these days, will get accused of being liberal if they report facts that don't comport with the current Republican talking points.
So whereas a Republican will state the fact that Romney is currently leading in the polls. NPR or other programs would put a 'liberal spin' on it and state that while Romney is leading in *some* polls of the popular vote, Obama is leading in the likely electoral vote count.
Which one is really 'news' then?
Both are true, but only one gets 600 Pennsylvania Ave printed on your business card.
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All Conservatives that believe in the Constitution are Socialist.
Constitution: "promote the general Welfare"
WTF! WELFARE!
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I was given a Savage book and although I can read pretty much any subject I just can't read his material. I understand his passion but frankly insulting people constantly doesn't help.
Colmes I think is a pretty good guy but I'm more used to him on tv more than anything else.
I used to like Jay Severn when he was on because he would let people talk a tad. Hannity stated so many incorrect things that I just had to turn it off (Iraqi babies with the incubator thing back from '91).
The latest by Rush is off the deep end. Bane has no connection to romney. I know this because I bought the comic with Bane back in '94!
NPR I think is more lightly liberal depending on who is reporting. I agree with Emmanuel Goldstien of 2600 (wbai/wusb) that NPR in action is pretty fascist. Basically from 88-92 fm is SUPPOSED to be more community based radio. You have your religious stuff, non profit, college radio etc. If a radio station for any reason gets to be sold off and none of the major companies buys it then NPR gets it. NPR content is 98% the same per affiliate. I receive probably at least six NPR stations (worcester, boston, cape, rhode island, nh and another in boston). It's very annoying to hear the same content on multiple stations. It's one thing when it is a song but it is another when it is a report. Regardless of political bent I rather have something more local then the same processed material. Independent radio is still alive although independent tv is practically dead.
If you want to listen to some other material kinda like NPR I'd recommend podcasts of shortwave stations. Deutche Welle, CBC, Radio Netherlands, Radio Japan, CRI etc. They aren't nearly as repetitive as NPR and some of the reporting really goes directly to the source. I go to Radio Japan about anything about Fukashima. Deutche Welle and Radio Netherlands for anything on europe etc.
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Batman is quite obviously a conservative.
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Colmes was so acclimated to playing the battered wife on Hannity's hate fest that he doesn't feel at home without a neonazi across from him calling marxist scum and describing in sick and twisted detail how he'd like to disembowel Colmes and strangle him with his own guts.
Colmes needs to grow a pair and go back after these pieces of shit with a fucking tire iron and tell NPR listeners every night, 'one less nazi, one more happy day!' In fact, Colmes could position himself as anti-O'Reilly.
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PockyClipsNow says
Sirius came as a 6 month free on a car I bought. It does have all the talk crap, lib and conservative, npr but also good music stations, humor and some sex channels which dont do anything for me. For a road trip it is really nice.
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I was wondering the same thing...hmmm.
bob2356 says
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Fontana, CA
I WORK IN RADIO:
The real story here is the loss of LOCAL radio. Only 15 years ago, most cities had talk stations populated with underpaid local hosts who offered a variety of opinions and tended to "shoot straight." Being from meager means themselves (or at least middle-class means), local talk radio had a sort of right-leaning populist flair.
Fast forward to 1996. Bill Clinton and the Republican GOP (yes, the same clowns who repealed Glass-Steagall) substantially deregulated the telecommunications industry, allowing monstrosities like Comcast and Cox cable to come into existence, and allowing radio giants like Clear Channel and Cumulus to come into existence.
It's been a depressing decade. Radio talent much better than me has been pushed out the door, replaced with "franchise" (McDonalds) programming like Rush, Hannity, and Beck. It's shifted the tone to be much more angy and unreasonable than it has to be, since the diversity of local opinions is gone.
Radio is dead. I've worked in it for about 7 years. And I'm convinced I'm working my last radio job before I, too, am shown the exit. I'm grateful for online message boards, and sites like the one Patrick has made, which expose me to a variety of ideas to get a better grasp of what's going on. Other than a tiny bit of local talk left in Los Angeles on KABC and KFI, there's pretty much nothing left that isn't "canned."
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iwog says
I was going to ask if your car had HD radio, because I suspect that offers more options, but...
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If you don't like it, don't listen to it. If enough people stop listening, it'll go away.
Of course a Republican radio program isn't going to listen to other viewpoints, their audience is hardcore Republicans who hate everything that isn't a hardcore Republican. If they took callers who had differing viewpoints and lost to those callers, they'd lose half their audience.
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iwog says
Couple hundred bucks you could have sat radio in your model t. I took my sat radio boom box with me when I drove a rental truck x country. Just plugged an inverter in the cig lighter then took a car sat antenna and stuck it on the roof of the truck. Worked fine.
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I just crossed the country too, and the best thing I heard on NPR was a repeat of an interview with Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad. I got so razzed that I made it home a day early so I could watch the first episode of the new (and final) season.
AM radio? You gotta be kidding. My blood pressure can't take all that hate...
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Dublin, CA
What I have found is that the level of topics/discussions on a liberal radio station (94.1 FM KPFA) is of much higher quality and interesting compared to a format on a conservative station (560 AM KSFO).
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With an incomparable record of flawed analysis, faulty solutions and failed results, liberal government grandly proclaims itself indispensable and presumes to better know how to regulate and administer our lives...on our dime, of course.
Oh wait, since we screwed up things so bad, we'll be needing MORE regulations, more red tape and a tax increase!!
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I have a confession to make: I listen to Michael Savage 2-3x per week. I agree with him on almost nothing politically (on non-political issues he's hit-and-miss), but I find his show weirdly engaging. Its like he's bypassing my entire cognitive thought process and speaking directly to some very primitive part of my psyche.
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iwog says
Of course. The whole far-right worldview is based on blind allegiance to authority. Example: "The Bible is God's Word(tm) because The Bible says it it's God's Word(tm)." Facts are often the enemy. "It's true because we believe it." I know because I grew up with that shit.
Yeah, "liberals" can fall into groupthink too, but it seems far more prevalent on the right.
iwog says
Micheal Savage is just batsh*t crazy. At least Limbaugh and Hannity "have their story straight."
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thunderlips11 says
I think you're correct. "Us vs. them."
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I've always thought that the ultra conservative on air personalities like Limbaugh or O'Reilly hurt the GOP more than they help. I do side with the republican POV on many issues, but their talking heads are hard to listen to for more than 60 seconds.
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How do you square this with the republican athiest?
You can't.
case closed.
freak80 says
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rfsanders says
Hmmm yes. I miss those days of hearing the local color & news.
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Does every talkshow have to have background gospel music with you??
What are you, anti-entertainment??
dublin hillz says
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xrpb11a says
Yeah, I see the Republican Atheist, he's right over there sitting between the unicorn and the tooth fairy.
The only examples I could find (ie Charles Beaird) were generally socially liberal, which in this day and age gets your key to the Republican washroom taken away.
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IMO, i would guess 75% of republicans and 90% of democrats in all three branches of government are closet atheist/agnostic.
They just can't admit it and get elected.
gbenson says
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xrpb11a says
I see what u did there! Using the old Republican strategy eh? Just pulling numbers out of your backside and hope someone believes it.
Surveys of the US population put the percentage of Atheists around 16% (have seen a high of around 20% when younger kids are factored in). Either way the data skews to a much lower percent as you get older, and politicians tend to be older.
But you assert we have a government of 80% Atheists, (led by a Muslim no doubt)? What color is the sky in your world?
Now if you had said that 90% of Republican and 75% of Democratic politicians have disturbingly kinky sex lives, or otherwise live their lives in a manner contrary to the teachings of their stated religion. Then I wouldn't have questioned it.
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So, what part of "IN MY OPINION I WOULD GUESS" do you not understand?
ps. I never asked you to "believe" any of it.
gbenson says
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Yes.
Based on the belief that:
1- Most politicians have an abundance of neurons, a requirement for getting that far up the ladder in the political system. ( palin excluded )
2- Given that neuronic (new word!) capacity, it's extremely unlikely to surmise that they would believe in the shit that most modern prevalent religions dish out, regardless of what they say in public.
They just say what they gotta say to get elected.
gbenson says
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@rfsanders
Thanks for the comments. Do you think that internet talk broadcasts, even if they are of the "podcast" variety, could be the replacement for local influence? I feel like "local" has just been redefined from a geographical limitation of AM or FM range to internet audience selection. There's some pretty great stuff I find anymore on TuneIn or even YouTube or iTunes.
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Have you seen Bohner up there sobbing away after a few glasses of Merlot? Have you listened to anything Alan West ever said? You honestly believe Bush had more than 10 neurons firing at one time? We know Regan's neurons were mostly shot. Rocket scientists these guys ain't. Politicians get where they are because they have brass balls, money, and don't care who they step on to get where they are.
For what its worth, if your point wasn't for anyone to believe what you said, why'd you say it? (and subsequently defend it)
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Here's what I said:
"Most politicians have an abundance of neurons"
You cherrypicking a select few of a group numbering in the thousands does not support your position at all.
Fail.
gbenson says
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gbenson says
Romney was "socially liberal" when he was governor of Massachusetts. I don't see why social conservatives like him so much. It's probably just an "anyone but Obama" phenomenon.
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gbenson says
Correct. The people who "rule the world" are the people with no morals. Morals only get in the way of acquiring power. That's why we will *never* have "good government."
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iwog says
thats a good one!
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thomaswong.1986 says
In what way do you think it was biased? Which fact are you disputing?
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iwog says
How can you say your unbiased, when you constantly snap biased comments ?
You clearly are not independent since you have a vested interest !
You have no facts, just an opinion. What a waste of data storage space!
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thomaswong.1986 says
That's nice and all, but you didn't answer my question. Not answering questions seems to be a common disease among those on the right.
If you think I was presenting this with bias, please tell me what you disagree with? I'm very willing to consider alternate interpretations.
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@Randy H
Absolutely podcasts will help fill the role. But honestly, I think newspaper comment board already do a similar job. A smart TV station or newspaper would hire engaging moderators to stimulate deeper discussion than the typical bashing which currently happens.
The trouble with podcasts is their inconvenience in the car and unlikelihood to gain a BIG audience, like radio could.
Ever hear of "push" vs. "pull" in business? I'm sure you have at some point. The idea of "push" is GM of the 1950s: We're practically the only game in town, and no matter what we build, it will automatically sell in the thousands. Any refinement is to grow sales. That was network TV and local newscasts ... and radio up into the 90s.
In a "pull" model, you only build what customers want. You are lost amongst the crowd. Think about eBay.
Currently, podcasts are like eBay sellers before eBay. There's no central clearing house to help listeners find podcasters, and vice versa. Apple iTunes is underdeveloped. TuneIn is helping. But the big leap to making podcasting mainstream is still a few years away. After that, who knows? I'm hoping even I can slide in a pull a large enough audience to make my own podcast big. But that's just not possible yet.
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Here is my biased view:
* "Conservatives" like to invoke "moral" authority
* "Liberals" like to invoke "intellectual" authority
In the end, they are all labels. Neither side understands the requisite meta-ethical and epistemological plumbing to "truly" discover truth.
Perhaps there are no truths beyond tautologies, only opinions.
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BTW, be suspicious when someone claims to be "unbiased." :-)
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