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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How do you plan to detoxify your brain from all that poison noise?
The only listenable entertainment program on the right wing talk radio station is Coast to Coast with George Noory. He is the only person that has on people of alternative viewpoints. He's had mike shedlock on a couple times.
Not sure if you were intentionally ribbing the readers here, but from my unbiased pov, NPR is pretty lefty friendly. Not sure I've ever heard them be critical of the obam admin
You included FM in your title. How many ttimes did you find yourself singing along to Call me Maybe? I log tons of miles over the road, everything on free terrestrial radio will eventually lead you to removing your eardrums with a bullet
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The thing to remember here is that there is a big difference between a station or network that talks about the daily news and shows that are more for entertainment.
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There are two types of disagreements that occur on Conservative radio stations:
Example 1:
Host: "He's just another liberal!"
Caller: "No, he's not just a liberal, he's an American hating communist liberal!"
Example 2:
Caller: "No, if you actually read the" *click*
Host: "Ok, next caller..."
Few conservative points can stand up to scrutiny or logical debate, which is why many of them on here resort to just screaming "Liar" at everything.
Personally I think Colmes regularly misses opportunities to utterly destroy the arguments of the conserva-nuts that call in and seems to gravitate to defending his own position instead.
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I listen to a bit of it every once in awhile and find it depressing that there are so many people who eagerly listen these types of shows and actually believe what's being said.
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Yea, talk radio people are "crazies". They are in support absolutely stupid concepts such as: the constitution, the rule of law, sound money, free enterprise. AND they are against: confiscation of income and property, the loss of privacy, the loss of freedom, the destruction of market freedoms necessary for human well-being. What a bunch of nut-jobs! (Can you detect my sarcasm?)
You left leaning, closet commies are on the wrong side of virtually everything.
Oh, I forgot: you people also believe trees have souls, but unborn babies are just blobs of tissue. You libs are totally and completely insane.
gbenson - go back and read a bunch of posts. Iwog has resorted to using "liar" more than anyone else. Does that mean his points can't stand up to scrutiny or logical debate...or is that simply another example of the liberal double standard?
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It's all about cultural identification. It's like tuning into a Red Sox (or any sports team) fan show, but with even less criticism of the team and management. And except the issues are of life and death, prosperity or penury.
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You own all that real estate and you couldn't afford satellite radio? People still actually listen to broadcast radio, what a quaint concept.
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Los Angeles, CA
Yeah get sat radio - so awsome for long road trips.
Im pretty sure sat radio has the same crap tho.
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Davis, CA
Jonathan Haidt already covered this.
Conservatives seek to be told what's right, and reinforcement of existing views.
Liberals are happy to question and like "new" things and ideas.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html
That this is reflected in media is not surprising. Each caters to their audiences. Hardline conservatives however will fail to grasp that liberals are willing to sit and listen to alternative viewpoints, as their own predilection doesn't allow for it and they cannot fathom that anyone would willingly do so. When they listen to NPR they hear nothing but bias and trickery.
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Sorry Abe, but the constitution and rule of law are liberal ideals more than conservative ones. I have a copy sitting on my desk, courtesy of the ACLU whom I support even when they defend those I profoundly disagree with (ie neo-nazis). I will gladly debate you on any topic that involves the constitution.
Conservatives may talk a good game on 'sound money' but in practice, they do a worse job of managing our money. Oddly, it's my Republican friends who got creamed by over-leveraging in the housing crash, its my Republican friends who can't afford to bring their car to the shop because they are so over-spent on their credit.
Free enterprise is untenable (every example of unfettered capitalism has failed quite spectacularly) and it's also un-American, it inevitably leads to monopolistic greed at the expense of your countrymen. Pure free enterprise actually contradicts principles stated in both the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution.
Nobody I know thinks that trees have soles, but they do think that we are ruining our planet because we are. Unborn babies ARE blobs of tissue, adults are just bigger ones currently numbering over 7 billion. But its the Republican's that vote to cut off health benefits for pregnant women or food stamps for kids. Its Republican's who cheer when Ron Paul alludes to turning away the sick from hospitals to let them go die (just do it somewhere out of sight).
History has shown, and will continue to show that its Republicans that are on the wrong side of both the constitution and history. Well, I should state that of course there is an exception. When the REAL Abe was around, the Republican party was a progressive party. Their charter included, and I quote, "to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics". My my my, how far you've fallen.
As for iwog, perhaps he was just pointing out when a conservative was just blatantly lying. I could see where that would cause him to use that word frequently on here.
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47 male
Lafayette, CA
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bob2356 says
I also made the trip in my 1993 Camry. It still has the original tape deck.
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47 male
Lafayette, CA
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Ruki says
Examples?
Ruki says
Examples?
Ruki says
Right.....because you and every other right wing nut in America can read minds.
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47 male
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Honest Abe says
Are you going to comment on a single thing I said?
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Durham, NC
NPR isn't liberal, it's just that only liberal people would ever listen to NPR. Especially when it's a 10 minute profile on a woman from Chattanooga tracking down her great grandmothers cheese souffle recipe.
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Lafayette, CA
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pdh says
NPR has diverse programming, however they were immediately covering all the gun control issues after the Colorado shooting and they also had a lengthy debate on how Romney and Obama were conducting their campaigns. NPR generally runs many channels in every state so if you don't want to hear about cheese souffle, you can find something else.
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I love cheese souffle. I do think it is slightly biased sometimes but I do enjoy it.
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Dublin, CA
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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Minneapolis, MN
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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Alameda, CA
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