A post by Pat
How much power does talk radio have? No psychiatrist today to help us on that. For some inexplicable reason those insecure, bully-loving listeners don’t necessarily do what the talk show hosts tell them to do. Go figure. The imagery and subliminal messages that talk radio is populated by weird loud people with extreme views continued.
Camille Paglia sees the opposition party quality of conservative radio these days as a sort of a shadow government and not a problem in a democracy. If you ask me, it’s what democracy is all about.
Michael Harris of Talk Radio Magazine attributes Al Franken’s successful bid for the Senate to his stint as a talk radio host. Yeah, that and some fortuitous discoveries of previously uncounted ballots.
So Obama got elected in spite of talk radio, but will the country be safe from the harm of talk radio forever….time will tell.
I’m getting a sense that Carol Costello thinks we listeners are some kind of dupes being lured in by talk radio con artists. As she pointed out yesterday as though letting us in on a secret, it’s entertainment and about making money. Maybe like a circus, eh Carol? A sucker born every minute? It’s so much fun seeing something so familiar to you analyzed by someone who is clueless.
I’m a news/politics junkie and I love radio. Forty years ago I was listening to shortwave broadcasts from all over the world. My original SW was a hand-me-down. It was gigantic and it had tubes. I sent in my reception reports and received QSL cards in return. Dang, I wish I still had them. I would send a letter to Radio Moscow and two months later get a notice that my letter would be read by Vladimir Posner (future friend of Phil Donahue) on Moscow Mailbag the following month. I never thought that would become a “well, back in my day” story.
Talk radio is like family to me. I’m sure the psychiatrist would make something else of that, but you know what I mean. I’m so grateful to Tammy for how much she’s done to bring like-minded people together. I’ve had the opportunity to exchange emails, tweets, have blog discussions and even personally befriend very wonderful people through the Tammy connection. They are salt of the earth decent people who are as concerned as I am about the fate of the country we love. That kind of power is incomprehensible to Carol Costello.
radio has been completely destroyed- the radio i knew and loved growing up. there are no more real djs- everything is pre- programed. it’s all so tasteless and dry. a wonderful medium gutted and destroyed.
we used to listen to the shortwave and follow the police radio- whole new worlds were opened up. yankee. hotel. foxtrot. you can now buy cds of old shortwave cold war communications. they are popular to sample in music. that shortwave underground still exists although most of the cops have gone digital.
this is the only talk show i really listen to to be honest- i have never heard rush or any of the others and only listened to laura ingraham before they removed her from the local fm station- which is where i first heard tammy subbing and thought- at last someone ghey who isn’t a damn ‘ acting out’ zombie. here’s a conservative person who isn’t a white straight christian male. here’s someone i have things in common with who’s informative and fun to listen to and serious and passionate when the cause arises.
i am not generally inspired after listening despite the characterizations to put on a white hood and ride throughout the night spreading the hates. i listen talk radio and go to conservative blogs because they are reporting and yes commenting about things, important things the major networks have chosen to ignore. hate and anger are two very different things. news and opinion are different too and i can tell the bloody difference thank you.
i was very angry long before i ever heard of talk radio . i want to be left the f alone and don’t want to be told what to think or what to do with my own damn body. i want that’ salt of the earth’ type to be in government no matter who or what they are- and all i know is that’s not what we have now. i may be angry but i am not a lying thieving hateful self absorbed tin eared freak bent on being lord and master of an entire country and bending it to my will via any means necessary( and making a lot of money into the bargain because politics is as much about entertainment and money making as any commercial enterprise). the constitution and what it stands for are worth defending- it’s enemies worth attacking and being pissed off at and removing from power.
It’s so much fun seeing something so familiar to you analyzed by someone who is clueless. And sometimes it’s enough to make a person angry 🙂
Pat, when you describe your youthful shortwave radio days – it reminds me of the portrayal of young Ellie (‘Sparks’ as her dad dubbed her) in the movie “Contact” (on my top 10 list – right up there with “The Incredible Journey”). After Ellie makes “contact’, she describes her experience…
“a vision of the universe, that tells us undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant and how… rare, and precious we all are! A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that we are not, that none of us are alone.”
That’s a PACK JACK! Found it here! Thanks for the thoughtful post Pat. Tammy is lucky to have you and Maynard to keep the “Twilight Bark” woofing! (Oh..”101 Dalmations” .. also in top ten).
Pat S., I was very moved by your reminiscing of listening to SW radio. It brought me back to my own childhood, as I also have always been fascinated by radio. As far as the CNN hatchet job on conservative talk radio is concerned, they totally missed the point, as usual. It’s not the “anger” that attracts so many listeners to conservative talk radio — it’s that shows like Tammy’s offer a context for understanding all of the various political events as part of the totality of what’s really going on. I listen to Tammy because her words resonate very deeply with me. Which brings me to my next point: Did anyone ever listen to Air America ? I did, for almost two whole minutes. It was the Randi Rhodes show, and I turned to it by accident (we were driving somewhere, I think in Mass. and we were looking for local stations). Compassion? Yikes! She was spewing such toxic, incomprehensible rage that I had to turn it off. By the way, the psychiatrist’s “analysis” of the appeal of conservative talk shows was laughable drivel, not even on the level of “psychobabble.” Yes, Pat, we listen because, as you say, ‘we are concerned… about the fate of the country we love.’ So beautifully said!
To me the irony of this issue is just too – too – obvious. The power sits with the listener. The listener has the option of either turning his radio off or go to another station.
The Liberals – oxymoronic term here – fear that, the citizenry, given the opportunity to listen to another opinion might just weigh it. (Note: “weigh it”)
Free of the social pressures of a crowd of 100 dearest and closest friends and the mandatory nightly propaganda fests like Letterman and ilk, and individual has an opportunity to hear, think and possibly even act.
But will the public find that it’s just too boggling to even give themselves a chance?
That will depend on the talent of the rado hosts and hostesses.
Lucky to have you Tammy, Laura and so many others.
Talk radio reaches the minds of those who use language to communicate. The rest of the population is pacified by staring at images. I believe it was Mr. Moses that figured it out first; he was the first talk show host wasn’t he? He opened with “Quit staring at the shiny object and listen for a second, damn it”!
Oh don’t forget to tell the moron libs, in a smug and patronizing way, that enviro-freindly people listen to the radio because Al Gore was on TV and told us to save the planet and go green. Radios have a much smaller carbon foot print than TV’s: Hat tip Al Gore!
Tamster, Not only do we have similar world views, we also like the same music, How about posting your “set list” every day so we can acquire the tunes?
Love the show……..”pour it on!”