Reacting to talk radio
Published Fri, Apr 27 2007 8:34 AM
Technorati Tags: Blogging
Last night Karl, over at Leaning Straight Up, linked a post to yesterday's linkfests. I thought it was a rather interesting read, particularly because one of the people he discusses is a commentator that I almost always find myself in disagreement with.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about my own reactions to talk radio. Karl opened his post by describing how frustrated he gets listening to the radio at times because you occasionally hear a story that infuriates you and you can't call in and comment on it. I've often had similar reactions.
Most talk show hosts have a bias either to the left or to the right. The better ones can explain the reasons behind their bias, and can make a convincing argument for their side. The talk show host establishes the ground rules for the conversation. When a caller comes on and ignores the ground rules they're usually cut off quickly. I don't have a problem with that, but some people do.
I will sometimes be listening to a talk show and a caller will come on the line whose obviously reading from a script. At least it seems that way. These people are pretty easy to spot, and most hosts manage to pull them out of the script fairly quickly. It they can't be pulled out of the script, they're usually gone fairly quickly.
Some callers are just naturally long winded. They sound as though they are reading long passages from a book. The ones that really amuse me never seem to hear the host try to respond to a point.
Sometimes the host puts them back on hold for a moment just to get a word in edgewise. When the host takes them back off of hold there they are, still running on in the same diatribe as though they were never off the air.
People like that are idiots. Talk radio is either about the host saying what interests the host, or about a conversation when the host allows callers on the air. It's not an opportunity for speechmaking and pontificating from the listener.
There are actually a few things about talk radio that occasionally make me want to reach over and shut it off. I listen to it for entertainment, but I don't find idiots entertaining, and I don't find shouting matches entertaining either.
I used to listen to some interesting talk shows on my drive home in the evenings. Then one day, Michael Savage was on the air during my normal drive time. I hate Michael's show. I find that there are quite a few things he says that I agree with, but there are quite a few things he says that are just plain over the top. I don't like to listen to that much venomous spew either. The way he insults people that disagree with him is particularly infuriating.
I listened to Bill O'Reilly for a while when the lineup shifted a bit. Mostly I listened because there wasn't much of an alternative, and then Bryan Suits was on the radio opposite his show for a while. It wasn't hard to switch. Bryan is a down-to-earth kind of guy who debates well with his listeners and isn't afraid to admit when he's wrong. He gets moody sometimes, but that just seems to add to his personality.
Bill O'Reilly has an absolute certainty about the things he says. That's not so bad in itself, but his show starts to sound as if he's pontificating sometimes. He gets that way about the oil companies and their "obscene" profits. This is when I can't stand to listen to him. I think he's wrong on this particular topic, but no caller has ever been able to get past his iron clad certainty that he's right, even when their arguments are superior to his.
Bryan Suits has moved into an earlier part of the lineup on the radio, and now Mark Levin is on opposite Bill O'Reilly. I much prefer listing to Mark Levin. Even so, there's quite a lot I find irritating about his show. I really hate the "name calling". I know it's meant to be humor, but it's just irritating.
I also don't really care for the way he cuts people off that disagree with him. He gives them the "20 second liberal clock", but it often takes these people more than 20 seconds to make a point. His abrasive manner towards people that disagree really puts me off.
It also gets annoying to listen to people call in for no purpose other than to say "I agree", or to say how great the host is. I don't listen to the radio to hear a group of people gush about the host, I listen to hear ideas and to hear them debated.
Don't get the idea that I don't like listening to Mark Levin. He's frequently right on a lot of issues, especially with regard to our courts, and our Constitution. I find him entertaining, and despite the "thank me for your call" sort of stuff he's really a solid person. I particularly like the way he recognizes that the men and women who serve our country in the uniformed services (not just the military) are in some ways better than those of us who don't.
I used to listen to Sean Hannity. Sean is an intelligent man, and he asks good questions when he does interviews. He argues well and makes some rather convincing points. I don't listen to his show anymore though, except on occasion.
One reason is that it's on at a time when I don't have access to the radio. A larger reason though is that it gets tiresome listening to his personal appearance schedule for a third of every hour. Why else does he have a website anyway?
An even larger reason though is the nature of some of the "discussions" on his show. This particular problem isn't just confined to his radio show though, it's also very evident on Hannity and Colmes. What am I talking about? Well, Sean isn't much of a moderator when he allows discussions between guests with differing viewpoints. He lets them talk over each other. This frequently leads to shouting matches, and I won't listen to that. Click - off goes the radio.
I've already wandered off into areas that I didn't really think I would when I started this post, and I still haven't gotten to what I really thought of when I started considering my reactions to talk radio. So, I guess I'll close this with my most frequent source of frustration with talk radio.
Often, when discussing an issue a talk show host makes really good arguments. The conversation with the callers goes on and on, with lots of give and take on both sides. Both sides make very good points and the debate gets interesting. What frustrates me though is that there's often a point that I can see that I wish the host would raise, and they never do.
That doesn't make me want to turn off the radio, but it does make me want to call in. There's never enough time to do it though. I'm either driving on my way to work, or to an appointment, or I don't have access to a phone, or even worse, there's not enough time left on the show to call in and have a hope of getting on the air.
That can be maddening. It's not that I think I've got all of the answers, because I don't. But sometimes when you're not directly engaged in a conversation, ideas or relevant facts can spring to mind and grab hold of your attention and it's frustrating not to be able to address them, or hear the conversation address them when they seem so obvious.
I don't know how many of you have the same experience, and I have it a lot less often than I used to. Maybe it's because I have a medium where I can express my opinion whenever I want to in this blog.
When it happens now, I can always write about it. So can you if you think I've missed something important, or if you disagree with me. That's why the comments section exists on every post.
Thanks for reading my ramblings.
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Angel responded with:
 | ah great stuff Perri!..I love a good host on the radio but as u say they are far and few between!..hmm maybe I will become one some day..lol..just kiddin! :)
Have a super weekend! :) |
Perri Nelson responded with:
 | I'd never make a good talk radio host. It takes me too long to think about what people have said to respond quickly enough. I'm much better at monologues.
Every one of these hosts can do talk radio far better than I could hope to do. About the only one I absolutely can't stand is Michael Savage.
Probably my favorite talk show host is Michael Medved. He's on right after Rush out here, and opposite Sean Hannity. He's always civil with his callers, even the outright loons. And he does get some outright loons calling in. Usually he lets them have their say, giving them enough rope to hang themselves.
On the other hand, his debating style occasionally leaves me feeling a bit off. It seems sometimes like his callers get put into untenable positions by the nature of his questions.
It's sort of like a lawyer asking a witness in court "Do you still beat your wife? Yes or No." Even if the witness never beat his wife in the first place, the alternatives available aren't good. Saying No almost implies that the witness did beat his wife at one time.
He's still my favorite host. If I was to be a talk show host, which I will never be, I wouldn't mind emulating him. |
Perri Nelson responded with:
| Man! I can't believe AKismet flagged that comment as SPAM. I'm glad I've implemented the code to accept the occasional false positive. |
David responded with:
 | I'm sure there's some good content on talk radio, but it's been 20 or more years since I listened regularly, and even then, I preferred a coupla classical music stations. Now, if I can't find a good classical station, I'll just pop a CD in while I drive or talk with my Wonder Woman if she's with me or just sit, drive, think and perhaps recall some music to "listen to" in my head, as it were.
Talk radio "way back then" *heh* turned me off the medium. It was too much reminder of just how dense the electorate was becoming even then. |