Posted on 11/04/2003 7:31:56 AM PST by AlwaysLurking
Sheldon is making the same mistake that every other liberal radio pioneer has made. The "immediate radio audience" is there, alright, but it is way too small to sustain a successful network. Sheldon makes the mistake of believing that since approximately half the country votes Democrat, then there must be a lot of "liberals" out there.
As a true believer himself, he cannot process the fact that most Democrat voters are parasites who vote Democrat because that is the party which promises to confiscate more and more from society's producers in order to give them, the parasites, lots of "free stuff" in exchange for their votes.
There is surely no reason to believe that the parasite class, the base Democrat constituency, cares about anything else. Issues? Policy? Hehehe, gimme a break. It's all about selfishness and "free stuff" (checks, "programs", health-care insurance, retirement income, prescription drugs, day care, college tuition, etc., etc.) and having their neighbors pay for it.
I strongly suggest that freepers ignore this coming liberal radio "launch". Threads debating this or that liberal radio program only encourage the scumbags and give them free publicity. I have no doubt that they will have trolls around here every day starting threads about how "outraged" they are by what so-and-so said on (fill in the liberal radio station call letters and dial setting here).
I strongly disagree on this point. And it is the only thing in your post I disagree with. I strongly suggest that threads be posted, with exact quotes of what is being said. Archiving stuff is one of the greatest things that FreeRepublic does. And these threads will also serve as specific chat items for FReepers to put together a stockpile of ammunition to use against the host when and if we are able to get past the call screener. Which is unlikely, as I pointed out in post #37 about the DTR guys.
Neal Boortz is probably most close to being right on why liberal radio fails. It is not because there is no audience out there for it. Or the variety of other reasons it is said to fail. The #1 reason liberal talk radio fails is that liberals operate on talking points. They have their script and orders for the day and go to air with it. They do NOT have the ability to face the callers who dismantle them with fact, reason, and logic. As Boortz points out, Op Ed writers can write what ever they want and then retreat to their offices. Maybe take a look at the occasional letter or email sent to them about how they were wrong on this, that, and the other thing, and they can ignore it and go on their merry way. This can NOT be done in talk radio. The host has to be able to defend and articulate his positions and comments right now, on the spot, and with no time to prepare. Its a fast paced medium that doesnt allow for "time off". This is why liberals fail in radio. And with threads providing the ammunition to call the host with, they will go down in flames.
Here in the SF Bay Area, we have KGO and Ronn Owens (Moderate), Pete Wilson (Moderate), and Bernie Ward (Left). When I visit my family in South Florida, my mom makes me listen to Randi Rhodes (Left), who is as liberal as it gets.
They are there, they just don't draw a national following.
-PJ
The host isn't the goal. Its the listeners. After the host is repeatedly shown to be a liar, those few who actually listen will continue to dwindle.
It does happen that they'll convert to whackjobism occasionally, as happend with Pat Buchanan....
Another perspective, if I may?
'The Goal,' is it not, is to advance the Republic Party and the Conservative agenda? I would state that the more an open debate on Liberalism vs. Conservatism is heard, by the listening audience, the higher the probability of success in reaching that goal.
Consider: How many people have shifted their views towards conservatism by listening to Rush, Boortz, Hannity, etc. vs. those who have shifted the other direction? I would say that the polls confirm far more have shifted to the right then to the left. The battle, after all, is for those in the middle, not those at either end.
I would argue that a liberal format, one which accepts calls from the right, will do more to continue the shift to the right, then not having them on the air.
Key question though is will they allow true conservatives on the air? Probably not.
To quote the President: Bring them on!
I don't think they think this way. They imagine that "right-wing" media coerce their viewpoints upon the mindless savages of the American public, and they hope to do the same.
This success might make the potential sponsors of radio shows on this liberal network a little nervous about jumping in with cash on the barrelhead.
Especially the community small business people who advertise with little blurbs on the breaks. They would certainly be even more nervous about alienating the local folks than the behemoth advertisers.
Leni
One thing is for sure - - we won't need the kind of "talk show seminars" that the liberals used to hold for would-be Democrat operatives to make their way onto conservative shows. Most conservative callers will certainly be clever enough on their own to outwit any liberal screener and then move in deftly for the kill when they get on the air.
Regards,
LH
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