Well, most people wouldn't. We're talking about radio "audio" vs. television "video" and there's a tremendous difference between presentations on each.
My hero, Rush does three hours of soliloquies, callers and reading from newspapers interspersed with audio clips of the enemy just to break up what could become tedious.
He has his own vocal, linguistic and idiomatic tricks he uses just as Beck uses visuals (chalk talks, clips of the enemy), facial expressions and "tricks" (like the ever-present red phone) to make for an interesting show.
Rush's talk show and Beck's TV show are different, but alike in the fact that each employs devices to catch, intrigue and hold their audiences. Each does a damn good job.
Some people will never like Beck even if he showed a video clip of the Chicago Bears playing the Twelve Apostles....in that case it's better for these perfectly-informed folks to clean the garage during his show.
Leni
Leni,
You’ve pretty much nailed it in regard to Beck.
With such a broad market for “skulls of mush”, Limbaugh linguistics will attract a limited audience.
With Limbaugh, ** Levin **, Beck, Ingraham, Humphries, and a multitude of others, many more will come into the fold!
He was great back in the early 90s. Rush had a TV show, produced by fox news head, Roger Ailes...it was during the famous midyear elections of 94 that I found him on TV...see if you can find some of those on line, they were great...