TheBlaze Magazine Exclusive Book Excerpt: The Power of Talk Radio

The Blaze ^ | December 4, 2012 | Chris Field

[TeaPartyJakes]

In the December 2012 issue, The Blaze provides exclusive excerpts from Fred Lucas’ new book, “The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment.” In the book, Lucas covers the growth, influence, major players and victories conservative talk radio has seen over the years. He provides history lessons and insight into how and why radio has been so influential.

In an exclusive feature for TheBlaze Magazine, “Power of Talk,” Lucas gives us adapted excerpts from his new book. The magazine feature includes coverage of the Left’s attempts to tie right-wing talk with the liberal-progressive Father Charles Coughlin; the explosion of talk radio under Clinton; how the Right took down Harriett Miers, President Bush’s untested and unknown Supreme Court pick; exactly how radio voices helped kill amnesty; the blow-back from establishment GOPers who don’t like the power for on-air talent; and much more about the titans of the industry.

Excerpt: Newsweek, in a 2008 article, referred to Coughlin as a “right-wing radio priest of the 1940s.” In 2010, the Columbia Journalism Review ran a piece with the headline, “A Distant Echo: What Father Coughlin Tells Us About Glenn Beck.”

Coughlin has so frequently been called “right-wing” it became an article of faith despite the fact that nearly all of the policies he advocated were radically progressive. He was a staunch supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, telling his vast audience in the 1932 election it was “Roosevelt or Ruin.”

When Roosevelt took office, Coughlin insisted that no good Christian could oppose the policies of the New Deal, and he declared an end to capitalism.

[TangoLimaSierra]

Since the election I can hardly stand to listen to Rush, Hannity and Levin. They have nothing substantive to say. They cover the same ground every day and throw in more ads. I give rush a few minutes every day to see if he's got anything interesting to say. Then back to music or nothing.

When they start pushing election fraud and reform I'll be back. They're too into the money to go too far off-trail.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Father Coughlin was one of the more interesting characters in radio history. Certainly not “right wing”, he broke from FDR in ‘32 believing him not Socialist enough. He was a Nazi sympathizer, and FDR feared his power so much that he trampled on Coughlin’s First Amendment rights perhaps as brazenly as anyone had ever experienced.

I am afraid however that the power of talk radio has peaked. The average age of the audience is now over 50. Smaller stations in smaller markets, particularly AM stations, are going dark, cutting off the low rungs on the ladder for next-tier hosts. Younger people rarely listen to radio and most can’t even find AM. Obama successfully reached them using Twitter and social networking.