Posted on 12/19/2004 2:49:05 PM PST by CHARLITE
When I was younger, I dreamed of someday being a radio talk show host. I distinctly recall the evening in 1993 when, at the age of 8, I turned on the Kirby Wilbur show on Seattle’s “Hot Talk” 570 KVI. Talk radio thereafter became a sort of second classroom for me, a weighty counterbalance to the moral neutrality and civic illiteracy of my public school.
I count among my teachers Mr. Wilbur, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, John Carlson, Michael Reagan, Floyd Brown, and others who came over the airwaves at various times during those formative years. Rush calls his program the “Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies,” and this student of talk radio has school spirit. I’ve never known a time when there wasn’t conservative talk radio.
Talk radio grows larger in bandwidth, talent, and influence as time goes on. When Rush first came on the national airwaves in 1988, his Seattle affiliate was an Oldies station. Today, the burgeoning demand that has developed around the Rush Limbaugh Show has brought two conservative radio stations into prime competition in the Seattle market. Twenty million Americans listen to Rush on over 600 stations every week. According to the American Radio News Audience Survey, 30 percent of Americans who listen to radio news can be classified as light or heavy listeners to news through talk radio stations.
But I never truly appreciated the importance of talk radio in American political culture until Rush Limbaugh read one of my columns on his program last March. “This op-ed here by Mr. Zeiger is just an example of the kind of thinking that’s going on out there in young people’s minds and hearts,” he said, “because they’re just as frustrated as you are. They’re mature beyond their years and they’re just as frustrated as you are this stuff is happening, but they look at it: all this stuff has been tried isn’t working. They want to fix it, not just talking about it. So there’s reason to be optimistic is the point.”
Indeed, it is an optimistic time to be a patriot. There are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic too - there always are, and quite literally the world is dying - but pessimism has a funny way of becoming self-fulfilling. We ought to be optimistic about the future of this country, not because everything is going the right way, but because we have the right ideals. We should have such confidence in the strength of our ideals, such faith that they will endure, and such trust in our God, that we never hesitate to partake when a feast of hope is presented before us.
And I am convinced, having grown up on talk radio, that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager, Laura Ingraham, Larry Elder, G. Gordon Liddy, and all of the others have played a significant part in the battle of ideas in our time. It is largely due to their presence on the AM dials of the big cities and small towns of America that many of the most important advances have been made in the popular revival of conservative ideas. It is because of Rush Limbaugh in particular, that, as he said, “there’s reason to be optimistic.”
ABC News correspondent Carole Simpson is quite pessimistic about the fact that young people are tuning into talk radio. At a post-election National Press Club forum, as transcribed by David Wilmouth of the Media Research Center, Ms. Simpson erupted, “The children are saying, ‘Well, I hear Rush Limbaugh,’ and I said, ‘That’s not the news.’ And they go, ‘But he’s talking about news things.’ Okay, that’s really scary when I hear them say that they think they’re getting the news, they can’t make the separation between the New York Times and ABC News and NPR and the talk shows Hannity and Colmes or Bill O’Reilly. It’s all the same to them. That’s all the news, Entertainment Tonight, it’s all the news. So it’s been a very frightening thing to me. I am scared. I am going to admit to you that I’m scared.”
While Ms. Simpson is scared, let us take heart that the talk radio revolution is bearing fruit.
Young conservatives are on the move, thanks to motivation from our teachers on the air. Rush says that conservatism is advancing among young Americans because “they’ve grown up this way. They’ve had it around them, which is new.”
Conservatism is cool these days. Combined with the Internet, FOX News, and vibrant conservative print publications, talk radio has the potential not only to shape public opinion, but to mobilize public action for a generation of young conservatives.
Finally, parents should never underestimate the power of talk radio in the hearing of their kids. It just might save the country.
About the Writer: Hans Zeiger is president of the Scout Honor Coalition, and a student at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan.
KVI used to be "Hot Talk," but with Rush's departure they have fallen off dramatically.
A station actually dropped Rush?
KVI stated publicly that they would have done almost anything to keep Rush, but were not even given a chance. They said they were notified that they were losing Rush and that it was a done-deal and there was no point in KVI even trying to keep him. And it was.
Also, it was stated that the rights to Rush are owned by a group outside of Rush's control and that Rush has no say in which station gets him in a market. But, no, KVI did not dump Rush. They did, however, DUMP Michael Medved.
Stretch: the old geezer here... No host of radio, tv or any other type of media can match Rush in his analysis of the current topics. You can't go wrong in quoting Rush. I'd love him to have a three hour, no holds barred interview with Hillary, or Bill. Neither would have the guts to do it...
No Dim pol will ever agree to a no-holds-barred interview with Rush. Rush has such a great command of the facts and the basic tenants of conservatism that he would crush any Dim pol.
Neither are you, Mizz Simpson; neither are you.
*Smooches* for Rush from "dittoheadbabe" on Yahoo messenger.
Many stations switched awhile back which had to do with Clear Channel syndication, not the desires of the individual stations.
http://fourthturning.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117632#117632
That said, he's not a very good interviewer. His strength shows itself during his monolog.
I'm no longer an O'Reilly fan, but he is an excellant interviewer. Laura Inghram would be pretty good too.
LOL ... You maybe shoulda put that in a much bigger font size, Valerie.
Right, it's not the news, it's the TRUTH which in the light of the MSM we all need truth not news.
I first heard Rush probably 15 yrs. ago. I rode on trips
with my husband and he always had Rush on. At first, I
said ooooh! how awful - talent on loan from GOD! how awful!
Then after I heard a couple of hours of Rush a couple of
times, his skill as a news analyst and his ability to be
tongue in cheek about things in a way that teaches a truth
had me hooked.
He is skilled and does what he does better than anybody
else. When something is going on in the world, if I want
to feel like I'm getting a good, positive perspective on
it, I listen to Rush. He's comforting, not with false
premises, but with a consistent truth-telling method.
His private life seems to take a back seat to his vocation,
but he is not attempting to run for some office or hold
some job that depends on his private love life being
perfect. I think his audience for the most part, while we
would have preferred the prescription drug thing hadn't
happened - we also knew that he had been put in a difficult
position after his back surgery, being in a lot of pain and
wishing to continue the work he loved.
Rush isn't trying to be anything more than what he is, not
a theologian or politician, just a great talk show host,
(without the guests). I know a lot of people listen to him
every day while driving or in the office. It doesn't work
out for me to listen every day, but he sure keeps it fresh
for those who do.
Interesting. . .the stuff of nightmares for a station. . .losing Rush!
No one can compete with or against Rush. . .but certainly explains the sheer number of 'other voices' out there trying to fill in the empty spaces - and fortunately, many are good shows.
Since they dumped Medved, who DO they have? Laura Ingraham. . .Michael Reagan. . .Michael Savage. . .the list goes on; they are not in the 'Kings' league. . .nor will they be; but certainly glad 'we' have a lot of voices out there. . .
Rush is definitely 'King' of talk radio; and even with all the other voices out there; many good ones. . .NO one can take his place. . .
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and yes there is hope for our nation. Rush is the standard. And for that he deserves all the credit he can get.
KVI has now affiliated with FNC and they have Tony Snow and O'Reilly, although I think that O'Reilly is either taped or only part of his show is aired. They have John Carlson (local) from 3-6 and what I believed are taped programs in the evenings.
Whatever you do, if you are a conservative station and you don't have Rush in your market, you lose. For instance, when Rush moved, I switched one of my car radio presets from 570 to 770. I can't stand Medved or Hannity and lately I've been listening to Dori Monson (local) on 710, although he sometimes does some really goofy segments.
..
I feel sorry for people who do not love dogs and have them to enjoy. . .I also feel sorry for people who cannot listen to Rush - and feel just as sorry for those who WILL not listen to Rush.
Both cases; their loss . . .and IMHO, a terrible one. ;^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.