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Savage has only been on in my market for about one maybe two years. His screener seems to have done a great job as I so rarely hear or have heard the hard Left and so forth get through to the airwaves. Maybe earlier he had many people getting through and harrassing him?
My example of the woman should have explained better that she was simply happy to speak to him and hadn't taken more than 30 seconds before he started loosing it. I imagined the woman had tried to call his show, finally got through and was thrilled to speak to someone she so admired. To be treated so rudely must have been a shock.
I've heard callers say " Hello Dr. Savage! How are you today! " and Savage looses it. " Look....dont call this program asking how my day is - just get to your point!". On other occasions someone politely states about the same greeting and its not an issue at all.
I've also heard the guy ripping his programmer or producer or whomever it is working for him over a piece of music. " Ok - play some rock and roll " ( 15 seconds of music ) " What is that? What are you doing - I said Rock and Roll! Do you have any idea what your doing??". Its not like the programmer opened up with a piece of Opera. he played some 1950's rock as requested.
Savage often speaks about a more civil and polite society which has vanished. He misses that time period and I wish I might have personally known it. But to hear him be quite impolite and uncivil to people who work for or call him is something I can not understand.

I've heard callers say " Hello Dr. Savage! How are you today! " and Savage looses it. " Look....dont call this program asking how my day is - just get to your point!". On other occasions someone politely states about the same greeting and its not an issue at all.

I listen to Savage pretty regularly now. (None of the other local drive-time hosts are worth listening to, IMO.) I've heard him treat a few callers in the way you describe and it's his weakest trait. But he repeats it constantly: Get on with your call! Talk about what you want to talk about!

On so many shows, sitting in traffic (or at home, even) I feel the same way: "Quit fawning over the host! Stop repeating your set-up! Get off your tangent! Ask the host the stupid question!" It makes a host's job real easy when even the critical callers can't get to the point. Savage always wants to cut to the chase and tackle question and his calls, most of the time, are very satisfying to listen to. Although brusque, he knows that every caller has something important to ask or say and just wants to get to what it is.

Now a REALLY mean hostess is Dr. Laura. She basks in the adulation of a caller and lets the set up go for a long time before she finally gets snippy and says, "So what's your question?" But before the call is over-- and this happens 95+% of the time-- she'll find some whisp of a reason to trash the caller. Or the spouse that's been brought to the phone to speak with Laura. And typically after advice like, "You need to cut off all relations with that part of the family. You need to give up the job and stay at home. You need to law down the law and tell hubby not sleep in till 9 on Saturdays. You need some 'you' time. Your spouse needs some 'you' time."

Savage is Santa Claus comared to Dr. Laura!