Savage is the conservative Michael Moore. In other words, he's a gibbering asshole and that's all he'll ever be.
-Dan
Posted on 10/17/2005 6:46:33 PM PDT by HitmanLV
Savage Behind The Mike
Those nonchalantly sauntering in trying to wing a three-hour air-shift would be wise to rapidly shift gears and instead emulate the work ethic of one of the medium’s most explosive and controversial communicators in recent memory.
Love him or loathe him, it’s indisputable that Michael Savage approaches virtually every segment of his daily Talk Radio Network program like a prizefighter stalking his prey.
When the three hours are spent – so is he.
Devastating Debut
There was no fast track to the headsets for the erudite Savage, who boasts Master's Degrees in Medical Botany and Medical Anthropology and was fashioning a successful career writing popular books on health before breaking into radio in his early-50s. “I tried to publish a book [`Immigrants & Epidemics’] about the rising occurrence of certain epidemics with unscreened immigrants coming [into this country],” he recalls.
But no one in the early 1990s would publish it because it was perceived to be politically incorrect. “I got very angry and thought it was censorship,” declares Savage, who also holds a Ph.D. in Epidemiology & Nutrition Science from the University of California/Berkeley. “I made a demo tape [`The Savage Nation’] and sent it to 400 stations. The first topics were Immigrants & Epidemics and Affirmative Action. They weren’t being talked about with any passion on the radio at the time.” It’s a modus operandi, however, that continues to pay substantial dividends.
One of the 400 cassettes went to KGO/San Francisco’s Ken Beck, who invited Savage to meet him at the powerhouse ABC Radio Talk outlet. “He thought it was pretty neat stuff and asked if I wanted to do fill-in work,” recalls Savage, who wound up doing Midnight-5am on KGO’s most liberal show. “I received hatred that I’d never encountered in my life. I was so loopy from it that I looked in my rearview mirror as I drove home thinking I was being followed. I was [accustomed] to being the beloved herbal nutrition guy and didn’t know that much hatred existed, simply because [someone] disagreed with people on affirmative action. I said I’d never do radio again.”
Irresistible Offer
A phone call from KGO the next day, however, painted a different picture. Management thought Savage was terrific and wanted him to do more fill-in work, but in high profile daytime slots. “My God, how could I resist that?,” he playfully ponders. “I was filling in for guys who had huge reputations. I absolutely loved it and took to it like a duck to water.”
It didn’t take long for Savage to discover people can be “hateful” on both sides of the political spectrum and has since experienced much worse than his maiden voyage on KGO. “It’s just unbelievable when you get it cold,” he maintains. “I’m not trying to say liberals are more hateful [than conservatives]. When I filled in for the more mainstream shows, it was a more general play.”
Swing work developed into a weekend show and Savage built a fanatical following, although he comments, “[KGO] gave me the deadest time of all – 7-10pm. Then they said they were creating an all-conservative station, KSFO, and wanted me to take a fulltime job. I had another career, so I [declined], but eventually did it because I love radio.”
Masterpiece Connection
Frustrated that he wasn’t syndicated the first several years of his career, Savage admits it was something he wanted “very badly” because, “I was ready and knew my talent was good enough. Some small operators came to me and wanted to syndicate me.”
Someone attending one of Savage’s Paul Revere Society “Big Meetings” conveyed through his son, Russ, (the Founder/CEO of Rockstar Energy drink), that the elder Savage should contact TRN CEO Mark Masters for a syndication deal.
The Masters/Savage alliance has been a formidable one, although the latter succinctly states doing a national Talk show is “very hard” work. “It’s not just a job or profession, but a total dedication and devotion. In this business, you have to be dedicated and devoted or you won’t last long. It’s very exhausting and some days I don’t know if I can do it much longer.”
Creature Of Habit
One cause is his frenetic on-air pace. Another could stem from his reluctance to take vacations. “When I was a local host, I religiously took one week off every sixth or seventh week to avoid burnout,” Savage explains. “My ratings never went down. I don’t do that anymore. I have much more vacation time than I ever did, but take it in scatter-shots. I’m bored easily and lost the [desire] to go somewhere and do nothing.”
Workdays tend to be remarkably similar for Bronx-born Michael Weiner, who gets up at the same time every morning. “The first thing I do is hit all the Internet sites and read my e-mail,” he points out. “I ride my bicycle a little bit and think about what’s bothering me. I eat lunch at exactly the same time [1:30pm] and get thrown off if it’s earlier or later. The light [15-20 minute] nap I take is phenomenal.”
Cable news shows provide an important backdrop to the daily ritual. “You have to stay in touch with what the heck is going on,” Savage stresses. “The benefit of working when I do is that I often get the first news of the day on my show. I’m not recycling morning talk stuff.”
Ratings Savvy
What listeners hear from the strong-willed man many attribute for coining the “compassionate conservative” phrase isn’t an act. “I can’t imagine taking a position I don’t believe in and truly go with what I think is meaningful at the time,” Savage declares. “The plain talk I exude isn’t really so dissimilar to the reasonably informed citizen who talks about how the country is being screwed up. I can’t eat for a few hours [after the show] because the adrenaline is too high. My wife doesn’t want to talk [to me] about politics anymore, [which is] sad because she was very political in the beginning and helped me with the shows.”
In stark contrast to some syndicated talents who’d be hard-pressed to recite call letters of more than two of their affiliates, Savage stays current on such matters and is quite conversant in ratings, especially those on Clear Channel flagship KNEW/San Francisco, where he airs in afternoon drive (3-7pm). “These are my report cards four times a year,” he asserts. “I assume everyone who has succeeded would be interested in where they stand, relative to the competition and past performance. Old guys at KGO looked at every book and knew it. Maybe the young guys don’t care. When I see [my numbers] go up, I know I’m doing something right. I’ve never seen them go down continuously, but if that were to happen, I’d know I was doing something wrong or the market has changed under my feet.”
In addition to tracking his progress on stations like WOR/New York (6-9pm) and WRKO/Boston (7-10pm), Savage also scopes out fellow talkers like Premiere’s Rush Limbaugh and ABC’s Sean Hannity. “From spring-to-spring, Rush and Hannity were each down 20% and I was up,” he declares. “That’s an interesting statistic. Something is going on in the business. If a person doesn’t see a trend like that – they’re blind. You have to know listening tastes or expectations are changing.”
Pure Evil
Before the 2004 presidential election, the country’s demarcation lines were pretty clearly drawn. “You had Democrat and Republican sides like two teams,” notes Savage, who says he’s always been a registered Independent and voted for George W. Bush. “The country is very divided now. Half of those who voted for the war and Bush have lost faith in him because he’s mismanaged the war by not vociferously pursuing it in war-like fashion. If you’re at war, end the damn thing and show you have leadership qualities.”
The greatest fear is the Iraq war will replicate what happened in Vietnam, but Savage - in a suddenly agitated tone – asserts, “The horror here is that Bush repeated all those mistakes and has put himself in a no-win situation. Sending boys to compete in hand-to-hand combat is 17th century warfare. People understand that and don’t want their sons’ faces blown off when they know the enemy can be decimated in their strongholds with some bombing. I know they want to cut our throats. They make no bones about wanting to kill Jews and converting Christians. They say it every damn day and are pure evil. Hannity and Limbaugh have become RNC cheerleaders for George W. Bush. They’re treating him as though he’s God, but people are questioning how someone can be 100% right. I think he needs advice from those who put him in power.”
When Savage was a radio rookie in 1994, Bill Clinton occupied the Oval Office and was (and still is) skewered by every conservative Talk radio host, but Savage contends, “I didn’t make it my life’s work and never made Clinton the big issue. I wouldn’t spend the whole day attacking him because it would be exhausting and I’d lose interest. Who would listen to that crap? I’m [also] not certain there’s as big an audience as you might think for Bush-bashing.”
That theory, of course, wouldn’t bode well for entities like Air America and Democracy Radio. “They never got traction,” Savage maintains of the former. “[San Francisco] is a very liberal market, but Air America has gone absolutely nowhere here. It’s empty and is a parody of itself. All it says is `Bush stinks’ and `Republicans are evil.’ If there were some nuance and talent underneath it, I think people would listen.”
Collector’s Item
The last three of Savage’s 18 books – “The Savage Nation,” “The Enemy Within” and “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” - have been New York Times bestsellers and the author proudly proclaims, “It’s the real crowning achievement in my life. Hemingway and [Jack] Kerouac are my heroes. My dreams early on were to be a writer – not a broadcaster.”
The living Savage made as a non-fiction writer was “good – not great” and he never had a New York Times bestseller. “Radio is possibly the biggest driver in books today,” he opines. “I didn’t appear on one television show [to promote my book]. I was booked on FOX and then un-booked. I’m pretty sure it’s because of this petty war [Westwood One/FOX’s Bill] O’Reilly and I think we’ve having. It is completely understandable Hannity wouldn’t have me on [FOX’s `Hannity & Colmes’] because I’m a competitor. But look what happened without [those shows]. They’re no longer the determinants of whether or not a book is successful. My own audience is all I need.”
It’s hard to find a political talk host these days not touting a book, but Savage stresses, “If you look at mine in detail, you’ll see they have real ideas and real work. Many others are empty. They have a picture of the host on the front with very little inside. It’s like an empty hamburger bun. My audience isn’t the biggest one in Talk radio, but it’s extremely thoughtful and dedicated. [My books] will live longer than the radio show. The publisher is putting `Savage Nation,’ `Liberalism’ and `The Enemy Within’ in a slipcase trilogy to make it a collector’s item. That, to me, will be my legacy.”
Television’s Shortcomings
A turbulent four-month MSNBC weekend stint came to a crashing close in July 2003 when Savage labeled a caller as a “sodomite” and suggested he should “get AIDS and die.”
Hardly anxious to return to that medium anytime soon, Savage straightforwardly remarks, “It’s part of my past and I’m glad it’s over. I didn’t have the support I thought I did.”
If he were to attempt a television comeback, it would be in a non-news format. “It would be a fun thing, but I really don’t want to do it,” the onetime aspiring comedian remarks. “I like the invisibility of radio and can think better in [this medium]. It was impossible to think in television. You’re [staring] at a camera and wondering how your hair and tie look. Those things distract you, [whereas] you can have an out-of-body experience in radio. [But] if you make a mistake, you’ll pay for it the rest of your career. Thank God, radio has a delay and kill switch. It’s a net underneath a high wire we all work on. Radio is very mental – I love it.”
No Senatorial Aspirations
There’s only one regret Savage has about his relatively late-in-life foray into radio. “I’m sorry I didn’t discover it before I went to college,” he muses. “Most people in this business are lifers.”
Son Russ insists that his father make a bid for the U.S. Senate, but Savage is equally adamant that will never happen. “I don’t have the strength or inclination to run for office. What power would I have as a junior senator? None. I’d spend half my day raising money and the other half sitting in meetings. I don’t have the patience for meetings. As I sometimes jokingly say on the air, `I’m a minister without portfolio.’ We simply express ideas of many people who aren’t heard from. I represent a fairly interesting block of thoughtful independents. They’re not stupid and there are [more of them] out there than [many] politicians believe.”
What is it he calls Bill Bennett, "the black baby aborter", or something?
Best as I am aware, Savage has not given Bennett a hard time.
I am ok with savage. He definitely doesn't pull any punches. He is just very repetitive, if you hear one show, you've heard them all...
Yep, but when he is on a roll, he is on a roll!
Same could be said of me from time to time. :-)
He should try again
Yes. In many respects Savage was shockingly ahead of his time.
Play that Metalica and Motley Crue intro... now kick those whiney, bleeding heart liberals to the curb.
You guys wanna hear my demos for Savage's current 'search for a co-host' contest?
-Dan
Yes......at times.
AT other times he's wonderfully lucid, thoughtful, intelligent, and pondering on tough questions.
AT other times he's a maniac....other times a F student in Logic 101.....at other times a fabulous raconteur.
Don't pigeonhole him. He's many different things.
When Hannity and Limbaugh want to distract the audience from the Republican brand of socialism being imposed on us, they just star bashing Clinton, Kennedy and/or leftists in general. I find that disheartening since the libs aren't even relevant in American politics anymore. The critical fights are within the Republican party, but Sean and Rush rarely want to go there, probably out of a fear of splintering the audience.
Apparently, the one thing we all have in common is hatred for the left, so that is their old reliable standby. Unfortunately, it is getting old and the ratings are beginning to show it.
Nah!
Yep, well said.
me too!
but I would say that of Savage every day.
Yep, true!
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