Talk Radio: Raking and muckraking

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 9.23.02 | Harry Levins

[rface]

Among all the puzzles of talk radio, this one arises most often. Why do callers thank the host for taking their calls? Of course talk radio hosts take calls. A talk show without callers is an oxymoron, and a flop as well.

[rface]

Ashland, Missouri

[TYVets]

Not all the left wing news papers are on the coasts!

This is St Louis, where the dead vote early, often and late. Beware

[FreePaul]

Sour Grapes!!! Mr. Levins doesn't seem to understand why talk shows have fans and his writing has only a captive audience of suscribers. Could it be that most talk shows cover people's interest instead of the writer's ego trip?

[Real Cynic No More]

No mention of Sean Hannity's radio show????

[LenS]

Why do people call Dr. Laura? Don't they know what she's going to say? The occasional moron actually asks, "Is it OK to cheat on my wife?" It's like raising your hand for humiliation.

I've always wondered this myself. *g*

[mdwakeup]

"Thank you for taking my call."

Among all the puzzles of talk radio, this one arises most often. Why do callers thank the host for taking their calls? Of course talk radio hosts take calls. A talk show without callers is an oxymoron, and a flop as well.

Finally, someone's mentioned this idiocy that's been bugging me for years!

[o_zarkman44]

yeah I was thinking the same thing. No mention of Sean Hannity. I truely believe he is viewed as the largest threat of conservative talk radio because he has demonstrated an uncanny ability to mobilize people on issues.

OReilly is ok, but sometimes gets too monotone on issues and I have noticed he indeed has double standards.
Rush is ok, but seems too egotistic and more of a talking head figure than a mobilizer like Hannity.

Then there is libertarian Boortz. Glenn Beck. Michael Savage. The author apparantly has listened to very little talk radio to be informed to comment.
Bump!

Central Missouri Talk radio The Eagle93.9FM!

[texas booster]

Thank you for reading my post?

Just doesn't have the same cachet.

Seriously, if callers dropped the greeting we would lose some civility, but we would get another call or two an hour.

[Phantom Lord]

Why do callers thank the host for taking the call? Simple, because most callers are never put on the air and only a select few make it on air.

Thats with the big shows. Your local talk show host will put on your bassest hound if it can dial the number.

[Drango]

On the other end of the spectrum sits Diane Rehm of National Public Radio.

Funded by your TAX dollars.

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."
--Thomas Jefferson: Statute of Religious Freedom, 1779

[elephantlips]

Mr. Levins:

With regard to your "weed-pulling" column: The hardest part of decisions is not the grey areas it is the black and white of life. Grey areas were invented by man to help them avoid the hard decisions that the black and white issues present. Murder is wrong, period. No amount of "the poor perpetrator had a terrible childhood" will make it okay to slaughter someone else or their family. Knowing the right thing to do and doing it is a black and white issue. Unfortunately, we, as a society, have for too long sought the refuge of unaccountability, better known as the "grey area." Grey areas always sound good, they have to or they wouldn't be acceptable. The problem is they don't deal with the issues or resolve the situations. It's his fault, her fault, their fault, and the all time unaccountability winner, "society's fault." No, Mr Levins, I do not agree with you at all. Our country has come so far from its roots and everyone is looking around seeking someone to blame other than themselves. If conservatives are looking to "conserve" what it was that made this country great, to conserve the attitudes that the overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers had, in short, the prevailing values of the country at its creation, than perhaps you can understand the enormous frustration we all have with the "grey" people. You'll excuse me please while I go pull a few weeds.

(Letter I sent to Mr. Levins)

[Real Cynic No More]

"The author apparantly has listened to very little talk radio to be informed to comment."

Yeah, the liberal mentality that qualifications don't matter.

Game, Set, Match!

[lewislynn]

No mention of Sean Hannity's radio show????

It's not worth mentioning.

[billhilly]

There are two philosophies known to this writer. Conservative and middle of the road. What a maroon.

[lewislynn]

Instead, the show comes across as three hours of preaching to the choir

If he doesn't like "preaching to the choir" (and I don't) he'll love Michael Savage.

[Capt_Hank]

Glenn Beck..... The worst 3 hours of radio time in the Philadelphia area. I switch to "sports talk" when he comes on. I still can't see how this guy got a syndicated show. In an email to the station, I told them he must have naked pictures of the Program Director. I was told that his show wasn't directed to my age group... 57. They were looking for males, 24 to 54. So be it........!

[MrB]

But if you tend toward the middle of the road

You see, there is no one really "on the left". They're all "moderates." Anyone to the right of Stalin must be a "radical right winger."

[Desdemona]

I knew there was a reason I only read the sports page.

[MrB]

Issues are black and white, pure and simple.

There are so many issues I could take with this, but just this one more.

Hey Lefties!
You are not "more sophisticated", nor are you "more enlightened" to see everything in "shades of gray".
It just means that you're too damn intellectually lazy and morally deficient to examine issues closely enough to see where the right and wrong, good and evil breakdown is.

It helps to have a good moral "yardstick" based on common (ooo Western value centrism!) values. That way, you know what is helpful, constructive, and good as compared to harmful, destructive, and evil.
Given this tool, and a willingness to examine things a bit more closely than saying "it's all gray", it does come down to "right and wrong"!