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The left needs a gruffer voice for the talk-radio game
Albany Times Union ^
| 3-20-2003
| MARK MCGUIRE
Posted on 03/20/2003 7:47:31 AM PST by Trailer Trash
The left needs a gruffer voice for the talk-radio game
BY MARK MCGUIRE
Albany Times Union
So liberal Democrats want finally to get serious about the talk-radio game, a medium that's almost an exclusive playground and pulpit of the right.
Good luck.
A pair of Chicago venture capitalists and Democratic donors, Sheldon and Anita Drobny, are reportedly talking to comedian Al Franken and other liberal entertainers about radio gigs. The idea is to develop a lineup of liberal pundits to sell to commercial radio stations. Democrats — especially the party's liberal wing — face hard times, and not just in Congress.
They complain they can't get their message out in the sort of undiluted fashion available to more Republican-friendly mouthpieces such as Rush Limbaugh, the giant of the format. On television, the situation is almost as bad: Old-school liberal host Phil Donahue just had his microphone unplugged by MSNBC after seven ratings-starved months — now they are trying out conservative radio talker Michael Savage on the weekends — while Fox News Channel continues to chug along.
If the left is indeed serious, it had better be prepared to pull a Clinton — no, not in the way you might be thinking. I'm referring to the former president's skill at appropriating ideas from the other side of the political aisle.
The playbook being employed by Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Savage isn't complex, but it does require discipline. Develop a singular message and the wherewithal to stick to it. No mealy-mouthed equivocations. No apologists, wusses or professorial popinjays need apply.
So far, commercial liberal talk radio has been an abject failure. Hosts who have made their play in the last decade, such as Mario Cuomo and former Texas agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower, just weren't entertaining or engagingly strident enough.
Hosts like Limbaugh effectively hammer points that uniformly reflect the conservative viewpoint and thus often benefit the GOP. (Bill O'Reilly, predominantly conservative, has a wild-card streak and occasionally strays from hard-right orthodoxy, such as in his opposition to the death penalty.)
But most of all, these success stories are entertainers. Condescension and a single-mindedness are assets. Having fun, especially at the expense of the other side, is essential.
So take notes, budding liberal hosts. And when the right complains, remind them that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery:
• Make conservative as dirty a word as liberal. A disgusted inflection or dismissive guffaw should follow every utterance. Also, come up with something as good as card-carrying — maybe gun-toting.
• Scream about media bias. Hammer the overwhelming conservative slant of talk radio and the Fox News Channel. Hand out copies of Eric Alterman's new book, "What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News," a fierce refutation of the notion that today's press is controlled by the left.
• Restate, repeat and restate. Keep it simple and stay on point. Make your case through repetition, not digression.
• Correlate at will. When you feel your side is clearly correct or at least holds the moral high ground, use this lofty position to string together less-supportable arguments. Start with tax cuts for the rich and then work your way to the image of the GOP stealing milk from babies' bottles. Ridiculous? Your point?
• Forget the middle ground. Stations should dock a pundit's pay every time he uses the phrase "on the other hand," unless sarcastically.
• Get angry. Conservatives effectively tap into the anger and frustrations of many Americans and assign blame. Find that same vein. Corporate malfeasance of the Enron variety might be a good place to start.
• Be funny, or at least have fun. On Mario Cuomo's radio show, every episode was an education. The former governor of New York was intelligent, erudite and as boring as a subcommittee hearing on C-Span.
And if your high-minded policy wonks and ivory-tower theorists begin to grouse that the left's new high profile on the airwaves is, um, you know, unseemly, tell them to chill.
Talk radio isn't built for dialogue or dissertations. Confrontation is the driving force. Having the left and the right on talk radio wouldn't result in a serious debate, but at least you would be able to hear both sides shouting.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: rush; thenewmedia
"Also, come up with something as good as card-carrying — maybe gun-toting." Oh yes. Please... Bring it on.
To: Trailer Trash
They say they need to avoid being
mealy-mouthed.
But how can they do that when they think that terms like "right" and "wrong" are devisive?
2
posted on
03/20/2003 7:51:55 AM PST
by
gaijin
To: Trailer Trash
I just love the whining. They left has our kids in elementary school and high school. They have our young adults in college. They have the mainstream news stations. They have the major daily newspapers. The reason talk radio works for the right is that it is the refuge of the right. It is where we can go to get the real news instead of hate America diatribes. That is why it works. Right wing talk radio is what stands up to left wing propaganda that permeates our society. They used to get away with it. No longer can they do that.
The left won't listen to left wing talk radio. They are too busy demonstrating, commiting crime, or watching Jerry Springer.
3
posted on
03/20/2003 7:52:07 AM PST
by
doug from upland
(Saddam, bend over and kiss your terrorist posterior goodbye.)
To: Trailer Trash
I am shocked and outraged that Mark McGwire would become an advisor to the liberal media. You know, when he was hitting 70 home runs, I was actually rooting for the guy, but now for all I care he could just go . . .
What? It's not Mark McGwire, the baseball player? It's Mark McGuire, a reporter for the Albany Times Union? Never mind.
To: Trailer Trash
No apologists, wusses or professorial popinjays need apply. Hell, that lets all of 'em out.
5
posted on
03/20/2003 7:59:46 AM PST
by
TheBigB
(How do I set a laser printer to stun?)
To: Trailer Trash
No mealy-mouthed equivocations.
I guess the'll never find a host then because that is the only way liberals know how to communicate...
6
posted on
03/20/2003 8:01:36 AM PST
by
saluki_in_ohio
(Gun control is the ability to hit your target!)
To: doug from upland
These libs can't get anyone to sponsor their programs because they don't sell. It's simple economics. Anyone who doesn't believe it just take a look at PBS or NPR, those are heavily subsidized by our tax dollars. Ask yourself this question, "If these are such good programs then why can't they make it in the open market place?"
To: doug from upland
"The left won't listen to left wing talk radio. They are too busy demostrating, committing crime, or watching Jerry Springer."
The fact that anyone watches that garbage in itself is a crime. As for left-wing talk radio, all one has to do is turn his or her dial to any PBS/NPR station-that says it all.
...The unfortunate fact is that we all pay for it with our tax dollars.
-Regards, T.
8
posted on
03/20/2003 8:03:58 AM PST
by
T Lady
(.Freed From the Dimocratic Shackles since 1992)
To: Trailer Trash
TV is good at certain images; a clown slips on a babana peel. A buxom woman jumps on a trampoline. A delighted woman wins a shiny car.
TV can do that, and viewers need watch neither long, nor do they need make those images the oject of their exclusive attention.
Radio is different. Radio requires logic:
You need to be listening longer and you need to listen closer to form an idea of how to solve sometimes complicated problems.
Most libs aren't up for that.
9
posted on
03/20/2003 8:06:03 AM PST
by
gaijin
To: Trailer Trash
I don't think it matters who the left puts on talk radio, they're never going to have the same drawing power as the right. The reason is very simple: there are very few true believers on the left. The situation they face is sort of like the situation that card carrying communists faced in the Soviet Union in the last decade or so of it's life. It was obvious to everyone - even (especially) politburo members - that the communist system was failing. But since that's the wagon to which their horse was hitched, nobody said anything. Besides, even if you were foolish enough to voice your opinion, who could you voice it to? How many liberals really believe in the garbage they spew, and how many are merely spewing it as a means to an end?
Furthermore, there's very little real sympathy generated for the causes of one liberal special interest group by a different special interest group. How many homosexual graduates of liberal colleges care about the life of a union man with a family? How many union men with families really care about gay rights or for that matter, support affirmative action? How many Catholic Mexican Americans really support abortion? I suspect that very few of these individual groups care to hear the problems of their so-called allies discussed at length.
It's the unholy nature of the alliance that the demonrats have put together that lets them draw 35%-40% of the electorate on a consistant basis. But getting beyond that depends on their fooling some of the people all of the time.
On the other hand...the majority of conservatives are patriotic, pro life, support low taxes, and so on. Regardless of what an individual's pet cause might be, they probably will have a lot of sympathy for the views of a philosophical comrade in arms.
To: Trailer Trash
Genine Geranamo (spel) is a good liberal talk show host?
To: Trailer Trash
Reguardless of what you call it talk radio is entertainment. Whatever type of talk radio they put up will not succeed because the left "is" the entertainm,ent. If you know what "is" means.
12
posted on
03/20/2003 8:29:30 AM PST
by
chainsaw
To: Trailer Trash
The left has its share of deep-thinkers and true-believers, sure. "How many angels dance on the head of a pin?" -heck, given half a chance, I think they could just talk your ear right off.
But do you know what the great bulk of lib faithful really, really want to hear?
HERE'S YOUR STUFF.
Now that didn't take long, did it...? And meanwhile, there are a lot of shows they're missing on TV.
13
posted on
03/20/2003 8:29:41 AM PST
by
gaijin
To: gaijin; doug from upland; Jim Robinson; John Robinson
Well said as usual gentlemen.
I suggest we as citizens pay close attention to audioblogging via phone and linking it to it on threads here.
What is an audioblog?
here
http://www.audblog.com
An audioblog via Iridium satellite from freelance reporter in Iraq last Sunday located here
http://www.audblog.com/media/2498/12323.mp3
His blog here
http://www.kevinsites.net
We've been kicking their butt and leaving them stunned with a bloody nose for about 4 years now. They will try to get smart, but we need to stay smarter.
Whaddya think?
fly safe
TT
To: gaijin; doug from upland; Jim Robinson; John Robinson
Bummer... CNN made him halt the blog today!
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