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This afternoon, I found myself in a situation where I had no choice but to listen to about 15 minutes of Rush Limbaugh. It was torture, even though I agree with the man on most issues.
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Talk Radio Scoreboard for Major Markets: October 2014
- Thread starter Gregg.
- Start date
This afternoon, I found myself in a situation where I had no choice but to listen to about 15 minutes of Rush Limbaugh. It was torture, even though I agree with the man on most issues.
I rarely agree with him, but I listen occasionally and he certainly makes his position sound good.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Strange as it may seem, once upon a time I used to listen to Rush. I even agreed with him sometimes but I generally enjoyed his top 40 style of talk radio. But things were different then and he was different. First off, talk stations often had a mix of liberal and conservative hosts, so he had to keep people who didn't agree with him listening. And his listeners were largely supporters of Pat Buchanan and disenchanted with Daddy Bush. It was looking like Bush was going to lose the New Hampshire primary to Pat. The last time a sitting president lost in New Hampshire (LBJ, '68) he stepped down. The White House got El Rushbo to come in for a visit and put him in the Lincoln Bedroom for the night. I have no idea what they said to him but everything changed. Rush sold out and started shilling for Bush and the RNC. Then Phil Boyce and other talk PDs purged their stations of all but right-wing, Rush clone hosts and Rush started going over the top. Too bad. He used to be good. Maybe his ego ran away with him. Or maybe he just stayed too long, like Imus.
I think he's trapped by his fame and popularity, in the same way as Elvis and The Beatles. It's a problem, and I'm sure he knows it, and it will take a lot for the format to move beyond him. And there will be large numbers of people who will cling to the past, in the way they still hold on to Elvis and The Beatles.
Let's be honest. It takes a massive ego to get to where he is. If you have the talent to back that up, you can get there. A deaf guy that has hundreds of millions of dollars doesn't have to do radio unless he really likes to do so (which I think he still does) and it helps his ego in some way.
He still makes a lot of people a lot of money, and a lot of people still enjoy listening to him, so he'll keep doing what he does until he is ready to go. That's fine with me, and it should be fine to anyone who actually respects the business. It's not what I enjoy listening to anymore, but to deny the respect the guy deserves is just childish.
Absolutely.
"Respect" -for what? A bloated, drug addicted egotist who made his fortune as character assassin and propagandist ministering to aged, ignorant hotheads who vote against their own interests.
Even in that badly degenerated industry there must be some standards beyond 'he made a lot of money".
Chan/NYC
What do you suggest?
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FredLeonard
Guest
The guy is morbidly obese. No exercise. Smokes. Drinks. Known to have done drugs. Eats red meat. It's amazing he hasn't stroked out by now. Please, god, take your talent back.
I haven't seen Rush Limbaugh in awhile but he had dropped quite a bit of weight.
Wishing death on people. Your classiness knows no ends. Or starts for that matter.
He hasn't been fat since Clinton was president.
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FredLeonard
Guest
He's been fat several times since Clinton was president. Lately, he's really fat. Check the videos of him doing his show every time he looses and says something outrageously stupid to get attention from legitimate news media. Rush The Hutt.
You know there is no god because Rush is still around.
You really are a hateful person, aren't you?
Such seething anger really isn't good for one's health. 
From where I sit, Rush, Hannity and Levin and Beck are ridiculous buffoons taking conservatism to the extreme and giving it a bad name. OTOH, much of NPR sounds like a bunch of pompous intellectuals lecturing to what they consider to be the great unwashed. Their left-wing bias is more cleverly concealed but it's just as extreme, IMO.
In between there's some good, moderate, non-preachy talk radio. It's not fair to judge all talk by the extremes (as Fred tends to do) and trying to dissuade fans of one extreme or the other isn't good for the blood pressure! The Ditto Heads and the NPR crowd will never understand each other.
From where I sit, Rush, Hannity and Levin and Beck are ridiculous buffoons taking conservatism to the extreme and giving it a bad name. OTOH, much of NPR sounds like a bunch of pompous intellectuals lecturing to what they consider to be the great unwashed. Their left-wing bias is more cleverly concealed but it's just as extreme, IMO.
In between there's some good, moderate, non-preachy talk radio. It's not fair to judge all talk by the extremes (as Fred tends to do) and trying to dissuade fans of one extreme or the other isn't good for the blood pressure! The Ditto Heads and the NPR crowd will never understand each other.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Such seething anger really isn't good for one's health.
From where I sit, Rush, Hannity and Levin and Beck are ridiculous buffoons taking conservatism to the extreme and giving it a bad name. OTOH, much of NPR sounds like a bunch of pompous intellectuals lecturing to what they consider to be the great unwashed. Their left-wing bias is more cleverly concealed but it's just as extreme, IMO.
In between there's some good, moderate, non-preachy talk radio. It's not fair to judge all talk by the extremes (as Fred tends to do) and trying to dissuade fans of one extreme or the other isn't good for the blood pressure! The Ditto Heads and the NPR crowd will never understand each other.
As I've pointed out before, I have been critical of public radio and the politically correct crowd. See some of my posts on the NPR Ombudsman's forum. Here I take issue with those who slam public radio clearly without bothering to listen to it and seem only to repeat which right-wing talk show hosts have told them.
What you call "the extremes" are what dominate talk radio - actually one extreme dominates talk radio. Yes, there is some good, moderate, non-preachy talk radio but hardly anybody listens to it. It's Rush, Hannity, Levin and Beck that dominate. For all practical purposes, they are right-wing talk. Even Salem seems edging more toward "the extremes."
I'd love to read what you consider "good, moderate, non-preachy" talk. Especially such talk that gets respectable numbers in syndication.
And I'm still waiting for somebody - anybody on this board - to report a specific example of public radio being biased.
It's funny how tea people here are so willing to give Fox and their favorite talk show hosts a pass in the bias department, when their stated programming practice is to "stir up the crazies." There's a term in psychology called "projection." That's when you attribute to others qualities you secretly loath in yourself.
A lot of conservatives listen to public radio. Try it. You might like it.
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FredLeonard
Guest
No, maybe Ross Perot. Maybe, as tea party people do know, he should have kept holding the establishment Republican's candidate's feet to the fire. Rush's "wholehearted" support didn't help Bush much but at least Rush would have had his integrity. Rush panders. Rush is a shill. Look at some of the crap products he endorses.
Scientific analysis of NPR has it center-left. A bit past the major networks and Politico. About 3 spots above MSNBC. And 4 above Jane Fonda.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/03/22/science-settles-it-nprs-liberal-but-not-very/2/
From the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/business/media/14carr.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
NPR ADMITS it's filled with liberals:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/03/16/earth-tax-dollars-npr/
And that's just NPR. Some of the other public radio networks are even more biased. Don't even get me started on the anti-Israel bias.
Here's the important part that will immediately be ignored: It's OK that NPR is biased to the left. Just admit is. No one is claiming any of the major conservative hosts aren't biased. They make their living off bias. So does NPR. Saying biased things in hushed tones doesn't make them any less biased.
You are 100% right on one thing, though. "Moderate" radio doesn't draw. It just doesn't. If you do a show based on news and current events, you have to have some sort of slant.
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