Hannity- 3 hours of unrelenting, goofy jingoism....

[Leebo65]

Everyday, I listen, mesmerized, for three hours, to Sean Hannity as he pushes the envelope of compelling talk radio. Where will it end..?

 

[Smittian]

It must be compelling if you listen for 3 hours. If you don't like it, change the station, it's that simple.

 

[cm454]

Hannity is very appealing to those who aren't capable of critical thought.

Even if you agree with Sean on an issue, the show (for most intelligent people) is unlistenable, due to the incredibly transparent pandering that goes on. There aren't many shows that are so unabashedly one-sided.

If someone has a certain opinion, they better be able to explain why in a way that isn't an excercise in distortion, mistatement or omission. If you have to resort to those methods, you're either not that bright, you're dishonest or your argument is flawed. Many times, all three.

This goes for any ideologue. Sean just happens to be more guilty of this than most I've heard.

 

[Leebo65]

Hannity will take one sentence or statement and hammer on it for 3 hours. Then I go home and find out what was really said... How does his conscience let him do this... IS he on someones payroll....?

 

[DToTheJ]

It must be compelling if you listen for 3 hours. If you don't like it, change the station, it's that simple.

But three hours a day is all he asks. ;D

But give him credit, he is a master of promotion, talking up a guest as if he/she were coming on next, when in reality, it's scheduled for the last half-hour.

And he also has a habit of saying "don't forget," for example: "Don't forget, Hannity tonight on the Fox News Channel," "Don't forget, the Hannity Freedom Concert..."

 

[cm454]

But three hours a day is all he asks. ;D

But give him credit, he is a master of promotion, talking up a guest as if he/she were coming on next, when in reality, it's scheduled for the last half-hour.

And he also has a habit of saying "don't forget," for example: "Don't forget, Hannity tonight on the Fox News Channel," "Don't forget, the Hannity Freedom Concert..."

I hope you're being sarcastic. There are a million, well now only about 50, disc jockeys who've been doing that for decades and decades. It's as little as you can possibly do to promote your own show.

And I love the phrase "Frredom Concert". Freedom, huh? [EDIT]


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[MikefromDelaware]

Hannity is a real self promoter. There are some issues where I might agree with him, but can't stand to listen to him talk about it. Both Hannity and Savage always seem angry. Hannity and Savage are never entertaining or funny. Rush at least comes across like he enjoys what he is doing, where as Hannity and Savage sound like they'd rather be doing something else, but feel compelled to sacrifice their lives (and make millions of dollars in the process) trying to get you the listener to see the world just exactly as they see it. Any deviation from their specific world view of Rush and Hannity makes you, not a moderate, but a LIBERAL. I don't know how anyone could listen to Hannity for three long hours. It may be all he askes, but frankly he's asking an aweful lot and his show's not worth it. So Yes, I exercise my right as an American to listen to something else when Hannity or Savage are on. I also would defend your right to listen to them. That is what makes America a great place to live.

 

[cm454]

It's not his positions as much as it's his relentlessly one-sided and childishly transparent pandering that I find so boring.

You have to have a screw loose to be able to enjoy that kind of droning on and on, day after day, regardless of political ideology.

 

[listener-in]

So Yes, I exercise my right as an American to listen to something else when Hannity or Savage are on. I also would defend your right to listen to them. That is what makes America a great place to live.

There's another side to that coin, which is that while my right to listen to liberal radio may be intact, my opportunity do so is much more limited, as any drive across country would quickly confirm.

There has to be more to it than ratings. Stations use the slightest excuse not to air progressive talk, but are much more forgiving when it comes to right-wing talkers, a good proportion of whom are sub-standard broadcasters and/or extremist fanatics.

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[gr229]

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[johnnyu]

In the mid 1960's, I became a fan of talk radio. By the late 1990's, I was sick of it. I would not listen to any talk radio today.

 

[brian65]

Hannity is a real self promoter. There are some issues where I might agree with him, but can't stand to listen to him talk about it. Both Hannity and Savage always seem angry. Hannity and Savage are never entertaining or funny....

I think Savage is much more listenable than Hannity. There's some days I don't like what he's ranting about and I tune away, but there's never any days where Hannity is worth listening to.

 

[Heater]

It's not his positions as much as it's his relentlessly one-sided and childishly transparent pandering that I find so boring.

You have to have a screw loose to be able to enjoy that kind of droning on and on, day after day, regardless of political ideology.

I agree. I hold conservative views but can not listen to Sean Hannity for more than 5 minutes. His show reminds me of my child when he rants about incoherent topics. Since my son is 6 I give him a break on it however.

Sean Hannity truly has some type of Obama obsession. I wonder could he not talk about Obama for just 60 seconds. I do not think that is possible. I think he will end in some type of breakdown. Hopefully it will happen on the air. He no longer discusses conservatism. He just discusses his Obama derangement.

 

[louromshow]

Savage, at least, is clearly an intellecual. Hannity is a paper -- how can I say this -- um, tigress. I will put up with a lot of crap if I respect someone's intellect. Beck is only slightly more tolerable than Hannity because he clearly does not take himself as seriously as Hannity and Savage. God, I hope there is a place in talk radio for a compelling moderate, a la Bob Lassiter.

 

[cm454]

I hope there is a place in talk radio for a compelling moderate

The fact that MOST Amercians are closer to moderate than either extreme, says a lot about how out of touch talkradio is with the masses.
Yes, I know, talkradio has lazily decided a niche of extremists is better than....what? Better than potentially appealing to the majority of people who enjoy conversation? Oh, only conservatives enjoy conversation? Really? If you talk to people out in the public AND have an understanding of how talkradio got to where it is today, you'd LAUGH at that assertion.

 

[DocWashburn]

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Actually, a good number of broadcasting folks have looked for an excuse to air progressive talk. But the market actually rejected it. Funny how that works out sometimes. Intelligent, articulate liberals like Jerry Brown and Mario Cuomo gave it their best shot and went down in flames. Allan Colmes is on his second go-round in national syndication and certainly is not setting the woods on fire. The most listened to talk show hosts (for their dayparts) are Glenn Beck (9-12N EST); Rush (12N-3P EST); Hannity (3-6P EST); and Levin (6P-9P). What does that tell you about what the Talk radio audience prefers?

 

[Leebo65]

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The people that I come across listening to Rush...etc Lot of white truck drivers, older whites in the trades(electricians, plumbers), small business owners(walked into many a small business with Rush going), evangelical christians, and retired (usually white, not always), and fair number of military ppl. These ppl are in situations where they can listen to the radio and they want something more engaging than music.

Liberals/progressives tend not to have occupations/situations where they can listen to the radio... Teachers/ppl in the medical fields/ academics/ journalists/..etc They are the ones that listen to NPR on the way to work..

Now your lower class type's if there is a TV around during the midday they turn on, Court TV type shows, Jerry Springer, Oprah..etc but if they are listening to the radio its music(fodder for the masses..AC, hip hop, Pop)

Most radio programming is geared for the lowest common denominator... People who aren't that bright, don't reflect much.. So if you are a Program Director today basically you are programming for idiots... NICE line of work... must be very stimulating...

Actually, a good number of broadcasting folks have looked for an excuse to air progressive talk. But the market actually rejected it. Funny how that works out sometimes. Intelligent, articulate liberals like Jerry Brown and Mario Cuomo gave it their best shot and went down in flames. Allan Colmes is on his second go-round in national syndication and certainly is not setting the woods on fire. The most listened to talk show hosts (for their dayparts) are Glenn Beck (9-12N EST); Rush (12N-3P EST); Hannity (3-6P EST); and Levin (6P-9P). What does that tell you about what the Talk radio audience prefers?

 

[KeithE4]

Actually, a good number of broadcasting folks have looked for an excuse to air progressive talk. But the market actually rejected it. Funny how that works out sometimes. Intelligent, articulate liberals like Jerry Brown and Mario Cuomo gave it their best shot and went down in flames. Allan Colmes is on his second go-round in national syndication and certainly is not setting the woods on fire. The most listened to talk show hosts (for their dayparts) are Glenn Beck (9-12N EST); Rush (12N-3P EST); Hannity (3-6P EST); and Levin (6P-9P). What does that tell you about what the Talk radio audience prefers?

It's not the political spin, it's the hosts themselves. Most of them are just flat-out lousy broadcasters. With the exception of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Randi Rhodes, none of them are worth a damn, liberal or conservative. Why? Love 'em or hate 'em (and Limbaugh is the only one I can stomach, and even he jumped the shark last year), they are competent broadcasters and they entertain as well as spew. The rest are either raving maniacs like Savage, or dull as paint like Thom Hartmann, NPR, and the Salem bunch.

Alan Colmes, being a long-time radio guy, should be much better than he is. Al Franken should have been much better as well, but success as a comedy writer/performer doesn't translate to being a successful political talk-show host on radio. He was a very poor radio guy, but I think it was just means to an end for him. And, as far as that goes, it worked...eventually. ;D

 

[cm454]

Actually, a good number of broadcasting folks have looked for an excuse to air progressive talk. But the market actually rejected it. Funny how that works out sometimes. Intelligent, articulate liberals like Jerry Brown and Mario Cuomo gave it their best shot and went down in flames. Allan Colmes is on his second go-round in national syndication and certainly is not setting the woods on fire. The most listened to talk show hosts (for their dayparts) are Glenn Beck (9-12N EST); Rush (12N-3P EST); Hannity (3-6P EST); and Levin (6P-9P). What does that tell you about what the Talk radio audience prefers?

First of all, Jerry Brown and Mario Cuomo were HORRIBLE on the air, and it had NOTHING to do with their respective ideologies. They had almost no presence behind the mic. Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck have extensive radio backgrounds. BIG difference. Beck was a reasonably successful top 40 morning guy for years. Limbaugh was from wacky music radio as well. They know that you have to be "entertaining" first.

Secondly, many seem to be completely ignorant of the chronology of events that has the talkradio landscape sounding the way it does today. About 20 years ago, Rush Limbaugh's show was being picked up in syndication by more and more affiliates every week and, because of his showmanship, found it's way to many great talk radio stations around the country. I'm talking about successful stations--some legendary stations, many of which had liberals, conservatives and everything in between all over their schedules.

As Limbaugh's popularity grew, a very common phenomenon unfolded---one that manifests itself in musicradio all the time: He was copied. But in this case, the showmanship wasn't what was focused on, but rather his ideology. So, in their infinite uncreative wisdom, talk programmers around the country systematically hired one Rush Limbaugh copycat after another. Over many years, this resulted in what was depicted in the movie "Field of Dreams": If you build it, they will come. And they did. Conservative hosts and conservative listeners took ownership of the format. Fewer and fewer people who were less than conservative warmed to such a monothematic drumbeat and gradually drifted away, further tilting the ratio of listeners of talkradio in the conservatives favor.

Along comes "Lib-Talk". This poorly conceived response to conservative talk radio only bolstered the claim that only conservatives like hearing conversation on the radio. The problem with Lib-Talk was that many of it's hosts sucked. Another significant problem was that the affiliates of Lib-Talk were usually second and third tier signals in the marketplace.

Let's see: The morphing of mainstream talkradio into conservative talkradio took a good 12 to 15 ytears to complete, entrenching it on the biggest and most legendary signals in all markets. Gee, Lib-Talk, with their crappy hosts and inferior signals couldn't beat those established stations in a year or less? That must mean people only want to hear conservative hosts! (This isn't to say Lib-Talk would have succeeded the way it was programmed anyway. Many of the Air America hosts, for example, were terrible entertainers.)

Programming a station based on ideology is short-sighted. However, many managers claim at this point that they are completely satisfied with their niche. Great. But don't tell me that only conservatives want to hear interesting conversation, because that is BS. It's the worst kind of lazy Monday morning quarterbacking there is, because all you're doing is ignoring history and assuming a situation is the result of factors that serve your purpose or bias.

Talkradio has become a very dark place, and it didn't have to be that way.

 

[storrs19]

Liberal Talk Radio just doesn't earn any money and in today's corporate world that is the bottom line. Now me, I voted for Ron Paul and I can't stand any of the right wing gas bags nor the pathetic left wing hosts who put me to sleep in minutes. I listen to shows that are not very popular like The Rollye James Show or The Alex Jones Show. I did get a chance to hear The Jim Bohanon Show while in Springfield, IL and enjoyed it but it is not carried in the Louisville, KY area. If you want to hear left wing radio just get a satellite subscription. It is well worth the $15 a month for me as I enjoy the baseball games and my other talk shows and Old Time Radio is great.