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Rush Limbaugh Call Screener. Incompetence In Broadcasting.

W

Wilkins_Micawber

Called Rush's Show today. I was put on hold for over an hour and had several conversations with the screener. No biggie. I expected to hold for a long time. After being told I was "next", I was cutoff. I was on a land line so no, my cell phone did not drop the call. I can tell it was at their end by the way it went silent before getting a dial tone 20 seconds later. I called back and went directly on hold. No human intervention. I held 20 minutes. Call screener comes back. I tell him I was cutoff and ask if I can still comment on the topic being discussed. He asks me to hold. Ten minutes later, cut off again! I call again, this time on a cellphone and ask why I keep getting disconnected. He hung up in midsentence. Excellence In Broadcasting indeed!

I know you are probably asking yourself: But what does this have to do with AAR?

Well, allow me to point out that when I call AAR, the call screeners are polite and the hosts are rude.
 
I'm not defending this tactic, but Rush has, in the past, said on the air that his call screener is deliberately tough on callers to make sure that only the best calls get on the air. I don't think at all that that's the best way to go about it, but that could be the reason for what happened to you.<P ID="signature">______________
"Get educated. Read stuff on the web and believe all of it."
-- Phil Hendrie
http://theradioblog.blogspot.com</P>
 
Oh, I'd defend it if I thought it was a tactic. I'd put the show first too if I were him. I know what it's like to get blown off. I've been on his show and I've been blown off his show.

This was different. After telling him what my comment was, he repeatedly asked me to hold. Even came on a couple of times to ask me to get right to the point. Then thirty seconds before he tells me I'm next.... (silence) then [click]...[buzz].. I am not a neophyte. This was either a series of bad technical problems, or more likely, a new or substitute screener.

As I said in my original post, it wasn't the initial disconnect that got me. Things happen. It was the two subsequent disconnects.

Actually, it may just have been that things were running long and they decided to move on topicwise. Now if it was a tactic in THAT sense, yeah, I'd object to the rudeness. How long does it take to say: "We're running long. Sorry" and THEN hang up. I would have understood that.

> I'm not defending this tactic, but Rush has, in the past,
> said on the air that his call screener is deliberately tough
> on callers to make sure that only the best calls get on the
> air. I don't think at all that that's the best way to go
> about it, but that could be the reason for what happened to
> you.
>
 
> I know you are probably asking yourself: But what does this
> have to do with AAR?
>
> Well, allow me to point out that when I call AAR, the call
> screeners are polite and the hosts are rude.
>
I was wondering if Rush allows liberals to call in and talk or if it is all conservatives. When I listened to Rush years ago, all he let on the air were people who agreed with him. It isn't hard to be civil with people you agree with.

Air America is quite openly a "boiling pot of the American left" network. People call in who absolutely detest or love the programs and the hosts. People yell and fight and that's the way it is. It is what makes it interesting to many listeners. As an aside, I have heard conservatives get pretty angry on air for what I thought was minor transgressions of the hosts (interrupting a rant from a caller that is little more than talking points already discussed, for example). The hosts on AAR tend to interrupt and debate their callers.

There is a "civilized" talk platform available on many NPR stations (talk of the nation etc.) and you can talk to Ed Schultz for a more moderate viewpoint. I have also heard that Springer is a good listener if you would like to give him a try.
 
> I was wondering if Rush allows liberals to call in and talk or if it is all
> conservatives. When I listened to Rush years ago, all he let on the air were
> people who agreed with him. It isn't hard to be civil with people you agree
> with.

I have heard the complaint from liberals that he doesn't take liberal callers. What they don't realize is that it's hard for *anyone* to get on. I'm always surprised that it's not as hard to get <u>through</u> as one would think.. but getting <u>on</u> is an entirely different matter. Yes, they are selective and I don't blame them.

>Air America is quite openly a "boiling pot of the American left" network.
> People call in who absolutely detest or love the programs and the hosts.
> People yell and fight and that's the way it is.

As some people here apparently still remember, I posted a long critique of Mike Malloy after listening to his show and then calling in and getting ON. As I wrote at the time, I am not a political novice (Sam Donaldson accurately said once that "only amateurs get angry when discussing public policy". Well, it was accurate when he said it in 1986! Now, nearly everyone is a hothead.) and I don't take things personally. I called as polite as could be and had every intention of having a pleasant disagreement with Malloy. He started ranting at me demanding to know HOW I could challenge his assertion that a certain gay man was a "self loather" because he worked for Republicans. He yelled and demanded to know what I would call it! My calmly-delivered two word answer: "A disagreement". I was immediately hung up on and treated to him raging for 20 seconds about what an obvious gay-hater I am. I got two words in! If he'd kept me on, I'd have handed the phone to my gay brother and let those two hash it out...

I don't agree that people love yelling and screaming from their show hosts. That's enjoyable among friends and family sometimes but not from strangers on the radio.

Rush is not the best in the world at handling hostile callers. But when liberals call and are polite to him, he is very polite to them.
 
> I have heard the complaint from liberals that he doesn't
> take liberal callers. What they don't realize is that it's
> hard for *anyone* to get on. I'm always surprised that it's
> not as hard to get through as one would think.. but getting
> on is an entirely different matter. Yes, they are selective
> and I don't blame them.

I have tried to get on Rush but its been a while. I didn't find the screener to be incompetent or rude...but never got on....when i said i wanted to debate a point..just was left on hold...forever. So i don't know the level of screening for Rush as well as i do for others.

Hannity screens the beejesus out of callers who care to speak against the talking point de jour he is selling that day. its tough to get through a screener if you disagree with them. Jay Severin's show will let you through but Jay has little if any tolerence for anyone that "dares" disagree with him. Laura ingraham is notorious for screening....i sneaked through one time but laura ditched me before I could get a thought in...so for me Hannity and Ingraham are the worst i have ever tried...

I have not tried too many other conservative people (Beck, Liddy, etc). I respect my own intelligence too much to even attempt to speak to idiot hosts like Howie Carr and John Depetro (sp?) on WKRO. Both hosts have so little to offer why bother calling them. Listening to them is enough punishment. (my opinion)

On the liberal side it was mentioned that Schultz and Springer are "good listeners" but Id like to say if you are a conservative, its very easy to get to Stephanie Miller and she listens but she might make fun of you during and afterward...Randi is like going in for the smackdown...better be prepared or you are going down hard baybee...LOL. But she is tough on most people in my opinion.
Tim, her screener,gives first time callers more opportunity or at least tries to.

None of the liberal hosts screen calls and Im proud to say that. Franken doesn't take a lot of callers but I hope they will take more. I like Malloy's wife when she screens, shes very friendly. But for last, my favorite screeners are the ones on KGO, they are very nice even if you dont agree with the hosts....and i have good experiences with every host no matter the viewpoint, even Gene Burns who I argue with at least one or twice a year but i love discussing issues with him when possible, even when we disagree.


> >Air America is quite openly a "boiling pot of the American
> left" network.
> > People call in who absolutely detest or love the programs
> and the hosts.
> > People yell and fight and that's the way it is.
>

> I don't agree that people love yelling and screaming from
> their show hosts. That's enjoyable among friends and family
> sometimes but not from strangers on the radio.

I try to avoid the yelling but mostly the host does that to drown you out or if they have the ability they just cut you off....like O'Reilly.

> Rush is not the best in the world at handling hostile
> callers. But when liberals call and are polite to him, he is
> very polite to them.

Now thats not true or maybe less true....i have heard Rush smack down the liberal callers (the few that get in), he is not good with non-dittoheads.
He's no where near as rude as Hannity and Ingraham and Severin are with dissenting callers.
>
 
> I was wondering if Rush allows liberals to call in and talk
> or if it is all conservatives. When I listened to Rush years
> ago, all he let on the air were people who agreed with him.

That has never been the case. I doubt you've ever actually listened - either that or your memory is failing you.

People who disagree with Limbaugh actually get affirmative action in that they are placed at the front of the queue.
 
> Hannity screens the beejesus out of callers who care to
> speak against the talking point de jour he is selling that
> day. its tough to get through a screener if you disagree
> with them.

Hannity and most of the others do the "go right to hold" thing you mentioned, as do many local stations. Hannity, also, does indeed screen pretty rigorously, but the first time I spoke with him and disagreed he gave me three minutes. Of course, when you challenge his guests, like I did the second time, I got cut off after one sentence.

> I have not tried too many other conservative people (Beck,
> Liddy, etc). I respect my own intelligence too much to even

I think since Beck doesn't take many callers, that typically when you call in, they'll promise to "pass your comments along" (we all know that really happens!) and hang up. I suppose that's better than putting on a caller that's not really good, though.

> Tim, her screener,gives first time callers more opportunity
> or at least tries to.

Can we forget the first time caller thing? "Long time listener, first time caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaller."

Locally, The Big Talker in Philly is probably the most professional from what I've dealt with.

> Now thats not true or maybe less true....i have heard Rush
> smack down the liberal callers (the few that get in), he is
> not good with non-dittoheads.

I wouldn't say that he's not good with such callers, but he can come off as smug and will make fun of you while you're on the air. One particular call from some guy who wanted his mother's rx covered still sticks in my mind... :)

The best to my mind is Leykis' screener (Dino?)... who BSes with you like you're in a bar, asks every kind of question, your weight, number of sexual experiences last month, etc., etc. When I told him I was calling from Phoenix (where Leykis is not on), he was flabbergasted (Leykis staff, meet streaming), and proceeded to ask me exactly where I was driving, then told me a long story about how he played golf at the club just down the street, met some chic at a bar around the corner ("that was a great lay"), and generally inserted four-letter words as often as possible. I experienced the same thing that happened to you with Rush: the sound of being disconnected from their phone system. Of course, I could never get through again, although I presumed that they disconnected me because the rest of the callers had better stories than I did and they wanted to make room for someone better.
 
This is Show Business.

Talk shows are not done for the benefit of callers. Talk shows are done for listeners.

About one percent of talk radio listeners EVER call. And about one per cent of them are repeat callers.

Talk shows are not about the callers. They are about the host. The caller's purpose is to give the host something to respond to. Callers are a sounding board for the host (not the other way around).

Call screeners pre-interview callers and do an initial screening. Producers review screeners' notes about callers put on hold and move some up the queue and dump others. The host (who also has a computer screen) makes the final decision on which ones actually to take. Callers are chosen to further the show and make the host look good.

Talk radio is not an open forum. It is not a free speech zone. Callers are volunteers from the audience who agree to become part of the hosts' act. Just like somebody who goes to Las Vegas and goes up on stage to get their mind read or to have a silver dollar pulled out of their ear. Maybe a closer parallel is people who see Don Rickles and get insulted from the stage.

No, it does not hurt to be polite. In all fairness, screeners have a lot to deal with and often not enough time to deal with it. And based on the callers who do get on the air, it's not hard to imagine that a lot of callers who talk to screeners can be difficult. In my experience producing, telling callers they won't get on (even for reasons that have nothing to do with them or their opinion) is often asking for trouble.
 
Yes, This is Show Business. Small time though it may be.

> Talk shows are not done for the benefit of callers. Talk shows are done for listeners.

I went to great lengths to explain that I understood that. Sorry you didn't get it.
 
> This was either a
> series of bad technical problems, or more likely, a new or
> substitute screener.

Either could be the case... although I actually lean more towards technical problems. I heard Rush say a while back that they were having problems with their phone and Internet service provider (the way he worded it, I assume they were one and the same), and he made mention of the fact that he'd be finding a new company to provide the service. Where he is on that, who knows? But that might be what happened as well.

> Actually, it may just have been that things were running
> long and they decided to move on topicwise. Now if it was a
> tactic in THAT sense, yeah, I'd object to the rudeness. How
> long does it take to say: "We're running long. Sorry" and
> THEN hang up. I would have understood that.

That could be the case as well, and I agree... it's not hard to say, "Sorry, we can't put you on the air right now. Thanks for calling."<P ID="signature">______________
"Get educated. Read stuff on the web and believe all of it."
-- Phil Hendrie
http://theradioblog.blogspot.com</P>
 
Re: Yes, This is Show Business. Small time though it may be.

> > Talk shows are not done for the benefit of callers. Talk
> shows are done for listeners.
>
> I went to great lengths to explain that I understood that.
> Sorry you didn't get it.
>

No, you did not. You only said you expected to be on a hold for a while.
 
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