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Talk Radio and Believing Your Own Hype

Beau Weaver was previously a DJ at KFRC and elsewhere before going fulltime into voiceover work. While in radio he was given the opportunity to host a late night talkshow. This blog is about people such as Rush Limbaugh who play a character and after awhile begin to believe they are their character.

From Beau Weaver's Blog:

"[....] But I observed something curious. People assumed that since I had a talk show, that I must “be something.” At that time, the few talk shows around were hosted by actual experts in some field. But I was shocked at how often I was mistaken for being someone whose opinions might actually matter. I would get a call from someone who identified themselves as, say, the director of the Rice University International Symposium on Middle Eastern Affairs. She would be inviting me to be a guest speaker at their big annual event featuring PHD’s and Foreign Policy experts. “Well, er, okay.” I said. “But, do you guys know who I am? You guys know I am just a disk jockey…..right? And that my hair is down to my ass, and I am typically wearing a Foghat tee shirt and cut-off jeans?” “Oh, Mr. Weaver, you are just being modest,” they would say. No, I wasn’t. “Look, I’m telling you the truth here, I’m just a disk jockey, who dropped out of college when he no longer needed the draft deferment.” They were not having any of it. [....] "

More at: http://beauweaver.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/10/
 
That is incredible at least Beau Weaver showed that he is not an inflated hypocrite like some of the talk radio host we listen to today.
 
Great statement by Beau Weaver. I haven't listened to Limbaugh in probably 15 years - the only sound bites from his show I ever see are the televised clips that Jon Stewart uses, and (not surprisingly), they don't make Rush look very good. But I recall that years ago, when I did tune in his radio show, he made enough tongue-in-cheek remarks to let listeners know that he didn't take himself too seriously.

As any talk host will tell you, their job is to entertain, and they do that by being outrageous and incendiary. So I guess it's not surprising that some of them grow big egos and become self-important.
 
What LKeller said. Back when R. Hudson was just a filler on KGO's weekend schedule, he was kinda funny. When he became Big Stuff he kinda got... stuffy.

Wonderful quote by Beau; thanks David. [no relation this side of Scotland that I'm aware of]
 
Does anybody have airchecks of Rush Limbaugh when he was a Local Talk show host on KFBK 1530 AM. I heard stuff that Rush went national once he went to WABC 770 and WABC flipped from Top40/CHR to Talk radio or (Propaganda) depending on who you ask.
 
recto101 said:
Does anybody have airchecks of Rush Limbaugh when he was a Local Talk show host on KFBK 1530 AM. I heard stuff that Rush went national once he went to WABC 770 and WABC flipped from Top40/CHR to Talk radio or (Propaganda) depending on who you ask.

I don't have an aircheck, but I remember tuning in his KFBK program decades ago when driving up I-5 past Sacramento. I remember thinking 'who is this pompous, but entertaining and compelling guy?' He seemed too big a talent for a medium market radio station.

KGO "auditioned" Limbaugh's new syndicated show when Ronn Owens was on vacation for a couple of weeks, but took a pass. At the time, I got the impression that it wasn't so much Rush himself, as that KGO was fully committed to 'live-and-local' at the time. So the show went to KNBR as their only non-sports program.
 
recto101 said:
Does anybody have airchecks of Rush Limbaugh when he was a Local Talk show host on KFBK 1530 AM. I heard stuff that Rush went national once he went to WABC 770 and WABC flipped from Top40/CHR to Talk radio or (Propaganda) depending on who you ask.

ABC had a network called Talk Radio. They had hosts from LA and NY. Among them was Owen Spann, former KGO host, who had moved to NY to get a fresh start after the suicide of his son. Owenn Spann was unhappy with the way his show was going, and he decided to leave the ABC Talk Radio network.

Talk Radio decided to turn back the Owen Spann time slot to local stations, as they didn't have anybody ready to pull a national show. Ed McLaughlin, former KGO general manager, who knew Spann, as well as Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Dean Edell, jumped at the chance to take the noon to 3pm (Eastern) time slot and syndicate Rush Limbaugh from KFBK as the host. That's how Rush made the big time.

Dr. Dean Edell was being syndicated by EFM Media (Edward F. McLaughlin) and McLaughlin had the bright idea of syndicating Edell and Rush as a package. You couldn't get Rush unless you also took Edell. This made Dean Edell the #1 medical talkshow in the country. At its height the Edell show had about 4 million daily listeners.

Dean Edell had been offered a partnership in syndicating Rush but turned it down because he didn't think Rush's schtick would go anywhere...
 
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