Talk Radio is more Informative than TV Talking Heads

[TheRover]

As I watched C-SPAN's coverage of a New Orleans talk show yesterday, I was reminded, again, of how 'good' Talk Radio is more edifying than most TV 'Talk' shows. In other words, I would rather listen to good talk radio, than to see most TV Talking Heads.

TV occasionally has some interesting Special Reports that do well.

But, on a day-to-day basis, I much prefer the insight that I get from what I consider good talk radio, over the TV/Cable TV talking heads.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Certain subjects seem lend themselves well to discussion on radio. Politics and sports in particular. I think our buddy Holland may be onto something when he says that the callers are a major part of that equation. Could you imagine a large scale call-in TV show? It would be miserable to watch. But it works on radio for some reason. So to a certain extent, radio offers a lot more flexibility than TV ever will. Everything has to be perfect for TV. Makeup, lighting, teleprompter, etc. Radio can just be one guy with a mic, and a phone bank, and work wonderfully.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I believe this has a lot to do with what has always made radio special. With radio you can listen and do something else, because there's nothing else to do other than stare at the dial or use the theater of the mind ( you can picture what's going on as you do other stuff - same thing happens with audio books or radio dramas,etc.). With TV, it's mainly a visual medium, where you do expect to see something happening. How boring is it to watch that lone man or woman at the microphone in a small studio talking and taking phone calls.

C-Span airs a talk show that does just that. They have interesting phone calls and discussions, but I find it hard to sit and watch it. I'd love to have a local radio station carry the show so I could listen and do something else, driving in my car, while at work, or on my headphone radio while cutting grass, working on a honey do project, etc.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

As I watched C-SPAN's coverage of a New Orleans talk show yesterday, I was reminded, again, of how 'good' Talk Radio is more edifying than most TV 'Talk' shows. In other words, I would rather listen to good talk radio, than to see most TV Talking Heads.

TV occasionally has some interesting Special Reports that do well.

But, on a day-to-day basis, I much prefer the insight that I get from what I consider good talk radio, over the TV/Cable TV talking heads.

My first reaction to the title of this thread is to go to "argument mode" but then I realized there must be at least four differrent topics at play.

The first one is the radio listening vs tv viewing issue which is a mechanical difference affected by our personal traits of being a visual person verson an audio person. This is no flat answer to best media. We all tend to have brains, eyes and ears that are wired together differently.

The second topic requires narrowing the defition of Talk Radio. If we are only discussing the format where a "personality talker" is delivering what amounts to a monologue of political philosophy, then with a twisted smirk I would have to respond that the term "good talk radio" is something of an oxymoron. I've been travelling by car in recent days. If I do some more of that I may resort to tuning in the "Bible Thumpers" of preach-and-teach Christian radio. These days they may be less strident and offer more variety than do the radio version of talking heads.

Third topic: why do you exlude interview programs and the C-span style broadcasts of speeches and lectures from the equation? Last night I wandered into C-span2 Book-TV and listened to John Hill talking about his book "The Political Centrist". He is on the factulty of the Indiana Law School. Oh how I would love to have that audio track on my car radio as I steer the car through the ricelands and Ivory­billed Woodpecker bayous west of Memphis.

Topic 4 will have to wait for another day. I think the 95 degree temperature just melted my keyboard.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

C-Span has a radio station in DC, and is also on XM. Maybe that's worth checking out.

 

[del_griffith]

As I watched C-SPAN's coverage of a New Orleans talk show yesterday, I was reminded, again, of how 'good' Talk Radio is more edifying than most TV 'Talk' shows. In other words, I would rather listen to good talk radio, than to see most TV Talking Heads.

TV occasionally has some interesting Special Reports that do well.

But, on a day-to-day basis, I much prefer the insight that I get from what I consider good talk radio, over the TV/Cable TV talking heads.

My first reaction to the title of this thread is to go to "argument mode" but then I realized there must be at least four differrent topics at play.

The first one is the radio listening vs tv viewing issue which is a mechanical difference affected by our personal traits of being a visual person verson an audio person. This is no flat answer to best media. We all tend to have brains, eyes and ears that are wired together differently.

The second topic requires narrowing the defition of Talk Radio. If we are only discussing the format where a "personality talker" is delivering what amounts to a monologue of political philosophy, then with a twisted smirk I would have to respond that the term "good talk radio" is something of an oxymoron. I've been travelling by car in recent days. If I do some more of that I may resort to tuning in the "Bible Thumpers" of preach-and-teach Christian radio. These days they may be less strident and offer more variety than do the radio version of talking heads.

Third topic: why do you exlude interview programs and the C-span style broadcasts of speeches and lectures from the equation? Last night I wandered into C-span2 Book-TV and listened to John Hill talking about his book "The Political Centrist". He is on the factulty of the Indiana Law School. Oh how I would love to have that audio track on my car radio as I steer the car through the ricelands and Ivory­billed Woodpecker bayous west of Memphis.

Topic 4 will have to wait for another day. I think the 95 degree temperature just melted my keyboard.

Doesn't CSPAN have a Sirrus/XM feed? It appears to air selected programs from the tv network. I rented a car last week that had Sirrus/XM and listened to this form of radio for the first time. I listened a bit to CSPAN, but not much, so I really didn't get a good feel for what it aired.

And as I have become tired of the rantings from the left and the right, I tended to spend most of my time on the 60's, 70's and 80's music channels.