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Why Rush dismisses Woodstock-on-Wall Street as Tea Party-of-The Left?

When Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan came along Rush did not seem to know how to pigeonhole it. In addition Limbaugh, Hannity etc. did not seem to know what to do with Arab Spring stuff either, or Libya, etc. Hannity was in a mode of complaining about Obama "attacking Pakistan?" When it was the Soviet Union v USA it was simple for talk radio, then China opened up and things got too complex. Limbaugh was fuzzy on the Teaparty for a time too. No wonder music stations seem to be gaining ground on talk.
 
Whew, what a bunch of psychobabble again. These "protesters" are a gift to conservative talk radio. Watch how politely the mainstream media outlets report on the clueless great unwashed (literally) masses. They haven't yet been able to articulate a message, beyond stammering about how Wall Street needs regulation and capitalism sucks. At least I think those are the messages. And if they did get their act together, they could have a powerful presence since Wall Street did commit suicide, we did bail them out, and nothing much has changed yet.

But this crowd has no concept of why they're even out there. (Let's hope they're too distracted to vote. Maybe we can buy them all a beer on election day. Or shine a bright light at them.)

This is a macro-microcosm of the clueless electorate. They don't need talk radio because even the simplest topic would go way over their heads. And talk radio is looking for the independent consumer demographic that has graduated from their parents' basement.
 
musichead1029 said:
But this crowd has no concept of why they're even out there. (Let's hope they're too distracted to vote. Maybe we can buy them all a beer on election day. Or shine a bright light at them.)

This is a macro-microcosm of the clueless electorate. They don't need talk radio because even the simplest topic would go way over their heads. And talk radio is looking for the independent consumer demographic that has graduated from their parents' basement.
Click to expand...

Before you get a torn rotator-cuff high-fiving yourself, lets take a look at whether the listeners to talk radio have any more clues than do the people in the Wall Street protest.

Does the Wall Street Protestor crowd have a problem being clueless, or is OUR PROBLEM that fact that we don't understand a group that is not monolithic. The listeners to Rush and Hannity and others follow the party line in unanimity so we assume that means they know what they are talking about. (We could have an interesting discussion as to whether that crowd SHOULD HAVE graduated from their parent's basement.) The Talk Radio crowd assumes any group that is not unanimous and monolithic has no legitimacy and that they are despicable human beings.

Is it possible that each person protesting down at Wall Street has their own, very personal, very well thought out reason for being there. Is it possible that we out here in fly-over country assume that if 1,000 people camped out down there have 823 different reasons for being there, we jump to the conclusion they don't know what they are doing.

Let me suggest that may those of us who are claiming that since they can't articulate (in unison) why they are there simply prove that WE are the clue-less electorate. We have many fellow citizens here on Main Street who along with folks camped out on Wall Street who have some very legitimate complaints that need to be dealt with but our friends who think they have Phd's in economics because they listen to Talk Radio can't understand or accept these very legitimate complaints. (When voiced by Main Street or when voiced by Wall Street Protestors.)

When you gather all the information you can get about the Wall Street protesters I think you will find there is one issue that comes close to being the common denominator: The 1% who are part of the Wall Street world of finance have messed up our lives and they have not been convicted, jailed, fined or otherwise penalized. On that there seems to be strong agreement. Then it gets fuzzy. Some protestors have no problem with Wall Street type financial firms remaining part of the capitalist system. Some protestors have a strong feeling that some Wall Street functions must be heavily regulated by government or should become socialized functions. Others are focused on getting us out of foreign military engagements. I don't pretend to know what the other 820 different reasons for being there might be.

I don't plan to go down and camp out with them but I'm glad they are there. They don't scare me. (I'm watching what copy-cat protestors in my area are doing and saying. I might be willing to go down and spend an afternoon with them sometime if they stay coherent.) But when I listen to some of the people who want to quote what they heard on talk radio today... I think of your phrase: Maybe they should not have moved out of their parents basement. They DO scare me.
 
The difference between the clueless talk radio listener and the clueless Occupy protester is that the clueless talk radio listener is almost sure to be a more productive member of society. If only for the difference in age. We won't even get into what some of these people are asking for (free college tuition is a popular one). The talk radio audience is older and more affluent. By default they're going to be more productive than a bunch of 20 year olds that haven't done anything yet. Of course the problem is, that these 20 year olds likely won't be doing anything productive when they're the same age as the talk radio caller.

Make no mistake. This crowd may not be monolithic, but they almost all have one thing in common. They're almost all part of the looter class.
 
Open Source said:
The difference between the clueless talk radio listener and the clueless Occupy protester is that the clueless talk radio listener is almost sure to be a more productive member of society.
Click to expand...

I have this feeling you are blowing smoke that you cannot document. Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong. But you write it as though you have ironclad documentation.

How many Occupy Wall Street participants have you interviewed and personally assayed?

Are you sure the next Steve Jobs is not down there?
Are you sure the next Warren Buffet is not down there?
Are you sure the medical researcher who someday will find the cure for cancer of the pancrease is not down there protesting?
Are you sure the first female president of the United States is not down there getting her act together for the future?

Please share with us where in the Constitution that only the most productive members of our nation are granted Freedom of Speech, and the opportunity to redress.
 
Seems like most of the talk radio advertisements nowdays are for sex pills, baldness cures, credit repair or protection, work at home ideas, loans, etc. It does not seem to be for products or services that appeal to CEO's or people with graduate degrees or high incomes. Seems like a pretty low brow demographic. I think many are retired, or people that once had home equity, but don't have it anymore. Many of the OWS people might be educated people with no jobs, or under-employed, or hangers on, etc.

The question at hand is not the politics of one side or another (take it outside time?) but how talk radio is dealing with the different protest groups. As someone points out, it will give them more to talk about.
 
Goat, you can read as much as you want into these people. The fact remains: at least 9 out of 10 of them cannot begin to articulate a single coherent issue or reason that they are protesting, and that ratio is being generous. This suggests that these 'protesters' are either paid apathetic followers or just not that motivated to be bright. Talk radio is, of course, having a field day with this. Some desperate talking heads are attempting to compare this confused mass with the Tea Party, which is really funny. Take a group whose message is crystal clear and unpopular with inside-the-beltway establishment politicians and compare it to a mass of humanity that met on a street corner because someone on Facebook or the aptly named Twitter told them to do it.

Talk radio was slow to pick up on the gatherings as worthy of analysis as there was no coherent message coming out of the group. You'd think with all the social media communications and a cause that the majority of the country is interested in (how to reform Wall Street to prevent or at least predict another 2008-style meltdown), these protesters could do a better job at rallying around some message. This group is ripe for the exploiting and you are now seeing Democrat politicians and union organizers circling. And the eunuch Mayor of New York is allowing them to stay on past the expiration of their permits. Any wild guesses on how this turns out? "Good' and 'well' don't spring to the forefront.

A bunch of scramble-brained youth bumbling around and stinking up the block is a mere distraction to the ongoing fiscal debate. Any talk show host worth his or her salt can put that into context, and still have plenty of great audio to showcase the prevailing vapidity of this whole operation.
 
The Protest For..... Wha?

MC said:
Seems like most of the talk radio advertisements nowdays are for sex pills, baldness cures, credit repair or protection, work at home ideas, loans, etc. It does not seem to be for products or services that appeal to CEO's or people with graduate degrees or high incomes. Seems like a pretty low brow demographic.
Click to expand...
Political talk radio is often a difficult sell nationally as many advertisers direct their buyers to avoid controversial programming. So you have a blue-chip (if aging) audience listening to boner pill and gold ads. Some advertisers eventually grow a spine and get access to a prime audience at a discount. Still, Rush gets his $50M or whatever it is this time around because he's responsible for selling lots of widgets. (I wonder, though, if Limbaugh's "Two if by Tea" venture exists at least partially to mop up unused ad inventory during the show and to encourage other clients to buy in to host-voiced spots.)

At any rate, I think the ad inventory reflects less the makeup of the audience and more the squeamishness of the advertisers. Glenn Beck didn't leave Fox News because he wasn't attracting an audience.
 
musichead1029 said:
Goat, you can read as much as you want into these people. The fact remains: at least 9 out of 10 of them cannot begin to articulate a single coherent issue or reason that they are protesting, and that ratio is being generous.
Click to expand...

why the double standard? that ratio is equal to the tea party. they all generally said they want to end government spending, but generally go off in different directions after that. and yet the tea party is taken so seriously that a group of 10 of them draws the newsvans from all 4 of the networks plus special reports from cnn and fox news.

and as for being a productive member of society, i agree. its hard to be a productive member of society when you have massive student debts, several degrees, and no prospects of getting a job as menial as being a walmart greeter. people who have time to listen to talk radio i would guess also have a steady job or are retired and have no need for additional income.

i see you have a problem with a bunch of people saying that something is wrong without declaring what specifically why they have a problem with it. just as long as they don't agree with you politically that is.
 
Nudging the tread back on-topic...

MC said:
Seems like most of the talk radio advertisements nowdays are for sex pills, baldness cures, credit repair or protection, work at home ideas, loans, etc.
Click to expand...

Buy gold!
And stash it under your Select Comfort air mattress.

But seriously...

Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Are you sure the next Steve Jobs is not down there?
Click to expand...

That's closer to the-point-I-was-trying-to-make.
Though y'all diverted to talking about politics, I was actually talking-about-talking...media evolution.

Again, if you're joining-in-progress:
http://open.salon.com/blog/holland_..._steve_jobs_legacies_woodstock-on-wall_street

Pertinent to those of us who toil in the Talk Radio vineyard: People don't need us to talk.

Remedially: If Talk Radio is only talking about one thing...from one angle...every...single...day, people will have their conversation somewhere else. Because technology crafted by disruptors like Steve Jobs enables 'em to. No wonder Rush sounds like he feels so threatened.

musichead1029 said:
These "protesters" are a gift to conservative talk radio.
Click to expand...

Before you figure that Talk Radio's 5-share is safe, listen to the 3rd and 4th Quarter Hours of Limbaugh's feed. Sean's too. Notwithstanding complaints from the-handful-of-affiliates-who-bother-to-listen, these two shows are suffering in PPM markets, because their hosts run long in QH3, then clobber listeners with back-to-back breaks, often separated only by a brief content segment, then, into the on-hour break. Sorry to go Arbitron-lab-coat on you, but THIS will hurt ratings more than what's-actually-being-said.

HC
www.HollandCooke.com
 
As Cooke mentions, the point is not the politics of one side or another, it is the media dynamic of what is going on and how the broadcasters handle it. So if the protesters, OWS or Tea Party are Einstein's and future Steve Jobs or unwashed dirt bag commies or retired losers, it is not really the point of the post.

The mattress ads are an interesting phenomena. It used to be people would go to the department store or furniture store and buy a mattress, now there are all sorts of ads and bedding products, stores, etc. There were some ads for waterbeds in the 60s and 70s, but now everything from buying a bed at Costco, to online, to a local store that just sells mattresses. Everyone needs one, so it is a big market, and you have beadbugs and dust mites. Nowadays, unless you have a expensive one, it does not pay to move one across country. What happened to the marketing of beds would be an interesting thesis for a business school student. If a radio person could scucessfully advertise beds and sell, it would be a good meal ticket. Instead of just going to a bed store and shake hands, spending some real timeand traing to understand the sponser would be a good idea.
 
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