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I am not sure when Rush or Savage started, but I do recall that late night shows hosted by local talk show hosts covered the gamut of subjects, not just politics. I remember when sports radio started to become popular, and fans of the locals teams would always call in to say this was the year to go all the way.
I think conservative talk radio became so popular because most of the news in print and on TV is more liberal than neutral. Hence the reason FOX is now the most popular, because America is a right leaning society, but the news was slanted to the left.
I remember listening to a liberal radio show called Air America for a little while back in the late 90's. It was horrible, because the hosts were far left wing loons with little sense of humor. Even when they got people like Al Franken to host, his normally funny side was masked by the hateful vitriol coming out of him and hosts like Janeane Garofalo. That is part of the reason it went under, and now most of talk radio is just conservative hosts and sports radio programs.
In the "National Lampoon" Nov. 1985 "Hate Issue",filmmaker John Waters described talk radio as (paraphrased because I can't remember the exact quotation):
"Militantly stupid stay-at-homes calling professionally obnoxious hosts because they don't have any friends to bother with their inconsequential opinions."
I remember listening to Rush when I was working full time for a locksmith service company. Another guy I liked to listen to back then was G. Gordon Liddy. Loved that show probably more than Rush's show.
I don't see these guys as abrasive. I see them as entertaining.
In the "National Lampoon" Nov. 1985 "Hate Issue",filmmaker John Waters described talk radio as (paraphrased because I can't remember the exact quotation):
"Militantly stupid stay-at-homes calling professionally obnoxious hosts because they don't have any friends to bother with their inconsequential opinions."
That shows exactly what Rush changed in talk radio.
He took control of the talk format away from the callers-"militantly stupid" or not, and took it upon himself to thoroughly control the programming.
Calmer, more sane and less emotional. Where the caller could pick a topic and express their views without being interrupted and talked over. Less one sided.
Oh puhleeze. It was *even more* like that back then.
The big difference then vs. now was that all talk radio then was "Local Local Local". The idea of a nationally syndicated show, other than folksy Paul Harvey and a few others, was not contemplated.
There were all-talk stations before Rush, not counting the all-news formats. Chicago had all-sports stations, along with all talk stations, including WIND. That was the home of "Chicago" Eddie Schwartz and Dave Baum, along with others I don't remember.
The shows would sometimes be on political or social subjects, sometimes about what kind of pets you had.
A big reason for the change in the talk format was that more talk was needed to fill the schedule of stations that had previously been all-music, like WLS-AM in Chicago. As FM stations range extended, then the inferior quality of AM could not sustain music formats.
Add to that the arrival of shock-jocks. Steve Dahl in Chicago started with a music show, then progressively talked more and played less music, while keeping or gaining ratings, until the point where it was all talk.
There were also late evening radio-advice-psychiatrist shows which I would switch off quickly.
KFI in Los Angeles had to morph from a music to talk station, and for years presented both right and left points of view. Tom Leykis had a talk show in the afternoon, but listners in SoCal tired of a daily hour on abortion. As KFI grew to understand the audience, they drifted to a right-leaning format, with a local emphasis. They used to have Rush on in the AM, but switched him to an affiliated station and added a local host to KFI.
That need for talk over music had to have been a factor in the rise of Rush as AM stations looked for content, which is why it appears that Rush was the beginning of the talk format.
This is a good point. As "no static at all" FM took over music, AM stations had to fill the void, and talk radio was their usual choice.
I am a big time KFI listener. Love listening to Bill Handel in the Morning and on Saturdays he has his Handel in the Law segment where people can call in about legal issues. That show is about as funny a show on talk radio. Most of the people are very entertaining as is Bill. The success that Bill Handel has had allowed him to take over the Rush time slot, right after Handel and the news that starts at 6AM I think. I still listen to Rush but seem to switch back to Bill.
I remember Michael Jackson on KABC would be my parents talk radio and when I would drive home from work I would listen to Leykis on KFI. As he had a more libertarian liberal slant than Rush when they would bring all the host in on a meeting of the mouths special broadcast. I remember a general talk show, and the Leykis 101 convince her to get an abortion stuff started after he was fired in favor of chief Daryl Gates
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