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I'm at a loss to understand what people are doing most of the time when listening to the radio. I turn it on when I'm driving around running errands. That's 2-3 hours a week max. NPR has some great shows on Saturday and that errand day for me.
Many listen to radio at work. Many stream the radio on their computers at work and at home. Many travel long distances to and from work and listen in their vehicles (I'm an hour and a half a day in the car).
Many listen to radio while working out. Or, recreating (MP3 players)
Liberal talk shows are a success; the extremists of the far right are in retreat, the house and senate went DEM in 2006 and in 2008 grew their majorities by a good deal, not to mention a DEM is in the white house as of tomorrow. This happy outcome can be attributed to two things: (1) The extreme GOP wingnut voices disgraced themselves with their patented hatefulness which caused most of the public to recoil in horror; and (2) The DEM put forth real solutions, moderate stances and uplifting speech to capture the hearts, minds and VOTES of the majority of the nation.
Voices of intolerance, like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter, Hannity, et al, are now being discounted by increasing amounts of people who see through their lies and nonsense. I watch these people when they're on, and they are about as valid to me as was the old National Enquirer with it's UFO stories.
Liberal talk shows are just getting started and will find an even greater voice in the years ahead. To call their voices "liberal" is largely a misnomer. Today it stands more for common sense and centrism than anything. Michael Moore may be a liberal, but I see Olbermann, Maddow, Matthews, Gregory, Cafferty, John King, et al, as being rather close to the center and speaking to common sense, which a lot of voters certainly agreed with this past election.
One obvious reason: corporate America is solidly opposed to progressive agendas, and will not support stations airing a progressive viewpoint. Some corporations have gone so far as to try to organize boycotts of advertisers on programs like Air America.
Another not-so-obvious reason may be that radical RW nutters require constant daily affirmation of their viewpoints. Thus Limbaugh, Hannity, Weiner-Savage, Beck and O'Reilly pull in an audience that listens to them nonstop daily. Progressives don't seem to need that constant reinforcement.
Another not-so-obvious reason may be that radical RW nutters require constant daily affirmation of their viewpoints. Thus Limbaugh, Hannity, Weiner-Savage, Beck and O'Reilly pull in an audience that listens to them nonstop daily. Progressives don't seem to need that constant reinforcement.
I was wondering yesterday why liberal talk radio is never nearly as successful as conservative talk radio. Do liberals prefer other media to the talk radio format, or does NPR suffice for most? I'd love to hear any answers from liberals or conservatives.
Mackinac
To the OP:
Listeners of liberal talk radio have to think, and the speakers assume that listeners have already performed cogitation before tuning in. This disqualifies about 75% of the American People.
Originally posted by Mike From Back East
Liberal talk shows are just getting started and will find an even greater voice in the years ahead. To call their voices "liberal" is largely a misnomer. Today it stands more for common sense and centrism than anything. Michael Moore may be a liberal, but I see Olbermann, Maddow, Matthews, Gregory, Cafferty, John King, et al, as being rather close to the center and speaking to common sense, which a lot of voters certainly agreed with this past election.
I was wondering about this myself. Four years ago, you'd never see people like Maddow or Olbermann having the audiences they have. And now they're a major part of the national conversation--and they're LIBERALS! It makes me wonder if there really is a greater acceptance of some liberal views than there were before.
"Liberals are geniuses and conservatives are idiots"
It depends on how you define "success" if you define it as generating a profit then you are correct and likely because no one wants to listen to dribble and hate speech (can you say Air America?). Corporate sponsors don't want to have their brand associated with stupidity even if they are liberal themselves because most Americans are middle of the road in their political and social views and when you leave the urban areas they are mostly conservative which is why conservative radio is nearly exclusively on AM bands because those bands cover a wider geographic area and at night time when the FCC allows higher wattage those signals can reach in some cases across several states!
But if you define success as longevity then it's called NPR. Because they derive more than 50% of their funding from the federal and state governments they don't need advertisers and corporate sponsors unlike conservative talk radio stations they don't have to show a profit and so like all government funded projects; they don't.
What little advertisers they are able to attract they call "underwriters and sponsors" because in the liberal world paid advertising is just tawdry. And like all social programs their business model doesn't involve profit and so twice a year they guilt their "listeners" to become "members" by giving money to make sure the programming they enjoy is will exist another six months.....wait a minute; this scheme sounds familiar, didn't the auto execs try that recently?
Or maybe it's all just a conspiracy and conservatives are all dribbling idiots being brainwashed with the help of corporate America....take your pick.
I've been listening to liberal talk radio for at least 7 years. If it's still around after that long, I'd call it a success.
Whether you're talking about NPR or Air America, they're on the pay to play program...they have to pay to get on the airwaves, since no advertisers want to waste their time with them.
My post is much closer to the truth than your post.
Proof? Compare conservative VS liberal talk radio ratings!
And it is inaccurate to make the claim you did. It would depend on the host or do you think ALL of them say what you claim above? If so, wrong!
Ratings only determine popularity, nothing more.
Conservative talk appeals to the insecure, ill-informed, paranoid masses, they always outnumber. Surely, most applaud every word uttered that supports their insecurity and paranoia.
Conservative talk radio will tell you ONLY what Republicans, Big Business, The Christian Right, and Israel want you to know.
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Why Doesn't Liberal Talk Radio succeed?
"Liberals are geniuses and conservatives are idiots"
