Talk Radio and the American Dream

[Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@yahoo.com>]

With Jerry Williams' recent re-appearance on WRKO, I
got to thinking about a book I used to have, which
talked about Jerry and Avi Nelson as well. It was
called Talk Radio And the American Dream by Murray B.
Levin (who I think is/was a professor at
Northeastern). Anyone else remember this book?

I think I traded in my copy (at a used bookstore)
years ago. (Book came out in '87). It's probably still
at some libraries; also, you can try getting a used
copy online. If I were to re-read it, I'd probably
say, "Boy, is this dated", because talk radio back
then was a bit different from
what it is now. Not as "shocking", more substance than
entertainment/shtick, more activist (remember Jerry's
rallies against New Braintree prison, and his
"call your congressmen about this" pleas?)

Jerry didn't have a chumpline, "Is Ted in the House?",
Ted Kennedy "uh" contests, etc. Times were different
back then. In some ways people could say talk radio is
better; in some ways, worse...

(By the way, Jerry has mentioned that in the old
days, you only could hear ONE side of the
conversation. I guess they were not allowed to put
callers on the air. Could you imagine _that_
on talk radio today?)