Have you seen today's Boston Globe?...

[Donna Halper]

>Bob wrote--
>
>Talk radio is not totally irrelevant. Events such as Bush's "Dubai
>ports deal" were criticized by Ingraham, Carr,
>and Savage (IIRC) and pressure from talk radio listeners helped to
>derail it [snip]

Talk radio is in fact still alive and well, a format that we can 
trace back to 1935 (!).  Yes it has changed over the years, and yes 
there are fewer general interest shows like the late lamented David 
Brudnoy's-- shows where the host is a rightie but a moderate rightie, 
or a rightie who respects the opinions of even those with whom he (or 
she) disagrees.  But even though it is hyper-partisan, it's still around.

Bob also wrote--
>The point was made about Air America in another comment to the
>article. There was a comment wondering if
>Elman, etc., was angry that AAR didn't survive,

Ah but reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.  Air America is 
still here, and we've all seen how it gave Rachel Maddow a platform 
that led to her being a pundit on TV.  But more important, the Jones 
talk radio stars-- Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller -- are the ones 
turning a profit and getting heard on multiple platforms, including 
as TV pundits on shows like Larry King Live, on blogs like 
Huffingtonpost.com, etc.  This did not happen in 2004.  The right, 
bless 'em all, with their 95% domination of talk shows (a figure that 
has NOT changed), was able to smear John Kerry and there was little 
any of the loyal opposition could do.  This year-- different 
game.  The right tried mightily to smear Obama and immediately, 
leftie talk show hosts, who knew how to get their ideas across, spoke 
out on their shows and then went on TV with Larry King or Chris 
Matthews and refuted those rightie talking points.  So, yes it's true 
that the left still doesn't have more than 5% of all talk shows, but 
there are now individual stars who are well known (Ed Schultz is on 
over 100 stations and has been turning a profit since 2005) and who 
can pull in the big interviews.  Ed and Steph both did town hall 
meetings in cities all over the USA, bringing together partisans and 
fans.  This too would not have happened in 2004.

I am still upset with my friends at Clear Channe for going back on 
their promise to me that they would bring back progressive talk in 
Boston.  Okay fine, they did give the format a chance-- largely 
because they were in deep trouble with the FCC back in 2004 for 
predatory business practices (this has been well-documented by 
numerous articles in magazines and newspapers, so I'm not saying 
anything partisan here.)  In addition, nobody cheered for the Iraq 
War more than the owners of CC-- the Mays family are longtime 
personal friends with President Bush and donated MILLIONS to his 
campaign and to other rightie causes.  Not that there's anything 
wrong with doing that, but they also stifled dissenting views within 
their own stations.  As complaints mounted and an investigation was 
about to ensue, they suddenly decided to "support" progressive talk, 
just to show they really did let the other side be heard.  Except, it 
wasn't a level playing field, as I have discussed before.  They put 
it on 25 of their weakest signals and gave it NO promotion 
whatsoever; based on what I saw, they were perfectly happy for that 
format to fail.  But it didn't fail.  It just became one more niche 
in a niche-oriented medium, and in that, the opinion piece in the 
Globe is 100% correct.  The idea of a mass-appeal talk show where all 
views are presented is no longer the accepted model.  Alas, while I 
know both Ed and Stephanie, and while I came [this close] to meeting 
Rachel Maddow on several occasions, they do in fact preach to the 
converted.  I'm glad they were out there in this current election 
cycle, and it is my belief that progressive talkers were a factor in 
the Obama win.

What is also true is that no longer can Limbaugh or Bill O or Sean 
just say whatever and have it go unchallenged.  That's a good 
thing.  Now, right wing talkers face some very real competition in 
certain markets, and their pundits are now actively refuted by 
pundits from the left.  But I have to wonder what Brudnoy, or for 
that matter Jerry Williams, would make of today's talk radio 
landscape.  I mean, I bow before Dan Rea of WBZ for his many years of 
TV work and his awesome investigative reporting, but on the air he's 
just one more rightie.  And it seems we will never again see a 
meaningful effort to have a "town meeting of the air" the way we once 
did.  For that, I am very sorry, as I believe the hyper-partisanship 
of today's meeting is a mixed blessing.  It gets supporters all riled 
up, but doesn't teach anyone anything new-- which is what talk radio 
used to be known for...