Free Republic

Bill Clinton, and all the baggage he brought with him from Arkansas, was a true gift to talk radio. Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, Chinagate, Monicagate and various other matters would plague the Clinton presidency for eight years. ... After Whitewater came the Paula Jones allegation of sexual harassment. This case led to the president answering questions about Monica Lewinsky under oath, a subsequent cover-up and the first impeachment of a president in 130 years. Throughout 1996, Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, Oliver North and others piled on Clinton. So did radio host Alan Keyes, who jumped into the 1996...

Reports surfaced this week of increased tension between the king of talk radio Rush Limbaugh and Cumulus Media, as the Sandra Fluke controversy of early 2012 apparently still rages on. The Fluke matter and other Limbaugh controversies are detailed in The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment (History Publishing Co.), from his often messy personal life to past efforts to have him tossed off the air, such as the 2007 “phony soldier” matter that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried and failed to use against the host. “Limbaugh not...

Clarence Manion, the retired dean of the Notre Dame School of Law, became one of the most thoughtful conservatives from the mid-1950s through the 1970s. The “Manion Forum” began broadcasting in 1954 and continued until his death in 1979. In 1952, Manion would head the “Democrats for Eisenhower” organization. President Dwight D. Eisenhower named him as the chairman of a commission to study how to return to states the power that the federal government had taken away under the Roosevelt and Truman administration. When Manion did not back away from his support of something the administration opposed, Eisenhower fired him....

Will the fate of immigration reform be in the hands of talk radio even as popular Republicans are stepping forward to support it? Last week, the Republican National Committee released an “autopsy” for the party that called for, among other things, supporting immigration reform. Likewise last week, Tea Party favorite and likely 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul expressed support for a process to provide legal status to illegal immigrants. Another likely 2016 GOP hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio previously announced support for immigration reform. But in 2007, talk radio sounded the amnesty alarm. Conservative hosts were blamed (or credited) with...

Talkers, the definitive magazine covering the talk radio industry released its annual “Heavy Hundred” list of the most important hosts in the country. Many of these top talkers were interviewed for the book, while three of the top 20 hosts in the country praised The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment by Fred V. Lucas (History Publishing Co.). Mark Levin, nationally syndicated conservative radio host, ranked #7 on the Talkers list and said: “Fred Lucas not only delineates the roots of talk radio as a venue for communicating conservative...

After more than two decades of espousing patriotism, Rush Limbaugh reached a breaking point this week declaring, “for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country.” “I’m into my 25th year,” Limbaugh said on his program Thursday addressing the sequestration debate. “I can’t tell you the number of times this has happened. This hit me yesterday. I’ve said the same things over and over for 25 years. Whether the Clinton presidency or the Obama presidency, whether it’s a Pelosi speakership or Tom Foley, it’s the same stuff. It’s the same threats. It’s the same arguments over...

President blamed conservative “media preferred by Republican constituencies” as part of gridlock in Washington. Texas Insider Report: Washington, D.C. – “I think there are a lot of Republicans at this point, that feel that given how much energy has been devoted in some of the media that’s preferred by Republican constituencies, to demonize me. It doesn’t look real good socializing with me,” Obama said in a press conference Monday. The preferred media was presumably talk radio and Fox News. After the press conference, Rush Limbaugh said of Obama on his radio show, “What he does is position his political opponents...

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who died earlier this month, was a legendary political figure. Barry Farber was a legendary talk radio host in the Big Apple, whose voice dominated the powerful WOR throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The two larger-than-life figures would face off in 1977, when Koch was seeking his first term as mayor. Farber was interviewed in The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment by Fred V. Lucas (History Publishing Co.). Below is an excerpt: *** Covering a quarter of WOR’s airtime was enough exposure...

Almost daily it flirts with Rush Limbaugh and Wendy Williams on Amazon’s Best Seller List for Radio History and Criticism. One day it is wedged between the two, another day it slips back a notch or two only to scramble back to Rush’s rear guard.. It is Fred Lucas’s The Right Frequency; The Story of the Talk Radio Giants who Shook up the Political and Media Establishment. While Zev Chafetz’ best seller on Rush Limbaugh focuses solely on Rush and Wendy focuses on her experience, Fred Lucas delves into the whole world of talk radio and opens up on Glen...

In the wake of the 2012 re-election of Barack Obama, I began to wonder how influential conservative talk radio is. Serendipitously, I received a copy of Fred V. Lucas’ new book, “The Right Frequency: The Story of Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment” ($18.95, History Publishing Company). Throughout the 1980s and 90s I was a guest on television and a lot on talk radio thanks to a popular media spoof, The Boring Institute, that offered lists of The Most Boring Celebrities of the Year, the Most Boring Films, et cetera. After 9/11 I put the...

“One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates. If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you’ll see more of them doing it.” ~ Barack Obama Some argue that Republicans must discard the advice of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Others contend the radio hosts are still the most formidable voice of conservative commentary in the face of four more years of a Democratic president. The Right Frequency, by Fred V. Lucas, a book...

Talk radio is again a focal point of debate in America in light of the recent election. Some argue that Republicans must discard the advice of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Others contend the radio hosts are still the most formidable voice of conservative commentary in the face of four more years of a Democratic president. The Right Frequency by Fred V. Lucas, a book that traces talk radio from its roots to becoming a dynamic force in conservative politics, has been well received by book critics and conservative commentators throughout the country. Publishers Weekly says, “Lucas’s love and knowledge...

In the December 2012 issue, The Blaze provides exclusive excerpts from Fred Lucas’ new book, “The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment.” In the book, Lucas covers the growth, influence, major players and victories conservative talk radio has seen over the years. He provides history lessons and insight into how and why radio has been so influential. In an exclusive feature for TheBlaze Magazine, “Power of Talk,” Lucas gives us adapted excerpts from his new book. The magazine feature includes coverage of the Left’s attempts to tie right-wing talk...

Talk radio was paramount in building the conservative movement's role in presidential elections. This can be found with Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee and one of the intellectual leaders of the conservative movement. Political minds are wondering if it can help push Romney into the White House. for Romney. The Right Frequency by Fred V. Lucas chronicles talk radio's impact on presidential elections and politics from the days of Walter Winchell to modern day hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. The book is published by History Publishing Company. The author is available for interviews. It was...

<p>Lucas travels back to the early days of radio history, describing, for example, how Fulton Lewis predicted to Mike Wallace in the 1950s that the Republican Party could be a majority party if they would only let the conservatives run it, instead of the wishy-washy, me-too moderates.</p>

Obama administration employee Kevin O’Reilly -- who congressional investigators called “the link connecting the White House to the [Fast and Furious] scandal” -- is back in the United States now after abruptly leaving his White House job to work in Iraq in 2011 after emails concerning him and Fast and Furious had surfaced. O'Reilly left the United States in August 2011, shortly after his knowledge of the gun-walking program was publicized during a congressional hearing on July 26. O’Reilly has so far refused to cooperate with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which recently threatened to subpoena him. He...

Book by book. Understanding what's really at stake in what many have called the most important election in the nation's history -- other than that clamoring dust-up that was 1860. Getting there one page at a time. ... Be that as it may, here's a list of books relevant to understanding the conservative side of this election. Talk Radio • The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment by Fred Lucas. So your burst of sanity from the media world comes from listening to Rush or Sean or Mark or...

(The following is the first of three excerpts from The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment, by Fred Lucas; History Publishing Company. The adapted excerpts look at talk radio rivalries.) “One party will tax and spend; one party won’t tax but will spend: It’s both of them,” Glenn Beck said at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference. “All they’re talking about is we need a big tent. We need a big tent. Can we get a bigger tent? How can we get a big tent? What is this, a...

(The following is the second of three excerpts from The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment , by Fred Lucas; History Publishing Company. The adapted excerpts look at the impact of talk radio on election results.) Before what would turn out to be an historic election, a New York Times article said, “If Larry King’s CNN program functioned as a nominating process for Ross Perot; Rush Limbaugh may be a kind of national precinct captain for the Republican insurgency of 1994.” An election night poll by Fabrizio-McLaughlin of 1,000...

(The following is the third of three excerpts from The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment, by Fred Lucas; History Publishing Company. The adapted excerpt looks at the Fairness Doctrine.) The Democratic National Committee, with the approval of President Lyndon B. Johnson engaged in an effort that eventually led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Fairness Doctrine. What would have been a major scandal had it been discovered, was revealed years later in former CBS News president Fred Friendly’s book “The Good Guys, the Bad Guys and...