Again, when I went on Facebook a couple yrs ago to pass along that E&B would be getting an extra hour, my liberal sister replied, “Jim and Margery? I LOVE them!”
Did hear a few min. of their WGBH appearance. Not quite for me.
I interviewed Donna Halper, an admittedly left-leaning radio
consultant, PHD, and author of “Boston Radio 1920-2010”. She said she had consulted/trained talk hosts in the past, “righties and lefties” and said in the old days talk was a bit more civil. (Every time the lefties bring up “toxic talk” I reply that lefty talk can be really offensive
too! Maybe even more!) We mentioned the likes of
Brudnoy, Jerry Williams, etc. She mentioned how Brudnoy could have Ted Kennedy on despite the idealogical
differences. (But I brought up Jerry having Ted on
and the sparks flew THAT day!)
http://jukejoint.freehostia.com/Interviews/Halper2013.mp3
(a bit of a raspy voice on my part...35 min. or so, if you’re curious)
Maybe people are turning away from talk because more and more people are “low information voters”. Who cares about the fiscal cliff or gun grabbers, we want the Super Bowl!
so, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow....well, we all know what happens "tomorrow"...
I would say that people who are turning away from talk, and those people are not low information anything, are turning away because it simply does not matter, there is no point in listening to it.
Same reason I no longer watch Fox. I could listen to people arguing all day for a year and learn nothing, effect not one thing. I would argue that watching cartoons is better, at least those are enjoyable.
Let’s take Sean Hannity. There is no pint in listening to him, I am sad to say, because he does make good points on some things. However, most of his show is spent advising republicans on what they must do as if they are actually listening and inclined to follow his advice.
They aren’t on both counts. Beyond that, he is preaching to the choir and arguing with people that he will never convince of anything at all.
In the end, it does not matter in reality how informed one is or not, Obama was re-elected. The only purpose listening to talk radio served over the last four years was to give the listener angst and defeated hope.
We are riding this train until the end of the line, and it simply does not matter how many people tell you along the way that the train is going to crash.