Monday, February 18, 2008

Talk Radio Envy


UPDATE: Tim Cuprisin has posted his reaction to this blog entry. Yes, a professional took time to note, as he puts it, an "amateur blogger."

Although I'm just an "amateur blogger," he actually links to my amateur blog. He even refers to my blog as "this one."

How exciting! It's not often an amateur like me gets recognized by someone as important as Cuprisin. (He's a professional, you know.)

As an aside, I think it's worth noting that when it comes to blogs, distinctions such as "amateur" and "professional" are irrelevant. It's about subscribers and where you show up on Google and other search engines. Someday, Cuprisin and the Old Media will catch on.


Anyway, Cuprisin mocks my post, citing that it's his job to report on TV and radio.

Really? I had no idea.

Give me a break. Of course he's supposed to comment on radio. That's what he's paid to do. (Can you believe that?)

Obviously, my post does not deal with the fact that he writes about talk radio. It deals with the clearly adversarial approach he takes when commenting on, as he puts it, "SQUAWK RADIO."

I ask in my original post: Why are they at war with it?

I'm not asking why Cuprisin and those of his ilk make comments about talk radio.

I question why they're so threatened by, as Cuprisin puts it, "SQUAWK RADIO."

I conclude that they feel the need to do battle because they have Talk Radio Envy.

That's a nuance I would expect a professional to understand.


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I think I know why local and national columnists, pundits, and bloggers are positively obsessed with conservative talk radio.

Tim Cuprisin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel once again takes on Milwaukee's talkers.

(Note to libs: That's "talkers," not "squawkers.")

As entertaining as this talk radio stuff may or may not be, does any of it really matter to conservative voters when they get into the voting booth?

This campaign began with general talk radio disdain for McCain, starting with Rush Limbaugh and going on down through the ranks.

Belling continues to follow the Limbaugh line, while Sykes, always more of a Republican Party line guy than Belling, appears to be grudgingly going along with his party's choice.

What does any of this talk radio stuff have to do with the results of the primaries?

Edison Media Research conducted exit polls in last week's Virginia and Maryland Republican primaries and came up with some interesting data.

In case you forgot, McCain won both states.

But in Virginia, Huckabee was the decisive winner among "frequent" talk radio listeners, according to Edison's exit polls. In Maryland, "Huckabee did very poorly with frequent listeners to talk radio, with 28% of that group choosing him, and 49% choosing McCain," reports Tom Webster, Edison's vice president for strategy and marketing.

"In the end, whether or not conservative talk show hosts are able to attract persons with similar attitudes, or are actually able to persuade listeners to adopt similar attitudes, the result is the same," he writes.

"The actual vote did not correlate with those attitudes as strongly as it did with the differences in beliefs between the two electorates, and this - not talk radio - dictated Huckabee's fortunes in both states."


Why do critics have this unhealthy obsession with talk radio? Why are they at war with it?

I think it's important to understand.

We're all familiar with the epidemic of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Talk Radio Envy is being exhibited by many as well.

The sufferers obsessively desire a microphone and a radio program and a large audience.

Alas, they don't control a microphone for fifteen hours a week. They lack the power that it represents. They struggle with the fact that they don't have what the Talkers have and never will.

Poor tortured souls.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soldiers have died to protect our Right to Vote and our Right to Speak. I am upset that the Republican Party wants to call this race before the entire USA has had a chance to vote. Here you have a Political Party taking our vote away -- just because they want to choose the Nominee and feel it would be better to start campaigning agiainst the other party early. Well, this is simply UNAMERICAN! People get angry when someone defaces a flag -- where is the outrage that OUR VOTES are being taken away -- and our Right to Free Speech is being taken away. Why doesn't McCain want to debate Huckabee? McCain claims he's a war hero -- well, I don't think he's behaving like a hero. George Washington was a Hero and when they asked him to be king, he said NO! That's a Hero! McCain is colluding with the GOP to steal the election and violate the American Right to vote. This is UNAMERICAN and not the behavior of a National Hero!

Kate said...

In line with my "I don't give a happy crap" mode, I haven't listened to any talk radio for weeks, and I still haven't changed my mind. Hmmm....wonder if that means I can actually think for m'self? Naw....can't be. :)

Mary said...

Anonymous, the Republican Party isn't disenfranchising you.

The primary process is what it is.

VOTERS gave McCain an insurmountable delegate lead.

It's mathematics, not a plot to take away your rights.

McCain IS NOT stealing the election and he IS an American hero.

Mary said...

Kate, you haven't listened to talk radio in weeks?!?!?

That's your problem!

No wonder you're feeling the way you do. You better tune in so you'll know what to think!

Leave the thinking to the professionals. :)

Kate said...

Oh...THAT would explain why I've had a headache for so long. I've been doing my own thinking. Got it! I promise, I'll revert to 'robot' mode!

Heh.

Anonymous said...

I'm a former talk radio host/program director, so I'd like to think I have some insight from this.

A talk show host hangs it all out there. The best hosts (Limbaugh, Beck, Savage) take strong stances and form very strong opinions. They do this for a couple of reasons. First, entertainment/shock/buzz value. Second, because most of them actually believe it.

Critics, who are primarily liberal, take issue personally with these opinions and tend to bash them. They fail to realize that Rush or even Milwaukee's Mark Belling are just trying to drive ratings. They look at these people as hate mongers and not entertainers, which they, especially Limbaugh, are.

I know for a fact talk hosts are trained to grow the topic and drill down into it hard. This is what drives ratings and TSL. Critics again, just hear what they want to hear and sometimes don't acknowledge it.

I like Tim. He was always very fair to me. I don't want to paint him with the same brush. But the fact remains as we say in my business: Those who can do, those who can't write TV columns for the newspapers.

Mary said...

Thank you for offering your perspective.

Certainly the members of Congress wanting to silence talk radio don't get the entertainment aspect of it. They only hear it as a threat to their liberal beliefs and agenda. And as you point out, so do some of "those who can't."

Cuprisin sometimes treats Milwaukee talk radio hosts like they're enemy combatants. He uses his column as a virtual Guantanamo, though I think policy at Gitmo requires detainees there to receive more respect than Cuprisin provides.

I'm sure Cuprisin is likable enough. It's good to hear he was very fair to you. Perhaps he'll consider becoming a bit more generous when it comes to being fair.