Now that the Testosterone Season is behind us, with the passing of its High Holy Day, time to turn our collective attention to a truly Full-Contact Combat Sport: Conservative Talk Radio.
The latest Arbitron Ratings Book hit the streets, and let me tell you: the data scares the beejeezes out of me.
Talk Radio in your area is either at the top, or very near the top, of what people listen to, meaning who you hear and what you hear over the airwaves is dominated, in ratings, by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Mark LaVigne.
Even the axe-sharpeners who bloviate on local issues and politics have their legs up over the Country, Rock and Easy Listening venues in your marketing area.
Arbitron Ratings measure peak listening hours on the radio -- and most of the radio audience tuning into a station during peak hours are listening in their cars: hence the term :"Drive Time." Captive audience if there ever was one!
The problem I have with Conservative Talk Radio is this: all the the hosts are making a fortune for themselves, and for their parent companies, by draping themselves in the Holy Shroud of American, Conservative, Patriotic, Constitutional, and Religious Values.
Then they proceed to launch and sustain a 24/7/365 Full Frontal Assault against anyone and everything they disagree with: read Democrats, Obama, and Progressives here.
This crew would have you believe that they hold a Monopoly on What Is True About America.
If you don't believe it, just ask them...
And they get their message out over the airwaves with a device you and I would die to own under certain circumstances: a Telephone Cut-Off / Mute Button.
Except for the local Neo-Con Blow Hards, the rest are hosts of nationally-syndicated shows. This means that they reach literally millions of people coast-to-coast today, unlike many years ago when the Pioneers, such as Bob Grant and Joe Pine, were consigned to single-station time slots.
Don't take this post the wrong way: I really, really enjoy spirited discussions about matters that affect the American Commonweal.
Like you, I do my best to harvest as much information as possible on any given topic, and then I process it into an opinion. If an opinion, after time, is inclined to make things better, it becomes something I can believe in.
Without sounding too smug or smarmy about it, I get to where I'm heading with an Open Mind, or at least I try to give it my Best Shot.
I don't get "Talking Points" e-mailed to me hourly by the RNC, the NRA or by Big Business Interests, as is the case with the nationally-syndicated Neo-Con Useful Tools Of Big Money Interests And The GOP.
If Democrats or Obama stand for something -- anything -- Rush et.al. are dead-set against them. Bail out GM, AIG? Hell No! That's Not How Capitalism Works!
Health Care Reform? Rush et. al. would have you think that its proponent was Leon Trotsky.
They wage their fight, in the aggregate, 12-plus hours a day -- not counting Overnight Repeats-- and that's just adding up the radio time. (Makes me long for the days of Art Rust. At least he had some grasp on reality.)
Neo-Con Talk Show Shills have savaged ObamaCare for over one year now -- despite the fact that many Americans do not, or currently cannot, get health insurance.
Interestingly, the latest polls tell us that Americans actually now like certain provisions of the new law.
And as time moves on, more and more will clearly understand the benefits of Health Care Reform -- especially those who have "preexisting conditions" or who have been denied health care coverage in the past for any number of reasons.
Why, might you ask, do Rush et. al. oppose ObamaCare? remember, millions are listening...
It's the Principle of the Matter! It's Unconstitutional! Government has No Right to Interfere! The States Can Manage Their Own Health Matters! Trust The Big Insurance Companies!
Get It?
Speaking of Big Insurance, it dumped zillions of dollars into GOP Campaign Coffers last fall in support of Republican candidates who, if elected, pledged to repeal National Health Insurance Reform. It also spent zillions more on buying ad time, on Cable TV and in some radio markets, to tell us how bad ObamaCare would be for the national economy.
Here's Big I's Core Message -- again, millions of "captives" are tuned in:
Big Government is Very, Very Bad! Democrats who support national health care reform are Very, Very Bad! President Barack Hussein Obama Is Very, Very Bad! But Don't Worry! Trust us! We're your friends. We and our GOP Allies are the only People On Earth who Love You and Care About You. Vote Straight Party Line GOP! Help Us Defeat Evil And Make All Things Right!
Got It?
By the way, Big I didn't have to spend a Nickle on the Rush et. al. shows for the 24/7 anti-ObamaCare Blitzkrieg that Big I executives scripted.
Why should they? They got three-hour long Infomercials aired for free - allowing them to buy ad time on Fox News.
You can forget about the so-called Fairness Doctrine: it ain't gonna happen -- not with Murdoch and Clear Channel standing in the way.
The only way to turn this mess around is to look into investing a lot of capital into a competing radio format -- or lacking that, finally turn Rush et.al. OFF.
One final note: there's a bill now floating around in the US House that would strip all federal funding from National Public Radio.
Get It?
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