Posted by
Playful Walrus on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:47:24 PM
No, I’m not talking about the Fairness Doctrine. D.R. Tucker over at Right Angle asks where all of the good talk radio has gone.
Conservative talk radio has been on the ropes the past few years. While it still draws many advertisers and listeners, its influence has seemingly waned.
Make no mistake about it. The job of any radio station, including talk radio, is to win advertising revenue. It does this by entertaining as many listeners in the most desired demographics (people with spending money, especially if they haven't formed extreme brand loyalties), or at least capturing their attention. It doesn't matter if you hate the host and scream at your radio whenever you hear the host. You are still a listener.
Major conservative talk hosts spent hours making the case for keeping the House and Senate in Republican hands in 2006: their efforts didn’t…exactly…work. Then, in 2008, America’s most prominent talkers made clear their disdain for John McCain, only to see Mr. Maverick seize the GOP nomination. Then, the nation’s conservative voices made a solid case against Barack Obama—only to see the Illinois Senator pound McCain into the ground on November 4.
Has talk radio lost its mojo? Has it become too predictable, too reliant on catchphrases and corny arguments? Has it ceased to be a major factor in listeners’ lives?
He then goes on to tout the example provided by William Bennett.
The election results in 2006 and 2008 were not a failure of talk radio. We're not always going to win. Political history could have predicted 2006, but both losing elections are at least partially the result of Republicans not sticking to limited government principles.
There are some clear reasons why McCain lost the general election. There are also some clear reasons why he got the GOP nomination - including his differences from Bush, who hasn't been fiscally conservative and who has failed to adequately defend many of his positions and much of his record and has largely failed to present conservatism well to the masses. Even McCain was successfully labeled as a "third term" of Bush by Obama, which is exactly what the party power brokers were trying to avoid by nominating the candidate hardest to portray as that.
There are other influences than talk radio, and talk radio listeners are not mindless sheep. We usually don’t get their marching orders from talk radio personalities, at least not with something as important as our vote. We listen to talk radio for information, and sometimes to hear someone who speaks what we were already thinking and voices our frustrations, our concerns, or our joys. Sometimes we listen to be challenged on our opinion.
"Conservative" talk radio is not a monolith. Yes, Bennett is good. But I also see many other leaders in the profession who are doing just fine.
Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are both highly partisan for the conservative wing of the GOP, relentlessly scrutinizing beltway politics.
Michael Medved, with his level-headed, calm, and realistic approach to the issues of the day, coupled with his extensive historical knowledge and familiarity with politicians on the national scene, seems to spend as much time debunking the concerns of the extremists on the Right as he does exposing the silliness of the Left, extremist or general.
Dennis Prager doesn't do partisan cheerleading anywhere near as much as Limbaugh and Hannity, but tends to focus more on the larger ideas in our culture.
Larry Elder, who is back to having a local show in Los Angeles, is decidedly libertarian, yet a strong defender of Bush in many areas, a strong critic of Obama, and chides other conservatives for not supporting McCain in the general election.
Al Rantel, who also has a local show in Los Angeles, is one of those conservatives that Elder criticizes, as he ended up voting for Obama. Unlike Elder, he is extremely concerned about illegal aliens.
Tammy Bruce identifies as an Independent Conservative and was a registered Democrat until less than a year ago. A strong advocate of gun ownership and border control, she's also a Pro-Choice feminist. She rails against groupthink and fascism and insists they come more from the Left.
Dr. Laura is hardly political at all (though feministas and hedonists hate her). She seems to be wary of politicians in general, and was vocal about her disappointments with it came to Palin. Dr. Laura is strongly pro-military, pro-self-defense, advocates that wives concern themselves with the needs of their husbands as much as husbands should be concerned with the needs of their wives, bluntly encourages saving sex for marriage, is strongly Pro-Life, discourages relying on public education, and most of all, advocates putting the needs of children above all else.
Frank Pastore, on Salem’s Los Angeles Christian programming station, is a conservative Christian who has no problem mixing theology and Biblical teachings with politics, and ends up backing conservative Republicans.
Greg Koukl is only on the air for two hours a week, sometimes less. His show focuses on intellectual Christianity and issues surrounding the Bible, rarely touching on politics for anything other than his strong Pro-Life and traditional marriage positions.
There are others, but these are the ones I listen to with any regularity.
None of these people were huge fans of McCain, at least not as far as you could tell on the radio. Most had strong disagreements with some of McCain’s positions. All of them are excellent radio show hosts and very good at articulating conservative positions.
I don’t think they are waning in their influence. Talk radio is not dead. It still has many dynamic personalities. Let's hope that our party will present dynamic personalities to the voters.