Foreign reaction to Air America---interesting insight

[Gloria]

Was listening to ABC/Radio Australia this am via shortwave and there was segment on Air AMerica!

They played the opening of Franken's show--the "beneath Cheney's bunker" line, and also played a bit of Limbaugh as they mentioned he was on 600 stations and AA has a long way to go with just a few.

They had comments by Franken and Lizz Winstead, the latter saying talk radio had to be entertaining.

They also played a clip of a media critic whose name I didn't catch..however, he did have a really good comment:

That THE REASON WHY RIGHTWING HOSTS ARE SUCCESSFUL is that they never veer off their message, they never play the 'they might be right" game and so people TRUST THEM.

***

Get that?? They don't play "devil's advocate" and don't give ANY creedence to ANYTHING anybody else says!

So, I'm going to be monitoring AA to see if they slip into "giving credit" to anything the Right wingers do or say!!! I'm hoping we all have our ears alert to this and keep after them to be aggressively liberal ALL THE TIME!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. True. We are selling a product to the people.

If I'm selling a Honda Civic, I should NOT be giving any good remarks about a Toyota Camry!!!

At the same time, Liberal Hosts CANNOT sell the conservative product.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I seem to recall an old social psych study

in which they compared the effectriveness of various approaches on attitude change. One strategy was to just give your POV, while another was to include your opposition's viewpoint & refute it. The latter strategy, taking the opposing view into account, was more effective IIRC.

[JHB]

10. Who were the test subjects in that "old study"?

College students participating for credit or pocket money?

That could skew the results and make them less applicable to intellectually lazy but smug and self-satisfied blowhards.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. We are liberals. We are smart. We use reason.

I don't think the RW style will work on us.

[mouse7]

5. That's why public radio consistantly lead Arbitron ratings, right?

We are liberal. We are smart. We use reason. We lose.

[BlueEyedSon]

6. OK, it doesn't work on ME.

BTW, I listen to NPR all the time!

[mouse7]

9. I'm fine with you relating well to NPR.... most others don't though.

I'm simply saying that the vast majority of the audience doesn't relate to the NPR presentation style very well, and doesn't listen to it as a result. There's great info on NPR and Pacifica that gets tuned right out by the vast majority of the audience.

[Jane Austin]

12. I just hope it works on Independents

and Conseratives who have any sense at all.

And I think it will.

And anyway, I'm a liberal and I LOVE it!

[Az]

4. Its the same split that exists right down the center of this nation

Those that need there to be absolute certainty and those that accept that this is a wonderously diverse nation with a multitude of views and ideas.

[mouse7]

7. You can accept diversity, and still fight tooth and nail for diversity

We cannot go on defending our values so mildly. We have to vigorously defend ourselves from rePug street thugs.

[sangh0]

8. An important point to note

is that those who don't need absolute certainty tend to form their opinions by means other than talk radio.

[Francis]

11. BBC R4 did a piece on it

during and arts program
Wasn't too flattering.
I didn't catch who they interviewed but the point was made that only Randi Rhodes had a radio voice and while it was goofy, she at least kept talking. He mentioned that the voices were too soft and that radio doesn't handle silence very well.
In other words, ranting works well on radio, so they need to up the volume increase the words and be angry

[NuttyFluffers]

13. i believed in fair exchange...

...until it was no longer mandated by gov't around the early 80's. ever since equal opposing viewpoints were no longered required you see a monumental growth of right-wing propaganda, filled with an absolute monopoly in talk radio, until now.

no. unfortunately the days of intelligent debate, filled with concession and counterpoint, is far gone. no. now it's the age of he who screams loudest unfortunately. our sound bite culture has gone too far to turn back in a short time period to something cultured and sensible.

no, there is no option left. we must scream. we just need to scream with humor and facts, instead of the arrogance and lies of the right. the age of civil american society is long dead; there is no time left to lament, there's a real ideology war out there.