Secrets of talk radio -- from a right-wing station's former news director

[Newsjock]

Source: Milwaukee Magazine

by Dan Shelley

I first got into journalism because I thought I could make a difference.

I wrote for the school newspaper and did “news” reports on a radio station a friend and I started at my high school in Springfield, Mo. I got my first professional job at age 20, while still in college, at a local radio station’s news department. Three years later, I became a news director, and 12 years after that, in 1995, I was recruited to move to Milwaukee to become news director at WTMJ, one of the largest and most successful news/talk radio stations in America.

... To begin with, talk show hosts such as Charlie Sykes – one of the best in the business – are popular and powerful because they appeal to a segment of the population that feels disenfranchised and even victimized by the media. These people believe the media are predominantly staffed by and consistently reflect the views of social liberals. This view is by now so long-held and deep-rooted, it has evolved into part of virtually every conservative’s DNA.

To succeed, a talk show host must perpetuate the notion that his or her listeners are victims, and the host is the vehicle by which they can become empowered. The host frames virtually every issue in us-versus-them terms. There has to be a bad guy against whom the host will emphatically defend those loyal listeners.

This enemy can be a politician – either a Democratic officeholder or, in rare cases where no Democrat is convenient to blame, it can be a “RINO” (a “Republican In Name Only,” who is deemed not conservative enough). It can be the cold, cruel government bureaucracy. More often than not, however, the enemy is the “mainstream media” – local or national, print or broadcast.

... Conservative talk show hosts would receive daily talking points e-mails from the Bush White House, the Republican National Committee and, during election years, GOP campaign operations. They’re not called talking points, but that’s what they are. I know, because I received them, too. During my time at WTMJ, Charlie would generally mine the e-mails, then couch the daily message in his own words. Midday talker Jeff Wagner would be more likely to rely on them verbatim. But neither used them in their entirety, or every single day.

Read more: http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentIssue/full_feature_story.asp?NewMessageID=24046&pf=yes

[bunkerbuster1]

1. Don't know Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner, but this is required reading.

thanks for posting it.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Many Good Eggs Were Driven Away...

I lived in the talk radio world in the 80's. I ran a small station with a focus on being the town "water cooler". From the school lunch menu to obituaries to a constant array of local newsmakers and personalities. It was radio that was connected to the community and you prided yourself on being "full service"...offering all types of viewpoints and perspectives. We intermixed talk shows with features ranging from Norman Vicent Peale to Bob Dole and Ted Kennedy. The concept was to dialogue...not confront...to reach out...never to exclude. I worked with a News Department...a husband and wife team who worked 25 hours a day at one board meeting or another, constantly on the phones or typing away. I used to call it "radio guts side up"...but it was a lot of fun and very rewarding. When there was a major event, you could just feel everyone in town tuned in and the positive power the medium could have. If power went out, we got listeners answers and eased concerns. During elections we invited all candidates to participate in talk shows and speak directly to the voters...personal opionions were just that...personal...we would agree to disagree. I knew of hundreds of similar stations around the country.

Today, this station is connected to a satellite and computer hard-drive. Local news is outsourced to a network and most of the airtime is loaded with right wing venom spewers from outside the area. Rarely do you hear people talk about the station and when you tune in you rarely hear a local retailer advertising. Radio is dying in death throws...the stock prices for the major chains are in the penny stock range and still sliding.

Thanks to deregulation, the medium chased away a lot of great talent...broadcasters who knew how to communicate, managers who knew how to connect with an audience and news people who reported rather than bloviators spewing talking points. For some, they got along and played along and for many years prospered. They looked the other way as more local operations bit the dust and with it diversity. Younger listeners found IPODs and many others just tuned out altogether. It's a dying medium that got lost in greed and now is paying the price.

Cheers...

[knitter4democracy]

5. I remember that kind of radio, and I miss it.

As a kid, we used to listen to a local country station's weekly classifieds segment. For something like four hours every Saturday, people could call in with what they were selling and where they were, and it was a real hoot to listen to. Some were really short and pragmatic, but some callers would wax rapsodic, and it was funny.

In college, we'd go to the local radio station in town to promote the plays. We'd get interviewed by the radio host and asked all about the play, what it was like to be in drama, what our college was like and more. We looked forward to it every year. Last I heard, that station was bought out, and all that local flavor was lost.

I miss those days, too.

[supernova]

11. We used to have "Ask Your Neighbor"

on the talk AM station here for many years. My grandma absolutely adored it and it helped her feel less alone.

AYN was basically a radio version of craigslist. If some one had something to give away, or sell, a service to offer, or had or wanted a recipe, you called AYN. Invariably someone else would call in with the answer you were looking for.

I miss that kind of radio too.

[knitter4democracy]

13. Sure, we have the internets, but what about those who don't?

I miss really local radio.

[Canuckistanian]

18. Where did all that talent go?

It certainly wasn't television. Local TV seems to be amateur hour these days.

It's too bad about radio. It's getting more and more formulaic.

NO locally produced shows. NO local news items (or very few). NO "unusual" shows. NO charismatic or dynamic personalities.

As you say, most stations are just a syndication feed with some local voiceovers.

It's pitiful.

[KharmaTrain]

22. Well I'm Here...LOL

Most took their communications skills in other directions...Public Relations, Freelance production and voice work...or into new technology...internet radio and podcasting. Unfortunately many more ended up at stations with names like BP and Shell.

Next year promises to be a real bleak on for radio...I predict we'll start to see stations go off the air as debt-laden and bankrupt companies attempt to "cut costs" yet again and try to save their sorry asses. It's a textbook example of what happens when you let the foxes run the hen house.

Cheers...

[Canuckistanian]

26. I'm a big radio fan

I grew up in Toronto, listening to CHUM-AM (1050 on the dial). They were HUGE in southern Ontario, Buffalo, NY and even down into Pennsylvania.

Back than, disc jockeys RULED, even though most were paid less than garbagemen.

Then came the rise of FM stations - album rock, classical, experimental. I still mourn the loss of CFNY, a "progressive rock" station that promised NEVER to play the same song in the same day. You'll never hear a station like THAT again. I heard SO MUCH stuff I'd never heard before, like Phil Ochs or Gill Scott-Heron.

Now, everything's so fragmented. Talk, Oldies, Contemporary, Christian....

I long for the small, local stations that offer the unusual, the mix or even something just a bit culturally controversial.

Glad to hear that you're still employed. Although I guess you're wishing you could produce something yourself WITHOUT the accountants scrutinizing your "numbers".

Maybe THAT's the future of radio.

[SoCalDem]

29. Our hometown radio station had a goofy show called "Trade-io"

It was a call in "garage sale" show.. People could call in up to 3 times a week and tell everyone what they wanted to sell or to buy..

We also had "hospital Notes"..the hosts would read a list of names of people who were in the hospital..give their room numbers and ask people to "drop in and visit them"..can you even imagine something like that today :rofl:

[calimary]

3. So what we have to do is figure out how to neutralize this.

This stupid-ass victimization that these uber-powerful and influential bullshitting hatemongers distort and mischaracterize and exploit for their own selfish, short-sighted benefit and to the detriment of everyone else in the community.

GREAT post, newsjock!

:thumbsup: :patriot:

[conscious evolution]

6. A war crimes tribunal would work wonders

towards nuetralizing those who use media to poison peoples minds.

[KoKo]

4. Looks like a good read...Thanks K&R

[JohnnyLib2]

7. Good article.

thanks, recommended.

[Martin Eden]

8. K&R -- very informative. n/t

[happydreams]

9. Faaack, this is good. I'm putting this in the Perception Management file.

I encourage everybody to read this article in its entirety.
It would be dynamite if it could be corroborated.

I wonder if "60 Minutes" would do a segment on it?

[indepat]

10. My effing rag prints almost all RW daily talking points as LTTE: most are rambling,

not cohesive, void of any merit, and wouldn't stand the light of day, but are dutifully printed nonetheless. :P

[spiritsong13]

12. A direct result,...

...of no "fairness doctrine" over the last few years. When radical viewpoints are presented without having to be true or without opposing viewpoints then it's much easier for propaganda to be construed as truth. THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE NEEDS TO BE RE-INSTATED TO GIVE THE PEOPLE ACCESS TO FREE MEDIA. I'M SICK AND F**KING TIRED OF HEARING ONE-SIDED NEWS.:mad: :grr: :banghead:

[fascisthunter]

14. I Think Most Bloggers Know This, however...

most Americans are not bloggers and we do not have many microphones, but we do have will and strength by numbers. Off you go to the front page!

And off you go via email.... lot's of addresses.


BTW - notice how many names this guy drops

[Earth Bound Misfit]

15. Great post, thank you

:kick: & Rec

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. That confirms what I have assumed all along

Look at the comment columns on your local paper's website, and you will KNOW what the day's RNC talking points are, because the dittoheads will repeat the same messages in slightly different words and use the same lame insults.

For example, when about a dozen contributors to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's website referred to the anti-RNC protesters as "dirty smelly hippies" and "welfare recipients," I know that those were the talking points.

A very astute comment about treating their listeners as victims. The audience is full of people who are disappointed that their lives didn't turn out the way they hoped, and they're psychologically unable to blame their own decisions or the American system, so they are susceptible to anyone who will provide ready-made scapegoats.

The right-wing noise machine must have some evil geniuses of psychology on its payroll.

[mojowork_n]

17. zzzzzzzzzz {grrrrgle} zzzzz....and the earth revolves around the sun....

your car gets better gas mileage when the tires are fully inflated,

and ...'God did make little green apples, and it does rain in Indianapolis in the summer time.'

Tell us something we don't know, like,

how come the callers who identify themselves as "liberals" never actually sound like anyone who posts here?

They almost always play the role of "strawman," tossing up easily batted away {bogus?} "air ball" debate points. They usually just sound looney, or strange, or 'foreign,' so the "You're a Great American" host can slam home another easy dunk.

I live in Milwaukee, so I know the people referenced in the article, and my only other question is:

How much money has been spent, in how many different 'public relations' accounts, to perpetuate the myth that the Mainstream Media have a "liberal" bias?

That was the main "talking point" for the creation of 'fair and balanced' Faux News, in the first place.

[madeline_con]

19. This was a secret?

Anyone who listens for ten minutes can figure this out. :shrug:

[illuminaughty]

20. Superb informative article!

Had to save that to my favorites. Thank you.

[Martin Eden]

21. Kick n/t

[fasttense]

23. These are the waning days of hate radio

Not such a bad description of hate radio. Sounds to me like he simply described what everyone knows anyway.

But I got to say that hate radio really gets boring after a while. There is just so much false self-righteous indignation and sense of victimization one person can take.

After a while, it no longer stirs the soul but merely irritates the mind.

[Divine Discontent]

24. Jim Phillips out of Orlando, is a GREAT energetic open minded radio personality

that makes me believe there's still hope for radio when I hear people like him on the radio (104.1 in the Orlando area), and he's syndicated I believe nationally.

these right winger DJ's are so dumb that they're painful to listen to.

[fishnfla]

27. not syndicated but on satellite

he is great, and a free, nontalking point radio guy

although sometimes I swear i hear him say stuff I've read on DU

[Divine Discontent]

28. I think he's a DUer or lurker too! eom

[kleec]

25. And

they are such really, really bad actors and they aren't even acting! I hate "hate radio". Miss my local, creative radio.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

30. My friend interned at a station with a local wingnut host a few years ago

He's says this article is spot on.