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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.
NEW YORK LOVES RUSH AND HANNITY AND L.A. JOINS THEIR FAN CLUBS
JUL 20, 2006 - 5:01PM PDT
Posted by Alvin Snyder
All posts by this author
New York and Los Angeles have gone conservative. Well, a good number of folks anyway, judging from the immense and growing popularity of conservative talk radio personalities in these two largest cities in the U.S., and the flame-out of their liberal talk show competitors in those locations, as well as in most other radio markets. The topics presently dominating talk radio are the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and U.S. Middle East policy, while the prevailing interactive talk is decidedly conservative and pro-President Bush. These views are reported in several public opinion polls these days. Newly-released Arbitron radio ratings for Spring (second-quarter) 2006 measuring listenership for those 12 years of age and older, show conservative commentators leading the pack and distancing themselves from the competition. On both coasts, there is a clean sweep by conservative hosts who generally support the state of Israel and the policies of President George W. Bush. In America's largest media market, New York City, conservative talk show hosts hold sway on powerhouse station WABC-AM. Rush Limbaugh is far out in front of everyone, liberal or conservative, with Sean Hannity a strong second on the same station. Three additional conservative talk show hosts are in New York's top 10 most popular, including Mark Levin, also on WABC-AM. Over at another of New York’s dominant stations, WOR radio, there are conservatives Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Savage, rounding out New York's top 10. Air America's liberal talk show host, Al Franken, on New York’s WLIB, is in 11th place with only one-third the number in Rush Limbaugh's audience. Liberal Randi Rhodes, also on WLIB, is in 13th place. Even worse, however, is that this summer Air America loses its lease on WLIB Radio, leaving it without a New York City radio outlet, and with a dwindling number of less-powerful stations nationwide compared to those carrying the conservative programs. In Los Angeles, conservative talk radio station KFI has taken over first place in the Arbitron ratings, topping Spanish-language stations in the important Hispanic market. Rush Limbaugh is carried on KFI, as well as local L.A. talk show host Bill Handel, who gained popularity with his anti-Muslim jokes. Blogger Brian Maloney reports that "…liberal Air America (Los Angeles) affiliate KTLK turned in a flat 1.0 (audience) share." The results in medium radio markets are much the same. In Cincinnati, Ohio, liberal talk show host Jerry Springer was replaced by a sports show on a powerful 50,000 watt station, WCKY. Springer is now heard on a less dominant regional station, WSAI. Some believe conservative talk radio has larger audiences because its listeners are older and at home to listen to the radio, while liberals are younger and busy earning a living, away from their radios. Whatever the reason, conservative radio -- with its sizable audience -- makes money, is self-supporting and is expanding its dominance, unlike liberal radio. Combined with the popularity and momentum of TV's Fox News Channel, which many perceive as conservative-oriented, conservative viewpoints are dominating American radio and cable TV even…... FULL TEXT
Read Comments (17) | Add Your Own
 Read Comments:
Virginia on July 21, 2006 @ 12:49 am:
Go Rush, Go Hannity, Go O'Reilly!!! Fox news rules because it supports U.S. interests whereas ABC,CBS,NBC,CNN don't. They would sell out America for UN interests. The UN is corrupt and useless but the liberals love the UN because of its AnitAmerican stance. BAD AMERICA! HOW DARE YOU BE THE MOST BLESSED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. SHAME ON YOU FOR WORKING HARD AND BEING FAITHFUL. This is the mantra of the liberals to shame us into selling out democracy for socialism.
Kieran on July 21, 2006 @ 1:58 pm:
This is good news; it really heartens me. Personally, I don't see how you couldn't love listening to Rush, he's hilarious and always on top of every issue before anyone else.
billy on July 21, 2006 @ 2:41 pm:
wishful thinking from another confused right wing pervert. Air america is getting a billion dollars and buying up radio stations all over the country unlike rush who rents and then takes viagra over to the child sex capitol by himself. keep idolizing those perverts and the nuber of republicans in the country will drop below the 30% it already is scumbag.
bob on July 21, 2006 @ 9:22 pm:
air head america will be gone in the next 2yrs
Harvey M. Rosenwasser on July 21, 2006 @ 10:30 pm:
Rod McLeish, a former news commentator, died this month. I once heard him say, "When ever I hear from a listener who compliments my political analysis, or my deductive abilities, I know he agrees with me." I thought of this as I read some of the above comments. The enduring commentators are not the shrill partisans, but those who are analytical and perceptive and have a sense of history.
Quentin Allen on July 21, 2006 @ 10:31 pm:
The distorted and ruinous political perspective of Americans today rests at the feet of conservative radio. There is nothing fair nor balanced about their commentary. It is brutal , destroy at all costs, any viewpoint but the right wing opinion, be damned the facts. This type of radio sets America backs and endangers our democracy.
doug on July 22, 2006 @ 12:48 am:
Billy says that "Air America" is going to buy up all the radio stations and force feed Al Franken to the listeners of America. I say that's the only way that Al could ever get a large audience. But it would be a one time thing, and last only as long as it took the listeners to turn the radio off.
Alan Simpson on July 22, 2006 @ 11:24 am:
I suppose "Half a Metric is better than None" for that is what this comparison achieves. It did bring out the lost art of informed political debate in America.
To achieve what Alvin states you would need to know the real numbers of audience penetration of all the channels the Rabid Right and the Looney Left use to get their political slant on the filtered news.
He is correct in the statistics, but if he wanted to create a balanced view, which would not have resulted in such interest, he would have continued "But most left wing audiences have turned to the 38,000,000 Blogs and podcasts to hear their version of reality."
The right wing machine has huge funding from corporate America, seeking to maintain the status quo, and can flood the air with Limbaugh. Air America is an underfunded disaster struggling to find a niche. In the meantime millions have turned to digital channels, where they can listen at will, and not on their Taxi radios, or on construction sites, the mainstay of Limbaugh.
It doesn't really matter though. The proof of effectiveness is how much "Actionable" material is absorbed by the listener. Will they react and vote, demonstrate, or chug-a-lug another Bud Light! Will they copy it and send it to ten of their friends, or just forget what Rush was ranting about today. If they just sit there and grunt approvals then the broadcast is just audio wallpaper.
We will see in November.
tom murphy on July 24, 2006 @ 9:39 am:
You’ve got be kidding a drug headed high school drop out
Is the leading radio person? Don’t say much for the listeners
Willie on July 24, 2006 @ 3:57 pm:
bob on July 21, 2006 @ 6:22 pm:
air head america will be gone in the next 2yrs
---------------------------------
That's what Bill O'Reilly has been saying for the past 3 years. Air America isn't going anywhere.
Stump on July 24, 2006 @ 9:42 pm:
I think your analysis misses a few points.
Air America or liberal talk radio may not have the ratings of Rush or Hannity, but it does as well or better than many second-tier conservative stations. Many if not most Air America stations beat or tie the ratings of the conservative stations owned by Salem Communications in their home markets. If Air America is a waste of time and money, then surely the same can be said of Salem, since the ratings are often similar.
Al on July 25, 2006 @ 8:27 am:
Stump,
Stump, What are some markets where Air America's talk shows are doing well in competition with conservative talk show hosts on stations owned by Salem Communications?
F. Simmons on July 25, 2006 @ 8:29 am:
Funny, I seem to know a lot of Conservatives who are not old and creaky. We senior citizens are NOT alone!
PS Great article, Al.
Bruce on July 25, 2006 @ 5:22 pm:
Do not confuse warmongering neo-cons with conservatives who believe in limited Constitutional government.
Do not confuse legitimate talk radio with Dr. Goebbels-martial music-Amerika-Uber-Alles-propaganda shows like Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Levin and Savage.
They are all frightening attempts at whipping up hatred for Arabs to white hot, warmaking temperatures and welding those passions to conservative belief systems among well-meaning, patriotic Americans of modest intellect who are led to believe that the highest form of patriotism consists of sneering at liberals, swallowing government lies and killing ragheads.
They all follow the same script, with drums ever beating for "the war on terror" and "the war on Islamo-fascists." Levin and Savage are particularly gifted at anger-raising through top-of-the-lungs hate tirades.
They shamelessly ignore George W. Bush's betrayals of Constitutional liberties and separation of powers, attributing all opposition to him as due to "liberals who just don't like him."
This conservative weeps as these brown-shirts seduce gullible listeners toward World War III through deceit and hatefulness that's positively Hitlerian.
Conservative talk radio? Hardly. Call it Radio Trotsky in honor of the neo-cons' most admired hero. - Bruce
stump on July 26, 2006 @ 3:57 pm:
Sorry for the delay...
MARKETS WHERE AIR AMERICA BEATS
SALEM COMMUNICATIONS SECULAR
TALK STATIONS:
Miami (by a ratio of at least 4-to-1, since
WKAT's ratings are too small for the survey)
MARKETS WHERE AIR AMERICA AND SALEM ARE CLOSE OR TIED:
Los Angeles (KTLK leads Salem KRLA by a tenth of a point, despite a four year head start for KRLA)
Detroit (WDTW-AM and WDTK)
Chicago (WCPT is a tenth of a point behind Salem WIND, even though WCPT is a daytimer with much weaker coverage than WIND)
Phoenix (Salem KKNT tied with KPHX, despite the fact that Air America lost its affiliate and had to relocate to another frequency during the survey, leading to a month of downtime for Air America in Phoenix)
Minneapolis (WWTC and KTNF essentially tied)
Dallas (KXEB trails salem KSKY by only a tenth of a point, despite a signal at the fringe of the region that is weak in Dallas and Fort Worth)
chuck on July 26, 2006 @ 7:20 pm:
Lumping Bill Handel in with people like Rush and Dr. laura shows that you have never listened to his show. As a person of jewish back ground, yes he makes Muslim jokes, but he was famous long before that controversy.
Bruce on August 8, 2006 @ 6:04 pm:
Google "FBI Most Wanted Terrorists." Click the photo of Usama bin Laden, top left. Read his wanted description carefully:
"MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; ATTACK ON A FEDERAL FACILITY RESULTING IN DEATH."
Investigative reporter Ed Haas wondered why bin Laden was NOT wanted for the 9;11 attacks on America and called the FBI. He was told by FBI Spokesman Rex Tomb on June 5, 2006 that "The FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden with the 9/11 attacks."
========================
Now Google "BBC hijackers." You'll be taken to an archived BBC article showing that 4 of the 19 so-called "suicide bombers" were found ALIVE AND WELL by the BBC, living in Saudi Arabia. That was two weeks after 9/11; since then, at least 3 more "suicide hijackers" have been found alive and well, living in Arab nations.
The story was revealed to the British public, but is still being withheld from Americans.
========================
Now Google "Osama bin Laden videotape." You'll see that the Pentagon's videotape showing Osama bin Laden confessing to 9/11 is a fake. The faces of the actor in the videotape and the real Osama bin Laden are plainly two different faces belonging to two different men. And the videotape itself is the ONLY piece of evidence the U.S. gov't ever produced against Osama bin Laden.
=========================
CONCLUSIONS VISIBLE TO YOUR OWN TWO EYES:
1) Osama bin Laden is NOT WANTED for the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
2) Almost half the "suicide bombers" who, we were told, crashed the planes and died a fiery martyr's death are still alive.
3) The Pentagon's only evidence against Osama bin Laden turned out to be an obvious fake.
4) Osama bin Laden and his 19 assistant martyrs were set up by the government and the American news media, and that fact is still being concealed from the American public five years after 9/11.
==========================
Now Google "9/11 insider traders" and learn about the men who made millions by betting that certain stocks would crash as fast as the Towers and Building 7 crashed on 9/11 -- including such 9/11-related stocks as United and American Airlines, the insurance companies who had policies on the WTC buildings (including Building 7), and others.
The insider trades were made in Canada and Germany. The governments of England, France, Germany, Japan and the United States investigated, but the investigations were left to die out in the dark.
The SEC then quietly declared, without a shred of evidence, that there had been no wrongdoing and dropped the whole thing -- conveniently, as it happened, just before the 9/11 Commission began its hearings.
That gave the 9/11 Commission an excuse to breeze by the whole stinkhole as if it didn't exist. And they did.
The story of the inside traders was completely suppressed in the mainstream media, then and now. But financial trades expert Don Radlauer of Israel's Institute for Counter Terrorism analyzed the trades and had this to say: "Obviously, anyone who had detailed knowledge of the attacks before they happened was, at the very least, an accessory to their planning. The overwhelming probability is that the trades could have been made only by the same people who masterminded the attacks themselves."
=========================
Bottom line: we Americans have been deceived and betrayed by the joint efforts of their government and their news organizations.
If your definition of patriotism is swallowing government lies and bullying others into swallowing them, then you should love Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Levin and Savage. Not to mention the galaxy of other American media vehicles who delivered you into the bondage of 9/11 ignorance.
If you believe in hard cold facts, start investigating for yourself. Because you can bet the farm on another 9/11 attack happening soon. This time, passports from Iran and Syria will be found in garbage cans near the site where the nuke or bio-chemical weapon was detonated. - Bruce
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