SMALL TALK
I read this story today by Terry Nau in The Pawtucket Times about sports talk radio. Nau talks about how, although these shows are entertaining, they sometimes throw out some untrue statements. He thinks that the printed media, and even television media, have someone to edit the information and ensure that the writer's facts are substantiated. If they are not true, an editor will print a correction. As far as television, they employ an ombudsman who will investigate claims of nonfactual reporting. This all made me think about talk radio in general. How many times am I listening to a talk radio program and the host makes, what I think is, an outrageous statement. Maybe it's not outrageous, maybe it's a statement that I vehemently disagree with. How angry I get, almost enough to call in and tell the host how much I disagree with him. Then I realize that this is what it's all about, controversial! Why are conservative talk show hosts so popular around this area? Because the majority of listeners are liberal. Conservative talk show hosts are more likely to hold an opinion far different than their listeners. This drives two types of callers. The first are the people who call to strongly disagree with the host's viewpoint on a particular issue. The second type of caller are the ones who agree with the host, no matter what his viewpoint happens to be. I guess my whole point is this. Talk radio programs are fueled by advertising. The more people who listen to a show drives the price a sponsor will pay the radio station to advertise on a particular shows time frame. All this means that the more rude, obnoxious, and condescending the host happens to be, the more money the radio station makes.
