The Divided Dial
December 18, 2022 8:03 AM Subscribe
From the On The Media team comes The Divided Dial, a 5 part podcast series about talk radio: its origins, its main players, and why one side of the political spectrum came to dominate so much of the radio spectrum. Episodes run between 30 and 50 minutes.
Not just talk radio, but specifically conservative talk radio.
Haven’t followed the link yet, but from the “and why one side of the political spectrum came to dominate so much of the radio spectrum” part of the fpp, I do assume that this is not, eg., a history of Pacifica Radio.
posted by eviemath at 8:29 AM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Haven’t followed the link yet, but from the “and why one side of the political spectrum came to dominate so much of the radio spectrum” part of the fpp, I do assume that this is not, eg., a history of Pacifica Radio.
posted by eviemath at 8:29 AM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is a fascinating topic, thanks for posting.
The first I learned about the history of talk radio was through the recent podcast the flamethrowers, a 6-part work by Justin Ling from the CBC.
>The Flamethrowers, a new six-part podcast hosted by Justin Ling, captures the punch-you-in-the-mouth energy and sound of right-wing talk radio.
>Ling takes us from the fringe preachers and conspiracy peddlers of the 1920s to the political firestorm still raging today. With humour and candour, he examines the appeal of broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh, and how he found a sleeping audience, radicalized it, and became an accidental kingmaker — culminating in the election of Donald Trump.
posted by philfromhavelock at 8:52 AM on December 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
The first I learned about the history of talk radio was through the recent podcast the flamethrowers, a 6-part work by Justin Ling from the CBC.
>The Flamethrowers, a new six-part podcast hosted by Justin Ling, captures the punch-you-in-the-mouth energy and sound of right-wing talk radio.
>Ling takes us from the fringe preachers and conspiracy peddlers of the 1920s to the political firestorm still raging today. With humour and candour, he examines the appeal of broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh, and how he found a sleeping audience, radicalized it, and became an accidental kingmaker — culminating in the election of Donald Trump.
posted by philfromhavelock at 8:52 AM on December 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've always felt it had a lot to do with conservatives being biologically more prone to fear and thus anger. They're easier to gin up with a constant stream of anxiety and hate. There aren't enough of the Constantly Angry Progressives to make a radio station profitable.
You could maaaybe pull off something like running a rural radio station that played classic country music, like pre-1980s country, and then had really mellow DJs that came on for five minutes every half hour and talked about how those old country songs are actually pretty progressive and critical of the oligarchy, and that these problems still persist today.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 9:13 AM on December 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
You could maaaybe pull off something like running a rural radio station that played classic country music, like pre-1980s country, and then had really mellow DJs that came on for five minutes every half hour and talked about how those old country songs are actually pretty progressive and critical of the oligarchy, and that these problems still persist today.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 9:13 AM on December 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
I was driving a car with only AM radio when Limbaugh debuted.
I honestly thought he was a Stern/Imus type shock guy at first.
Whoo boy…
posted by aiq at 9:17 AM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
I honestly thought he was a Stern/Imus type shock guy at first.
Whoo boy…
posted by aiq at 9:17 AM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
He kind of was. Limbaugh once took a timeslot previously occupied by Morton Downey, Jr.
He was a lot funnier, in a really shitty bullying way, than any of his peers, which both his critics and people who would like to be his successor sometimes miss.
posted by box at 9:49 AM on December 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
He was a lot funnier, in a really shitty bullying way, than any of his peers, which both his critics and people who would like to be his successor sometimes miss.
posted by box at 9:49 AM on December 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
May he rest in piss.
posted by biogeo at 2:55 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by biogeo at 2:55 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
I honestly thought he was a Stern/Imus type shock guy at first.
Limbaugh started as a standard rock DJ in the very early seventies here in Pittsburgh and slowly morphed into what he was by the early 90s.
posted by octothorpe at 6:33 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Limbaugh started as a standard rock DJ in the very early seventies here in Pittsburgh and slowly morphed into what he was by the early 90s.
posted by octothorpe at 6:33 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
This show is insightful investigative story telling about how and why Christian Republicans wanted to, and were allowed to buy up radio and convert it to one-sided dishonest propoganda. Despite what communities eanted, despite what markets existed, despite what the FCC used to require. I listen to a lot of podcasts and On the Media is pure gold, this side project is worth listening to.
Progressives occasionally have radioshows and aspire to reaching people, Conservatives buy networks and build machines for themselves.
posted by anecdotal_grand_theory at 6:42 PM on December 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Progressives occasionally have radioshows and aspire to reaching people, Conservatives buy networks and build machines for themselves.
posted by anecdotal_grand_theory at 6:42 PM on December 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Where are the Larry Glicks of radio? 12am–4AM slot, a lot more schticky than Art Bell but sometimes as spooky. That said he always had a local cabbie (Charlie DiGiovanni) bringing him coffee and donuts in the middle of the night, and anyone in 38 states and provinces who couldn't sleep and had an AM radio eventually tuned into him.
posted by not_on_display at 9:58 PM on December 18, 2022
posted by not_on_display at 9:58 PM on December 18, 2022
As with radio, now with social media, the gold must rule.
posted by eustatic at 7:32 AM on December 19, 2022
posted by eustatic at 7:32 AM on December 19, 2022
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