If libs had something interesting to talk about they would be able to compete on radio?

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk-radio pioneer, has been called many nasty things before, but never a “structural imbalance.” That’s the fancy term a liberal think tank uses to characterize his success — and to dress up its proposal for counteracting that success through new government regulation.


The report of the Center for American Progress on “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” marks the latest phase in liberaldom’s grappling with conservative talk radio. First came the attempts to create a liberal Limbaugh — Mario Cuomo, Jim Hightower, et al. — that fell flat. Then an entire left-wing network, Air America, was founded, and foundered. So there’s only one option left — if you can’t beat them, and you won’t join them, you can agitate for government to regulate them.


The report looks at a slice of 257 talk stations and concludes that more than 90 percent of total weekday talk programming is conservative. The supposed reason for this is, essentially, that media companies are conspiring to shove conservative radio down the throats of listeners in a way they couldn’t if, among other things, government required broadcasters “to regularly show that they are operating on behalf of the public interest.”


This is a pinched view of radio. There are upwards of 2,000 talk stations in the country that deal with news and issues, according to Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine, and they encompass all sorts of formats from National Public Radio to urban radio to shock jocks, none of which are dominated by right wingers. Conservative talk radio is a vibrant niche within that market, but there are many other places to go for news and opinion.


What is hard to find are liberal replicas of Rush Limbaugh, and that is due to the deepest structural imbalance of all — talent. Limbaugh and other top conservative talkers are silver-tongued, informative, and — importantly — entertaining. These are qualities that can’t be conjured out of nowhere, and designated liberal-radio saviors have tended not to have the requisite talent “on loan from God” (as Limbaugh puts it).


There have been conservative failures at talk radio for the same reason. Without the right mix of substance and entertainment, a host will fail to get ratings, and, with that, be yanked from the air. “Ratings” is a word that appears only once in passing in the Center for American Progress report, because then it would have to acknowledge that conservative radio is successful exactly because it gets listeners.


Broadcasters go where the money is. If a liberal could draw the kind of listeners — and hence the kind of advertising dollars — as Limbaugh, he too would be on more than 600 stations. This is why Spanish-language radio is such a growth commodity. Not because broadcasters have an agenda to Hispanicize America, or because there’s a structural imbalance that favors Spanish-language over German- or French-language programming, but because there’s an audience for it.


The Center for American Progress wants to short-circuit the market. Having bureaucrats determine whether radio stations are serving the public interest is inherently dangerous. There are times — like now, in the debate about the immigration bill — when Democrats and Republicans in Washington will agree that conservative talk radio is not serving the public interest, because it brings to the table public sentiment that the establishment prefers to ignore.


The report avoids directly calling for a renewal of the constitutionally dubious Fairness Doctrine that mandated equal time for conservative and liberal opinions, although some Democratic lawmakers aren’t so circumspect. After five years of opposing most assertions of government power to fight terrorism, these liberals are ready to wield it to fight conservative talk radio. After maintaining that the First Amendment protects nude dancing, they are ready to argue that it doesn’t quite apply to people broadcasting conservative views over the airwaves.


In our toxic contemporary politics, it’s a sign of success if you drive your opponents batty. Rush Limbaugh might be a structural imbalance, but his critics appear simply imbalanced.

If libs had something interesting to talk about they would be able to compete on radio?
If cons had the intellectual ability, they'd compete online. So what's your point?





Politics is not about ratings. If you think that's important, you should have your right to vote revoked.
Reply:Liberals lack a healthy audience. They yell louder and louder to try to compensate. Then when that doesn't work, they try to limit free speech and open markets.





If only crazy old farts listened, as suggested by the below, they would not be so scared of it.
Reply:Don't only crazy old farts listen to entertainment political radio?
Reply:I'm not reading all that crap you cut and pasted. However, keep in mind that Limbaugh and the rest have had a 20 year head start in the market.
Reply:Snore..............Huh? What? Sorry I fell sleep reading that boring diatribe. We don't care about Amplitude Modulation - it's so ... 1930's
Reply:The reason liberal talk show will never succeed is because liberals would speak like Christians instead of like idiots high on Viagra (visiting the Caribbeans looking for 14 year old boys).
Reply:I do not think it is a factor that they are interesting or not it is just different....liberal slanted media is shown of t.v. conservative slated media is on the radio
Reply:They Don't - So they Can't!





Liberal Talk Radio;





RR: Biff from San Diego you are on the Randy Rhodes Show:





Biff: Hey Randy! Diebold stole the election and I just saw a UFO.





RR: Yes the black boxes came down from space and stole all the Kerry votes and gave them to Bush.





RR: Rex from NYC you aer on the Randy Rhodes Show:





REX: We should raise taxes, let Gays Marry and kill the unborn - especially in the Red States!





RR: Yes, may I add that my first thought this morning was one of hatred. I woke up and shouted 'I HATE NEOCONS'.





RR: Sally from Your Mom's Basement you are on the Randy Rhodes Show:





Sally: The 'MAN' is keeping me down! The conservative lawyer accross the street drives a new Porche. It's not fair that I have to settle for public transportion.





RR: What kind of work do you do?





Sally: I attend peace rallies and sell crafts that I make.





RR: I hate this country!
Reply:The problem with Lib radio was the constant "We hate Bush" theme! How long can anyone listen to the same topic day after day?


Ok, we got it, the Dems despise President Bush, move on, talk about something else, but they couldn't. Thats the main reason for the "Fairness Doctrine", the Libs can't compete in the open market of radio with the same hate Bush line day after day. So since they can't compete, they want to regulate radio by the way of Govt.


I've asked numerous times on Yahoo answers, but not once have I recieved an answer......What will the Dems/Libs do about


illegals coming across the border


the War on Terror


the rising cost of Welfare


building the border fence


rising fuel costs/alternative fuels


When I've asked this question and hoped for intelligent responses, all I get is more finger pointing and the Dems favorite....."We hate Bush", or "its all Bush's fault".


This is why talk radio has become so big in this country, the average American doesn't want to hear their President called names and told they are stupid because they voted for President Bush. Now the Dems are trying to ram their hate down the throats of Americans by forcing us to listen to their dribble on the radio
Reply:This doctrine is the most blatant attempt at limiting free speech since the founding of the nation. Today's radio talk jocks are the writers of phamplets of the revolutionary period who went around the major media to get the real word out to the people but especially to the revolutionary soldiers.
Reply:You win, so what. It only proves to me you guys have a lock on blowing hot air around on the radio.
Reply:It's really hard on liberals to realize they can't attract any sizable audience with their liberal message.





America is a fundamentally conservative country. The only way liberals can win elections in swing districts is to lie about how "conservative" they are.





So liberals are now going to Mommy Government, whining for the (Un)Fairness Doctrine. First Amendment be damned.





Well, they don't care about the Second Amendment either. There are ten amendments to the Constitution that make up the Bill of Rights, but who's counting?