Shock jocks: Voice of unreason

[IndianaGreen]

Shock jocks: Voice of unreason

Glenn Beck is the fastest-rising star on American TV. He's part of a right-wing broadcasting boom that's become the most powerful opposition to the President. Guy Adams reports

Thursday, 28 May 2009

At 5pm, last Friday. America was winding down for the Bank Holiday weekend: blowing the tops off Budweisers, barbecuing hotdogs, driving SUVs into sun-drenched ball-parks, and enjoying the myriad benefits of daily existence in the most prosperous nation on God's green Earth. It's a "slow news day", when the treadmill of current affairs grinds to a halt, and average Joes everywhere feel happy just to be alive.

Everywhere, that is, except in the New York TV studios of Fox News. Here, a man called Glenn Beck is 10 seconds into his daily talkshow, and already he's reached a rolling boil. "What are the mainstream media missing?" he wonders, bounding onstage like the Duracell Bunny. "I mean, besides EVERYTHING? You are not going to BELIEVE some of the crap that's going on in the world today!"

And so it begins: a fresh dose of outrage from the latest "hot" voice in US conservatism. In a live TV career spanning just four months, Beck, a 45-year-old radio jock, author, and occasional stand-up comedian has turned what was previously Fox's "graveyard shift" – between 5-6pm each weekday, when offices are emptying, but punters aren't yet home – into something close to required viewing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/shock-jocks-voice-of-unreason-1691792.html

[depakid]

1. Yet another symptom of America's decline

and eventual fall into third world status.

[Adsos Letter]

2. I was quite taken aback this week

went to the show with my daughter, and a trailer for an upcoming Glenn Beck show was part of the previews :wtf:

[abq e streeter]

3. This pathetic excuse for a human being's popularity is nothing less than sickening

[Chulanowa]

4. Ratings don't always equal popularity

I figure Glenn Beck is a phenomena much like a grotesque train wreck, while the rest of fox news is just a ho-hum derailment with a spilled load of cantaloupes. People don't watch him because they agree with what he says. They watch him for the same reason people tuned in to Howard Beale in "network" - there's a perverse fascination with watching a man have a complete emotional and mental breakdown live on our screens.

[abq e streeter]

5. I hope to god you're right.

[bulloney]

6. I think it's a part of most of the RW shows' ratings. You listen to hear how ridiculous

they're going to sound today, not because you agree with them. But, there is a percentage of the country that does follow what these radio clowns say.

[zbdent]

8. I agree about the "ratings" misconception ...

"Rush Limbaugh has X million listeners!" is a talking point ...

Now, when you have a talk station, purportedly all about news, and then you are put on from noon to 3pm EST, but broadcast nationally, then that puts you IN THE LUNCH HOUR ...

your listeners are likely to be tuning in while driving to lunch or trying to get what's happening in the world while you have your free hour, and what happens? You tune in to the "NEWS" station ... and Rush just happens to be on ... whether your lunch hour is at noon EST, 1pm EST, or 2pm EST ...

[Berry Cool]

7. This article quotes Dennis Prager without questioning his assertion

that talk radio is the last refuge of the right wing because all other American media are hopelessly liberal.

It also says that Rush Limbaugh's "reach is limited by his reluctance to appear on television." Oh that's a thigh-slapper!! Is that what it is?? He's RELUCTANT to appear on television? Oh please...the reason he's not on TV is because when he's tried to make a career in TV he's been a FAILURE...so now his line is, he's "reluctant" to go on TV?? Tell me another one. He had his own TV show once and it tanked. And thank God for Keith Olbermann, who never fails to remind us of how badly Rush wanted to be a sportscaster for ESPN, but tanked on that too.