Are there any liberal radio talk shows in syndication?

[elmwood]

Every talk show I've heard on the AM dial in recent memory has had a conservative bent -- Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Savage Nation, and so on.

Excluding NPR, Radio Pacifica (i.e. "Radio Everything America Does Is Wrong"), community radio heard only in a few very progressive college towns (Boulder, Berleley, etc.), or shock jocks (Howard Stern), are there any nationally syndicated talk shows that lean towards the left? How popular are they? Why is AM talk dominated by conservatives, anyhow?

[WSLer]

I don't know that I would consider Howard stern a liberal, but that's for another time. It isn't a recent phenomenon to have the radio talk format dominated by conservatives, it's pretty much been that way for around 3o years or so. I think it's because, WARNING, hasty generalization with absolutely no proof behind it it coming up it is easier for conservatives to find things to "attack" and yet come across as mainsteream then it is for liberals. If you notice, almost none of the callers into the conservative talk shows disagree with the host or the hosts views, they just blindly "ditto" them, which makes listening to htme about as exciting as giving myself paper cuts. Liberals seem more inclined to actually debate, which doesn't make for good ratings in the soundbite universe in which we live.

Now, feel free to rip my entire post to shreds.:)

But please be gentle with me.;)

[kniz]

The liberals get their's for free, so why pay for it? :D

[gazpacho]

There are any number of talk shows on NPR, each more liberal than the next. Which I guess is kniz's point.

[biker]

there are no liberal talk shows because liberals are out working for a living and don't have time to sit on their dead conservative ass and listen to hate radio.

ditto-heads for the most part are retired military, retired wealthy (usually inherited), and young republican salesmen driving around all day in their sport cars. then there are the ultra conservative house wives who are married to someone making enough money that they do not have to work.

also conservative ideology is all black and white, liberals tend to see the gray areas of issues and this requires thought. the last thing you need to do when listening to limbag is use your brain.

[elmwood]

I hear it now ... off to Great Debates, I guess.

[rjung]

Originally posted by elmwood
Why is AM talk dominated by conservatives, anyhow?
Because they own the stations, silly! :D

(You don't believe any of that "liberal-owned media" nonsense, do you?)

[Blalron]

Nobody has ever heard of the Tom Lykis (sp?) show? He's liberal.

[Sofa King]

Well, dammit, if you can't count NPR, then I suppose you have to mention that Libertarian radio network. I heard it in the low 80's on FM somewhere between Harrsonburg and Bedford, VA. They claimed to be an independent network in multiple locations around the country.

Among other things, they played recordings of speeches from the dudes who orchestrated the Seattle, DC, and Toronto--I think--demonstrations.

Of course, we have to qualify exactly what a "liberal" is, for the purposes of this question. I don't exactly want to count those guys on my side.

[dead0man]

Ok, so we can deduce from the replies that:
A. Liberals work more than conservatives
B. Liberals listen to less radio than conservatives
C. Only liberals debate
D. The "mainstream" agree more with conservatives than they do with liberals
E. Liberals are less likely to call a conservative radio show and debate
F. Most people that retired wealthy inherited their money

Now lets look at these more closely.

A. B. and F. Site? I'm guessing these are going to be hard to prove one way or the other
C. Dont you need someone to debate against?
D. By definition doesn't "mainstream" mean middle of the road and not on either side?
E. This is probably true because I often notice that conservative radio hosts ussualy dont give liberal callers a chance

As for the OP, I'm going to guess that conservative talk radio is what gets the ratings. Conservatives like it because its not from the "liberal media" and its a different point of view. You get more detailed info than you do from the talking heads on network and cable news. Liberals like it because it pisses them off and gives them ammo for the Pit.
dead0man

[Sofa King]

...I'm drawing a bead on you, dead0man.

Name that pun in five letters.

[dead0man]

I'm drawing blanks.
:smack:
dead0man

[Brutus]

NPR.

[Brutus]

To expand a bit...you listed 'NPR, Radio Pacifica (i.e. "Radio Everything America Does Is Wrong"), community radio heard only in a few very progressive college towns (Boulder, Berleley, etc.), or shock jocks (Howard Stern)'. That is quite a big chunk,,,

Alan Combes (Of Hannity and Combes fame) has a syndicated talkshow from my understanding.

And NPR's liberal taint is tax-funded. Something is most definitely wrong there!

[biker]

there are liberal talk shows on the internet, check this out.

http://ieamericaradio.com/

also check out bartcop.com for liberal information.

[Loopus]

Originally posted by WSLer
If you notice, almost none of the callers into the conservative talk shows disagree with the host or the hosts views, they just blindly "ditto" them, which makes listening to htme about as exciting as giving myself paper cuts.

I've listened to many conservative talk shows in my day (not out of choice, I hasten to add, but because my mother listens to them, and before I could drive I had little choice) and I don't really find this to be true. The hosts love it when someone calls in to disagree with them. The purpose of this, however, is not reasoned debate. The purpose is to systematically tear down an opposing argument. Because the host can hang up at any time, he can always get the last word in. Therefore, a disagreeing caller is a great oppurtunity to make the other side sound wrong and silly.

I have no cites, but I believe I've heard at least as many callers disagreeing with Limbaugh as agreeing with him. They just end up sounding silly because of the orating skills of the host and his ability to hang up.

Liberals seem more inclined to actually debate, which doesn't make for good ratings in the soundbite universe in which we live.

Cite? I think both sides have an agenda to push for. Actual debate would get in the way.

-Loopus

[Fibonacci]

To hear the conservative talk shows tell it, all media is left-wing. This being the same media that benefits from deregulation in order to own and control most of the media outlets that are the "public airwaves." Hence you hear the same crap (music formats, syndicated talk shows, etc.) repeated in every market. Comparing the millions of listeners to Rush, et al to the perhaps hundreds of listeners of an Internet talk show hardly seems like a balance.

I can't think of any current liberal radio talk shows.

It makes me wax nostalgiac for Mae Brussell (http://www.maebrussell.com/) the late "Queen of Conspiracy Theorists" shows back in the 70's & 80's on KLRB in Carmel and later KAZU in Pacific Grove, CA.
I don't know as she could be labeled a liberal, there's really been nothing like her. The amount of research she did boggles the mind. If only she'd lived long enough to utilize the Internet.
But maybe since it was the military who initially developed the web, they foresaw what Mae could bring down on them and had her eliminated before she could utilize the web to expose them. ;)

Oh, Mae, where are you now that we need you even more?

[biker]

loopus.....

listen to limbag very carefully. you will discover that the caller is cut off waaaaaaaaaay before limbag stops talking to them. he rattles on and on making his right wing point and the caller has no chance to reply, because they have been silenced many minutes before.

this is what limbag is really good at, mass deception.

[Zap_Rowsdower]

Jim Hightower had a show for a while, but it was truly bad. I remember listening to him when he first came on and quickly got sick and tired of him. It was around Xmas time I believe and all he did was critisize the "rich". They were all evil, horrible Mongomery Burns types who want more and more and damn everyone else. While he makes valid points, he was more of a one note host than Limbaugh (who I am not a big fan of either).

Last I heard, Hightower had a minute or two commentary on some stations in the afternoon or weekend, but I am not sure if it is even still on the air.

[Loopus]

Originally posted by biker
listen to limbag very carefully. you will discover that the caller is cut off waaaaaaaaaay before limbag stops talking to them. he rattles on and on making his right wing point and the caller has no chance to reply, because they have been silenced many minutes before.

Perhaps I didn't make it clear in my post, but that was part of my point. That's what I meant when I said, "Because the host can hang up at any time, he can always get the last word in."

I agree with you.

-Loopus

[zigaretten]

Originally posted by elmwood
Why is AM talk dominated by conservatives, anyhow?

Because all the liberals are on TV:

Rosie O'Donnell
Phil Donahue
Jerry Springer
Oprah
Rikki Lake
Roseanne

[Squink]

Talk shows on NPR ???? Does Prairie Home Companion count, or is the definition of Talk Show being stretched to include All Things Considered ?

[lawoot]

Originally posted by Blalron
Nobody has ever heard of the Tom Lykis (sp?) show? He's liberal.

he may be liberal, but he doesn't seem to spend much time talking about ISSUES. It seems to me that he tends to rant on "bad relationships/women are hypocritical scum/ain't I great" type crap more than anything else (although I DO like it when he does his 'Ask the Atheist' segment)

Originally posted by Squink
Talk shows on NPR ???? Does Prairie Home Companion count, or is the definition of Talk Show being stretched to include All Things Considered ?

I don't know of ANY call in 'talk-radio' type shows on NPR - not even Car Talk, whose 'callers' are pre-screened DAYS in advance.

[Wendell Wagner]

I can think of one talk show on NPR - _Fresh Air_. It doesn't strike me as being particularly liberal. Indeed, from what little I've listened to it, it doesn't strike me as being something that NPR could do any better than anyone else. It doesn't get very deep into the issues it discusses and has too many celebrity interviews to be anything other than a shallow examination of current events. There's one talk show on PBS - _The Charlie Rose Show_ - and it doesn't strike me as being very liberal either.

Going back to the original question, I think it's true to say that nearly all the syndicated talk show programs on American radio are conservative. The few exceptions I can think of are these:

Perhaps some shows on Pacifica Radio. But Pacifica only has five stations in its chain. Unless some of those shows are syndicated to other stations, that's only a very minor exception.

_Fresh Air_ on NPR. But it's only very slightly liberal, and I'm not convinced many people listen to it.

_The Howard Stern Show_. This is the sort of thing that many conservatives give as an example of liberal influence on the media, and that infuriates many liberals as being a bogus example. Stern is a cultural liberal, I suppose, but he's not an economic liberal. He doesn't discuss his politics that much on the show, but I've seen them discussed in magazine articles, and it's clear that economically he's slightly conservative. It's as least as accurate to describe Stern as a libertarian as a liberal. Doesn't it ever occur to conservatives that some liberals hate Stern as much as some conservatives do?

Perhaps there are a few other liberal talk shows on a local level or syndicated to a few stations, but there's nothing else major.

I conclude then that conservatives clearly dominate talk shows on American radio. If someone wants to discuss the influence of liberals and conservatives in American media in general, that's a matter for Great Debates.

[Podkayne]

As long as there is Rush Limbaugh, I hope that there is Democarcy Now! with Amy Goodman. I think Limbaugh and Goodman are both loons, but it's nice for there some balance on the airwaves. And, as a liberal, one can get to feeling a little bit high and mighty, listening to all the conservative gasbags in the media, and their undebates. It's good to hear the same thing from the other side of the aisle, and remember that being on the side of the angels doesn't make liberal idealogues sound any less stupid when they go pushing their agenda at the expense of truth and civility.

This post brought to you by the Liberal Media Bias, the Friends of the Pinko Atheist Party, and the letter Q. Contains no actual fact. 100% all-natural opinion.

[Wendell Wagner]

I just checked the homepage for _Democracy Now!_, and it says that it's broadcast to "Pacifica Radio Stations, Affiliates, WBIX.org, Public Access TV stations, Free Speech TV (DishNetwork Channel 9415), and Shortwave Radio (Radio for Peace International)". So I would include this as one of those Pacifica Radio things that is syndicated to such a small audience that it's only a minor exception to the rule that nearly all political talk shows on American radio are conservative.

[Mr. Frink]

I'm getting kind of sick & tired about hearing people claim that NPR is sooooo liberal!

NPR is probably the most objective news source we have in this country. I would challenge anyone to find a liberal slant during it's flagship news magazines Morning Edition and All Things Considered (excluding commentary). They are very good at giving a clear, unbiased report of the news (unlike, say, Fox News.

They also do have some shows that take calls from listeners (Talk of the Nation). But they are nothing like the typical AM-talk-radio show. There too the hosts strive to maintain an objective stance.

I would really love to see some examples of NPR's supposed bias. It almost seems as though conservative often mistook NPR's unwillingness to jump on the "Bash Clinton" bandwagon as proof of its bias.

[bibliophage]

I'm willing to leave this thread here for now, even though I'm not sure that the question as asked has a factual answer. But I am sure that debates about the merits of various radio talk shows do not belong in this forum. The question is whether there are any nationally broadcast liberal-leaning radio talk shows, not whether those programs, or conservative programs, are good or bad.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

[Ashtar]

Phil Hendrie (http://www.philhendrieshow.com) has mentioned before during his programming that he was a registered democrat. Although to be honest about it, I think he hates all political parties equally.

Still a cool show, though. You usually have to hear it more than once before it starts growing on ya, though.

[Wendell Wagner]

I just remember a couple of other NPR talk shows. There's _Public Interest_, which isn't really very political, so it's certainly no more liberal than _Fresh Air_, and probably somewhat less so. There's _The Diane Rehm Show_, which is more political and somewhat liberal. (I didn't think of them at first because I think of them as local Washington shows and forgot that they're syndicated.) Still, the generalization holds that the vast majority of political radio talk shows in the U.S. are conservative.

[JS Princeton]

Re: NPR/liberal bias/talk shows

This American Life (an NPR docu series... not a talk show) is decidedly liberal in content.

Local affiliates often have their own local talk shows during the day between Morning Edition and ATC. They are often presented in a format similar to TOTN, which isn't exactly partisan, but if I can hijack for a moment here...

The reason NPR gets labeled liberal is because most of the people who listen to it are liberal. That's generally because the audience is very well educated. That's probably due to the fact that its generally only educated people who are willing to give money for educational programming (which is what public broadcasting is partially billed for). To get uneducated people to donate money, you tell them you're going to support such-and-such a cause that they agree with, or you appeal to their religious interests. Uneducated people generally don't want to spend their hard earned money on some programming taht's basically continuing ed for the already know-it-all class.

Okay, enough out of me. This was all IMHO anyway.
MODS?

[Measure for Measure]

NPR has a talk show called, "Talk of the Nation".
http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/

Monday's show:Monday, June 17, 2002
How much are you willing to sacrifice for safety? Since Sept. 11, we've been engaged in a national debate over civil liberties and the war against terrorism. Monday on Talk of the Nation, host Neal Conan talks with thinkers on all sides of the issue.

Grab a newspaper, open it up to the real estate section, and more often than not, you're in for a case of sticker shock. In many parts of the country, housing prices are through the roof. Join the show in its second hour for a discussion on the housing market. What's causing prices to soar, and what can be done to make housing more affordable? Yesterday's show:
Friday, June 14, 2002
Join host Ira Flatow on Talk of the Nation: Science Friday for a discussion on preparing for possible nuclear threats. What health effects could we expect, and what could we do to stay safe? Relative to my POV the preceding doesn't look like liberal agitprop. But it very well may be considered liberal by US media standards.

[Mr. Frink]

Originally posted by JS Princeton
Re: NPR/liberal bias/talk shows

This American Life (an NPR docu series... not a talk show) is decidedly liberal in content.

I've been an avid listener of This American Life since its inception, and I can assure you that it is decidedly non-political. It's more of a slice-of-life show with a wide range of topics...almost none of them political. When it does touch on a political topic, it's from a "quirky" viewpoint. From a November 1996 show entitled Politics: More stories of the election you can't hear anywhere else. Campaign diarist Michael Lewis on his transformation into a television reporter, and on an inspiring moment in American politics between two supposed political enemies from the 1960's. MIT Professor Henry Jenkins on how candidates today campaign on cable and govern on the networks. Radical right wing Mexican-American activist Daniel D. Portado on how Tuesday's results will affect his burgeoning Mexican "self-deportation" movement. Host Ira Glass in the White House, and on the street with campaign workers. And more.


Another NPR show--Talk of the Nation does focus on politics quite a bit. But I don't think it could be classified as being "liberal" at all. They seem to go to great lengths to present both sides of the issue. On most topics they'll have one guest from the left and another from the right. Unlike the conservative talk radio show, TotN gives roughly equal time to both ends of the political spectrum.