Tom Leykis: made lots of money preaching to young guys that women won’t have sex with them unless the guys have lots of money (or at least appear to have lots of money). Actually, women wouldn’t have sex with Tom Leykis until he had lots of money. As long as young guys buy into this, he gets the money to have sex and proof that it’s the only reason any guy gets it, not just Tom Leykis.
Howard Stern: If he doesn’t agree with a caller, he’ll bellow “get off my phone!” and cut them off. If Clear Channel says, in effect, “get off our station,” its a violation of free speech. Like when Hitler came into power.
Michael Medved: Why aren’t there liberal radio talk shows to counter conservative shows? Because people don’t want to listen to liberal shows. Why aren’t there conservative movies to counter all the liberal movies? Because of the liberally-biased elite that controlls Hollywood.
Michael Medved two-fer: Criticism of Israel is based on anti-semitism. Socialism is wrong-headed. Since Israel was founded on Socialist priciples, if one issue enters into a discussion of the other, it becomes “a topic for another show.”
Tove, if you’re looking for reason (or even intelligence) from radio hosts, you’re definitely looking in the wrong place. With the possible exception of Don Imus, if you can get past his nastyness and condescension toward callers.
After listening to a variety of local (Batimore/Washington) stations, I’ve found they’re all the same. They’re all “radio personalities,” no longer “deejays,” paid to say things that are controversial or entertaining to keep people glued to the radio. Most of the ones I hear don’t just cut off those that disagree, but they say stupid things to draw the caller off-topic. Case in point: one of the 98 Rock guys asserting that all women are bad drivers. Someone called to disagree and the host counters with, “Name me one female race car driver. You can’t, because there aren’t any! Therefore, women are worse drivers than men!”
And I can’t go without ranting about this example of poor guest treatment. DC101’s Elliot in the Morning had Rob Corddry and Ed Helms of “The Daily Show” a few weeks ago as call-in guests. Rob & Ed got started talking about upcoming primaries, which I guess Elliot wasn’t interested in. He cut off his studio mikes, let R&E talk to each other, and started making fun of them while they couldn’t hear. When R&E finally realized they were being ignored, they talked to their producer, whom Elliot led to believe it was just technical problems. If you don’t like the way the interview is going, there are more tactful methods of dealing with it than that. However, when their guest is a Penthouse Pet, they’re all over that one…