When it comes to national talk radio, conservatives are king — for now.
Bill O’Reilly, the right-leaning, top-ranked cable television host, is debuting “The Radio Factor With Bill O’Reilly” nationwide Wednesday. In Chicago and in about 100 of his 205 markets, he’ll be competing head-to-head with Rush Limbaugh, right-wing pit bull and the undisputed heavyweight champion of the talk world.
Then you have such political and cultural conservatives as Dr. Laura, G. Gordon Liddy, Sean Hannit, Neal Boortz, Mike Gallagher, Matt Drudge and on and on and on.
So whatever happened to the liberals whom conservatives like to claim run the media? Why isn’t there a liberal loudmouth bashing the Bush White House?
Some would argue it’s corporate America’s fault, that big business would naturally be reluctant to give a megaphone to people who will criticize big business.
“There’s a direct relationship between who runs an organization and what it sounds like,” said Jeffrey Dvorkin, ombudsman for National Public Radio, widely perceived as a liberal bastion with programs such as “Talk of the Nation” and “The Tavis Smiley Show.” (Dvorkin, for his part, says the network tries for balance between left and right.)
But Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication M Street Daily, said there’s no vast right-wing conspiracy here.
“Radio stations would do whatever works,” he said. “If they found a whole lineup of liberals, moderates, Methodists, Seventh-Day Adventists or Elizabethan poets that got the ratings, they’d do it.”
That brings the possibility that companies are acting less out of ideology and more out of concern for the bottom line. Of course, huge amounts of money are at stake.
Limbaugh has 600 stations and a listenership of about 20 million. Dr. Laura has 325 stations and 12 million in her audience, according to Premiere Radio Networks, which distributes the two programs.
Without having taped a single radio program, O’Reilly immediately becomes a powerhouse in the medium.
Famous for declaring his talk show a “no-spin zone,” O’Reilly will be heard on about 205 stations at launch, including WAIT-AM 850 in Chicago from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., said a Westwood One spokeswoman. His show on the Fox News Channel draws between 3 and 3.5 million. Westwood One is projecting as many as 15 million listeners.
So why try to find a liberal talker when Limbaugh and his ilk have proven how profitable their brand of politics can be. The same forces that make music radio homogenized and derivative work on talk radio. as well.
“It’s too risky to go after an audience that would enjoy a liberal and there’s no great talent that would build an audience,” said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine.
Stars without that spark
Ah, the talent. Several observers say that some of the liberals who have tried and failed, such as former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and former California Gov. Jerry Brown, were neither exciting nor entertaining.
Even the biggest tofu-eating, whale-saving, taxing-and-spending leftie would have to admit some amusement at the antics of some of the right-wing hosts.
“Conservative talk shows have people who understand the medium,” said Brent Baker, vice president of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group. “They not only have to inform, but entertain. . . . The people in radio management have chosen to hire people who were political liberals first and entertaining second.”
O’Reilly and others add that conservatives make better talkers than liberals because, they say, liberal thinking is often nuanced and conservatives typically present a sharply defined view.
“If you had a firebrand left-winger, I think that person would succeed,” O’Reilly said.
Some of the conservative dominance of talk may have to do with packaging.
Given the size of the listenership for such programs, it makes sense to have a bloc of conservative talkers. That way, the station is likely to retain listeners throughout the day. Introduce liberals into the mix, and there’s a danger of turning people away, experts say.
Also, while liberals listen to Limbaugh to see what’s on the mind of the right, conservatives would be less likely to listen to a left-wing host, said Zemira Z. Jones, president and general manager of ABC Radio Chicago. WLS-AM 890, one of its station, hosts Limbaugh.
Old hat to conservatives
It’s also worth noting that conservatives simply have a lengthier history with modern talk radio, dating back at least to the 1960s.
“I’ve got to fault our progressive side for failing to understand the power of this medium and to grab it as the conservatives did,” said Jim Hightower, a former liberal radio host who now works as a freelance commentator for radio stations and print publications, including The Nation. Some conservatives, in turn, argue that generic media liberalism means the left doesn’t need talk radio as much as the right does.
“If you’re a liberal in America, you’re already having your point of view [presented] from the mainstream media,” Baker said.
But without Bill Clinton to serve as a target and with a Republican in the White House, will there be a left-wing ascendancy or a right-wing decline in talk radio?
Harrison at Talkers Magazine thinks that, over the next few years, more liberals may hit the radio airwaves as part of the natural ebb and flow of the medium.
“The pendulum always swings,” he said.
