Talk radio's price: a culture of complaint

Lacking real expertise on many issues, these new-style opinion leaders assert their authority by denigrating their followers.

The most successful hosts, such as personal-advice host Schlessinger and conservative political host Rush Limbaugh, choose callers who'll allow them to react in often infuriating and insulting ways. Limbaugh, in fact, asserts that "the primary purpose of callers on my show is to make me look good, not to allow a forum for the public to make speeches."

To become part of a show, callers need to follow the requirements of the script. Yet, even if "Paul from Cleveland" is publically berated, his identity is protected. The caller gets to be part of the play without suffering any direct consequences of the humiliation.

This month's elections underscore the fact that talk radio is an established feature of US politics. Candidates' strategies now routinely include courting talk-show hosts cum opinion leaders, like Don Imus and Howard Stern, hoping to convert loyal listeners into decided voters.

Mainstream media regularly report excerpts from talk radio programs as campaign events.

The terminology employed by talk-show hosts to describe political phenomena frequently enters the public lexicon - witness Limbaugh's nicknames for Bill Clinton, which alternate between "Slick Willie" and "Sick Willie."

In addition, the door between careers in talk radio and politics continues to revolve, as illustrated by former mayors of New York and San Diego - Mario Cuomo and Roger Hedgecock - who both have talk radio shows.

The profile of a typical political talk-radio listener is an older, white, college-educated male who earns a good income - a likely voter.

For this audience, talk radio offers political entertainment.

It is, in some sense, a Jerry Springer phenomenon for political junkies.

With some exceptions, particularly public radio offerings, political talk thrives on controversy and scandal. When ratings slip, it is the lure of a juicy topic, such as the release of the Starr report on the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, and not the problems of the world economy, that revitalizes audience interest.

Talk radio maintains its place in the communications structure because loyal listeners have come to expect, and even to enjoy, the nastiness that dominates the airwaves.

We can anticipate that the level of incivility will only increase, as hosts employ tried-and-true formulas to draw in listeners.

So, talk radio will continue to play a role in creating an angrier, more alienated citizenry that complains more than it acts, and which fails to take meaningful steps to change society for the better.

* Diana Owen is a professor of government at Georgetown University. in Washington. She co-authored 'New Media in American Politics' (Oxford University Press).

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